Teaching kids to blend, or combine, sounds in order to pronounce new words is an important element to first grade reading. Segmenting the sounds that make up a word, and then blending those sounds to pronounce them correctly, can be a tricky skill to master. This lesson helps take first graders through this process, with guided practice and helpful examples.

Understanding how to pronounce the short I sound, such as in pill and film, is important for first graders encountering words they don't know. This guided lesson teaches kids all about the Short I sound, and provides lots of examples of short I words. Targeted practice like this helps to reinforce kids' understanding of short vowel sounds and boosts phonemic awareness, upon which lifelong reading skills are based.

First graders' fluidity with comparing numbers is an important building block for the higher-level math concepts to come in the later grades. You can give first graders a leg up with this lesson, featuring guided instruction and practice problems in comparing numbers. Once kids get through this lesson, you can download and print the suggested comparing numbers worksheets in order to provide even more opprotunities for practice.