INTRODUCTION Learning to read with fluency and comprehension means mastering a set of complex skills that help readers to decode and understand words in a text. The process of learning to read begins in infancy, as babies begin attending to the speech signals in their environment and begin producing spoken language. The experience that young children gain while processing oral language during their early years is strongly related to the reading and learning they will do in school. Furthermore, the number of words that children hear spoken in the home is directly correlated with academic success (Hart & Risley, 2003; Fernald, Marchman, & Weisleder, 2013); in other words, the more words they hear, the likelier they are to do well in school. Relatedly, the amount of time that a child spends listening to parents, teachers, or other adults read aloud is a strong predictor of that child’s reading ability later in life (Lonigan & Shanahan, 2009; Norton & Wolf, 2012). Research that examines temporal processing—how the brain perceives sound—indicates that students who are taught to identify sounds and letters with automaticity have a stronger literacy foundation than their peers who do not acquire these skills (Steinbrink, Zimmer, Lachmann, Dirichs, & Kammer, 2014). Research in this field, as well as research on language and literacy development, informed the creation of Scholastic F.I.R.S.T. (Foundations in Reading, Sounds & Text), an engaging reading program that helps students in Grades PreK–2 become fluent readers. 1 F.I.R.S.T. teaches each of the National Reading Panel’s (NRP) five foundational skills: phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension (National Institute of Child Health and Human Development [NICHD], 2000) in an engaging, purposeful, and supported environment. ABOUT THIS REPORT This report explores critical research in literacy instruction and temporal processing that identifies what young students need to learn in order to become successful readers. It then describes the NRP’s five foundational skills and explains how each is integral to Scholastic F.I.R.S.T.’s reading program.
1 Informed by Dr. Kay MacPhee’s program, SpellRead, a reading comprehension program for older children and adults.
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SCHOLASTIC F.I.R.S.T. FOUNDATION PAPER
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