Early Reading Lessons (pre-k and kinder)

In teaching my daughters to read, I rotate between a few different theories. I take care to focus on the letter sounds and not the names (although they seem to pick the names up in passing).

We use the following books (I’m not an Amazon affiliate, these are just the books I use):

Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons. I use this as a framework for my lessons. I currently skip the writing part to accommodate my daughter’s needs.

Learn to Read Activity Book. I love how this workbook adds kinetic learning, but it’s not enough by itself. The illustrations make me happy, too.

Learn to Read for Kids with Dyslexia. I use this because my kids have a 95% chance of being dyslexic. Besides, the activities focus on skills my daughter is struggling with.

What Your Preschooler Needs to Know. Out of any book, this is the least necessary. I use it for the stories and the poems. Most of those are free online if you looked.

our schedule is as follows:

  1. /m/ sound: 100L lesson 1; LtR lesson 2; Make a Monster
  2. /s/ sound: 100L lesson 2; LtR lesson 4; Squiggly Spaghetti
  3. /a/ sound: 100L lesson 3; LtR lesson 1; Apple stamping
  4. Rhyming: 100L lesson 4; Dyslexia activities 1 and 3; the following poems:
    • Rain, Rain Go Away
    • Diddle Diddle Dumpling
    • Kookaburra
    • It’s Raining, it’s Pouring
    • A Hunting We Will Go
    • Three Little Kittens
    • Star Light, Star Bright
    • There Was a Crooked Man
    • Hey Diddle Diddle
    • Hickory Dickory Dock
  5. Rhyming: 100L lesson 5; Rhyme Reveal (or Dyslexia activity 2); the following poems:
    • Humpty Dumpty
    • Jack and Jill
    • Bat, Bat
    • Peter Peter Pumpkin Eater
    • Jack Be Nimble
  6. Counting Words: 100L lesson 6; Dyslexia activity 5; The Following poems:
    • Who Stole the Cookies from the Cookie Jar?
    • One for the Money
    • B-I-N-G-O
    • Pease Porridge Hot
    • Itsy Bitsy (Eensy Weensy) Spider
    • Patacake
    • Row, Row, Row Your Boat
    • Three Blind Mice
    • Once I Caught a Fish Alive
    • Are You Sleeping?
    • Polly Put the Kettle On
    • One Potato, Two Potato
  7. /t/ sound: 100L lesson 7; LtR lesson 3; Tractor Tire Tracks in the mud
  8. Review: 100L lesson 8; LtR lesson 5; The Following Poems:
    • Pussy Cat, Pussy Cat
    • A Hunting we will Go
    • The Old Woman Must Stand at the Tub
    • Hickety Pickety, My Black Hen
    • One Misty, Moisty Morning
    • This Little Piggy
    • Where is Thumbkin?
    • Here We Go Looby Loo
    • Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes
    • Rockabye Baby
  9. /r/ sound: 100L lesson 9; LtR lesson 9; Rainbow Ribbon Dancing
  10. Counting Words: 100L lesson 10; Dyslexia activities 7,8; “Apple Pear,” music sounds (Youtube)
  11. Beginning sounds: 100L lesson 11; Dyslexia activities 9, 11; The Following Poems:
    • Do You Know the Muffin Man?
    • John Jacob Jingleheimer Schmidt
    • Betty Botter
    • Peter Piper
    • To Market, To Market
    • Wee Willy Winky
    • A Tisket, a Tasket
    • Baa Baa Black Sheep
    • Little Boy Blue
    • Little Miss Muffet
  12. /d/ sound: 100L lesson 12; LtR lesson 8; Delicious Donuts for Daisy Dolly
  13. Comprehension: 100L lesson 13; the following:
    • The Story of Goldilocks and the Three Bears
    • I Know an Old Lady
    • Old MacDonald
    • The Wheels on the Bus
    • Th Teddy Bears’ Picnic
  14. /i/ sound: 100L lesson 14; LtR lesson 6; Inchworms
  15. /f/ sound: 100L lesson 15; LtR lesson 7; Feathery Flamingos
  16. /th/ sound: 100L lesson 16; LtR lesson 84; Search for the /th/ief
  17. Review/blending: 100L lesson 17; LtR lesson 10; the following:
    • Doctor Foster
    • Ride a Cock Horse
    • Tom, Tom, the Piper’s Son
    • Once I Saw a Little Bird
    • Bobby Shaftoe
    • Ring Around the Rosey
    • Lucy Locket
    • Two little Dickey Birds
    • Here Is the Beehive
    • Open Shut Them
  18. Compound words: 100L lesson 18, Dyslexia lessons 13, 19; the following:
    • The Gingerbread Man
    • You Are My Sunshine
    • Here We Go Round the Mulberry Bush
    • Pop Goes the Weasel
    • I’m a Little Teapot
  19. /c/ sound: 100L lesson 19; LtR lesson 18; C is for Cookie, of course!
  20. syllables: 100L lesson 20; Dyslexia activities 14, 15; The Following
    • The story of Why Flies Buzz
    • Hot Cross Buns
    • Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear
    • Oats, Peas, Beans, and Barley Grow
    • Yankee Doodle
  21. /o/ sound: 100L lesson 21; LtR lesson 11; Chain-link Octopus
  22. blending syllables: 100L lesson 22; Dyslexia activities 17, 18;
    • The Little Red Hen
    • Five Little Monkeys
    • This is the way the Ladies Ride
    • Oh Where, Oh Where Has My Little Dog Gone?
    • Hush Little Baby
  23. /n/ sound: 100L lesson 23; LtR lesson 20; Nighttime slime
  24. beginning sounds: 100L lesson 24; Dyslexia activities 24, 25, 26; and the following:
    • The story of The Three Little Pigs
    • Oh, Dear, What Can the Matter Be?
    • Did You Ever See a Lassie?
    • Lazy Mary
    • 5 Little Ducks
  25. /f/ sound review: 100L lesson 25; NtK page 166; Fidgety Fish
  26. onset/rime: 100L lesson 26; Dyslexia activities 20, 21, 22; the following:
    • The story of How Turtles Got their Shells
    • There Was an Old Woman Who Lived in a Shoe
    • Mary Had a Little Lamb
    • Little Bo Peep
    • One, Two, Buckle My Shoe
  27. /u/ sound: 100L lesson 27; LtR lesson 17; Upside down Umbrellas
  28. middle sounds: 100L lesson 28; Dyslexia activity 32, 33, 35; The following:
    • The story of the Lion and the Mouse
    • Tippety Tippety
    • Twinkle Twinkle Little Star
    • Do Your Ears Hang Low?
    • If You’re Happy and You Know It
  29. /l/ sound: 100L lesson 29; LtR lesson 13; magic lamp
  30. /ck/ and ending sounds: 100L lesson 30; Dyslexia activities 28, 29, 31; The following:
    • The story of The City Mouse and the Country Mouse
    • Mary, Mary, Quite Contrary
    • The Wise Old Owl
    • Little Jack Horner
    • Old Mother Hubbard
  31. /w/ sound: 100L lesson 31; LtR lesson 26; Weave Webs
  32. /h/ sound: 100L lesson 32; LtR lesson ; Painted hand horse
  33. /g/ sound: 100L lesson 33; Ltr lesson ; Grow a Garden
  34. the word I: 100L lesson 34; LtR lesson 82
  35. /sh/ sound: 100L lesson 35; LtR lessons 86 and 87; Shark puppets
  36. practice reading: 100L lesson 36; LtR lessons 15 and 88; Dyslexia 38 and 41
  37. long a sound: 100L lesson 37; Dyslexia lesson 58; I ate an acorn (peanut butter cookies and kisses)
  38. /b/ sound: 100L lesson 38; LtR lesson 19; Dyslexia 31
  39. /h/ review: 100L lesson 39
  40. listening: 100L lesson 40; Dyslexia lessons 37, 40
  41. /k/ sound: 100L lesson 41; LtR lesson 23
  42. practice reading: 100L lesson 42; LtR lesson 21
  43. segmenting: 100L lesson 43; Dyslexia 42, 43
  44. long o sound: 100L lesson 44; Dyslexia 34,61
  45. /v/ sound: 100L lesson 45; LtR lesson 24
  46. comparing sounds: 100L lesson 46; Dyslexia 47,48
  47. add/subtract sounds: 100L lesson 47; Dyslexia 50, 51, 54
  48. /p/ sounds: 100L lesson 48; LtR lesson 30
  49. /ar/ sound
  50. /ch/ sound: 100L lesson 50; LtR lessons 82, 83
  51. practice reading: 100L lesson 51; LtR lesson 27
  52. short e sound: 100L lesson 52; Dyslexia 59
  53. add/subtract sounds: 100L lesson 53; Dyslexia 52, 53
  54. /b/ review
  55. ?
  56. -ing
  57. ?
  58. long i sound: 100L 58; Dyslexia 60
  59. ?
  60. /y/ sound
  61. /x/ sound
  62. /er/ sound
  63. ?
  64. ?
  65. /oo/ sound: 100L 65; dyslexia lesson 62
  66. /z/ sound
  67. /j/ sound
  68. practice reading: 100L 68; LtR lesson 33
  69. /wh/ sound
  70. ?
  71. long y sound
  72. letter names
  73. long u sound
  74. /qu/ sounds
  75. letter names
  76. letter names
  77. letter names
  78. letter names
  79. letter names
  80. /ea/ sound
  81. ?
  82. capital letters
  83. capital letters
  84. capital letters
  85. capital letters
  86. capital letters
  87. ?
  88. /ai/ sound
  89. /ou/ sound
  90. ?
  91. ?
  92. ?
  93. ?
  94. ?
  95. ?
  96. ?
  97. ?
  98. ?
  99. ?
  100. ?