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Sample
The First Stage
Reading Program
Teacher’s Edition
© First Stage Publishing Company
Dedicated to people
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THE FIRST STAGE READING PROGRAM
TEACHER‛S EDITION
Revised Edition  2011
Original Copyright  2000
By Thomas A. and Ruth L. Velasquez
First Stage Publishing Company
Authors: Thomas A. Velasquez and Ruth Lind Velasquez
Illustrator: Elia Velasquez Murray
Assistant Editor: Cheramie Johnson
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized in any form
or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by
any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from
the authors.
Table of Contents
Pages that correspond to the Student Reader are listed as (R # ).
Prologue
Chapter 4
A History of the English Alphabet..................ii
1 = one, (R 34)...............................................44
The First Stage Reading Program...................... iv
__ck, (R 35)................................................. 45
The Activity Key..........................................xi
H h, (R 36).....................................................47
Glossary of Terms .....................................xiii
_th_, (R 37)..................................................49
Review, (R 39)...............................................52
F f, ph_, (R 40).............................................53
Chapter 1
_ch_, _tch, (R 41)......................................55
The Alphabet Song, (R 3).............................2
sh_, (R 43).....................................................58
The Alphabet Story, (R 4)...........................3
a e i o u (The Long Vowels Song), (R 6).......5
Y and W (The Semivowels), (R 7)..................6
B b, (R 8)..........................................................7
Chapter 5
S s, (R 10)........................................................11
L l, (R 46)..................................................... 60
L l blends, (R 48)........................................................62
__le, (R 51)....................................................65
K k, (R 12).......................................................15
Review, (R 13)................................................17
Chapter 2
Review, (R 52)...............................................67
C c (k), (R 16)...............................................20
Chapter 6
C c (s), (R 17)...............................................22
R r, (R 54)......................................................70
D d, (R 18)......................................................23
Rh_, (R 55).....................................................71
b and d, (R 19)...............................................24
Read and Red, (R 56)..................................72
_d and _ed, (R 20) .................................... 25
R r vowel cominations, (R 57).....................73
Midbook Review, (R 62)..............................78
Chapter 3
T t, (R 22)..................................................... 28
M m, (R 25)....................................................32
Chapter 7
N n and kn = n, (R 26).................................33
R r digraph blends, (R 66).........................80
P p, (R 28)......................................................35
G g (g) as in go, (R 30)................................37
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Chapter 8
Chapter 13
R r trigraph blends, (R 74)........................94
O o (R 120)...................................................146
I i (R 124)....................................................151
E e (R 126)...................................................153
Review, (R 129) ..........................................156
Chapter 9
R r with the vowel o, (R 80)....................102
Review, (R 85).............................................107
Chapter 14
Y y, (R 132).................................................158
Z z, (R 135)..................................................162
Chapter 10
X x, (R 136).................................................163
J j, (R 90).....................................................110
Two or more syllables, (R 138)...................165
G g (j), as in gem, (R 91)............................112
Review, (R 140)...........................................167
G g blends, (R 93).......................................115
The Dictionary, (R 146)............................170
Review, (R 97)..............................................119
Dear Reader, (R 147)................................170
Index............................................................171
Chapter 11
V v, (R 100)................................................ 122
W w, (R 102)...............................................125
W w digraphs (R 103) ...............................127
W with vowels (R 109)..............................133
Chapter 12
U u (R 112)...................................................138
U u digraphs (R 113)..................................139
Qu, (R 116)...................................................142
Review , (R 118)...........................................144
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The Origin
The First Stage Reading Program is founded on
the Roman method of teaching reading. The Romans taught the
Western world how to read using a method that was based upon
learning consistent patterns of vowels and consonants in words. In
Latin, the words littera vocalis (vowel letter) means “sounding
letter” and littera consonans (consonant) means “letter sounded
with a sounding letter.”
Like the Roman alphabet, the English alphabet has two types of
letters: vowels and consonants. The English language is comprised
of two types of words: those with one syllable and those with two
or more syllables. The vowel is the dominant sound of a syllable.
The secret of reading English words is based upon learning to
interpret the patterns of the vowels and consonants that
represent the sounds that make up words.
The patterns of some words do not follow the generalizations of
English spellings that are taught in the First Stage program.
Some words in the English language have come from other
languages such as Greek or Latin and were originally pronounced or
spelled differently in English. For this reason, the authors of
dictionaries developed phonetic spellings, which indicate to
readers how words should be pronounced. A version of the
dictionary phonetic system is used throughout The First Stage
Reading Program to help students learn how to pronounce words.
Dictionary
Phonetic
Spelling
The Norman French
conquered England in 1066 A.D. and their scribes made changes to
English spellings in an effort to clear up confusion about their
printed letters. Until the 16th century no organized system of
spelling in English was generally accepted. Spelling varied from
writer to writer, but educated English speakers had begun to use
fairly consistent spelling patterns. Many began to be concerned
about their spelling. Richard Mulcaster addressed this problem
when he wrote the first English dictionary, a book entitled
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iv
Elementary on the Right Writing of Our English Tongue, published
in 1582.
Phonetic spellings found in dictionaries are consistent.
For
example, the phonetic spellings of the words by, bye and buy are
identical: (bī). The line above a vowel that is seen in (bī) is called a
macron. The macron indicates that the vowel underneath is
pronounced with a long vowel sound. When there is no macron, the
short vowel sound is represented as in bit (bit), bat (bat) and but
(but). The First Stage Reading Program's Student Reader uses
phonetic spellings to help students to pronounce words when they
are first introduced.
The Vowel Letters
The simplest syllable is the single vowel,
such as the (ō) in open. Single vowels represent long vowel sounds,
which happen to be the names used to refer to the vowel letters
(ā, ē, ī, ō, ū). The vowels “a” and “I” stand alone as words.
Understanding that long vowel sounds are the names used to refer
to the vowels can help beginning readers to understand that vowel
letters are symbols that represent sounds. Learning that letter
referred to as “a” represents the long vowel sound (ā) as in cake
(kāk) is more logical than being first taught that “a” represents
the short vowel sound (a) as in cat.
The Consonant Letters
Consonant letters indicate how the
lips, teeth and tongue are used with the breath in conjunction with
vowels to articulate words. In English words, consonants appear in
conjunction with vowel sounds and not in isolation. The ability to
read words aloud requires the understanding that letters
represent the formation of the lips, the placement of the tongue
and teeth, and the use of breath in creating sounds in words.
Provide hand mirrors to help students to see how their mouths are
formed when they make sounds.
One way of teaching consonants to students is to assign vocal
values to consonants. For example, students may be told that the
letter p represents the sound “puh,” the letter t represents “tuh,”
the letter b represents “buh,” etc. Unfortunately, the method of
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v
assigning vocal values to consonants, although well intentioned, can
confuse some students. Such vocal values are inconsistent and
rarely applicable when reading words. The words Peter Pan are not
pronounced (Puhētur Puhan). The letter p simply tells us to put
our lips together while expelling a strong puff of breath and
saying the vowels that immediately follow: (Pētur Pan). The full
pronunciation of the letter p is determined by the vowels and
consonants that immediately follow.
Homophones and Homographs
The words by, bye and buy
are examples of homophones, words that have the same sound
although they differ in meaning and spelling. For example, the
sentence “I bought a pair of pants and then I ate a pear”
illustrates that pair and pear are homophones.
Words such as bow (bō) and bow (bow) are homographs, words
that are spelled the same but have different meanings and may be
pronounced differently. Tears is a homograph, as evidenced in the
sentence “A baby cries tears, but a child tears paper.”
When homophones and homographs are being used, context is
essential in order to enable the students to differentiate the
meanings and pronunciations of the words.
Comprehension
Reading conveys information. The order of
words in each sentence and the order in which the sentences
appear in each paragraph are important to the reading process.
Sentence patterns in a paragraph are as important for
comprehension as letter patterns are in words. The context of a
sentence or story contains information that a student can use to
decode unfamiliar words and correct illogical assumptions.
Questions stimulate thinking and may often be answered in a
variety of ways.
Answering questions requires formulating
thoughts into words. Developing comprehension questions about a
subject can help to build students’ speaking and reading
vocabularies. Analytical questions can help a student to interpret
and retain what they are reading. It is beneficial for new readers
to build comprehensive and analytical abilities and techniques early
in the process of learning to read.
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The Alphabet Story
R 4-5
The Long Vowel Generalizations
When a single-syllable word ends in
a vowel, the long vowel sound is
pronounced as in be, he, no, so, my
and hi.
The rhyme, “When two vowels go
walking, the first one does the
talking” explains that the first vowel
in
a
single-syllable
word
is
pronounced and the second is silent
as in see, say, Bea, key, pie, toe
and Sue.
When a single consonant is between
two vowels, the first vowel letter
represents the long vowel sound, and
the second one is silent as in nose,
name, Pete, bike, and cube.
The Short Vowel Generalization
When a word has only one vowel and
ends in a consonant sound, the vowel
represents a short vowel sound as
at, is, up, bat, set, pin, dot and cup.
Objectives



to introduce the students to The Vowel Story
to teach the long vowel sound generalizations
to introduce the short vowel sound generalizations
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Activities:
In order to help the students to
understand the Long and Short
Vowel Generalizations, have them
look at the illustration of The
Alphabet Story on pages 3 and 4
as you read the story to them.
Then have them find the Vowel
characters in the illustration.
Explanatory Note: Generalizations
Vowel letters in words represent a a variety of different vowel sounds that are
expressed by the arrangement of the vowels and consonants within each specific
word.
The following are three examples of the Short and Long Vowel
Generalizations at work:
The word bead contains a long vowel sound represented by two side-by-side
vowels. In contrast, the word bed has a single short vowel enclosed by two
consonants


The word day has two vowels that represent a long vowel sound
 The word cape has two vowels separated by a single consonant that
repreent the long (ā) vowel sound. In contrast, the word cap has a vowel with a
consonant on each side which indicates that the vowel has a short vowel sound.
4
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S s
R 10
The S like Z Generalization
When the letter s follows a
long vowel sound, it is
pronounced like the letter
z, as in sees (sēz) and buys
(bīz).
Note:
the shape of the letter s
resembles a snake and the sound made by
the letter s resembles the hissing sound
of a snake.
Objectives: To teach
the sound of the letter S s as an initial and ending consonant sound
that the addition of _s to a verb changes the function of the verb
present tense
to the
the sound of letter S is pronounced like Z in words like sees and buys.
Activities:
Read the Phonetic Words and have the students read them after you. Have
each student choose two words to use in a sentence.
Have the students read the phrases underneath the box. Then have each
student choose one phrase to write and then draw a picture of a word
that could complete a sentence. Example:
Bea sees _____(pic of a flower or ?).
I see ____(pic of a tree or ?).
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Read the Vocabulary Words on page 11, and have
the students read directly after you as they
point to the words.
Have the students write the Vocabulary
Words on a board or paper, highlight the
vowels, and discuss the vowel patterns.
Have the students write several of the
Vocabulary Words that rhyme as in say and
bay; be, Bea, and bee, etc. Then have them
highlight the vowels in the words.
Have each student choose a partner with whom to read the story “Sue”
aloud. Then ask questions about the story, such as “Where is the bee?” and
“Who does Sue see?” Have the students work together to ask questions and
to find sentences in the story that answer those questions.
Write the following words on the board and have the students read them.
Then have them write the words on small pieces of paper and rearrange
them so that they make sense in English (for example, “I see a bee by Bea”
or “I see Bea by a bee;” “A bee by you,” “Bea, I see a bee by you.” etc.)
Bea
by
bee
a
see
I
you bye
Dictate the new Vocabulary Words in sentences and have the students copy
or write the words for a spelling lesson. Think about the word, then
write the beginning sound with the vowel sound in the word.
say
sea
Bo
Sue
bee
so
I like to hear my teacher say, “Good job.”
Bea played in the sand by the sea.
The boy is named Bo.
The girl is named Sue.
The bee is buzzing by a flower.
I like to have fun, so I play ball.
sees
Sue sees a boat by the lake.
say
sea
Bo
Sue
bee
so
sees
Write the following words with blanks on the board and have the students
copy them and fill in the blanks with letters to create words.
s __ __ s
(sees, seas)
b__ __
(bay buy, bee)
s __ __
(say, sea, see)
s __ __ s
(sees, seas)
Have the students sing “The Syllable Song” from page 7 to the tune of
BINGO replacing the b at the beginning of each syllable: sā, sē, sī, sō, sū..
12
© First Stage Publishing Company
S s
continued R 11
Generalization for ‘s, _s and _es
Possession: adding ‘s to a noun indicates
possession as in “Bea’s bee” and “Bo’s bow”
Plurals: adding _s to a noun makes the word
plural as in bows and bees
Present tense verbs: addiing _s or _es to
a verb changes the function of the verb to
the present tense as in “Sue buys bows.”
Objectives: To teach
Using ‘s
with a noun to indicate the
possive form .
Adding _s or _es to a verb provides
the present tense.
Adding
_s or _es to make plurals
Activities
Have the students read the Phonetic Words. Explain that adding ‘s to a
name indicates that the possessive form is being used.
Have the students read the phrases near the top of the page, such as
“Bea’s bee,” “Sue’s bows,” etc., then illustrate the phrases and label their
illustrations. Explain that adding ‘
Have the students read “Sue’s Bows” on page 11 silently, then aloud. Ask
them questions to determine their level of comprehension:
Who buys bows?
What does Bea do?
Who sees Sue’s bows?
What kind of bows does Sue buy?
Have your students read “Bo’s Bow.” Ask them questions to determine
their level of comprehension:
What kind of bows does Bo have?
Who sees Bo’s bow?
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Who has a bow?
Is Bo’s bow like Sue’s bow?
13
Have each student write a friend’s name
in the possessive form and draw a
picture about his or her friend, then label
the picture as in “Elia’s hat,” “Gavin’s
bag,” “Tim’s book” etc.
Write the following words on the board. Have
the students read and write the words again to
make sense in English. Remind the students to
use a capital letter at the beginning of each
sentencea and for people’ names and to place a
period at the end.
Sue’s buys bows Kay
(Kay buys Sue’s bows.)
sees Bo Bea
(Bo sees Bea.)
bows sees Sue’s Bea
(Bea sees Sue’s bows..)
Have the students fill in the following blanks to use the Vocabulary Words
that are listed in parentheses.
B __ __
b __
B __ __ ‘ s
b e __ s
S __ __ __ ‘ __
bu __ s
se __ s
bo __ s
S __ e
14
b __ (be or by.)
b __ __
s __ __ ‘s
B __ __ ‘ s
bo __s.
Bo’ __
s __ es
(Sue sees Bea’s bows.)
© First Stage Publishing Company
Midbook Review
R 62-64
Objective:
to provide the opportunity for students
to practice reading in context the
vocabulary and generalizations that they
have learned
Activities:
Have each student read the
sentences on page 62 silently and
then select one line or several lines
to read aloud.
Have the students read the
stories silently and then aloud
with a friend. Provide art
materials and have each
student choose a sentence or
story to illustrate.
Have each student choose one of
the stories and change or add
words to create an original story
to be illustrated. The illustrated
stories may be displayed
.
78
© First Stage Publishing Company
Review
R 140-145
Objective:

to review the lessons learned in this
manual.
Activities:
Have the students read
the stories at their own
pace. They may choose to
illustrate and/or write a
couple of sentences about
each story.
Have the students answer the
following questions about “When
a Quarter Was Worth More”:
What was different about a
quarter in Grandpfathers time?
For how long did Grandfather
have to work to earn his first quarter?
Why
do
you
think
that
Grandfather bought what he did?
How did Grandfather do his
work?
Have each student tell
about a time when he or
she put a puzzle together,
then have the students answer
the following questions:
How did you start to put the
puzzle together?
What did you do first?
How did you feel?
Ask the students to think
about how they feel when
it rains. Then have each
student write a story about a
rainy day that they remember, and
illustrate their stories.
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167
Have the students read “Jack and
Spike”
and
answer
the
following questions:
How did you feel when you read
“Jack and Spike?”
Who cames to help Jack?
How do you think Jack feels?
Do you know any stories about a dog?
Have the students read
“The
Three
Wishes”
silently and then have
them take turns reading aloud.
Then have them asswer the
following questions:
How does this story begin?
What happens in
“The Three
Wishes?”
Why does the woman in the story
need to think so much?
Who do you think that the woman
thinks about when she was wishing?
What are three things that the
woman asks for?
Did the woman make good wishes?
Why?
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Dear Reader
R 147
Objective:

to congratulate the students for
their success in learning how to read.
Note:
The letter may be copied for
each student to take home if the
students will not be keeping their
manuals.
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