1st Grade · Reading · RF.1.2.C, RF.1.3.A
Ending Sounds Lesson Plan for 1st Grade
A ready-to-teach ending sounds lesson for 1st Grade, built around final consonant sounds, double ss, ending digraphs sh, ch and th, and ending blends nd, st and mp. Print the plan, print the practice pages, and you are set.
Approximately 47 minutes
Learning objective
- Hear and write the last sound in a word
- Spell ending digraphs sh, ch and th
- Spell ending blends nd, st and mp
Materials
- Ending Sounds T, N and P
- Ending Sounds G, D and B
- Ending Sounds M, S and X
- Ending Digraphs Sh, Ch and Th
- Ending Blends Nd, St and Mp
- Ending Sounds Review
- Pencils, and whiteboard space for the modeled examples
Lesson steps
1. Build the background (5 min)
Introduce ending sounds in plain language and connect it to a book the class already knows. Write the key term where students can see it all lesson. For 1st Grade, one clear sentence beats a full definition.
2. Read aloud and think aloud (I do) (10 min)
Read a short passage aloud. Stop twice and narrate your own thinking about ending sounds: what you noticed in the text and what made you notice it. Students are learning the move, not the answer.
3. Guided practice (we do) (12 min)
Read a second passage together. This time students find the evidence and you record it. Push every answer back to the text with "what words told you that?"
4. Independent practice (you do) (15 min)
Hand out "Ending Sounds T, N and P". Students read and answer on their own. Circulate and ask individuals to point to the line in the text that supports their answer.
5. Share and close (5 min)
Two or three students share an answer and the evidence behind it. Restate ending sounds one final time in the students' own words, not yours.
Check for understanding
Ask each student to point to the evidence in the text for one of their answers. A student who has the right answer but cannot find the line has not yet learned ending sounds.
Differentiation
Extra support. Students who stall: pull them into a small group and rebuild ending sounds with concrete materials or a simpler text before asking for the written work again. Do not send the page home as homework, it will just rehearse the misunderstanding.
Extension. Students who finish early: ask them to write their own ending sounds problem for a partner to solve, then check the partner's work. Creating a problem is harder than solving one and it surfaces whether they really understand ending sounds.
Skills covered in this lesson
Ending sounds practice
