If you’re NOT using cursive first then my SWR lesson plan doesn’t help because that threw things off. This is the layout of steps combing the two books, the teacher’s guide (SWR) and the spelling list (WISE Guide) presuming your child already is printing well. Any lesson that is for the teacher to do on their own (prep stuff) I specified as TEACHER PREP – those do NOT involve the kids. It’s reading & explanation for you to prepare for further lessons.
Each numbered step is NOT a single lesson – it may take awhile or it may be something you can do on the same day as other lessons. For example, #9 says WISE A (first spelling list.) That would be the step you work on for the entire week as you review phonogram cards (M) then introduce the spelling words (T) and review them (W) then play a game to enforce them (Th) and do the test (F.)
WISE lists A through G are single lists of spelling words, 20 each. After that the lettered sections change and are H1, H2, etc. Each of those is listed as a different step and each WISE section has 20 words so you can assign 5, 10, 20, 40 words per week – whatever works for your child, but I wrote this up assuming you do 20 words (one complete list) per week.
I wrote this up to give myself the week by week outline but obviously that’s totally flexible and this gives you the order of the lesson but they can easily be smooshed together/spread out as you need.
Week One
1. TEACHER PREP: SWR lessons 1 to 4 (have kids entertain themselves! This is going to take some time to read through, prep your flashcards, and learn the program.)
– Plan Before Teaching (explains program)
– Prepare Preschoolers (but really all ages)
– Read Aloud (hooray, an easy lesson!)
– Evaluate Achievement Level (for each student starting)
Week Two
2. SWR 5: introduce student to phonogram sounds/cards (make it fun – games, phonogram bingo, treasure hunt for sound cards, etc)
3. SWR 6 & 7: writing alphabet & numbers neatly (make sure their print is legible)
Week Three
4. SWR 8: intro to learning log for student
5. SWR 9: vowel & consonant page in LL (learning log)
6. SWR 10: multi letter phonogram page in LL
7. SWR 11: placement test for WISE
Week Four
8. SWR 12: prep to start WISE (TEACHER PREP)
– phonogram and handwriting review for kids
Week Five
9. WISE A (first spelling list for students this week)
10. SWR 13: Reinforce spelling (TEACHER PREP)
11. SWR 14: Classic literature (TEACHER PREP)
Week Six
12. SWR 15: number page in LL (Mon.)
13. WISE B
Week Seven
14: WISE C
15. SWR 16: grammar (TEACHER PREP)
Week Eight
16. SWR 17: final E (Mon.)
17. WISE D
Week Nine
18. WISE E
19. SWR 18: start sh and ti
Week Ten
20. SWR 19: AEIOU page in LL (Mon)
21. WISE F
Week Eleven
22. SWR 20: drill rules cards on Mondays w/phonogram cards (TEACHER PREP)
23. WISE G
24. SWR 21: start composing own sentences (TEACHER PREP)
Week Twelve
25. WISE H1
Week Thirteen
26. WISE H2
27. SWR 22: explain ed
Week Fourteen
28. WISE I1
29. SWR 23: reading in books assigned (TEACHER PREP)
Week Fifteen
30. WISE I2
31. SWR 24: vocabulary
32. SWR 25: abbreviations
Week Sixteen
33. WISE I3
Week Seventeen
34. WISE I4
Week Eighteen
35. WISE J1
36. SWR 26: er page
Week Nineteen
37. WISE J2
Week Twenty
38. WISE J3
39. SWR 27: plurals
Week Twenty-One
40: WISE J4
Week Twenty-Two
41. WISE J5
42. SWR 28: contractions
Week Twenty-Three
43. WISE J6
Weeks Forward:
WISE Sections K through Z and they alternate with further lessons in the SWR guide. Each section lists the preliminary work that needs to be done on Monday and will include any SWR lessons that need to be done before the students start the spelling words on Tuesday.
For the record, I do NOT follow all the steps. I skip some preliminaries, I don’t always have the kids write the stuff in their reference section in back. I don’t always make them mark their words with the red pencil – it depends on how they are doing with the spelling words and how lazy I am. Since my kids are still young and this program has you review past words I figure we can go more in depth each time we review.
Also in the back of the SWR book there are suggested lesson plans and a ton of resources. It’s a lot to take in, give yourself at least a week of preparation & learning time!