Foundations of Early Reading Instruction

 Regardless of grade level or content area, all teachers encounter students who experience various reading difficulties that can impede classroom success. Knowledge of the Science of Reading and Scarborough’s Reading Rope is critical to the reading process. Understanding foundational reading skills such as print concepts, phonological awareness, phonemic awareness, and letter-naming knowledge will help educators foster these skills early in the reading process. Additionally, recognizing gaps in these areas for students in upper grades can help teachers identify and address student reading challenges in the classroom. Using a free online platform (e.g., Padlet, Trello, Jamboard), create a digital resource for other educators that discusses the foundational skills of the concept of print, phonological awareness, phonemic awareness, and letter-naming knowledge. For each of these four areas, include the following information:

• Skill: Describe each foundational skill, including milestones that demonstrate mastery.
• Age/Grade Range: List the age/grade range when students typically demonstrate the milestone skills.
• Assessment: Describe 2-3 evidence-based assessment tools or strategies that may be used to assess the skill. Discuss how each assessment or strategy will be used to determine whether students are making progress toward meeting the foundational literacy skill.
• Evidence-Based Instruction: Write an explanation of a research-based instructional strategy to teach a portion of the foundational skill. Many parts make up each foundational skill, so be sure to explicitly identify the part of the skill (concept) being taught.
• Differentiation: Provide at least two differentiation strategies that can be used when teaching the foundational literacy skill to engage and motivate all young learners, but specifically support English learners (ELs) and/or students with dyslexia.  

Support your work with a minimum of three scholarly resources. Submit a link to or PDF of your digital resource and your scholarly resources in a single document. Ensure that others can access and view the link prior to submitting.