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LessonKind

5-day lesson plan

Literacy Foundations — Topic Week

Phonics, sight words, reading and early writing.

A printable 5-day plan using LessonKind resources. Designed for upper-elementary classes — adjust as needed.

How to use this plan

Each day has a clear focus, 1–2 suggested resources from the LessonKind library, and a teaching note. The plan is designed to take 30–45 minutes per day, but every section can be expanded into a full hour-long lesson by adding discussion, paired tasks, or extended writing. Feel free to swap, skip, or rearrange — the plan is a starting point, not a recipe.

Day 1 — Phonics and sounds

Connect letters to sounds.

Resources

Teaching note: Start with the sound mat — quick fire flash review of letter sounds. Move to rhymes, which build phonemic awareness. Sing nursery rhymes. Tap out syllables.

Day 2 — Decoding words

Putting sounds together to read words.

Resources

Teaching note: Today is about practicing CVC (consonant-vowel-consonant) words. Word families like cat/bat/hat/sat help children see patterns and decode by analogy. Word-mapping with elkonin boxes works well here.

Day 3 — Sight words

The high-frequency words that don't follow rules.

Resources

Teaching note: Some words can't be sounded out — 'the', 'said', 'was'. Children just have to learn them by sight. Make it a game: flashcards for 5 minutes a day, paired practice, point them out in shared reading.

Day 4 — Reading aloud

Build fluency through reading practice.

Resources

Teaching note: Children read a simple text aloud to a partner — not for accuracy alone, but for FLUENCY (smoothness, expression, pace). Compound words give the day a focus to talk about during reading.

Day 5 — Tying it together

Apply phonics, sight words and fluency in a longer text.

Resources

Teaching note: End the week by writing — the other half of literacy. Have children build sentences using the words they've practiced. Discuss tricky pairs (their/there/they're) only with grades 2+.

After the week

Wrap up with one of these:

  • A short class assembly or presentation showcasing what students learned.
  • A piece of independent writing — "the most interesting thing I learned about literacy foundations".
  • A reflection circle — what surprised you? what would you still like to know?
  • A class-built poster or display summarizing key facts and ideas.