Decodable Books give children important opportunities to practice applying the phonics skills they are learning. The systematic and explicit phonics they are learning helps them develop skill in recognizing words. Automatic word recognition and fluency, in turn, relates strongly to comprehension. This Course shows how kindergarten teachers provide systematic, explicit instruction in the skills and strategies necessary for children to be able to read Decodable Books confidently and independently.

Research indicates that children's ability to attend to and manipulate phonemes is a strong predictor of their later success in learning to read. This explicit and sequential instruction begins with simple phonological awareness activities and then moves to the more demanding activities of orally blending phonemes to make words and segmenting words into separate phonemes. Such instruction provides children with an insight that words are made up of individual sounds. Gradually, they connect these sounds to letters and develop an understanding of the alphabetic principle.

The alphabetic principle is the understanding that written letters systematically represent the sounds of spoken language and that written words are made up of patterns of letters that represent those sounds. This Course shows how kindergarten teachers provide systematic, explicit instruction to help children acquire an understanding of the alphabetic principle and apply their knowledge to recognize and read words quickly and accurately - an essential step toward fluency and reading comprehension.

For the first half of grade 1, comprehension strategies and skills have been introduced through the reading of Big Books. Discussion - talking about the selections in the Big Book, raising questions, and making connections - has also been part of comprehension. At the same time the children have been learning to decode - making sure the children have the solid foundation and tools they need to read text. They have learned about the sounds and spellings and how to blend in order to read fluently. The reading of the Student Anthology is a major benchmark for children. This is where decoding and comprehension merge and the children read to create meaning - that is, they read with comprehension.

Research strongly supports providing beginning readers with systematic, explicit instruction in phonics to ensure that they acquire the essential word recognition skills for fluent reading and comprehension. This Course shows a first-grade teacher as she instructs children in the key components of early reading instruction - structured and sequential phonemic awareness activities, explicit introduction of sound/spelling correspondences, and the modeling of word-blending procedures.

To become independent readers, children must have effective strategies for decoding words. Research supports the importance of explicitly and systematically teaching sounds and spellings as well as blending. To become fluent readers, children need opportunities to practice these strategies for reading individual words and connected text.

Dictation and spelling activities encourage children to use the phonics knowledge they are developing to help them spell words correctly. In This Course, first grade teacher Candice Foster demonstrates exemplary teaching of dictation and spelling techniques to help children practice using phonics skills to encode (spell) as well as decode (read).

How well children are able to comprehend what they read affects their entire lives. Research reveals a great deal of information about how good readers get meaning from what they read and about the kinds of instructional procedures and activities that are most effective in helping young children to read with comprehension. This Course features explicit, research-based comprehension instruction that is designed to help children develop the knowledge, strategies, and skills that they must have if they are to become proficient, independent, and enthusiastic lifelong readers.

In This Course, first grade teacher Jeff Ohmer teaches his children to write friendly letters using the phases of the writing process.

Workshop is the period of time each day in which the children work collaboratively or independently to practice and review material taught in the lessons or to complete projects of their own choosing. It is also the time during which the teacher can meet individual needs by working with individuals or small groups. This Course shows how Workshop evolves over the course of the year and the changing involvement of the teacher and children.

Research shows that students need very focused, systematic instruction in using comprehension strategies if they are to become proficient readers. This Course demonstrates the necessary components of effective comprehension instruction: introducing strategy use; expert modeling; prompting of student use of reading strategies; and turning responsibility for use of these strategies over to the students. Learning to be active, engaged, and effective readers is a goal all students can achieve.

Decoding text is a fundamental skill that students need in order to develop reading fluency. In this Open Court Reading course, one second grade teacher models reviewing the Sound/Spelling Cards and blending using an instructional progression from sound-by-sound blending to reading words. Another second grade teacher demonstrates dictation and spelling to practice using phonics skills to encode, or spell, words.

Writing is a challenge for many students. With careful attention to planning, consideration of audience and purpose, and thoughtful revision, all students can become good writers.

Workshop is the period of each day in which students work collaboratively or independently to practice and review material taught in the lessons or to complete projects of their own choosing. It is also the time during which the teacher can meet individual needs by working with individuals or small groups. This Course shows how Workshop evolves over the course of the year and how the involvement of the teacher and students changes.

The inquiry/exploration procedure is based on the assumption that students can do research that will result in the construction of deeper knowledge. The procedure presents research as a never-ending, recursive cycle. Like real-world researchers, students produce their own questions, develop ideas or conjectures about why something is the way it is, and then pursue the answers. Through the Inquiry strand of Open Court Reading, the students integrate the knowledge they are gaining of the concepts presented in the program and take the initiative to expand that knowledge through independent and group research.

The inquiry/exploration procedure is based on the assumption that students can do research that will result in the construction of deeper knowledge. The procedure presents research as a never-ending, recursive cycle. Like real-world researchers, students produce their own questions, develop ideas or conjectures about why something is the way it is, and then pursue the answers. Through Inquiry and Investigation, the students integrate the knowledge they are gaining of the concepts presented in the program and take the initiative to expand that knowledge through independent and group research.

Research shows that students need very focused systematic instruction in using comprehension strategies if they are to become proficient readers. This Course demonstrates the necessary components of effective comprehension instruction: introduction to strategy use; expert modeling; prompting student use of reading strategies; turning responsibility for use of reading strategies over to the students. Learning to be active, engaged, effective readers is a goal all students can achieve.

Writing is a challenge for many students. With careful attention to planning, consideration of audience and purpose, and thoughtful revision, students learn to express themselves clearly and fluently in writing.

This Course shows how effective intervention can be carried out during Workshop. During workshop, the teacher can use the time to meet the needs of all of the students and the students can use the time to pursue activities of their own choosing.

Children understand that people use marks (letters) and pictures to share their thoughts and ideas. Young children's writing efforts tend to follow a progression in which they attempt to use print to convey messages. These attempts usually begin with scribbles and drawings that mimic the characteristics of the formal writing system that children see in books and in environmental print. Their writing matures as they begin to apply to their own writing what they are learning about the alphabet, print and book conventions, and the relationship between letters and sounds.