1. Phonemic Awareness

Phonemic awareness is the ability to notice, think about, and work with the individual sounds in spoken words. Before children learn to read print, they need to become aware of how sounds in words work. They must understand that words are made up of speech sounds, or phonemes. Phonemes are the smallest parts of sounds in a spoken word that make a difference in the word's meaning.

2. Phonics Instruction

Phonics instruction teaches children the relationships between the letters (graphemes) of written language and the individual sounds (phonemes) of spoken language. It teaches children to use these relationships to read and write words. The goal of phonics instruction is to help children learn and use the alphabetic principle - the understanding that there are systematic and predictable relationships between written letters and spoken sounds.

3. Fluency

Fluency is the ability to read a text accurately and quickly. When fluent readers read silently, they recognize words automatically. They group words quickly to help them gain meaning from what they read. Fluent readers read aloud effortlessly and with expression. Their reading sounds natural, as if they were speaking. Readers who have not yet developed fluency read slowly, word by word. Their oral reading is choppy and plodding. Fluency is important because it provides a bridge between word recognition and comprehension.

4. Vocabulary

Vocabulary refers to the words we must know to communicate effectively. In general, vocabulary can be described as oral vocabulary or reading vocabulary. Oral vocabulary refers to words that we use in speaking or recognize in listening. Reading vocabulary refers to words we recognize or use in print.

Vocabulary contributes much to reading comprehension. Readers cannot understand what they are reading without knowing what most of the words mean. As children learn to read more advanced texts, they must learn the meanings of new words that are not part of their oral vocabulary.

5. Comprehension

Comprehension is the reason for reading. As they read, good readers are both purposeful and active. Good readers have a purpose for reading. They must also think actively as they read. To make sense of what they are reading, good readers engage in a complicated process. Using their experiences and knowledge of the world, knowledge of vocabulary, and knowledge of reading strategies, they make sense of the text and know how to get the most out of it. They know when they have problems with understanding and how to resolve these problems as they occur.