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Elementary Literacy Critical Reading Components

Learning to read is one of the most important skills an individual can learn and therefore it is important to understand the five critical components of reading. The five components are: phonological awareness & phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary and comprehension. These components work together to create strong, rich and reliable reading abilities.

Guiding Documents

These guiding documents can serve as a reference for school-based conversations about moving learners forward.  They were created in the Spring of 2021 by a multi-disciplinary team of educators.  Moving forward, there are plans to create an accompanying interactive toolbox with rich examples and resources.  If you are interested in getting involved, click here to apply by November 16, 2021.

Foundational Skills Overview
Reflecting on Reading Instruction Through an Inquiry Lens

Critical Reading Components

Definitions of Critical Skills

Phonological & Phonemic Awareness

Phonological awareness is the ability to notice the sound structure of spoken words (Kilpatrick, 2015). Phonemic awareness is the ability to identify, isolate and manipulate sounds. It is a part of phonological awareness.

Phonics​

A system for approaching reading that focuses on the relationship between letters and sounds (Kilpatrick, 2015).

Fluency

Reading Words at an adequate rate, with a high level of accuracy, appropriate expression, and understanding (Birsh & Carreker 2018).

Vocabulary

Vocabulary is the knowledge of words and word meanings (NIL, 2007; Honig, Diamond & Gutlohn, 2008).

Comprehension

Comprehension is making sense of what we read. Comprehension depends on good word recognition, fluency, vocabulary, wordly knowledge, and language ability (Birsh & Carreker 2018).

Critical Skills By Grade

Critical Skills Checklist

Continuum of Skills

Kindergarten
Grade 1
Grade 2
Grade 3
Kindergarten
Grade 1
Grade 2
Grade 3
Phonological and Phonemic Awareness
Phonics