Regardless of grade level or content area, all teachers encounter students who experience various reading difficulties that can impede classroom success. Knowledge of the Science of Reading and Scarborough’s Reading Rope is critical to the reading process. Understanding foundational reading skills such as print concepts, phonological awareness, phonemic awareness, and letter-naming knowledge will help educators foster these skills early in the reading process. Additionally, recognizing gaps in these areas for students in upper grades can help teachers identify and address student reading challenges in the classroom. Using a free online platform (e.g., Padlet, Trello, Jamboard), create a digital resource for other educators that discusses the foundational skills of the concept of print, phonological awareness, phonemic awareness, and letter-naming knowledge. For each of these four areas, include the following information:

• Skill: Describe each foundational skill, including milestones that demonstrate mastery.
• Age/Grade Range: List the age/grade range when students typically demonstrate the milestone skills.
• Assessment: Describe 2-3 evidence-based assessment tools or strategies that may be used to assess the skill. Discuss how each assessment or strategy will be used to determine whether students are making progress toward meeting the foundational literacy skill.
• Evidence-Based Instruction: Write an explanation of a research-based instructional strategy to teach a portion of the foundational skill. Many parts make up each foundational skill, so be sure to explicitly identify the part of the skill (concept) being taught.
• Differentiation: Provide at least two differentiation strategies that can be used when teaching the foundational literacy skill to engage and motivate all young learners, but specifically support English learners (ELs) and/or students with dyslexia.  

Support your work with a minimum of three scholarly resources. Submit a link to or PDF of your digital resource and your scholarly resources in a single document. Ensure that others can access and view the link prior to submitting.  

How to Create a Digital Resource on Foundational Literacy Skills

Introduction

Introduce the purpose of the digital resource and explain why foundational literacy skills are essential to students’ development as readers. Connect the assignment to the Science of Reading and Scarborough’s Reading Rope, emphasizing that skilled reading develops through the interaction of foundational word-recognition skills and language comprehension. Explain that although these skills are typically emphasized during early childhood and elementary education, older students may continue to experience reading difficulties when foundational gaps have not been identified or addressed. Establish that the resource is designed for educators across grade levels and content areas and will provide practical information about concepts of print, phonological awareness, phonemic awareness, and letter-naming knowledge (Scarborough, 2001).

Section 1: Concept of Print

Skill

Define concepts of print as the understanding that written language follows specific conventions and that print carries meaning. Explain that students gradually learn that books have a front and back, text is read in a particular direction, words are separated by spaces, letters form words, and punctuation provides information about how text should be read. Milestones should include holding a book appropriately, identifying the front and back of a book, tracking print from left to right and top to bottom when appropriate, distinguishing letters from words, recognizing spaces between words, and understanding that print communicates meaning.

Age/Grade Range

Explain that basic concepts of print typically develop during preschool and kindergarten, although mastery may vary among students. Early exposure to books, environmental print, shared reading, and conversations about written language supports development. Students who enter later grades with difficulty understanding basic print conventions may require explicit instruction and additional assessment rather than being assumed to have mastered these skills simply because of their age or grade level.

Assessment

Describe informal print-concept inventories as one assessment strategy. During a one-on-one book interaction, the teacher can ask students to identify the front of a book, title, letters, words, spaces, punctuation, and reading direction. The teacher can record which concepts the student demonstrates independently and which require prompting.

Discuss running records or guided oral-reading observations as another strategy. While listening to a student read, the teacher can observe whether the student tracks print appropriately, recognizes word boundaries, attends to punctuation, and follows the organization of the text. Progress can be measured by comparing observations across repeated reading experiences.

Evidence-Based Instruction

Recommend interactive shared reading with explicit print referencing. During a shared reading session, the teacher should deliberately point to words, spaces, punctuation, and letters while explaining their purposes. For example, the teacher can say that the spaces show where one word ends and another begins while tracking the text from left to right. Explicit attention to these features helps students understand that print has an organized structure and meaning rather than treating reading as simply looking at pictures.

Differentiation

For English learners, incorporate familiar objects, pictures, gestures, and multilingual examples of print so students can connect new concepts with existing language knowledge. Teachers can also use repeated readings of predictable texts and allow students to discuss concepts in their strongest language when appropriate.

For students with dyslexia or other reading difficulties, provide explicit, systematic practice with print features using enlarged text, tactile letters, color-free visual highlighting when appropriate, and repeated modeling. Keep practice brief and structured while providing immediate corrective feedback.

Section 2: Phonological Awareness

Skill

Define phonological awareness as the ability to recognize and manipulate the sound structures of spoken language. Explain that it includes awareness of larger sound units such as sentences, words, syllables, onset-rime units, and individual phonemes. Milestones include recognizing rhyming words, producing rhymes, identifying syllables, blending syllables or onset-rime units, segmenting spoken words into parts, and eventually manipulating individual sounds.

Age/Grade Range

Explain that phonological awareness generally develops during preschool and kindergarten, progressing from larger sound units toward increasingly complex manipulation of smaller units. Students typically develop awareness of rhyme and syllables before mastering phoneme-level tasks. Teachers should remember that development varies and that persistent difficulty with phonological awareness can signal a need for additional literacy support.

Assessment

Use rhyming and syllable tasks to determine whether students can identify and manipulate larger sound units. The teacher can ask students whether two words rhyme, produce a word that rhymes with a target word, or clap and count syllables. Performance can be recorded to identify patterns and monitor growth.

Use phonological blending and segmentation tasks to determine whether students can combine or separate spoken sound units. For example, a teacher could say the syllables in a word separately and ask the student to blend them together. Repeated progress monitoring can demonstrate whether students are developing increasingly sophisticated awareness of spoken language.

Evidence-Based Instruction

Recommend explicit oral phonological-awareness instruction using blending and segmentation activities. The teacher can begin with larger units and gradually move toward smaller units, asking students to manipulate sounds without requiring them to look at printed words. For example, students might orally blend /sun/ into a complete word or separate a multisyllabic word into its syllables. Instruction should be systematic, cumulative, and responsive to student performance.

Differentiation

For English learners, carefully select examples that account for differences between English and the student’s home language. Use pictures and gestures to clarify word meanings while keeping the instructional focus on sound awareness. Teachers can provide additional modeling and repetition when English sound patterns are unfamiliar.

For students with dyslexia, provide short, frequent, explicit practice rather than relying on incidental exposure. Use manipulatives such as counters or sound boxes to represent spoken sound units and provide immediate corrective feedback.

Section 3: Phonemic Awareness

Skill

Define phonemic awareness as the ability to identify and manipulate individual phonemes, the smallest units of sound in spoken words. Explain that students must be able to hear and manipulate sounds before they can consistently connect those sounds to letters during decoding instruction. Important milestones include identifying initial and final sounds, blending phonemes into words, segmenting words into phonemes, deleting sounds, substituting sounds, and manipulating phonemes within words.

Age/Grade Range

Explain that phonemic awareness typically develops during the preschool and kindergarten years and continues to become more sophisticated during early elementary instruction. Phoneme blending and segmentation are especially important as students transition toward systematic phonics. Students in upper grades who struggle with decoding may benefit from assessment of phonemic awareness even though the skill is normally introduced much earlier.

Assessment

Recommend phoneme segmentation tasks in which students hear a word and identify each individual sound. The teacher can use counters or other manipulatives while recording the number of phonemes correctly identified. Repeated assessment can show whether students are progressing from partial segmentation toward accurate segmentation.

Use phoneme blending tasks in which the teacher presents individual sounds orally and asks students to combine them into a word. More advanced assessment can include phoneme deletion or substitution tasks to determine whether students can manipulate individual sounds rather than simply identify them.

Evidence-Based Instruction

Recommend Elkonin sound boxes combined with explicit phoneme segmentation and blending. The teacher says a word, and students move a counter into a separate box for each phoneme they hear. After students demonstrate sufficient oral proficiency, letters can be introduced so students connect phonemes to graphemes. This progression supports the relationship between phonemic awareness and later decoding while keeping the initial activity focused on spoken sounds (National Reading Panel, 2000).

Differentiation

For English learners, select words containing sounds that students can hear and produce and explicitly model unfamiliar English phonemes. Visual and tactile supports can help students connect oral language to the instructional task without replacing the focus on phonemes.

For students with dyslexia, provide systematic, cumulative phonemic-awareness instruction with controlled practice and frequent opportunities to respond. Use manipulatives, teacher modeling, corrective feedback, and repeated practice before increasing task complexity.

Section 4: Letter-Naming Knowledge

Skill

Define letter-naming knowledge as the ability to recognize and accurately name uppercase and lowercase letters. Explain that students need extensive exposure to letter forms and their names as part of early literacy development, while also emphasizing that letter names alone do not constitute reading. Milestones include identifying letters in different fonts, distinguishing uppercase from lowercase forms, naming letters quickly and accurately, and recognizing letters in unfamiliar contexts.

Age/Grade Range

Explain that letter knowledge generally develops during preschool and kindergarten, with many children demonstrating substantial mastery before or during kindergarten. Development should be monitored rather than assumed because students enter school with different experiences with books, writing, print, and language.

Assessment

Recommend individual letter-naming assessments in which students are shown uppercase and lowercase letters in random order and asked to name them. Random presentation prevents students from relying solely on memorized sequences and allows teachers to identify specific letters that require additional instruction.

Use embedded classroom observations during reading and writing activities. Teachers can record whether students independently recognize letters while reading environmental print, writing their names, sorting letters, or working with alphabetic materials. Combining formal and informal observations provides a broader picture of students’ letter knowledge.

Evidence-Based Instruction

Recommend explicit multisensory letter instruction. The teacher can introduce a small number of letters at a time, explicitly model their names and forms, have students trace or construct the letters, and provide repeated opportunities to identify them. Instruction can gradually move from isolated identification to recognizing letters within authentic reading and writing activities.

Differentiation

For English learners, connect letters to meaningful vocabulary and familiar images while explicitly teaching English letter names and sounds. Teachers should avoid assuming that letter knowledge transfers automatically across languages because letter names, sounds, and writing systems can differ.

For students with dyslexia, use structured, explicit practice with repeated exposure to letter forms. Multisensory activities involving seeing, saying, hearing, and forming letters can provide multiple pathways for learning while maintaining a systematic progression.

Section 5: Connecting the Four Foundational Skills to the Science of Reading

Explain that the four foundational skills should not be taught as isolated abilities. Concepts of print help students understand how written language works, phonological awareness develops awareness of the sound structure of spoken language, phonemic awareness focuses attention on individual sounds, and letter knowledge helps students recognize the symbols used to represent written language. Together, these skills contribute to the development of word recognition, which is an essential component of skilled reading (Scarborough, 2001).

Explain that the Science of Reading supports explicit, systematic, evidence-based instruction rather than relying solely on incidental development. Teachers should use assessment data to identify specific gaps and provide targeted instruction. This is particularly important for older struggling readers because foundational difficulties may remain hidden when classroom instruction focuses primarily on grade-level content.

Section 6: Digital Resource Organization

Design the Padlet, Trello, or approved digital platform so educators can quickly locate information. Create a separate section or column for each foundational skill and include the skill description, mastery milestones, age or grade range, assessment strategies, evidence-based instruction, and differentiation strategies within each area. Add scholarly resources and links to reputable literacy organizations or research sources where appropriate.

Make the resource visually organized and easy to navigate without overwhelming educators with excessive text. Use consistent headings, concise explanations, tables or visual organizers where the platform allows them, and clearly labeled links. Before submitting, verify that the resource is accessible to others and that the sharing permissions allow the instructor to view it.

Section 7: Supporting English Learners and Students With Dyslexia

Emphasize that differentiation should not mean reducing expectations for students. Instead, educators should provide appropriate scaffolding, additional practice, explicit modeling, multisensory experiences, and opportunities to demonstrate learning in different ways. English learners may require support connecting English sounds and vocabulary to their existing linguistic knowledge, while students with dyslexia often benefit from systematic, explicit, cumulative literacy instruction. Evidence-based instruction should remain rigorous while responding to the specific needs revealed through assessment (International Dyslexia Association, 2019).

Conclusion

Conclude that understanding foundational literacy skills allows educators to identify reading difficulties before those difficulties become more significant barriers to academic achievement. Concepts of print, phonological awareness, phonemic awareness, and letter-naming knowledge represent important components of early literacy development and provide educators with information about how students are progressing toward skilled reading. Although these skills are most strongly associated with early literacy instruction, older students may still require targeted intervention when foundational gaps persist.

The digital resource should ultimately function as a practical professional-development tool rather than simply an assignment repository. By combining developmental milestones, evidence-based assessments, explicit instructional strategies, and meaningful differentiation, educators can use the resource to make informed instructional decisions. Connecting these practices to the Science of Reading and Scarborough’s Reading Rope reinforces the importance of addressing foundational skills while continuing to develop students’ language comprehension and broader literacy abilities (Scarborough, 2001).

References

International Dyslexia Association. (2019). Effective reading instruction for students with dyslexia. International Dyslexia Association.

National Reading Panel. (2000). Teaching children to read: An evidence-based assessment of the scientific research literature on reading and its implications for reading instruction. National Institute of Child Health and Human Development.

Scarborough, H. S. (2001). Connecting early language and literacy to later reading (dis)abilities: Evidence, theory, and practice. In S. Neuman & D. Dickinson (Eds.), Handbook of early literacy research (pp. 97–110). Guilford Press.

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