Planning a Year of First Grade Spelling Activities

If you’re a first grade teacher, it can feel a little daunting to keep track of all the things our littles are expected to learn over the course of the year. From ELA to math, there’s a whole lot to cover! Over the years, one of my biggest pain points was our spelling activities. After all, there’s a lot to teach when it comes to first-grade spelling! If you’re nodding your head in agreement and looking for a better way, don’t worry – I’ve gotcha covered! Let’s talk about planning a whole year of first grade spelling activities the easy way!

Benefits of Planning for the Whole Year

Are you an annual planner? I can say wholeheartedly, that I most certainly am! While I might not plan every week down to the minute, I do enjoy planning a high-level overview of what we’ll focus on month by month. Now I know at first glance this might feel a little overwhelming, but stick with me! If you’re burnt out on spending tons of time planning, only to feel like you’re still unorganized – I get you! In fact, I was you!

Planning, and especially planning for a whole year of first grade spelling activities used to really stress me out. Back in the early days of my teaching career, I struggled to find a better way to make all the “moving parts” and standards work together. How on earth was everyone else doing it?! If you can relate, I know you’re going to love what I have for you today. Over the years, I have found there are numerous benefits to planning for the whole year at once, especially when it comes to first-grade spelling activities. If you’re ready to say goodbye to the overwhelm and hello to simplified planning, let’s talk benefits!

Stay on Track with First Grade Spelling Activities & Standards

This image shows a teacher that is stressed out while planning.

First off, this is probably the most obvious benefit. When you take the time to plan for the whole year, it’s much easier to stay on task with your lessons. What I mean by this is that as teachers, we have so much to keep our eye on. With all of our subjects and standards to cover, annual planning is essential to stay organized and ensure you have enough time to cover the essentials.

When you plan for the whole year, you can space out your lessons, account for the trickier topics, and see what’s coming next. This was a huge stress reliever for me when it came to our first grade spelling activities. No more worrying that you missed something, or feel like you are running out of time. Having the whole year laid out in one place eliminates this problem with ease!

Progress Tracking Made Easy

Does planning assessment time stress you out too? If so, I’ve got good news! When you plan for a whole year, you’ll be able to easily plan when you will assess and track progress. There will be natural breaks in your lessons where assessment fits perfectly. I love seeing this mapped out for the whole school year and knowing exactly how and when we will be spending time on progress reports. No more last minute progress tracking!

Remove the Guesswork

Teachers are busy people. I know you can relate! By choosing to plan for the whole year at once, you will make your life a little bit easier and take the guesswork out of your weekly/monthly planning routine. Once you decide how to pace out your first grade spelling lessons, all you have to do is assign them by month. Then when that month rolls around you can break those lessons up and remove the guesswork. No more starting from scratch and using that precious brain power to get organized each month! Just open up that calendar, take a look at your plan, and get to teaching!

First-Grade Spelling Lessons and Topics

Before we dive into how I plan for the whole year, let’s touch briefly on the topics that I cover in my classroom. As I mentioned, there are a lot of spelling patterns to learn in first grade. Luckily, we’ve got a whole year to do it. And when I take the time to plan and pace our lessons accordingly, we can take each lesson in bite-size chunks!

Here are the topics we cover in first grade:

This image showcases an example of first grade spelling plans for the year.

CVC Words
Digraphs
CCVC Beginning Blends
CVCC Ending Blends
Magic E
Bossy R
Vowel Teams
Spelling Rules
Three Letter Blends
Contractions

If you’re a first-grade teacher, I’m sure you also have a trusty list just like this one to help you recall all of the important skills you need to cover in your spelling lessons. Having a list of all your spelling topics is key to plotting out your lessons for the year since you’ll need to break these topics down even further. If you don’t have a list of topics, you’re in luck – today I’m sharing mine!

My Go-To Spot for First Grade Spelling Lessons

Alright friends now that we know what we’re teaching and why we’re planning for the year at once, let’s talk about the HOW to plan easily and quickly! In my room, I needed a better way. I found myself starting over from ground zero year after year as I planned our first grade spelling lessons and let me tell you it wore me out! Finally, I decided that I would compile all of the skills and spelling patterns we needed to focus on and create a document that I could refer to for effortless annual planning. My goal was to make it as easy as possible so that I could spend less time planning and more time teaching.

First Grade Spelling by Unit

This image shows a closer look at the resources and topics covered in Unit 1 of my first grade spelling plans.

To do this, I spent some time writing out everything we needed to cover. Then, I split our first grade spelling topics into 10 different units. Each unit covers one of the skills referenced above. Finally, I broke each unit down into small lessons. For example, in Unit 1, we’re learning about CVC words and digraphs. This can be further broken down into:

CVC words
beginning digraphs
ending digraphs
review

Once I had my lessons broken down into small, manageable pieces, it was super simple to plug in spelling lessons and digital activities to support each topic. I have to tell you guys… this method was a total game-changer!

Once I created this guide, broke our spelling skills into units, and then broke them down into lessons, planning for the whole year was effortless. I could simply pop open my document, assign lessons to each month, and then move on to my next planning task! No more starting over from scratch! The best part though is that I was able to eliminate the mental fatigue that came along with planning our spelling activities month after month. That alone made this process a win for me!

Simplify Your Own First-Grade Spelling Activities

Are you loving the sound of this approach? I’ve got good news! I made a reference sheet for you to use when you plan your first grade spelling lessons! Enter your email below to be sent access to the exact same planning sheet that I use in my room. This tool includes the 10 different units we focus on, as well as the broken-down lessons for each unit. This will streamline and simplify your planning, and not to mention – SAVE YOU TIME!

As an added bonus, I have also linked all of the resources that I use in my spelling lessons within this reference sheet. In my room, we use a blend of digital and printable resources to practice our first grade spelling skills. Over the years, I have found this to be my tried and true method for success! Grab the freebie so that you can test out my method for planning a year of first grade spelling activities. I know once you get started, you’ll be hooked on this super simple process!

How to Use This First Grade Spelling Activities Guide

This image shows an example of how to use links to resources with the first grade spelling plans.

Once you download the guide, you’ll be able to use the same process I do to plan out our lessons for the year! Inside you’ll see all 10 Units we cover and how I break down each unit into lessons. Use these topics to pace out your spelling lessons by week. I do this with a blank planner and assigning a topic to each week. You can also select a few topics for each month and assign weekly as you move through the year.

In my room, as we progress through the units, I use a combination of Boom Cards and printables associated with each skill. The specific activities we use are also linked in this reference guide. We use them as whole-class teaching activities and reviews, independent learning activities during centers or stations, early finisher activities, homework assignments, interventions, and more! When it is time for detailed plans, I just open this guide and plug and decide on the exact activities I will use.

Once you download your list, be sure to save it on your desktop, or “star” it in Google Drive. I think once you start using this tool, you’ll find that it’s your go-to method for planning first grade spelling lessons in a flash. It’s definitely served that purpose for me!

Looking for More First Grade Spelling Resources?

I love teaching spelling to first graders! I have tons of great posts and resources to help make this easier in your room. Click the links below to check out some of my favorites!