Ensuring that students have a strong foundation in early literacy skills is key to finding success in reading. All students need explicit and systematic instruction in word recognition skills (phonemic awareness and phonics) and oral language. This site will provide information to help support these key literacy skills in Prek-2nd. 

The ability to read words with automaticity and ease, students must be able to decode and encode with accuracy. This involves teaching students word attack skills through phonemic awareness and phonics. In addition, students need strong encoding skills (spelling) of words to successfully be able to read words with fluency. Reading and writing go together, you can't be good at writing and not be able to read. In addition, classrooms should be filled with rich literature to help suport language comprehension. Through interactive read aloud, and writing teachers can help build a strong foundation in oral language that incorporates the 5 key areas; background knowledge, vocabulary, language, verbal reasoning, and literacy.