Phonics & Decoding Foundations (K-3)

92 core topics + 11 prerequisite topics taught as needed · approximately 27 hours of instruction including spaced review

How the course runs

An adaptive diagnostic (up to 40 questions) places the student on the course's knowledge graph - topics already known are credited, and instruction begins exactly at the learning frontier. Every topic is taught with a worked-example lesson and auto-graded practice; a topic is mastered at 75%+ and then maintained through spaced reviews on an expanding schedule. Mixed checks follow every 6 lessons; each unit ends with a 12-item quiz, and course-wide assessments appear at 25%, 50%, 75%, and 100% mastery. Prerequisite gaps below the course are detected and taught rather than skipped, so completion certifies the whole tower, not just the top.

Core curriculum

Phonological & Phonemic Awareness · 11 topics

Hearing Rhymes [E]	Tell when two words end with the same sound.
Finding the Word That Does Not Rhyme [E]	Pick the odd word out of a rhyming set.
Counting Syllables [E]	Break a word into its beats.
Hearing the First Sound [E]	Tell which sound a word starts with.
Hearing the Last Sound [E]	Tell which sound a word ends with.
Hearing the Middle Vowel Sound [E]	Find the vowel sound in the middle of a short word.
Blending Sounds into Words [M]	Push separate sounds together to make a word.
Breaking Words into Sounds [M]	Split a word into every separate sound.
Taking a Sound Away [M]	Say a word again with one sound removed.
Changing One Sound [M]	Swap one sound for another to make a new word.
Words That Begin Alike [E]	Group words by their beginning sound.

Phonics: Letters, Sounds & Short Vowels · 6 topics

Capital and Lowercase Letters [E]	Match every capital letter to its lowercase partner.
Letter Sounds [E]	Say the sound each letter stands for.
Short Vowel Sounds [E]	Hear and write the five short vowel sounds.
Reading Short Words [M]	Sound out and read consonant-vowel-consonant words.
Spelling Short Words [M]	Write the letter for each sound you hear.
Word Families [E]	Read a whole set of words by learning one ending.

High-Frequency Words & Sight Vocabulary · 3 topics

Recognizing High-Frequency Words [E]	Know the most common words on sight, instantly.
High-Frequency Words in Sentences [E]	Use common words correctly inside a real sentence.
Heart Words [E]	Learn the tricky part of words phonics will not crack.

Phonics: Consonant Blends & Digraphs · 11 topics

Digraphs at the Start of a Word [E]	Read sh, ch, th, wh and ph at the beginning of a word.
Digraphs at the End of a Word [E]	Read sh, ch, th, ck and ng at the end of a word.
Counting Sounds, Not Letters [M]	Count the sounds in a word that contains a digraph.
ph Says /f/ [E]	Read ph as the f sound.
Blends at the Start of a Word [M]	Read two and three consonants blended together at the start of a word.
Blends at the End of a Word [M]	Read blends like -nd, -mp, -st and -nk at the end of a word.
Three-Letter Blends [M]	Read str, spr, scr, thr and spl.
Blend or Digraph? [M]	Tell a blend from a digraph by listening to the sounds.
Reading Blend and Digraph Words [M]	Sound out and read a word containing a blend or a digraph.
Spelling Blends and Digraphs [M]	Write the right letters for a blend or digraph you hear.
-ng and -nk [M]	Hear the difference between the endings in ring and rink.

Phonics: Silent-e & Long Vowels · 8 topics

Long Vowel Sounds [E]	Hear a vowel saying its own name.
One Letter Changes the Word [M]	Add or remove a silent e and read the new word.
Short Vowel or Long Vowel? [M]	Decide from the spelling whether a vowel is short or long.
Reading Silent-e Words [M]	Read a silent-e word accurately, without dropping the e.
Spelling with Silent e [M]	Decide whether a word needs a silent e at the end.
Open Syllables: go, he, my [M]	Read a long vowel that got that way by ending the word.
The Silent e Makes No Sound [M]	Count the sounds in a silent-e word without counting the e.
When Silent e Breaks the Rule [M]	Know the common words where a final e does not make the vowel long.

Phonics: Vowel Teams & Diphthongs · 9 topics

What a Vowel Team Is [M]	Find the letters that team up to spell one vowel sound in a word.
Long a: ai and ay [M]	Read long a spelled with the vowel teams ai and ay.
Long e: ee and ea [M]	Read long e spelled with the vowel teams ee and ea.
Long o: oa and ow [M]	Read long o spelled with the vowel teams oa and ow.
Long i and Long u: igh, ie, ew, ue [M]	Read long i spelled igh or ie, and long u spelled ew or ue.
Which Spelling Goes Where [H]	Choose the right vowel team for a word from the way the word is built.
The Two Sounds of oo [M]	Decide which of its two sounds the vowel team oo is making.
Sounds That Are Neither Long Nor Short [H]	Read the vowel sounds in coin, cloud and saw.
One Team, Two Jobs [H]	Try a team's other sound when the first one does not make a real word.

Phonics: R-Controlled Vowels & Soft C, G · 9 topics

When the r Takes Over the Vowel [M]	Find the vowel that an r has changed, and tell it from an r that only starts a blend.
ar Says /ar/ [M]	Read the /ar/ sound, and know the words where a w changes it.
or Says /or/ [M]	Read the /or/ sound, and know the words where a w changes it.
er, ir, ur: One Sound, Three Spellings [M]	Hear that er, ir and ur all make the same sound.
Choosing Between er, ir, and ur [H]	Pick the right spelling of the /er/ sound for a particular word.
Sorting the Five R-Controlled Spellings [M]	Group ar, or, er, ir and ur by the sound each one makes.
Soft c: When c Says /s/ [M]	Decide whether a c says /k/ or /s/ by looking at the letter after it.
Soft g: When g Says /j/ [M]	Read soft g, and know the common words that break the rule.
The Letter After Decides [H]	Use the following letter to predict what a c or g will say, even in a new word.

Syllable Types & Syllable Division · 9 topics

Counting Syllables by Vowel Sounds [M]	Count the syllables in a written word by counting its vowel sounds.
Closed Syllables: The Vowel Is Short [M]	Recognize a syllable that ends in a consonant and know its vowel is short.
Open Syllables: The Vowel Is Long [M]	Recognize a syllable that ends in a vowel and know that vowel is long.
Open or Closed? Deciding the Vowel Sound [M]	Use the last letter of a syllable to predict whether its vowel is long or short.
The Six Kinds of Syllable [M]	Name which of the six syllable types a chunk of a word is.
Two Consonants in the Middle [M]	Divide a word between two middle consonants and read the closed first syllable.
One Consonant in the Middle: Try Long First [H]	Divide a word with one middle consonant by trying the long vowel first, then flexing.
The -le Ending Takes One Consonant With It [M]	Split off a consonant-le ending and use what is left to set the first vowel.
Reading a Long Word You Have Never Seen [H]	Chunk an unfamiliar multisyllable word and read it one syllable at a time.

Endings, Plurals & Contractions · 9 topics

More Than One: Adding -s [M]	Make a naming word mean more than one by adding -s.
When a Word Hisses: Adding -es [M]	Add -es to words that end in s, x, z, ch, or sh.
Words That End in y [M]	Decide whether a y changes to i by looking at the letter before it.
Words That End in f or fe [M]	Change f to v before the plural ending on the words that take it.
Plurals That Do Not Take an Ending [M]	Use the plural of words that change instead of adding -s.
The -s That Means One, Not Many [H]	Tell a plural -s on a naming word from a verb -s that marks one doer.
Adding -ed and -ing [H]	Apply the doubling, drop-e and y-to-i rules when an ending goes on.
Two Words Made Into One [H]	Match a contraction to the two words it stands for, both ways.
Where the Apostrophe Goes [H]	Place the apostrophe exactly where the missing letters used to be.

Spelling Patterns & Rules · 9 topics

Doubling at the End of a Short Word [M]	Double a final f, l, s or z after one short vowel.
Spelling /k/ at the End: ck, k or ke [M]	Choose ck, k or ke for the /k/ sound at the end of a word.
The Extra Letter a Short Vowel Asks For [M]	Write tch and dge after a short vowel, ch and ge everywhere else.
Same Sound, Different Place in the Word [M]	Use ai and oi inside a word, and ay, oy and y at the end.
Letters You Cannot Hear [H]	Spell words that keep a letter nobody says.
ie or ei [H]	Choose between ie and ei using the sound and the letter before it.
The /shun/ Ending: -tion, -sion or -cian [H]	Choose between -tion, -sion and -cian at the end of a word.
The Vowel You Cannot Hear [H]	Find an unstressed vowel by saying a related word out loud.
Catching It and Naming the Rule [H]	Find the misspelled word in a sentence and say which rule fixes it.

Reading Fluency & Prosody · 8 topics

What the End Mark Tells Your Voice [M]	Read a line the way its end mark says to read it.
Reading in Groups, Not One Word at a Time [M]	Group the words in a line the way they belong before you read it aloud.
Where the Marks Say Pause [M]	Pause where a comma is and stop where an end mark is, and nowhere else.
The Word You Lean On [H]	Choose which word to stress, and know what stressing it tells a listener.
Reading a Character's Voice [H]	Say only the quoted words in the character's voice, the way the tag says.
A Line Is Not a Sentence [H]	Read a poem by its punctuation instead of stopping at every line break.
Catching Yourself and Going Back [H]	Notice when what you read stopped making sense, and find the word to fix.
What Smooth Reading Is Made Of [H]	Name the five parts of fluent reading and tell which one a reader missed.

Prerequisite material - taught automatically when the diagnostic finds gaps

Sentence & Capitalization Basics · 4 topics

What Makes a Sentence	Tell a complete sentence from a group of words.
Naming Part and Telling Part	Split a sentence into who it is about and what happens.
Capital Letters and End Marks	Start every sentence with a capital and end it with a mark.
Choosing the Right End Mark	Use a period, question mark, or exclamation point.

Prefixes & Suffixes · 7 topics

Finding the Base Word	Strip the extra parts off a word to find the word underneath.
What a Prefix Means	Know what the common prefixes do to a word.
Using a Prefix to Read a Word	Work out what a prefixed word means without being told.
What a Suffix Means	Know what the common suffixes add to a word.
Using a Suffix to Read a Word	Work out what a word with a suffix means.
Building Words from Parts	Put a prefix, base word, and suffix together into one word.
Spelling Changes When You Add an Ending	Apply the three rules for adding a suffix to a base word.

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