In the past decade, we’ve helped hundreds of children gain success with reading, writing, and spelling. It’s our obsession to make learning the complex English alphabet code easy, fun, and empowering for children. That’s why we’ve created the Beginning Reader Toolkit. By putting our tools into the hands of more classroom teachers, literacy tutors, reading specialists, and parents, we can help many more children attain literacy. 

Linguistic Phonics: Success depends on presenting the code the way it truly works: the SOUNDS of English are coded by letters. Phonemes (speech sounds) are the basis of the code - NOT graphemes (letters). Phonemic awareness is the key to success with our code. We give teachers a thorough grounding in what it means to teach in a speech-to-sound orientation, and why it’s important that we do. 

Proven Systematic Linguistic Phonics Instruction: The Beginning Reader Toolkit provides the literacy fundamentals and complete phonics instruction that are the backbone of a well-rounded language arts program in K-3rd grade. We’ve eliminated the need to plan - teachers can introduce the lessons in sequential order. There’s enough material in each level for a school year. 

We’ve mapped the entire English alphabet code, and divided it into four child-friendly levels: 

1. The Simple Code level for kindergarten

2. The Basic Code level for first grade 

3. The Complex Code level 1 for second grade

4. The Complex Code level 2 for third grade

English is a tough language! There’s no getting around teaching its complexity. Our alphabetic code has numerous variations of spellings, and also many code overlaps. When taught badly, the code seems to contradict reason. We show teachers the full extent of our spelling code’s complexities, and how to frame its logic when teaching young children. 

The Literacy Sub Skills: Teachers must be aware of the literacy sub skills and how to develop them in young learners. We show them how to develop blending, segmenting, and phoneme manipulation skills. Blending is the ability to synthesize the sounds in a written word. Segmenting is the ability to ‘unglue’ the sounds in a spoken word for writing. The ability to manipulate phonemes advances as blending and segmenting skills are practiced. 

Phonemic awareness is key to reading and writing skills! We give complete instructions for training the ear to hear phonemes, and the eye to see graphemes. We teach techniques for helping students integrate the auditory and visual information into a reflexive association of letters and sounds. 

Once students know how to do the worksheet activities, they’re able to study the code independently. The teacher’s guidebooks lay out the sequence of instruction - just follow along from day to day, and week to week. With our materials, and your guidance and support, students complete lessons that help them learn and practice every part of the English alphabet code.

Word cards are the perfect way for students to study the code. We know that young children learn best when movement is involved. When the hands help the brain sort words into logical categories, students are more engaged and able to remember the lesson. Each set of words in the RFL curriculum is printed on 1”x4” paper cards. Students are asked to read them, one word at a time, then sort them.

Students who struggle to read books find it less stressful to read one word at a time, with a logical framework supporting their efforts. They categorize words as they move them under different headers. Once sorted, students are led to see the spelling patterns. There’s no ‘rules’ for teaching spelling - only patterns that reveal themselves when the cards are sorted.

Our curriculum supports ‘Discovery Learning.’ As students read and sort words in a set, they feel they’re discovering the patterns of English themselves. This is a better way for children to learn than being directly taught. Our materials are designed to empower students as they learn the code, one lesson at a time. Students learn how to read and write, and they learn how to learn. 

Our word cards are carefully curated to reveal spelling patterns to young learners. Children are natural pattern seekers! When students make logical groupings of words on a table, they’re required to decode, think, and decide where to group each word. As they do, they learn to read, write, and spell. Along the way, self confidence is cultivated. 

Students explore spelling patterns by reading and sorting word cards into logical categories. We’ve curated the entire English spelling code, organized it according to a linguistic framework, and put it onto 1 x 4” word cards. Word cards provide low pressure reading opportunities, and sorting is an activity that grows logical connections that stick. Our word sorts cultivate a sense of discovery, as children start recognizing the patterns in the words themselves. They provide the basis of student discovery of the code. 

Word cards can be reread on subsequent days, and different lessons can be done based on these sets of words. Repeated practice builds reflexivity and confidence with reading and writing that part of the code. Teachers and parents know that different kids need different amounts of practice to learn, and can adjust expectations accordingly.

Worksheets make it straightforward to practice the code, until students can automatically recognize it while reading, and reflexively recall it while writing. There are eleven different activities, each designed to develop writing and thinking skills. 

The worksheets provide the format for practicing copying, spelling skills, drawing, and writing conventions. Each of the worksheets is adaptable to every word card set. Our worksheets are designed to allow creative expression. With minimal design elements and a soft pastel color scheme, they let student work shine. Students practice their knowledge, and develop the skills they need to read and write with accuracy and confidence.

Teachers can use our curriculum as a springboard for a range of language arts learning objectives. For example, it can be used to teach about grammar (parts of speech), and writing conventions. The worksheets can be adapted for use with any writing assignment. 

Our curriculum is adaptable to different ability levels. We give guidance for making literacy activities successful and effective for all students. Students with dyslexia, autism, sensory processing disorders, speech impediments, ADD/ADHD, and other learning disabilities can gain the necessary skills and confidence to develop their literacy knowledge and skills.

Dyslexic Students: The Reading For Life curriculum is perfect for remediating older struggling students, including students with dyslexia, learning disabilities, and sensory processing disorders. It’s often the case that dyslexic kids have never been properly taught the code. Or if they have, it’s been presented in a confusing way. Our curriculum provides materials to practice reading and writing any part of the code a student needs to learn. Other times, kids have deficits in their reading sub skills, which can be worked on and overcome. Our Teacher’s Guidebook explains how to identify and address blending and segmenting deficits.

Our curriculum helps remediate speech problems. It expertly draws the child’s attention to the speech sounds which are the foundation of the whole alphabetic code. Children are guided to hear and produce these sounds accurately as they learn the spelling code.

Reading For Life’s curriculum supports comprehension. In a vast majority of cases, comprehension problems are related to decoding problems. Students cannot understand what they cannot read. Once older struggling students are given a chance to systematically study the code, they’re finally able to read accurately, and make sense of text.

Our curriculum is perfect for children and adults learning English as a second language. Studying English with the Reading For Life curriculum will aid the development of fluent speech production and comprehension, as well as reading and writing skills.