Learning Skills

• Phonics Skills
  • Phonics Skills

    Before they can read independently, children must learn the relationship of letters to their sounds and be able to distinguish individual sounds, or phonemes, within words. Phonics skills help children sounds out new words (If I can read "pot", then I can read "hot" and "spot").

• Word Building
  • Word Building

    To read and write, children must understand how individual letter sounds blend together to make words. Experimenting with building words, such as changing mat to cat to rat, helps with reading and spelling.

• Book and Print Basics
  • Book and Print Basics

    A child's early experiences with books greatly influence his ability to learn to read. Reading together helps a child learn how to turn pages one at a time and that text moves from left to right. Advanced readers learn how to use books for research.

• Phonological Awareness
  • Phonological Awareness

    Along with learning language and letters, phonological awareness - the ability to pick out and play with sounds in words (such as syllables and rhymes)- is essential for learning to read.

• The Alphabet
  • The Alphabet

    Knowing the letters of the alphabet is one of the first steps toward learning to read and write. Introducing letters to young children helps them learn to recognize the different shapes and names - an early indicator for reading achievement.

• Vowels
  • Vowels

    Spelling begins with regular short vowel sounds (cap) and long vowel sounds (with silent e, cap becomes cape). Finally, children learn the rules and patterns of vowel pairs (ee), digraphs (ai in train), dipthongs (oi in boil) and r-controlled vowels (farm, bird).