The Cornerstone School · grades K–5
Early Literacy & Phonics
The code of written English, taught in the order the ear learns it — sounds first, letters next, books soon after.
Letter names, letter sounds, and the difference between them — the first honest step toward reading.
Two letters working together — blends, digraphs, silent e, and vowel teams, in the order that keeps them straight.
Syllabus · 4 units · ~18 hours
Unit I — Consonant Blends
Beginning blends: bl, st, tr · Ending blends: -nd, -st, -mp · Reading blend words in sentences
Unit II — Digraphs
Two letters, one sound: sh, ch, th · wh and ck · Digraph or blend? Telling them apart
Unit III — The Silent e
How e changes the vowel: can to cane · Practicing a_e, i_e, o_e · Silent-e words in real sentences
Unit IV — Vowel Teams
Vowel teams: ai, ea, oa, ee · The stubborn exceptions · Long-vowel words in longer sentences
Rereading, phrasing, and expression — the practice that turns decoding into reading that sounds like talk.
Syllabus · 3 units · ~15 hours
Unit I — From Sounding Out to Sight
Rereading until words come whole · Phrases, not word-by-word · Punctuation tells your voice what to do
Unit II — Reading Aloud
Pace: not a race · Expression and character voices · Listening to a recording of yourself read
Unit III — Decodable Books to Real Books
Choosing a just-right book · What to do when a word will not yield · Reading a whole book across several days
Longer words come apart into pieces with meaning — syllables, affixes, and roots for reading past the easy books.
Syllabus · 3 units · ~12 hours
Unit I — Syllables
Clapping the beats in a word · Open and closed syllables · Dividing longer words in order to read them
Unit II — Prefixes and Suffixes
un-, re-, pre-: what they do to meaning · -ful, -less, -ly · Spelling changes when suffixes attach
Unit III — Roots and Word Families
One root, many words: port, tract, spect · Working out meaning from the parts · Building the longest true word you can