Each grade level for Imagine Sonday System Essentials K–5 contains 180 lessons, one for each day of the school year. They are meant to be taught sequentially beginning with Lesson 1, and most lessons follow the same 5-step structure, helping you teach efficiently once you learn one basic routine.
Within each lesson, students work toward both automaticity and accuracy. A summary of each step is outlined below, with its associated goal and time allotment. In total, all 5 steps should take approximately 20 minutes to teach.
Steps 1 through 4 are a review of previously-learned material–that's why the goal for these steps is automaticity. As you teach, you can repeat sounds/words that you know students need to practice by adding slides back into the deck to repeat.
Step 5 is the only step that introduces new material.
Use the table below to learn more about each lesson.
Lesson Step
Time Limit
Goal
Description
1. Read Sounds
2 min
Automaticity
Students read each sound as you flip through the flashcards. Tracing is used as a means of error correction and to reinforce the right answers.
2. Spell Sounds
2 min
Automaticity
Students listen to you dictate sounds and write what they hear.
Tip
Have students write in pen rather than pencil. Not only will students consider it a fun privilege, but studies show it is easier for students to write using a pen. Furthermore, since students can't erase with pens, it will be easier for you to see what errors were made before error correction.
3. Read Words
4 min
Automaticity
Students read word lists. This step builds on what students have worked on in Steps 1 and 2 and uses words with the same sounds they've just practiced.
4. Spell Words
7 min
Automaticity
You read the practice word or sentence out loud and the students repeat it. You read it aloud once more and the students repeat it once more. Now that they've heard it four times, the students write it themselves.
Errors in this phase are corrected via Touch Spelling. Sentences are also checked for: C - Capitalization A - Appearance/Organization (and correct number of words) P - Punctuation S - Spelling
5. New Material
5 min
Accuracy
The New Material component of a lesson can contain sight words, sounds/blends/morphemes, and/or rules.
You directly teach a sound, its place value, and any additional information, if applicable. For example, "These are the letters ay, which make the sound /a/ as in 'day.' ay is found at the end of a word."
Students trace and write the sound multiple times. If they make reading errors, have them trace; if they make spelling errors, have them touch spell.
Note
If the lesson includes a Mastery Check, and occasionally in other lessons, Step 5 is eliminated in order to focus on review. These lessons should still total 20 minutes, and the extra time will be redistributed to Steps 3 and/or 4.
Note
After every lesson in Essentials, there is an optional Worksheet for Independent Practice. This should be completed outside of the allotted lesson time.
Mastery Checks are included after every five to ten lessons, depending on the grade level.