How Many Weeks of Phonics Lessons?
When it comes to your homeschool planning guide, are you wondering how many weeks of phonics lessons you should be teaching in Kindergarten? What about 1st grade phonics lessons? Second grade phonics lessons?
Today, I’m sharing exactly how many weeks of phonics lessons I would teach from Kindergarten, 1st grade and 2nd grade in a year — not to box you in, but to act as a guide.
How Many Weeks of Phonics Lessons for Kindergarten?
In Kindergarten, there are 48 phonics lessons. Kindergarten phonics lessons begin with alphabet letter names and letter sounds, both consonants and short vowels. Phonics lessons in Kindergarten end with 3 simple digraphs — /sh/ in the words ‘ship’ and ‘wish’, /ch/ in the words ‘chat’ and ‘much’, and /th/ in the words ‘thin’ and ‘with’.
So, if you’re teaching all 48 phonics lessons in Kindergarten, this takes about 6 months (24 weeks). This is assuming you teach phonics lessons at home four days a week, leaving one day as a family day or for field trips, etc… Let’s break it down:
- 48 Kindergarten phonics lessons
- 2 lessons per week
- 48 lessons divided by 2 lessons per week — you need 24 weeks
- 24 weeks is 6 months
When you’re planning for how many weeks of phonics lessons to teach in Kindergarten, I like to spend 2 days on each lesson. You could split the lesson in half, and teach 3 of the 6 phonics skills each day, then teach the next e phonics drill the next day. You could also teach the entire lesson in a day (if your child’s focus allows), then repeat the entire lesson the next day.
BONUS TIP: Play one phonics game each day! The word fluency grids in each lesson double as a FUN Four-in-a-Row game. Phonics BUMP is also a FUN phonics game to play on day 2 for each lesson!
How Many Weeks of Phonics Lessons for Grade One?
In 1st Grade phonics lessons, start with ‘Silent e’ lessons, then ‘R-Controlled Vowels’, ‘Reading Longer Words’, the 3 sounds of ‘-ed’ at the end of words, ‘Long Vowel Teams’, then simple suffixes ‘ing’, ‘es’, etc.
‘Silent e ‘ — words where the ‘Silent e’ at the end make the vowel in the middle make its long vowel sound (say it’s own name): cake, eve, bike, poke, duke
‘R-Controlled Vowels’ — words where a vowel is attached to the letter ‘r’: arm, barn, term, burn, shirt, for, store, short
‘Reading Longer Words’: words ending with ‘-ed’ and ‘-es’: picked, glued, aged, boxes (spelling these word endings take practice)
‘Long Vowel Teams’ — words with long vowel teams for spelling the long vowel sounds: rain, leaf, night, coat, fruit
‘Simple Suffixes’: adding ‘ing’, ‘ness’ and ‘ment’ to the end of words: cement, adding, gladness
When you’re planning how many weeks of phonics lessons to teach in Grade One, let’s do the math:
- Lessons 35-103 (68 phonics lessons)
- spend 2 days on each lesson (do first 3 phonics drills Day 1, then do last 3 phonics drill Day 2)
- 68 lessons divided by 2 lessons per week = 34 weeks
- 34 divided by 4 weeks per month = 8.5 months of phonics lessons per year
This is assuming you teach phonics lessons at home 4 days/week, allowing for family days and field trips.
How Many Weeks of Phonics Lessons for Grade Two?
In 2nd grade, phonics lessons begin with reviewing phonics skills in Grade One, then ending with the ‘Doubling Spelling Rule’, ‘Suffix Spelling Changes’, ‘Alternate Spellings for Sounds in Words’ and additional ‘Prefixes and Suffixes’.
When planning for how many weeks of phonics lessons to teach in 2nd grade, here’s the breakdown:
- 64 phonics lessons divided by 2 lessons per week = 32 weeks
- 34 weeks divided by 4 weeks per month = 8 months
Ideally, you would teach your child 8 months of phonics lessons. Some of these lessons are review, and that’s okay!
Yours in phonics,
Melanie Jeffrey
