Free phonics and reading lesson plans for K–2
Each plan is a complete lesson you can teach tomorrow: objectives, word lists, timed steps, games, ideas for children who need more support or more challenge, and notes for ESL and EFL classes.
Written by Kyle Hope, an ESL teacher in Japan. Every plan works with a whiteboard and some paper. Where Ribbit Pond has matching worksheets, they’re linked at the end of the plan.
Phonics
Word families, short vowels, blends and magic e, taught in the order children need them.
CVC Word Families
A 40-minute kindergarten and 1st grade lesson plan for teaching CVC word families like -at, -an and -ap, with blending routines, games and an ESL focus.
Short i vs Short e
A 35-minute 1st grade lesson plan for telling short i and short e apart, with minimal pairs, a listening game and decodable sentences. Great for ESL classes.
Short u vs Short a
A 35-minute 1st grade lesson plan for short u, with short a minimal pairs, a mouth-shape warm-up and a bug hunt game. Built with ESL learners in mind.
Consonant Blends
A 40-minute 1st grade lesson plan for teaching the l and r blends bl, br, cl and cr, with blending steps, a sort, a tongue twister and ESL pronunciation tips.
Magic E (CVCe)
A 40-minute 1st grade lesson plan for magic e (silent e, CVCe). Children turn cap into cape and kit into kite, with a magic wand routine and word sort.
CVC Fluency Pyramids
A 30-minute kindergarten and 1st grade fluency lesson using CVC sentence pyramids: read one word, then two, until children read a whole sentence smoothly.
Vowel Teams
A 40-minute 1st grade lesson plan for the long vowel teams ai, ay, ee, ea, oa and ow. Children read each team as one sound, sort words and spell by position.
Reading, writing and vocabulary
Decodable stories, sight word fluency, sentence building and nonfiction reading.
CVC Decodable Stories
A 35-minute kindergarten and 1st grade guided reading lesson using short vowel CVC decodable stories, with a word hunt, partner reading and comprehension.
Blends Reading Passages
A 35-minute 1st grade reading lesson using short consonant blends stories: blend hunt, partner reading, comprehension questions and a drawing response.
Sight Word Fluency
A 30-minute kindergarten and 1st grade lesson for building sight word fluency with sentence pyramids and scrambled sentences. Works with Dolch or Fry lists.
Winter Sentence Building
A 35-minute winter-themed 1st grade lesson plan for building sentences: word order, capital letters and periods, with scrambled sentences and a class story.
Solar System Reading
A 40-minute 1st–2nd grade nonfiction reading lesson about the Sun and planets: vocabulary, finding facts in the text, a planet fact sort and a mini report.
Months of the Year
A 40-minute K–2 lesson plan for teaching the months of the year: a months song routine, a birthday line, ordering games, capital letters and ESL tips.
Subject and Object Pronouns
A 40-minute 1st grade lesson plan for subject and object pronouns. Children swap nouns for he, she, it, we and they, then choose I or me and he or him.
Possessive Pronouns
A 40-minute 1st grade lesson plan on possessives. Children add ’s to names, swap them for his, her and their, then use mine, yours and ours on their own.
Describe a Monster
A 40-minute K–2 ESL speaking and writing lesson. Children make a monster, describe it with “It has” and “It doesn’t have”, then swap faces and guess.
The 5 W’s
A 45-minute 1st–2nd grade lesson on who, what, where, when and why. Children sort answers, build a sentence one W at a time and answer questions on a story.
Am, Is, Are, Was, Were
A 40-minute 1st grade lesson on be verbs. Children match am, is and are to I, one and many, then move the same sentences to yesterday with was and were.
Combining Sentences
A 40-minute 1st grade lesson on combining sentences with and. Children join two names, join two actions, then decide which sentence pairs should not be joined.
Commas in a List
A 40-minute 1st grade lesson on commas in a series. Children pack a pretend bag, write lists of three or more with commas and and, then fix postcards.
Clothes Vocabulary
A 40-minute 1st–2nd grade ESL lesson on clothes. Children learn clothing words, match them to the weather and build sentences with wear, put on and take off.
Math
K–2 math lessons built around hands-on routines, starting with telling time on analog and digital clocks.