Week 1
Lesson 1
Intro to Detective Academy: Alphabetical Order in the Court
There will be introductions of the teacher and students.  The teacher will administer a beginning-of-the-course benchmark assessment for data.  The online assessment should take between 30 minutes to an hour to complete. The teacher will also administer more specific assessments one-on-one with students to determine their areas of strength and needs. I communicate analysis results and recommendations to parents/guardians within 24 hours. I will develop a personalized learning journey
Lesson 2
Phonemic Awareness: Did you hear that? 
In this session, I will explain course expectations, rules, and ways to earn clues and badge.  Badges indicate a different level of mastery. All students begin as Rookie Readers and earn badges with new mastery. Students meet Lexi and learn the mission. Lesson will focus on phonemic awareness focusing on identifying, isolating, replacing, and manipulating letters.  Students will listen to a message with isolated sounds. Students use them to reveal a message and earn a badge and clues.
 Week 2
Lesson 3
Phonics: The Long and Short Vowel Secret Code
This session focuses on identifying the letters within the alphabet.  Students will identify letter names and sounds, match capital and lowercase letters, practice writing the alphabet in order, and categorize them as either consonants or vowels. I will correct and clarify sounds and schwa sounds. Word patterns taught include CVC, CVVC, CVCe, CVVVVC, will be taught.  Students label letters as consonants or vowels, recognize patterns, and indicate if the vowel sound is long or short.  
Lesson 4
Phonics: Who Committed the Rhyme House Crime?
In this session, students will solve the case of the missing rhyming families.  An elusive suspect has broken into the House of Rhymes and hidden all the rhyming words and they're out of order.  Students will find and arrange the rhyming words in their designated areas of the Rhyme House.  There are eight rooms, and each reveals a letter that identifies the culprit. This suspect will have a clue to next week's mystery. When students solve the mystery, they earn a badge and clue.
 Week 3
Lesson 5
Phonics: Unveiling the Mystery of the Short Vowel
In this session, students will study CVC rules. We will begin by practicing short vowel sounds. Students will practice decoding 3-6 letter words (depending on reading level) that contain short vowel sounds. Students will be taught how to isolate and blend letter sounds. I will use several reading strategies, including backward decoding,  to assist students with practicing decoding skills.  Classwork and homework will be assigned after this session.  Progress monitoring (onset and rime)
Lesson 6
Phonics: The CVC  Plot Thickens
In this session, the students will read short stories to find and write as many short vowel words as they can before time runs out.  The junior detectives will use the short vowel words that they found to create silly mystery stories that rhyme with illustrations.  They can share their stories with the class if they choose to.  All participating students will earn badges and their work will be displayed in the classroom. Students earn a badge and a clue.
 Week 4
Lesson 7
Phonics: The Syllable Investigation
In this session, students will use their knowledge of CVC patterns to learn all about word parts (syllables), such as what they are and the reasons they are important.  Students learn about the types of syllables and how to determine the differences.  Students will practice syllable isolation, decoding, and pronunciation of short vowel words with more than one syllable. Students will be given an assignment for class and homework. Progress monitoring (short vowels)
Lesson 8
Phonics: Consonants Exercise Their Right to Remain Silent
In this session, students will learn about words that begin with two consonants, however, the first letter in this combo has chosen to remain silent.  Students will hear testimony from the gnarly teams of /kn/ and /gn/ sounds.  Students will study the evidence and determine if the defiant letter should speak now or forever hold his/her peace. Student participation in the lesson, practice, and activities can earn a badge and clues to the next level.
 Week 5
Lesson 9
Phonics: The Bully "e" Strikes again: It's a Long Story
In this session, students will learn the rules of the silent 'e' and its purpose. The Bully 'e' is terrorizing CVC words everywhere.  When he shows up, the identity of the CVC words is no longer the same. He's making all vowels say their names. He's been interrogated for hours, but he's not talking.  Students will investigate the silent 'e' to determine what happens to words. Student practice includes pronouncing words with and without the silent 'e'.  Independent practice will be assigned.
Lesson 10
Phonics: Vowel Teams: Partners in Crime
This session will entail the introduction or review of the English rules of vowel teams. Students will learn and practice vowel teams.  This practice teaches students the English rules.  After the lesson, students will manipulate letters to create words that contain vowel teams.  Students will earn a clue and badge after successful completion of the assigned activity.
 Week 6
Lesson 11
Phonics: The Vowel Sleuth - An Investigation of Diphthongs
While vowel teams make one vowel sound, diphthongs make two sounds.  Students will learn about and practice manipulating and decoding diphthongs.  Students will use vowel teams and diphthongs to complete missing letters in words. 
Lesson 12
Phonics: The Art of Persuasion-The Bossy R
Students learn about how the letter r determines the way vowels sound.  Students will learn about how the letter r controls the vowel sound in words.  Students will practice.  They will then complete an activity and earn a badge and clue to the next level.
 Week 7
Lesson 13
Word Study: Unusual Suspects??? 
In this lesson, students will learn about unusual letter combinations that create one vowel sound.  By the end of the lesson, students should be able to decode and manipulate the following vowel sound combinations: /eigh/, /igh/, /augh/, and /ough/.  Active participation in the lesson, practice, and activities can earn the students a badge and clues for the next session.
Lesson 14
Word Study: The Case of the Defiant Sight Words - Outlaw Edition
Students will learn about words that don't follow the rules of English.  These words must be learned by sight because they aren't spelled phonetically.  Because these words don't follow the rules, students will need to memorize them.  To complete this level, students must be able to read the words on sight by playing sight word bingo.  After winning, their bingo cards will reveal a word.  Students manipulate the words to form a sentence that reveals the next clue.  Badge earned.
 Week 8
Lesson 15
Word Study: An In-Depth Investigation of the Schwa
In this session, students learn about the schwa sound in some words.  The students will learn that in words, the letter a is pronounced "uh," like apart, pizza, amount, etc. Students will determine the pronunciation of words that contain the schwa. To find the next clue, students will read the assigned text and find all words that contain the schwa. There will be corresponding letters that match with words that contain schwas. Unscramble the letters to reveal the next clue.
Lesson 16
Phonics: Double Jeopardy - The Secret of the Double Consonants
Students will learn about double consonants and their pronunciation based on the placement of the letters.  Students will explore words that contain double consonants and complete a benchmark activity to gauge growth in reading concepts and rules taught thus far.  I will share the results of the benchmark assessments.
 Week 9
Lesson 17
Phonics: Speak Softly and Go InCoGnito - A Special Investigation in Disguise
Students learn about the rules of using soft c and g sounds. The session will entail a lesson, practice, and activities that provide clues so they collect more evidence.  In this lesson, students should be able to recognize when and how to use these sounds. Active participation helps students to earn a badge and clues to the next session.
Lesson 18
Phonics: The Case of Consonant Triple Threat - A Strategic Defense
Students will explore words with triple consonants and discover how to pronounce triple consonants based on their placements in words. Students will practice decoding them correctly and/or learning to separate and correctly pronounce them by syllables.  Active participation helps students earn badges and clues to the next session.
 Week 10
Lesson 19
Phonics: All Rise!!!: An analysis of al, all, -le. 
Students will analyze al, all, and -le in words.  They will explore how to separate words that contain vowel patterns and how that is determined based on their placement in a word.  Lessons and activity completion lead to additional clues and the potential to earn badges.
Lesson 20
Phonics: An Open and Shut Case for Syllable Discovery
Students are expected to have a deep understanding of what syllables are and their importance in reading fluency and comprehension.  They will practice separating syllables by their types. Students will study multisyllabic words (two, three, and four-syllable words). There will be several opportunities for students to practice syllable separation and pronunciation.  Students can earn a badge and clues to the next session.
 Week 11
Lesson 21
Phonics: Read Your Contract(ion)?
Students will explore the reasons contractions are used and discover how to convert two words into a contraction for informal speech and casual conversation.  Students will determine how to change certain words into contractions and which two words were shortened to create particular contractions.  Lessons and activities lead to clues and earned badges.
Lesson 22
The Poetic Justice of Reading Advocates: How Text Features Help Readers
Students learn how available text features in fictional and nonfictional texts help readers better understand the text they read. Many students often choose to ignore these features.  This session will focus on the types and importance of using text features.  Students will explore all text features and their usefulness in comprehending text.  Lessons and activities lead to new clues and chances to earn a new badge.
 Week 12
Lesson 23
Vocabulary: Eyewitness Accounts - Homographs
To solve this level, students will learn all about words that are spelled the same but have multiple meanings.  Students will determine the meanings of multiple-meaning words based on the context of the text.  Lessons, practice, and activities provide opportunities for students to earn a badge and receive clues to the next level.
Lesson 24
Vocabulary: Mistaken Identity - Homophones
Which way would the witch weigh the wood? They're over there in their tent in the blue tint fighting the wind that blew away the red book they just read. So many homophones, oh my!!! Students will learn about homophones and how to ensure they are using the correct homophone.  This adventure will take them to a world of words that are commonly misused and misspelled.  Participating in the lesson, practices, and activities allows students opportunities to level up and earn clues
 Week 13
Lesson 25
Vocabulary: Search Party to Find Evidence - Context Clues 
Context Clues like synonyms, antonyms, definitions, and examples within text help readers understand unfamiliar words.  This session explores the types of clues that writers provide to readers. We will explore the skills and strategies that help them determine the meaning of unfamiliar words. This will be an a-MAZing adventure, where our super sleuths find context clues to escape a challenging maze.
Lesson 26
Vocabulary: Hidden in Plain Sight - Context Clues 
This session offers more practice in using all the clues that the author provides.  Sometimes, the clues are hiding within the word itself.  Yes, some word parts have meanings.  The students will be introduced to word parts and their meanings.  These word parts are already a part of or can be added to the original word.  The word parts are called affixes (prefixes and suffixes) and Greek and Latin Roots.  Much of the English Language is derived from Greek and Latin language.
 Week 14
Lesson 27
Comp: The Art of Interrogation, Collection, and Preservation of Key Details
Students will learn how to ask and answer questions about the text they read to check that they understand what they are reading.  This session will be a thin lab to determine what questions are best to ask to clarify or ensure comprehension.  Students will also learn about the Question-Answer Relationship (QAR) when answering comprehension questions.
Lesson 28
Comprehension: What Could've Happened Here? - A Forensic Analysis in Inferencing
Students learn to effectively use inferencing skills based on the text and students' background knowledge and other connections. Students will learn how important it is to gather all information before making inferences.  This lesson expresses the importance of paying close attention to detail and making no decision until the evidence has been completely examined.  Students examine the process of combining text details and using their knowledge to draw logical conclusions. Badge and clues earned
 Week 15
Lesson 29
What's the Suspect's Motive? - An Interview from the Author's Point of View
Students learn to effectively use inferencing skills based on the text and students' background knowledge and other connections. Students will learn how important it is to gather all information before making inferences.  This lesson expresses the importance of paying close attention to detail and making no decision until the evidence has been completely examined.  Students examine the process of combining text details and using their knowledge to draw logical conclusions. Badge and clues earned
Lesson 30
Comprehension: Eyewitness Testimony: A Look at Point of View and Perspective
Students explore how a character's point of view affects how a story is told.  Students will read about the same event, but from different perspectives.  Students will examine the similarities and differences of the characters' accounts. Usually, when told from more than one perspective, the story changes based on the character's experiences.  Students will learn how to choose to believe or not based on information and use critical thinking skills.  Bade and clues to next session can be earned.
 Week 16
Lesson 31
Comprehension: Find the Suspect and Book 'em!!!! 
In this session, I explain the importance of practicing the learned skills by reading daily.  I will show them the importance of showing them all the places that require reading skills, including reading social media, comics, menus, billboards, text messages, closed captions, etc.  Reading is everywhere, so the message should be, "Reading is inevitable, just have fun doing it."  Students will complete a reading proclamation. Students can earn a badge and clues to the next session.
Lesson 32
Comprehension: An Undercover Investigation in the Adventures of Lifelong Readers
This will be a discussion session about skills students learned that they found valuable, engaging, and fun.  I will explain the importance of continuing to grow personally and academically by taking advantage of other learning opportunities that may be available to them. Learning happens daily everywhere, so I will encourage them to seek out or accept opportunities to learn more about what interests them.  
 Week 17
Lesson 33
Closing Statements: Working on the Final Project
This week, students begin their culminating task that displays mastery of some concepts learned in this course.  Students can choose from several final activity suggestions.  This will be a personal display of what students have learned in this course.
Lesson 34
The Wrap-Up: Working on Final Project
Students continue to work on their final projects.
 Week 18
Lesson 35
Verdict: Avid Reader and Lifelong Learner
Students present and/or turn in their final projects in this session.  I will present them with the funny, interesting, and memorable moments of the sessions.  During this session, parents and students get to share feedback and make suggestions about the course.
Lesson 36
Promotion Ceremony: Revisiting the Making of a Decorated Literary Commander
Students receive a completion certificate and badges.  During this time, I will highlight students for their achievements and other special attributes about them.  After the presentation, certificates will be printed, and earned badges will be mailed.