What are the Foundational Skills in Reading?

The foundational skills in reading identify a set of skills students must master before they can become fluent readers. These skills include alphabetic concepts, concepts of print, phonological awareness, phonics, high-frequency words, and fluency.

What is phonics?

Phonics is the system of relationships between letters and sounds in a language. When students learn that the letter d has the sound of /d/ and later learn that “sion” sounds like /shun/, they are learning phonics.

Why is it important?

Learning phonics helps students learn to read and spell. Written language can be compared to a code, so knowing the sounds of letters and letter combinations will help students decode words as he/she reads. Knowing phonics will also help a child know which letters to use as he/she writes words.

What is the difference between phonics and language study? How are these two things related?

Language study is about learning vocabulary, parts of speech, and proper sentence composition. Phonics is related because as students learn how to read and write words, they begin to learn word meanings and word usage.

How do we teach foundational skills and language study in Ridgefield?

In Ridgefield, the teaching of foundational skills occurs across the year and across the grades, each grade reviewing, reinforcing, and building from a previously-developed foundation. Phonics starts in kindergarten by learning all of the letter names while also learning the sounds that are associated with each letter. Students are taught to blend sounds together, to sound words out when writing, and begin to build a sight vocabulary. From there, students are introduced to other elements of foundational skills such as syllables, plurals, possessives, and contractions. In 3rd grade, the focus shifts to a study of language usage, looking more at grammar, syntax, and word meanings.

CONTENT OBJECTIVES

• • • • See Grade 1 for expected skills.

CONTENT OBJECTIVES

The student will . . .

• • • Trimester 1

      • • read and write blends, digraphs, common rimes/glued sounds (-ng, -nk, -ild, -ive, -old, -olt, -ost).

        • read and write open syllables (e.g., acorn) and VCE (e.g., kite).

        • read and write contractions: n’t, ‘ve, ‘ll.

    • Trimester 2

      • • read bossy r / r-controlled vowels: er, ir, ur*.

        • combine syllables to make a word with 2 or 3 syllables.

        • read and write base word + suffix: -ful, -ment, -able, -less, -y, -es, -er, -est.

        • read and write vowel teams: ai, ay, ee, ea,ey, oa, ow, ou, oi, oy, aw, au, ue, ie, igh.

    • Trimester 3

      • • introduce silent consonants: kn, gh, mb, wr.

        • read and write vowel teams: ai, ay, ee, ea,ey, oa, ow, ou, oi, oy, aw, au, ue, ie, igh.

        • read and write base word + suffix: -ful, -ment, -able, -less, -y, -es, -er, -est.

* bossy r /. r-controlled vowels - A vowel that is followed by r and is forced to change it's sound.

CONTENT OBJECTIVES

The student will . . .

• • • Trimester 1

      • • read 200+ Fry* words.

        • write a core of 50+ words.

    • Trimester 2

      • • read a core of 250+ Fry words.

        • write a core of 100+ words.

    • Trimester 3

      • • read a core of 300+ Fry words.

        • write a core of 150-200+ words.

*Fry words are lists of words that occur with the greatest frequently in the English language.