No! Their first grade LA is mostly (well, a lot, anyway) phonics! It begins in the Learning to Read program, and continues with the more advanced ones in the LA. Actually, you start first grade with the Learning to Read, then about halfway through you add in the LA (it tells you when in the LtR TM), then when you've finished the LtR (about mid-year or so), you start up the first reader called I Wonder while you continue with the LA, and finish both reading and LA together at the end of the year.
