How to Teach Your Child to Read and Spell Using UFLI—For FREE!

These recommendations are GREAT for tutors, too!

This site is not affiliated with or endorsed by any curriculum publisher.

Parents, please follow this simple step-by-step plan.

Table of Contents

• Free Materials Needed
• Optional Teaching Tools
• Foundations Before Reading
• UFLI Lesson Sequence
• Additional Tips
• Encouragement
• Vowel Teaching Order
• Ideas for Classroom Teachers/Reading Specialists

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Free Materials Needed

Printable Student Materials—Some are optional, but I like them!

• All Decodables Lessons 8-128 (There are no decodables for lessons before 8.)
• Supplemental Passages PDF 35a-110.  (The supplemental passages do not include every lesson. These tend to be a little more complex.)
• Reader’s Theater: These start at Lesson 42.
• UFLI’s grapheme cards. 
• UFLI’s FREE printable word work mat.
• Heart Words
• Sentence Fluency Triangles for Lessons 5 – 83 
• All Roll & Reads for Lessons 13-128 (There are no Roll & Reads for lessons before 13.) #92 is missing from the packet. Here it is!

Assessments

• UFLI Fluency by Unit: These unit assessments start when the child finishes Lesson 41.
• UFLI Placement Test. This is beneficial for students who are already reading, but I recommend spiraling back to the beginning lessons to be sure students can spell the heart words and there are no gaps in vowel knowledge.
• Administer the CORE-Phonics-Survey and start UFLI based on student needs.

Optional for Students Based on Preference—I haven’t used these.

• Decodables in a mini-version with corresponding trick words. The font may be too small for younger students.
• Lessons 35a-110 Story Sequence Cut into strips, and students read and sequence the story.
• Foundations-Home-Practice-K (Includes Lessons 5-68)
• Foundations-Home-Practice-Second (Includes Lessons 38a-128).

For the Parent or Tutor

• UFLI training video 1. 
• UFLI training video 2.
• All of the UFLI lesson plans WITH decodables, sight words, and Roll and Reads directly from their free website. The lessons are contained within comprehensive Google Slides.
• UFLI Lesson Links: Easy Teacher Access to Links 
• Scope & Sequence with Heart Words
• The letters in each lesson. This is handy for knowing which letters should be on your work mats (tiles) and which the students should know how to form correctly.
• Spelling Rules Table Lessons 42-53
• Spelling Rules Tables Lessons 69-76
• UFLI virtual blending board.  Watch the tutorial video. Go directly to the beginner word work map or the intermediate word work map.
• If you want to make a binder – UFLI Notebook Covers
• Create storage files with UFLI labels.
• UFLI Alignment to Common Core State Standards
• I wanted to share a resource I found on Project Read AI. UFLI partners with them to offer a planning portal for individual students. Please note, this is not a paid or sponsored recommendation. You can learn more by clicking the image below.

Optional Teaching Tools

UFLI manual (optional but highly recommended)  Approx. $70 on the UFLI website.

Free tools are available above, but here are my favorite durable tools for UFLI!

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Grapheme Cards—The Fundations Level 3 grapheme cards include kindergarten through grade 3 sounds. Sound drills are a must in the science of reading and UFLI!  Approx. $60 on Amazon.

Whiteboard, paper, or pencil—This is a lined whiteboard typically used in school. Students can practice letter formation and write the UFLI words and sentences. Approx. $9 on Amazon. (Don’t forget—correct letter formation is important and all letters should be formed from the top down.)

Elkonin Boxes—One side is for segmenting and spelling words, and the other side is for syllables. Approx. $8 on Amazon.  If you are a teacher, consider this set of boards for your reading group:  Paddles.

Work Mat—In UFLI, students create words using the various graphemes. This ties in the multisensory component.  Approx. $29 on Amazon.

Articulation cards are helpful when teaching blending because they connect how a sound is made (articulation) with how sounds combine to form words (phonemic awareness and phonics). Approx. $26 on Amazon.

Sound Wall. If you are a classroom teacher—or a parent with space in a playroom to “decorate”—here is a complete sound wall. It’s completely pre-made, so you don’t need to spend additional money on color printing. It also includes the mouth articulation cards. A sound wall helps children learn the speech sounds (phonemes) and the graphemes that represent them. Approx. $30.

Sight Word Flashcards. Even though UFLI offers free heart word flashcards, I use my own flashcards and place a heart sticker under the tricky part. UFLI also teaches students decodable sight words, which are included in this set. This set includes 520 words from K-3. Approx. $20 on Amazon.

Foundations Before Reading

Before decoding can happen, your child must have:

1. Phonological and phonemic awareness—hearing and manipulating sounds in words (no print).
2. Letter-name and letter-sound knowledge—knowing all 26 letters, their common sounds, and correct formation.

Once these are in place, your child is ready to read!

Lesson Sequence

Start with no letters at all. Do not place any graphemes on the drill deck or on the work mat. Begin fresh with the letter a, and add one new grapheme with each lesson.

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Print grapheme cards. Your child should chant, “‘a’ spells /aaa/.”  During grapheme drills, your child should say the letter’s name and the sound(s) it makes.

Print the heart words or use store-bought flashcards and place a heart under the tricky parts of the word.

Lesson 1: Letter “a”

• Teach that the short “a” says /a/. Start a grapheme pile (sound cards).
• Form “a” from the top down. Chant: “Make the letter C and go up and down.”
• Sight word: “the” for reading and spelling. Start a sight word pile.

Learning Without Tears—download their free letter formation charts with chants.

Lesson 2: Letter “m”

• Sound: /m/  Add to grapheme pile.
• Correctly form it.

Lesson 3: Letter “s”

• Sound: /s/  Add to grapheme pile.
• Correctly form it.
• Sight word: “I” for reading and spelling. Add to the sight word pile.

Lesson 4: Letter “t”

• Sound: /t/. Add to the grapheme pile.
• Correctly form it.
• Sight word: “at” for reading and spelling. Add to the sight word pile.

Practice: Tap and blend the words “at,” “sat,” and “mat.” Do not teach glued sounds like ‘am’ or ‘as’ yet.

Lessons 5–68

• Access Lesson 5-68 here. IGNORE the title “Kindergarten.” Struggling readers should start at the beginning regardless of their grade. If the student is a reader, start at Lesson 35, but check for proper letter formation and spelling of all words taught in lessons 1-34.
• The lesson link (above) will tell you the new grapheme to learn and form (if any), the new sight word(s) (if any), Word Work Chains, and sentences to spell.
• Spell every word in the lesson’s Word Work Chain using paper, whiteboard, or Word Work mat/tiles. Here is UFLI’s FREE printable word work mat.
• Lesson 5 Sight word: “and” for reading and spelling. Add to the sight word pile.

Lesson 6: Letter “p”

• Sound: /p/
• Correctly form it.
• Add “p” to the grapheme drill and word mat.

Lesson 7: Letter “f”

• Sound: /f/
• Correctly form it.
• Add “f” to the grapheme drill and word mat.
• Sight word: “a” for reading and spelling. Add to the sight word pile.

Lesson 8: Short “i”

• Sound: /i/
• Correctly form it.
• Sight words: “if,” “it,” “its,” “sit,” and “it’s” for reading and spelling. Add to the sight word pile.
• UFLI stories begin now!  Each story contains only letters taught so far (for example, a, m, s, t, p, f, i) and learned sight words.

How to teach stories:

1. 1. The adult reads aloud, pointing to each word. Model tapping/blending if stuck.
   2. Echo read sentence by sentence.
   3. Chorally read slowly, pointing to words.
   4. Child reads aloud alone, tapping/blending as needed.
   5. Child rereads for fluency and accuracy. The child should read the passage at least three times and reread it tomorrow as well!
   6. Save stories for review.

Lessons 9–12

• Continue introducing letters, formation, and sight words.
• Read, reread, and reread UFLI stories.
• Add new heartfelt words to the pile, and add new letters to the grapheme drill and word mat.

Lessons 13–128

• Here are the Lessons 5-68 and Lessons 69-128

• Continue introducing letters, formation, and sight words.
• Read, reread, and reread UFLI stories.
• As you progress through each lesson, add new letters to the grapheme drill and word mat, and add new heart words to the sight word pile.
• Roll and Reads—Roll and Reads start at Lesson 13. Practice reading words in isolation or make up games with them.

Additional Tips for Reading and Spelling

• Phonemic Awareness: Segment and blend sounds. Example: “cat” → /c/ /a/ /t/; /d/ /o/ /g/ → dog.
• Continuous sounds (/s/, /m/, /n/, /f/, /v/, /z/, /l/, /r/, vowels) can be stretched for easier blending.
• Sight words: Practice in context. The sight words introduced are embedded in the stories. If stuck, sound out the regular part and memorize the irregular parts.
• Rimes (word families): Practice common patterns (-at, -ight, etc.) to unlock 500+ high-frequency words.
• Decodable texts: Only use books that match learned letters and patterns. Avoid guessing based on pictures.
• Fluency practice: Have your child read passages repeatedly. Echo reading and choral reading help.
• Daily short practice: 5–15 minutes focused is better than long sessions.
• Comprehension:  The purpose of reading is comprehension, so take a moment to discuss each passage with your child. However, remember that the primary goal of UFLI is decoding and encoding, so avoid overloading your child by taxing both systems (decoding and comprehension) at once.

Encouragement for Parents

Reading is one of the greatest gifts you can give your child. There are no poor readers—only a child who hasn’t yet received the right instruction. With consistent practice, joy, and the UFLI program, your child will become a confident reader, able to decode, spell, and comprehend independently. Celebrate small wins and make reading fun!

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The last update was made on December 27, 2025.