The instructional practices listed below summarize the instruction that accompanies the skills that are being taught in this cycle for the respective grade level. Teachers should review these routines for guidance on how to teach the skills and patterns reflected in the microphase.

Lesson 31

• Letter Story and Digraph Story: Students hear Letter Stories read aloud for vowel letters and digraphs. (Note: Letter Stories for consonants can be used during Small Group Differentiated Instruction or other times.) This underscores the importance and challenge of continually practicing vowel and digraph sounds and provides another mnemonic through which students can commit them to memory. 
• Getting to Know the Letters (Part 1): Students "meet" each new letter for the cycle, exploring the following about each: its name (grapheme), its sound(s) (phoneme), and a consistent keyword that represents the letter. This practice includes a Letter-Sound chant component (see Opening Instructional Practices for more details), using only the newly introduced letters.

Lesson 32

• Poem Launch: Students hear/read a poem that includes keywords for each letter introduced in the cycle. The verses incorporate new high-frequency word(s) and words that feature the cycle's new graphemes (letters) and phonemes (sounds). This poem is used throughout the cycle for different purposes. 
• Poem Letter Search: Students explore the already introduced cycle poem for a new purpose: to search for specific letters.
• Getting to Know the Letters (Part 2): Students use the same letters as in Part 1, but now get to know the shape and formation of each, practicing first with their bodies and then on paper.

Lesson 33

• Mystery Word (Clues to the Mystery Word and Introducing the Mystery Word): Students explore the already introduced poem for a new purpose: searching for a "mystery" high-frequency word. Students are given clues about the number of letters in the word and then search for words with the same number of letters, encouraging student inquiry. They also listen for a word as the teacher reads the words of the poem, clapping when they hear it. This practice is a vehicle for introducing Kindergarten high-frequency words that students will later see in poems and Decodable Student Readers.

Lesson 34

• Feel the Beats: Students explore the already introduced poem for a new purpose: to listen for and identify each syllable (beat) in a spoken word. They count the number of syllables in the spoken word, pronounce each one, and manipulate them by segmenting and blending. (Note: Starting in Module 3, this Work Time instructional practice transitions to a shorter, Opening practice.)

Lesson 35

• Rhyme Time: Students explore the already introduced poem for a new purpose: identifying rhyming words. They begin with a game that provides an introduction to the concept of rhyming and then revisit the poem, listening for words that rhyme (have the same ending sound). Rhyming develops this phonemic awareness, teaching students to group words together according to larger sound units. Rhyme Time guides students to analyze sounds in spoken words.

Lessons 31, 34-35

• Letter-Sound Chant: Students chant the names of letters and accompanying letter sounds in this ongoing routine (used in multiple lessons throughout a cycle) that reinforces taught graphemes (letter) and phoneme (sound) connections and keywords. This chant connects the keywords and phonemes in students' memories to support quick recall of phonemes for decoding and encoding. 

The text listed below can be utilized to reinforce the skills taught in the cycle.  Teachers can use the text to have students apply their learning during small group work or teacher-led groups.  By focusing on the skills/patterns being taught, students can apply their learning to text.  A list of activities to consider with the text are listed in the activity section.