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Learning to Read Made Easy

A Comprehensive Step-by-Step, Learning to Read Guide for Beginners

Reading is a fundamental skill that opens countless doors to knowledge, imagination, empowerment, and opportunity. The rewards of learning to read are endless. It is a skill that not only empowers individuals but also connects them to a world of ideas, cultures, and stories waiting to be explored.

Learning to read, however, is a process that develops in stages and requires patience, practice, and support. Through years of research and working with reading specialists, the Rotary Literacy Initiative feature’s a comprehensive, 6 step reading program called “Learning to Read Made Easy“. This digital media reading program is featured on the Reading Adventure Island streaming website and is free to all individuals wanting to learn to read. Read more about the 6 essential steps in the Learning to Read Made Easy program.

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Using the Power of Reading to Gain Knowledge

Reading is more than a pastime—it is an investment in knowledge, personal growth, and empowerment. By engaging with a variety of texts and employing effective reading strategies, young readers can begin to unlock vast reservoirs of wisdom and insight. Whether through the pages of books, essays or the lines of interesting topics on a digital screen, the journey of gaining knowledge through reading is a lifelong adventure worth embracing.

Reading with a Purpose

Once young readers have mastered basic reading skills (as taught in the first five steps of the Learning to Read Made Easy program, they can then begin to “read with a purpose—that is, using their reading skills to gain knowledge.

Subject Features on the Immersive Reader Platform

Science
Essays

  • Outer Space
  • Our Solar System
  • Space Exploration
  • Weather Facts
  • Ecosystems
  • Resources
  • Water
  • Plant Life
  • Featured Plants
  • Natural Selection
  • Cells & DNA
  • Bacteria, Viruses & Fungus
  • Ecology
  • Atoms
  • Gases, Liquids, & Solids
  • Minerals
  • Energy & Forces
  • Magnets
  • Electricity
  • Technology

General Knowledge Essays

  • All About Dinosaurs
  • All About Herbivore Dinosaurs
  • Carnivore Dinosaurs

The Human Body Essays

  • Human Body Skeleton
  • Frame & Bones
  • Human Organs
  • Human Senses
  • Human Body Systems
  • Health Facts
  • Food Facts

Animals & Other Living Things

  • Farm Animals
  • Jungle Animals
  • Forest Animals
  • Ocean Creatures
  • Insects
  • Reptiles
  • Endangered Animals

Classic Literature

Inspirational Stories

Bios of Great Classical
Music Composers

Social Studies
& History

  • United States Presidents
  • 50 States
  • Natural Wonders of the World
  • Man Made Wonders of the World
  • Ancient Times
  • American History

Using the power of reading to gain
knowledge

Reading is more than a pastime-it is an investment in knowledge, personal growth and empowerment. By engaging with a variety of texts and employing effective reacing strategies, young readers can begin to unlock vast reservoirs of wisdom and insight. Whether through the pages of books, essays or the lines of interesting topics on a digital screen, the journey of gaining knowledge through reading is a lifelong adventure worth embracing.

Reading with a Purpose

Once young readers have mastered basic reading skills (as taught in the first five steps of the Learning to Read Made Easy program, they can then begin to “read with a purpose that is, using their reading skills to gain knowledge.

Literacy Is For Everyone

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Foundational
Concept

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Learning to Read Made Easy

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Reading Adventure
Island

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Smart Kidz Life Skill Library

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Why Hopeful Thinking Is Not Enough

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Learning to Read Made Easy

Step 1: Building Pre-Reading Skills: The Baby, Signs, Say and Read Program (Ages 1 – 2)

Before a child can begin to read, they need to develop pre-reading skills that lay the groundwork for learning to read. Pre-Reading Goals:

• Babies and toddlers learn simple signs to describe what they see and feel before they can talk.

• Babies and toddlers learn that objects have words connected to them.

• Babies and toddlers learn to say (pronounce) the word and object.

• Babies and toddlers learn how words and objects are used in a sentence.

Step 2: Reading Readiness Skills: Learning the Alphabet, Consonants, Consonant Blends & Vowels (Ages 3 – 6)

The alphabet is the cornerstone of reading. Mastery of the alphabet provides children with the tools to decode written language. Reading Readiness Goals:

• Pre-Schoolers learn to identify each letter of the alphabet by name and shape, both uppercase and lowercase.

• Pre-Schoolers learn the alphabet and the sounds associated with each letter in the alphabet.

• Pre-Schoolers learn about beginning and ending consonants, consonant blends and other associated sounds with each consonant.

• Pre-Schoolers learn about vowels and the sounds associated with each vowel

• Pre-Schoolers learn hundreds of sight words

Step 3: Developing Language Art Skills (Grammar): Putting Letters Together to Form Words and Using Words to Form Sentences (Ages 4 – 8)

Grammar is the proper use of a language, and it includes topics like syntax (the order of words in a sentence), punctuation, parts of speech, tenses, mechanics, and more. Besides enhancing reading comprehension, grammar skills are key in written and spoken communication, ensuring a child is able to communicate easily and is understood correctly. Language Arts Goals:

• Early Learners learn to combine individual letter sounds to form words (e.g. c-a-t = cat.

• Early Learners learn to identify patterns in words. (e.g. “at” in “cat,” “bat,” and “hat.”

• Early Learners learn beginning vocabulary words for colors, shapes, opposites, synonyms, and sizes

• Early Learners learn new vocabulary words and the meaning of those words.

• Early Learners learn how to learn the meanings of unfamiliar words.

• Early Learners learn how to form sentences with words

• Early Learners learn how to use nouns and pronouns in sentences.

• Early Learners learn how to use verbs, adjectives, and adverbs in sentences.

This step is essential for learning about the sounds that make up words and using words to form sentences.

Step 4: Building a Vocabulary of Sight Words

Sight words are an essential component of early reading development. These are words that appear frequently in texts and are often difficult to sound out phonetically. By recognizing sight words instantly, readers can improve their fluency and comprehension.

Sight words are commonly used words that readers should learn to recognize by sight, rather than by decoding them letter by letter. Examples include words such as “the,” “and,” “is,” and “was.” These words often do not follow standard phonetic rules, making them challenging for beginning readers to decode.

Step 5: Math Readiness: Developing Math Skills (Ages 3 – 8)

An important part of the literacy process is to develop math skills. At the heart of mathematics lies an understanding of numbers, counting and their relationships. These skills form the building blocks for later arithmetic and problem-solving abilities. Elementary Math Goals:

• Early Learners learn how to identify numbers in written and spoken formats.

• Early Learners learn how to count and the sequence of numbers, forward and backward.

• Early Learners learn to understand larger and smaller quantities.

• Early Learners learn to match numbers to objects in a set

• Early Learners learn single-digit operations—progressing to multi-digit numbers.

• Early Learners learn times tables and multiplication as the inverse of division.

• Early Learners learn division as the inverse of multiplication

• Early Learners learn how to tell time

• Early Learners learn how to count money

Step 6: Introduction to the Smart Kidz Immersive Reader Platform

One of the most powerful reading innovations featured in the Learning to Read Made Easy Program is the Immersive Reader Platform. This platform not only enhances a student’s reading and learning experience, but it also improves reading fluency and comprehension.

How it Works:

This reading platform features short essays (synopsis) on topics that young readers are curious about and/or excited to read about. Here’s how it works:

As the short essay is being read aloud, the words are highlighted and synced to the narration. The out-loud reading is at a slower pace to allow the reader to follow the highlighted words and experience the smoothness and fluency needed when reading a book. By following the highlighted words, this reading technique introduces to the reader new vocabulary words, strengthens sight words, and reinforces sentence structure.