The Wilson Reading System (WRS) is a highly regarded structured literacy program designed to provide intensive, systematic, and explicit instruction in reading and spelling. It is often used to support individuals, including students with dyslexia, who struggle with reading and spelling due to language-based learning difficulties. The Wilson Reading System was developed by Barbara A. Wilson and is based on the principles of Orton-Gillingham, a well-established and effective approach for teaching individuals with dyslexia.
Key features of the Wilson Reading System include:
Structured and Sequential: WRS follows a structured and sequential curriculum that builds on foundational reading skills. It breaks down reading and spelling into manageable, logical components.
Multisensory Approach: The program uses a multisensory approach, which means students engage with learning through multiple senses (visual, auditory, kinesthetic). This approach helps reinforce learning and improve retention.
Direct and Explicit Instruction: WRS provides direct and explicit instruction, making sure students understand the rules and patterns of the English language. It teaches students how to decode words, recognize sight words, and develop strong phonological and phonemic awareness.
Individualized Instruction: The program is designed to be individualized and can be tailored to the specific needs of each learner. It's often used for one-on-one or small group instruction.
Spelling and Reading Integration: WRS emphasizes the integration of spelling and reading, recognizing that proficiency in one area can support improvement in the other.
Assessment and Progress Monitoring: It includes regular assessments and progress monitoring to ensure that each student is making appropriate gains and adjustments to instruction are made as needed.
Teacher Training: Teachers and tutors who use the Wilson Reading System typically undergo specific training to implement the program effectively.
The Wilson Reading System has been shown to be highly effective in helping individuals with reading difficulties, including those with dyslexia, to improve their reading and spelling skills. It is often used in schools and clinical settings by educators, special education teachers, and reading specialists to provide targeted support for struggling readers. Additionally, the program can be adapted for use with various age groups, from children to adults, who require assistance with literacy skills.
Wilson Fundations is an educational program developed by Wilson Language Training that focuses on early literacy and language skills for young students. It is designed for children in kindergarten through second grade and aims to provide a strong foundation in reading, spelling, and writing. Wilson Fundations is often used in general education classrooms but is also beneficial for students with dyslexia and other language-based learning difficulties.
Key features of the Wilson Fundations program include:
Phonics and Phonemic Awareness: Wilson Fundations emphasizes phonics instruction, helping students learn the relationship between sounds (phonemes) and letters (graphemes). It also incorporates phonemic awareness activities to develop crucial pre-reading skills.
Systematic and Sequential: The program offers a systematic and sequential approach to teaching phonics and spelling. Lessons build upon one another, ensuring a logical progression of skills.
Multisensory Techniques: Wilson Fundations uses multisensory techniques to engage students through sight, sound, and touch. This approach helps students with different learning styles and needs.
Spelling and Handwriting: The program integrates spelling and handwriting instruction, helping students develop their fine motor skills and improving their writing abilities.
Small-Group Instruction: While it can be used with whole-class instruction, Wilson Fundations is often implemented in small-group settings to provide more targeted support for students who may be struggling.
Interactive Activities: The program includes a variety of interactive activities, games, and resources to make learning engaging and fun for young learners.
Progress Monitoring: Wilson Fundations includes assessments and progress monitoring tools to ensure that students are making appropriate gains and adjustments to instruction are made as needed.
Teacher Training: Educators who use the Wilson Fundations program typically undergo training to effectively implement the curriculum.
Wilson Fundations is widely recognized for its effectiveness in helping young students develop strong foundational reading and writing skills. It aligns with best practices in literacy instruction and can be a valuable resource for teachers working with early elementary students. The program can be particularly beneficial for students who may be at risk for reading difficulties or who have been identified with language-based learning challenges.
Math resources were designed specifically for intervention groups and special education students.
The focus is on mastering the essential foundational skills in a straightforward way. Many math books simultaneously introduce two or more problem-solving strategies. This often confuses struggling students. In these lessons, there's just one strategy at a time for students to master before moving to the next step.
These lessons could benefit all students, especially students who have:
Attention difficulties—minimal visual clutter, short lessons, simple instructions, clear stopping point
Learning disabilities—chunked into small objectives with explicit step-by-step instruction and many practice repetitions
Slower processing speed—accuracy rather than fluency is measured; mastery learning will increase automaticity
Language difficulties—Receptive: Teacher directions/vocabulary are simple, consistent, and concise. Expressive: Rather than asking students with limited verbal skills to ‘explain their thinking’, teach them how to state the steps they are following.
Executive functioning difficulties—clear expectations and predictable routine, organized and straightforward layout
Fine motor issues—larger font and space for writing answers; students are not asked to write many words or sentences
Scholastic's "Rime Magic" is a specific literacy program designed to help early readers develop phonological awareness skills and improve their reading abilities. It focuses on teaching students about word families, also known as "rimes" or "word patterns."
Here are some key features of the Scholastic Rime Magic program:
Word Families: Rime Magic focuses on word families, which are groups of words that share the same ending sounds, or rimes. For example, the "-at" family includes words like "cat," "bat," and "hat."
Phonological Awareness: The program helps students develop phonological awareness by identifying and working with rimes in words. This includes recognizing and generating words that belong to the same word family.
Rhyming: Rhyming is an important component of the program. Students practice identifying and producing rhyming words, which reinforces their understanding of word patterns.
Decoding Skills: Rime Magic supports students in developing decoding skills by teaching them to recognize common rimes and apply this knowledge to read and spell words.
Reading and Spelling Practice: The program includes activities and exercises that provide opportunities for reading and spelling words from various word families.
Interactive and Engaging: Rime Magic materials often include interactive and engaging activities, such as games and hands-on exercises, to make learning fun and effective for young readers.
Progress Monitoring: The program may include tools for teachers to monitor students' progress in phonological awareness and decoding skills.
Scholastic offers a range of educational materials and resources for teachers, parents, and students, and Rime Magic is one of their literacy programs designed to support early reading development. Teachers can incorporate these materials into their literacy instruction to help students build strong foundational reading skills.
Snap words are important because they form a significant part of a young reader's vocabulary and are frequently used in text. Recognizing sight words quickly can improve a child's reading fluency and comprehension. Various sight word lists are commonly used in education, with the Dolch Sight Words and Fry Sight Words lists being two of the most well-known.
Here's how the concept of snap words works:
Recognition: Students are taught to recognize sight words on sight, meaning they can identify these words by looking at them, without sounding them out phonetically.
Memorization: Sight words are typically taught through repetition and memorization. Flashcards and word games are common tools for practicing these words.
High Frequency: Sight words are often some of the most frequently used words in the English language, such as "the," "and," "is," "you," "he," "she," and so on.
Reading Fluency: Recognizing sight words quickly and effortlessly helps students read more fluently because they don't have to pause to decode these common words.
Comprehension: Improved sight word recognition contributes to better reading comprehension since students can focus more on understanding the content of a text rather than struggling with individual words.
Sight words are an essential part of early reading instruction, and teachers often use various methods and resources to help students learn and master these words. Flashcards, games, and reading practice.
Literacy Footprints is an early literacy program and a collection of resources designed to support teachers in providing effective literacy instruction to young students, particularly those in the early elementary grades. The program was developed by Dr. Jan Richardson, a renowned educator and literacy expert, and Michèle Dufresne, a literacy consultant and author. Literacy Footprints emphasizes a balanced literacy approach and is widely used in schools to help students build strong foundational reading and writing skills.
Key features and components of the Literacy Footprints program include:
Leveled Readers: The program provides a set of carefully leveled readers, which are books specifically designed to match a student's reading ability and progress. These readers cover a wide range of genres and topics.
Guided Reading: Literacy Footprints incorporates guided reading as a central component of instruction. Guided reading involves small-group instruction where teachers work with students at their reading level, providing individualized support and teaching specific reading strategies.
Assessment: The program includes assessment tools to help teachers identify students' reading levels and needs. This information is used to tailor instruction to each student's abilities and target areas for improvement.
Phonics and Word Study: Literacy Footprints integrates phonics and word study activities to help students develop phonemic awareness, phonics skills, and word recognition.
Writing: The program includes writing activities to encourage students to apply their literacy skills in creating written texts. It focuses on both narrative and informational writing.
Professional Development: Literacy Footprints offers professional development resources and training to help teachers implement the program effectively. This includes workshops and webinars.
Progress Monitoring: Teachers regularly monitor student progress to ensure that instruction is meeting their needs. Adjustments are made as necessary to support student growth.
Home-School Connection: The program may include materials and strategies for engaging parents and guardians in supporting literacy development at home.
Literacy Footprints is designed to be flexible, allowing teachers to adapt it to their students' needs and their own teaching styles. It can be used in whole-class instruction, small-group settings, or one-on-one tutoring. The program aims to help students become proficient readers and writers and to foster a love of reading and learning from an early age.
It's important to note that Literacy Footprints is typically used as part of a comprehensive literacy curriculum and may be integrated with other resources and approaches in the classroom.