Concepts of print are essential, foundational literacy understandings about words in their written, or print form. Concepts include discerning pictures from written words, reading print from top to bottom and left to right with one-to-one correspondence between words read and words in print. Reading aloud from a big book is widely accepted and…

In a quasi-experimental study, kindergarten teachers taught children mnemonic stories to orient the confusable letters "b" and "d." In the first week's stories, intervention teachers introduced the left-to-right sequence of features for these letters with "the bat hits the ball" and "a dime rolls up to a…

We describe the rationale for- and content of- a freely available, novel, theoretically driven and evidence-based approach to improving the teaching of word reading in reception classrooms called 'Flexible Phonics'. Flexible Phonics (FP) adds measurable value to-, rather than wholly replacing, existing synthetic phonics programmes. The rationale…

This study investigated how 15 kindergarten teachers from one school district implemented small-group Guided Reading (GR). Analysis of video recordings indicates substantial differences in how GR was conducted, with none of the teachers fully implementing GR as conceptualized by Fountas and Pinnell (2012). Consistency across teachers was limited…

Reading acquisition is a major focus in schools. For students to be literate in the later grades, it is crucial that foundational skills instruction takes place in the primary grades (K-2). In part, foundational skills needed to become a successful reader include phonological and phonemic awareness (PPA). PPA skills are crucial, and researchers…

Purpose: Having a clear understanding of the types and amounts of classroom literacy learning opportunities is important for contextualizing children's early literacy performance. In this study, we examine the content, context, and management of literacy learning opportunities in a large, geographically diverse sample in the United States. We also…

Preschool children considered at risk for future reading difficulties experience unique and complex combinations of risk factors. In this exploratory study, we used latent profile analysis (LPA) to investigate the underlying classifications of children identified as at-risk for reading difficulties (N = 281) along selected cognitive,…

Early literacy skills such as print knowledge are essential building blocks for children's later reading and academic outcomes. Shared book reading activities in early childhood classrooms offer rich opportunities through which educators can support children's print knowledge development by explicitly referring to a book's print. Such references…

A critical gap exists between research-driven early reading disability (RD) prevention efforts and practice. To help bridge this gap, we describe the development of a technology-based tool to help preschool teachers implement responsive "assessment-guided" practices (screening, intentional teaching, and reflective monitoring, evaluation,…

In elementary school, an important goal of reading instruction is to enable children to read most words automatically by sight so that they can focus on learning from and enjoying what they are reading. But becoming a strong reader takes several years. Parents and caregivers need to know if a child is making good progress in learning to read.…

The purpose of this study was to determine current kindergarten teacher understandings of early phonics instruction and how teachers are meeting readers' early phonics needs during guided reading instruction. Using Vygotsky's (1979) social constructivist theory and Ehri's (1995) connectionist theory and by focusing on age-appropriate instruction,…

Teacher self-efficacy to teach reading is positively associated with teacher effort and persistence as well as student performance. To provide effective reading instruction that meets the needs of students with reading difficulties, theoretical and empirical evidence suggests teachers need to believe they have the necessary knowledge and skills to…

The quantitative methods study examined and compared the knowledge of phonological awareness between preschool and kindergarten teachers. A multiple-choice knowledge survey was utilized to determine levels of understanding between the two groups of teachers. The knowledge survey consisted of questions pertaining to definitions of phonological…

Many kindergarten educators grapple with how best to teach reading in play-based kindergarten classrooms. The purpose of this mixed-methods study was to ascertain the instructional strengths and needs of kindergarten educators as they teach reading in play-based programs. Fifteen kindergarten teachers participated in an online questionnaire and…

There is currently a lack of a more integrated perspective on reading literacy education. In preschool reading activities, it's important to maximize an individual's potential for reading literacy development with limited nurturing energy. Based on self-regulated theory and metacognitive models, this study explored the pathway model of the…