The UFLI Learning RoutineThis references the regular numbered lessons NOT the getting ready lessons. The first few lessons do not have every section to start with as they're learning the routines.

After the beginning lessons, each UFLI lesson follows the same 8 steps, every time. The routine never changes, and that predictability matters. When kids know what's coming next, they can focus their energy on the actual reading and spelling instead of figuring out what's happening. Here's what each step looks like and how to do it.

Step 1: Phonemic Awareness (about 2 minutes)
This is a quick warm-up done entirely out loud, no paper needed. You're working on two skills: blending and segmenting sounds.

For blending, you say the sounds in a word one at a time, slowly, and your child blends them into a word. 

For example, you say "/sh/ /ĕ/ /d/" and they say "shed." Hold each sound out as long as you can before moving to the next one. You're essentially stretching the sounds together so they run into each other.

For segmenting, you say a whole word and your child breaks it into its individual sounds. You say "ship" and they say "/sh/ /ĭ/ /p/." Have them count the sounds on their fingers as they go. Watch carefully that they're saying each sound separately.

The words you use here aren't random. They should focus on whatever sound you're teaching that day.

Step 2: Visual Drill (part of the warm-up, about 3-5 minutes combined with Step 3)
Show your child a letter or letter combination written on a card or whiteboard. They say the name of the letter AND the sound it makes. For example, you hold up "sh" and they say "S, H says /sh/."

The goal here is speed. You want it to become automatic, not something they have to think about. Start with the newest letters they've learned and work your way back to the older ones. If you run out of time, that's fine since you've already practiced the ones they need the most.

Step 3: Auditory Drill (paired with Step 2)
This is the reverse. You say a sound and they write the letter or letter combination that spells it. You say "/sh/" and they write "sh" on their whiteboard. Again, the goal is for this to become fast and automatic.
Keep both drills quick and energetic. These steps are review of things they already know, so it should feel doable and build their confidence going into the harder work ahead.

Step 4: Blending Drill (about 5 minutes)
This is where you use letter cards or tiles arranged in three columns: beginning sounds, middle sounds, and ending sounds. You build a word using one card from each column and your child reads it by touching each letter and saying the sound, then sweeping their finger under the whole word to blend it.
The key is connected phonation. They should hold each sound until they start the next one, so it sounds like "/sssssaaaaat/" not "/s/ + /a/ + /t/." That stretched, connected approach is what makes blending click.
You then swap one card at a time to make new words, and they read each new word. The words can include occasional nonsense words, which is fine and actually helpful for practicing the skill without relying on memory.

Step 5: New Concept (about 10 minutes)
This is the heart of the lesson. Here you introduce one new spelling or sound pattern.
Start by explaining what it is and connecting it to something they already know. For example, "You already know that C and K make the /k/ sound. Today we're learning that S and H together make one new sound, /sh/, like at the beginning of 'sheep.'"

Then show them exactly where that spelling appears in words. Is it at the beginning? The end? Both? That placement knowledge helps a lot.

Practice the physical act of making the sound. Help your child notice what their mouth, teeth, and tongue are doing. For /sh/, teeth come together, lips round slightly, and the tongue pulls back. This connection between the body and the sound is important, especially for children who find reading harder.

Have your child practice writing the letter or letters, making sure they start in the right place and move in the right direction.

Then read words with the new pattern together. First you do it (say each sound, then blend), then do a few together, then they try on their own. After reading words, flip to spelling: you say a word, they count the sounds on their fingers or in boxes they draw, and write each sound down.

Step 6: Word Work with Regular Words (about 5-7 minutes)
Using magnetic letters, letter tiles, or a whiteboard, your child builds a word, reads it, then changes one letter or letter combination to make a new word. You go back and forth between you telling them a word to spell and them reading a word you've built.

The chain might look like: shin, ship, shop, shot, sock, sick, sack, rack, rash. One thing changes at a time. When they read, they should point to each letter and say the sound before blending. When they spell, they say each sound while placing or writing the letter that goes with it.

Your child should practice at least 10 different words during this step. Call their attention to patterns they notice, like how a lot of words end in "-ash."

Step 7: Irregular Words (about 3-5 minutes)
These are high-frequency words that don't fully follow the rules, words like "said," "the," "of," "was." The trick here is that most of these words are only slightly irregular. Usually just one or two letters are unexpected. So instead of memorizing the whole word as a picture, your child learns to spot the part that "breaks the rules" and memorize just that one part.

For example, in "said," the letters "ai" make the /ĕ/ sound instead of the usual /ā/ sound. That's the heart of the word, the part to remember. Everything else can be sounded out.

Review any words they've already learned, then introduce any new ones. For each new word, read it together, identify the tricky part, then have your child write it several times while saying each sound out loud, including the irregular sound.

Step 8: Connected Text (about 5-7 minutes)
This is where everything comes together in real reading and writing.

First, read sentences together that use the words and patterns from the lesson. Read chorally (together), or take turns, and talk briefly about what the sentences mean.

Then write a sentence. You dictate it, they repeat it back to you, and then they spell each word using what they've learned. Help them check their work using the CAPS checklist: Capitalization, Appearance (neat writing), Punctuation, and Spelling.

Finally, they read a decodable book or passage, which is a text made up mostly of words they already know how to decode. You can read it with them (echo reading, where you read a line and they repeat it), let them read to you, or have them read it independently. The goal is fluency and meaning, not just accuracy.

A couple of notes for home:
The full lesson is typically split across two days in a classroom. Day 1 covers Steps 1 through 5. Day 2 starts with a quick review of Step 5, then picks up with Steps 6 through 8. Each session should take around 30 minutes.

Keep the pace moving, especially during the warm-up steps. These should feel almost game-like, not slow and labored. Save the longer thinking time for Step 5 and beyond.