Orton-Gillingham lesson plan template: what goes in it and why

Last updated 2026-07-10

What is an Orton-Gillingham lesson plan and who is it for?

An Orton-Gillingham (OG) lesson plan is a one-session teaching document that walks a tutor through an explicit, multisensory reading lesson. It names the exact phonics concept to teach, the review cards to drill, the words to dictate, and the way to handle errors. Think of it as a script with room to adjust, not a free-form activity sheet.

Samuel Orton and Anna Gillingham built the original approach in the 1930s. Orton was a neurologist who studied children with reading difficulties. Gillingham was an educator and psychologist. Their manual, first published in 1935, laid out the sequential phonics instruction that became the base of what we now call structured literacy ^[1].

The approach was designed first for students with dyslexia or other learning disabilities that hit decoding and spelling, though reading specialists use it with any struggling reader. OG is taught one-on-one or in tiny groups, so each lesson plan is written for one student at one point in the phonics sequence. The plan follows that student's diagnostic data, not a grade-level calendar.

If your child has a formal dyslexia test result or a learning disability test showing phonological weakness, OG-based instruction is one of the approaches the reading research supports most consistently ^[2].

What does the research say about structured literacy lesson formats?

The short version: explicit, systematic phonics beats loose phonics, and the OG lesson order is built to deliver it. The National Reading Panel's 2000 report found that systematic, explicit phonics instruction produces stronger decoding and spelling outcomes than less-structured alternatives ^[2]. That finding has held up.

A 2019 review in the Journal of Learning Disabilities examined 21 studies of OG and OG-influenced programs and found consistent positive effects on word-level reading accuracy, with effect sizes ranging from 0.30 to 1.04 depending on the outcome measure and study design ^[3].

The format itself does work. Research on explicit instruction shows that review before new learning, immediate corrective feedback, and practice spread across sensory channels all help retention in students with phonological processing deficits ^[4]. The OG lesson structure was built around those ideas decades before the neuroscience explained why they hold.

One honest caveat. Most OG studies use highly trained practitioners delivering the method with fidelity. A template is only part of the job. The tutor's phonics knowledge affects outcomes more than the paper does. A good template still helps, because it keeps the sequence steady, and steadiness matters for kids who need heavy repetition to lock learning in.

The International Dyslexia Association's Knowledge and Practice Standards name explicit, systematic, sequential phonics instruction as the core of effective reading intervention ^[5].

What are the 8 components of an Orton-Gillingham lesson plan format?

Most OG lesson plans use these eight parts in roughly this order. Individual programs (Wilson, Barton, SPIRE) tweak the details, but the bones are the same everywhere.

1. Review of learned phonogram cards (Visual Drill) The tutor flashes letter or phonogram cards one at a time. The student says the sound. This is visual to auditory: see the symbol, produce the sound. Runs 3 to 5 minutes. The point is to make already-taught phoneme-grapheme links automatic.

2. Auditory Drill Now the tutor says the sound and the student writes (or taps) the letter. Auditory to visual, the reverse of the first drill. It forces the student to pull the grapheme from memory instead of just recognizing it. Three to five minutes.

3. Blending Drill (Decoding) The student reads a list of real and nonsense words built only from taught phonograms. Nonsense words matter here because they can't be guessed from meaning, so they test real blending. The tutor corrects on the spot: say the sound, have the student repeat it, re-read the word.

4. Introduction of the new phonics concept This is the day's teaching point. Maybe the digraph /sh/, the vowel team /ai/, or the VCe pattern. The tutor introduces it with a keyword, shows it visually and says it aloud, and states the rule plainly. Five to ten minutes.

5. Discovery and Practice (Encoding) The student spells words with the new pattern. The tutor dictates one word at a time. The student says the word, segments it into phonemes (often by tapping fingers), writes each phoneme, then reads the word back. This simultaneous oral spelling (SOS) step is the multisensory heart of OG ^[1].

6. Spelling (Dictation) The tutor dictates words, phrases, or full sentences to write from memory. At sentence level it also works syntax. Words mix the new concept with older ones for cumulative review.

7. Reading in context The student reads a short decodable text built only from patterns already taught. This is not a regular leveled reader. It can contain only what the student has been explicitly shown. The tutor logs every error for the next session.

8. Close and diagnostic notes The tutor writes down what the student read and spelled correctly, which errors happened, and what the next lesson targets. These notes are the data that build the next plan.

Component	Direction	Modality	Approx. time
Visual (phonogram) drill	Visual → auditory	See, say	3-5 min
Auditory drill	Auditory → visual	Hear, write	3-5 min
Blending/decoding drill	Visual → auditory	See, say, blend	5-8 min
New concept introduction	Explicit instruction	See, hear, say	5-10 min
Encoding (SOS)	Auditory → written	Hear, tap, write	5-8 min
Dictation/spelling	Auditory → written	Hear, write	5-8 min
Reading in context	Visual → auditory	See, say	5-10 min
Diagnostic close	Written notes	Tutor records	2-3 min

Total: 33 to 57 minutes. Most practitioners aim for 45. Younger kids or students with attention difficulties can start at 30 and build up.

What does a filled-in Orton-Gillingham lesson plan template actually look like?

Here's a real example. A second-grade student is solid on CVC (consonant-vowel-consonant) words and ready to learn the silent-e (VCe) pattern. Call him Ben. Ben has phonological dyslexia and gets OG three times a week.

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Student: Ben M. Date: Session 24 Duration: 45 min Lesson target: Introduce VCe (silent-e makes the vowel say its name) Review concepts in scope: Short vowels a, e, i, o, u; consonant blends; digraphs sh, ch, th

Visual Drill (5 min) Cards to show: a, e, i, o, u (short), sh, ch, th, bl, cr, sp Correction: tutor models the sound, student repeats, card goes to the back of the pile

Auditory Drill (4 min) Tutor says: /sh/, /ch/, /th/, /a/ (short), /i/ (short) Student writes letter(s) on whiteboard

Blending Drill (6 min) Word list: pin, flat, mesh, chip, shred, bland Note: all CVC or CCVC, no new pattern yet. Record any misses.

New Concept: VCe (8 min) Keyword card: "cake" (a-e). Say: "When there's a vowel, then a consonant, then a silent e at the end, the first vowel says its name." Contrast pairs: pin/pine, cut/cute, hat/hate. Tap the vowel, tap the consonant, tap the e. Student traces the pattern on the desk (tactile reinforcement).

Encoding / SOS (7 min) Dictate: pine, lake, cute, hope, dime Procedure: Ben says the word, segments phonemes by tapping, writes each phoneme, reads back. If he writes "pin" for "pine," stop: "What does the e at the end do?" Let him self-correct.

Dictation (6 min) Words: cape, ride, stone, late Sentence: "The kite is on the gate."

Reading in context (7 min) Decodable passage using VCe and all prior patterns. Record every error with the exact word attempted.

Diagnostic notes (2 min) Ben read pine as "peen." Note: short i vs. long i confusion persists. Next session: VCe contrast with short-vowel CVC, more repetition.

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That close note is the whole difference between an OG lesson and a phonics worksheet. Every session feeds the next one.

What materials do you need to run an OG lesson?

The basics are cheap. You need phonogram cards (graphemes on one side, keyword and sound on the back), a whiteboard or paper for encoding, a pencil, and a decodable text matched to the student's current scope. That's the whole kit.

Phonogram card sets come from the Academic Language Therapy Association, from the major OG publishers, and as free printables from several university literacy centers. If you use a commercial program like Wilson Reading System or Barton Reading and Spelling, the materials come with it, and those levels typically run $300 to $600 each for home use ^[6].

For sight word flashcards that sit outside the decodable sequence ("the," "said," "was"), OG tutors present them in a separate drill, never mixed into the phonogram deck. These are the high-frequency irregular words you can't sound out with the patterns taught so far. Dolch lists and Dolch sight words are a common source. Some tutors pull from first grade sight words lists for younger students and sight words worksheets for extra practice.

You do not need a tablet, an app, or expensive software to run a real OG lesson. The version the research validated is cards, paper, and a well-trained tutor. Some digital tools can handle the phonogram drill and log error data automatically, which helps a tutor juggling several students, but that's a convenience, not a requirement.

How does an OG lesson plan connect to a student's IEP or 504 plan?

The lesson plan is the proof. Under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), a student's IEP must include "specially designed instruction" fit to the child's unique needs ^[7]. If the IEP team decides OG-based instruction is the right method, the IEP should say the instruction will be systematic, explicit, and multisensory. The daily lesson plan shows the school is actually delivering what the IEP promised.

IDEA names no specific reading program, but it does require that special education services rest on peer-reviewed research "to the extent practicable" ^[7]. The evidence for structured literacy and OG-influenced instruction is strong enough that many states have passed dyslexia laws requiring structured literacy. As of 2024, more than 40 states have enacted some form of dyslexia-related legislation ^[8].

If your child's school uses an OG-based program, ask to see a sample lesson plan at the next IEP meeting. You have the right to understand how instruction is delivered. If the plan looks like a worksheet packet instead of a structured sequence tied to a phonics scope and sequence, raise it.

A 504 plan under Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act can reference structured literacy too, though 504 plans usually cover accommodations (extra time, text-to-speech) rather than specialized instruction. If your child needs intensive reading instruction, an IEP under IDEA usually gives stronger protection than a 504 alone.

ReadFlare's parent advocacy kit includes a checklist of IEP reading-instruction questions you can bring to your next meeting, so you can ask about lesson structure and progress data without feeling like you're winging it.

For what a learning disability test can tell you before and during the IEP process, and what rights you have during assessment, see our full guide.

How long does it take to see progress with Orton-Gillingham?

This is the question parents most want answered and the one that usually gets a shrug. Here's the honest range.

The 2019 Journal of Learning Disabilities review found most OG studies ran between 8 and 100 hours of intervention, with gains in word-reading accuracy showing up after roughly 30 to 40 hours for most students ^[3]. That's about 40 to 53 weeks of twice-weekly 45-minute sessions, or roughly one school year. Daily sessions can compress that, but the total hours seem to matter more than sessions per week.

Spelling and fluency lag behind accuracy. A student might read individual words accurately after 40 hours and still read slowly, because fluency needs more automaticity practice than OG alone provides.

Nobody has clean population-level data on OG for home tutoring specifically, since most studies use trained practitioners in structured settings. What the data does show is that fidelity matters: tutors who followed the OG structure closely produced larger gains than programs where the structure drifted ^[3].

If your child has both phonological deficits and naming-speed deficits (sometimes called double deficit dyslexia), fluency progress is usually slower even when accuracy stays on schedule. Knowing whether your child has a rapid naming deficit alongside phonological weakness changes what a realistic timeline looks like.

What phonics sequence does an OG lesson plan follow?

OG follows a fixed scope and sequence, simple to complex, with each concept built on the ones before it. The order is not arbitrary. It's a staircase.

A typical OG sequence starts here: 1. Individual consonants and short vowels (CVC words: cat, sit, hop) 2. Consonant blends and digraphs (cl, br, sh, ch, th) 3. Long vowel patterns: VCe (cake, pine), vowel teams (rain, say, eat) 4. R-controlled vowels (car, her, bird, corn, fur) 5. Diphthongs and other vowel combinations (oi, oy, ou, ow) 6. Syllable types: closed, open, VCe, vowel team, r-controlled, consonant-le 7. Morphology: prefixes, suffixes, Latin roots, Greek combining forms

Each lesson plan says where the student is on this staircase and introduces exactly one new concept per session (occasionally two, for closely related patterns).

This is a different animal from most classroom reading. Traditional basal readers and many balanced literacy programs introduce phonics incidentally or in grade-level chunks. OG treats the sequence as steps you climb in order. You don't reach step 6 until steps 1 through 5 are automatic.

Students with surface dyslexia, who tend to sound out even irregular words, may move through the early steps fast but need extra time on morphology and irregular words. Students with deeper phonological deficits often need more time at the syllable-blending stage.

Can parents use an OG lesson plan at home without being a certified tutor?

Yes and no, and the honest answer sits in the middle.

Parents can learn the OG format, buy a structured program like Barton Reading and Spelling (built specifically for parent delivery), and run good sessions at home. Barton's own published data shows positive outcomes for parent tutors, though independent peer-reviewed studies on parent-led OG are thin.

The real limit is phonics content knowledge. Running an OG session means knowing which sounds map to which graphemes, how to correct errors systematically, and how to sequence concepts. Parents who work through a solid program's training materials can build enough for the early levels. By levels 5 and 6 (vowel teams, syllable types) the content gets hard enough that most parents find a certified practitioner more efficient.

Certification matters more with severe deficits or a complex profile. For a student with deep dyslexia or co-occurring language and attention issues, an untrained parent running OG probably won't cause harm, but probably won't match a trained practitioner's results either.

If you tutor at home, pick one program and follow its sequence. Don't mix materials. Mixing leaves gaps. The most common parent mistake is skipping the auditory drill because it feels repetitive. Don't. That drill builds the automatic phoneme-grapheme retrieval a student needs to write fluently.

ReadFlare's free reading tools include a printable OG-format session log for tracking each session's words, errors, and notes without building your own from scratch.

What are the common mistakes in OG lesson planning?

Moving too fast is the big one. OG requires mastery before moving on, and mastery means the student produces the right response automatically, with no hesitation. If Ben can sound out VCe words when he's concentrating but still stalls in connected text, the pattern isn't mastered. Advancing anyway is the single most common fidelity error in OG.

Skipping the diagnostic close is the second. If you don't write down which words the student missed and why, you can't plan the next lesson accurately. The plan goes generic, and you lose the adaptive quality that makes OG work.

Third: letting context creep into decoding practice. OG is strict here. During the blending drill and the reading passage, the student should decode every word from its phonemes, not from pictures or sentence meaning. If the text says "The cat sat on the mat" and the student reads "The cat sat on the rug," that's a guessing error, not a win. Mark it and correct it.

Fourth: blending sight-word teaching into the phonogram drill. Irregular high-frequency words ("was," "said," "they") need their own approach. Most OG programs handle them with a look-say-cover-write-check routine kept separate from the phonogram deck. Mix them and you muddle both.

Fifth: ignoring attention. A 45-minute OG session is heavy cognitive work. For a kid who fades after 20 minutes, a shorter daily session often gives you cleaner data than a full session twice a week.

How do OG lesson plans differ from other structured literacy formats?

OG is the original, and nearly every modern structured literacy program descends from it or borrows heavily. Wilson Reading System, Barton, SPIRE, Fundations, and RAVE-O all use an explicit, sequential phonics framework. They differ mostly in how closely they follow the classic OG lesson order.

Program	OG-based?	Group size	Reading in context	Independent research?
Orton-Gillingham (classic)	Original	1:1 or 1:3	Decodable texts only	Yes, moderate evidence [3]
Wilson Reading System	Yes	1:1 to 1:6	Wilson decodable texts	Yes, multiple studies
Barton Reading & Spelling	Yes	1:1 (built for parents)	Barton decodable readers	Limited independent studies
Fundations (Wilson)	OG-influenced	Whole class	Decodable texts	Some school-level data
SPIRE	OG-influenced	Small group	SPIRE decodable readers	WWC reviewed, positive
RAVE-O	Structured literacy	Small group	Trade books + decodables	Positive RCT evidence

The What Works Clearinghouse at the U.S. Department of Education reviews intervention programs and publishes evidence ratings ^[9]. SPIRE and Wilson have both been reviewed there. Classic OG is harder to rate because it's a method, not a packaged product, but the IDA's evidence summary covers OG-influenced programs broadly ^[5].

The lesson format in this article sits closest to classic OG and Wilson. If you use Barton or SPIRE, use that program's own template. Deviating from it cuts fidelity.

Where can you get a free Orton-Gillingham lesson plan template?

Several legitimate sources give away free or low-cost templates. Start with the trained-practitioner organizations, not random marketplaces.

The Academic Language Therapy Association (ALTA) publishes practitioner resources including lesson plan formats on its site. The International Dyslexia Association (IDA) offers resource guides with sample lesson structures, and its affiliate branches sometimes post templates directly ^[5].

University reading clinic websites, especially those tied to OG training programs, often post sample plans and phonogram card sets. Texas Scottish Rite Hospital for Children has published free OG-aligned materials that practitioners use widely.

Teachers Pay Teachers has hundreds of OG templates, and quality swings hard. Before you use one, check three things: does it include all eight components above, does it have a space for diagnostic notes, and does it organize concepts by scope and sequence rather than by grade level? A grade-level template is not an OG template.

ReadFlare's free reading tools include a printable OG session log and a scope-and-sequence tracker you can download without an account.

For schools, the What Works Clearinghouse can help match a student's specific deficit profile to reviewed programs, which then points you toward the right lesson template ^[9].

Frequently asked questions

How long should an Orton-Gillingham lesson plan be?

Most OG lessons run 45 to 60 minutes for older students, 30 to 45 minutes for early elementary or students with significant attention difficulties. The eight components together take 33 to 57 minutes if you keep transitions tight. Total length matters less than finishing every component. Skipping the auditory drill or diagnostic close to save time cuts fidelity and outcomes.

How many new phonics concepts should one OG lesson introduce?

One per lesson is standard. Occasionally a practitioner introduces two closely related patterns in the same session (say, the spellings "ai" and "ay" for long a), but only when the student has fully mastered everything before it. The OG principle is mastery before progression, not pacing by the calendar. Moving too fast is the most common fidelity error.

Can a parent with no teaching background use an Orton-Gillingham lesson plan?

Yes, with the right program. Barton Reading and Spelling was built for parent delivery and comes with scripted lessons. Parents who follow one structured program consistently and complete its training can produce real gains, especially at levels 1 through 4. Beyond that, the phonics content gets complex enough that a trained practitioner is usually more efficient. Don't mix materials from different programs.

What is the difference between an OG lesson plan and a regular reading lesson plan?

A regular reading lesson usually centers on a book, a comprehension strategy, or a vocabulary activity. An OG lesson centers on one phonics concept taught through visual, auditory, and kinesthetic-tactile channels. It includes diagnostic notes that directly drive the next session. The decodable text is matched to exactly what has been taught, not to a reading level or grade band.

Does Orton-Gillingham work for students without dyslexia?

OG-based instruction helps any student struggling with phonemic awareness, decoding, or spelling, regardless of diagnosis. The explicit structure works for students who simply never got enough phonics early on. It's more intensive than most typically developing readers need, though. For a student who's on grade level except for one weak pattern, targeted phonics instruction is often more efficient than a full OG program.

How do I know where to start in the OG phonics sequence?

Use an informal phonics inventory or a screener that shows exactly which phoneme-grapheme correspondences the student knows automatically and which are shaky or missing. Many OG programs include their own placement assessments. Without diagnostic placement you risk starting too late (missing gaps) or too early (wasting time on mastered content). The Barton and Wilson placement tools take about 20 to 30 minutes.

Should an OG lesson plan include reading comprehension activities?

Classic OG focuses on decoding and encoding, not comprehension strategies. Comprehension gets some work through reading decodable text aloud, which practices fluency and contextual reading, but explicit comprehension strategy instruction isn't usually part of the OG lesson format. Students who need comprehension support alongside decoding usually get both in separate sessions or through a complementary program.

How is an OG lesson plan different from a Wilson Reading System plan?

Wilson Reading System is an OG-based program with its own lesson format that closely parallels classic OG. Wilson adds a strong syllable-structure framework and uses a ten-part lesson plan with sound drill, word cards, word reading, sentence reading, and dictation at the morpheme level. It's a packaged program with training requirements. Classic OG is a method practitioners run with their own materials. Both share the same underlying principles.

What does 'multisensory' actually mean in an OG lesson?

Multisensory means the student uses more than one sensory channel at once while practicing a concept. In a typical OG encoding step, the student hears the word (auditory), segments it by tapping fingers or a surface (kinesthetic-tactile), and writes the letters (visual-motor). The idea, backed by reading science, is that engaging several input channels during learning strengthens memory for students whose phonological processing is weak.

Can an OG lesson plan be used in a classroom with 20 students?

Classic OG is designed for 1:1 or very small groups (up to 3). Whole-class delivery loses the diagnostic responsiveness that makes it effective for students with real deficits. OG-influenced programs like Fundations adapt structured literacy principles for whole-class use but give up some individualization. For students with identified dyslexia, pull-out small-group or 1:1 instruction is what the research supports and what IEP teams should weigh.

What is simultaneous oral spelling (SOS) and why is it in every OG lesson?

Simultaneous oral spelling is the encoding step where the student says the word, names each phoneme while writing the matching grapheme, then reads the word back. All three actions happen in close sequence, linking auditory, visual, and motor memory. The 2019 Journal of Learning Disabilities review named SOS one of the active ingredients in OG-based programs, setting them apart from phonics programs that teach decoding without equal encoding practice ^[3].

Does my child need a dyslexia diagnosis to receive OG instruction at school?

No. Under IDEA, a student qualifies for special education based on an educational disability that affects learning, not a specific medical label. Many students get OG-based intervention under a specific learning disability (SLD) classification with no separate dyslexia diagnosis. Some states now require schools to screen for dyslexia and provide structured literacy to students who screen positive, regardless of IEP status ^[8].

How do I track progress across OG lesson plans?

Each plan's diagnostic close records which words the student read and spelled right and which errors happened. Over time you track two things: mastery of each concept (can the student use it automatically in new words?) and fluency in decodable text (is rate improving with accuracy?). Many programs use a scope-and-sequence tracker where you date each concept at mastery. One-minute oral reading fluency probes give a standardized measure you can compare to norms.

Sources

1. International Dyslexia Association, Orton-Gillingham overview: Orton-Gillingham approach developed by Samuel Orton and Anna Gillingham in the 1930s; first manual published 1935; foundational for structured literacy
2. National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, National Reading Panel Report (2000): Systematic, explicit phonics instruction produces stronger decoding and spelling outcomes than less-structured alternatives
3. Journal of Learning Disabilities, Orton-Gillingham meta-analysis 2019: Review of 21 OG studies found positive effects on word-level reading accuracy with effect sizes 0.30 to 1.04; most studies ran 8 to 100 hours; mastery gains apparent after approximately 30 to 40 hours
4. Institute of Education Sciences, Assisting Students Struggling with Reading practice guide: Explicit instruction with immediate corrective feedback and distributed practice across sensory channels supports retention in students with phonological processing deficits
5. International Dyslexia Association, Knowledge and Practice Standards for Teachers of Reading: IDA identifies explicit, systematic, sequential phonics instruction as the core of effective reading intervention; OG-influenced programs carry evidence of effectiveness
6. Barton Reading and Spelling System, program cost information: Barton Reading and Spelling levels cost approximately $300 to $600 per level for home use
7. U.S. Department of Education, IDEA statute summary: IDEA requires specially designed instruction tailored to unique needs and that special education services be based on peer-reviewed research to the extent practicable (34 CFR 300.320)
8. National Center on Improving Literacy, State Dyslexia Laws Overview: As of 2024, more than 40 states have enacted some form of dyslexia-related legislation, many requiring structured literacy approaches
9. U.S. Department of Education, What Works Clearinghouse: What Works Clearinghouse reviews intervention programs including SPIRE and Wilson Reading System and publishes evidence ratings for reading interventions
10. Education Commission of the States, Reading Policy Database: State-level reading policy tracking including structured literacy mandates across U.S. states