Successful reading programs incorporate these 5 essential components: 

• Phonemic Awareness
• Phonics
• Reading Fluency Including Oral Reading Skills
• Vocabulary Development
• Comprehension

Effective reading activities to help children at home are listed under the "How To Help"  tab.

Phonemic Awareness is the knowledge and manipulation of sounds in spoken words. Children who have difficulty hearing individual sounds in words are likely to find it hard to connect a sound to a letter and would benefit from phonemic awareness instruction.  

Phonics is the relationship between written and spoken letters and sounds. It is the ability to use the alphabetic symbols to decode and spell words. Systematic and explicit phonics instruction is the most effective type of instruction.

Reading Fluency is the ability to read with accuracy, appropriate rate, expression, and phrasing.  Fluency is important because it enables a reader to focus on contextual meaning.  Students regularly practice with complex text and its academic language.

Vocabulary is word knowledge and needs to be developed in order for students to effectively communicate and comprehend. As students learn to use more vocabulary properly, reading, writing, and speaking skills improve. 

Reading Comprehension is the ultimate purpose of reading. Good readers read with a purpose in mind and actively think as they read. Students work on building knowledge through content-rich fiction and nonfiction text.