Literacy

In order to become efficient readers, children need to be able to perceive and manipulate the sounds in words, connect the sounds to the letter or letter patterns, read the words quickly, and link meaning to the text. Difficulties in one or more of these areas can hinder a child’s progress when learning to read.  Effective reading programs incorporate direct instruction in the areas of sound awareness, word attack or decoding, fluency, vocabulary development, and reading comprehension.

Early Literacy Skills



Letter recognition overview

Efficient letter recognition is a necessary early literacy skill. 



Block and script letters A-Z

This paper is helpful for guiding early writers in proper letter height, width and placement of the letters of the alphabet. 



Go Fish Letters

Play is exactly like traditional Go Fish, except instead of matching numbers, players match the sounds of each letter, not the name. 



Dot-to-dot letters A-Z

Letter recognition, fine motor control.



Printable writing paper



Read order and search order picture cards and activities

Many children have difficulty understanding how to read or search for information on a page. 

 

 
Phonics



Words and syllables

Training of sound awareness needs to begin with words in sentences and with syllables.



Sound discrimination and manipulation activities

Start with having the students focus on the initial sounds in words, then work on the ending sounds.



Decoding skills activities

Decoding refers to the child’s ability to link the sounds to the letter or letter patterns to decipher unknown words.



Sounds Sing-A-Long

These videos show a creative speech program developed by an experienced speech therapist to help children with pronunciation difficulties.



Sounds Bingo Game

Game board laid out on a 5x5 grid containing Picture cards of simple images.



Reading fluency activities

Children need to develop efficient word attack and have an adequate sight word base. 
 

 
Reading Comprehension



Reading comprehension strategies

Often children struggle to recognize important elements of text, summarize, and synthesize the information to create new knowledge. 



Vocabulary-building activities

 Instruction to support vocabulary development needs to be included in the reading instruction.



Reading out loud

Read out loud on a daily basis.



Graphic organizers

Reading forms, organizers, and reports to print out and use.

Sight Words



View2Do

View2Do is an online program that lets teachers and parents create customized teaching aids for visual learners.



Sight words overview

To support efficient reading, children need to be able to recognize some common words automatically.