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Phonemic awareness is the ability to recognize phonemes, the smallest unit of sounds, that make up words. For example, the word sit has three phonemes: /s/, /I/, and /t/. Students need to be able to recognize the sounds, blend them together, and take them apart.

A research-based phonemic awareness strategy is using sound boxes, where students put a token into a box on paper of the phoneme when saying it aloud (McCarthy, 2008). After practicing, "students learn to associate the phonemes they can hear with the number of boxes they can see and tokens they can manipulate in an ordered sequence" (McCarthy, 2008, p.346). This strategy will guide students in understanding and recognizing phonemes.

Knowing and understanding the phonemes will support students' reading skills. They will be able to sound out the words they see. This is the same for writing. Phonemic awareness and letter knowledge is vital for students to read and spell (McCarthy, 2008).

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Phonics is how sounds and letters make up written words. It helps students sound out words they may not know, so they can read or write them.

A research-based phonics strategy is teaching blending through modeling by holding sounds of a word without stopping (Shefelbine, 1998). After the teacher models blending of a word, the student repeats. It should continue until the students are confident to try blending words themselves.

Phonics knowledge helps students sound out and spell words, which is needed for reading and writing. According to Shefelibine (1998), "students read what they can spell and spell what they can read" (para.23).

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Fluency is reading a text smoothly, correctly, and naturally. This includes reading at a rate as one would speak. It is important for students to read fluently, so they can easily comprehend what they read.

A research-based fluency strategy is readers theater. Readers theater is when students read through a script multiple times. Repeated readings are shown to improve fluency including the rate read and word accuracy (Young et al., 2019). Students also enjoy reading and performing the scripts.

Readers theater can refine students' decoding skills and help them learn new vocabulary words, which is essential to reading and writing (Young et al., 2019).

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Vocabulary is words that students understand from reading, speaking, and listening to conversations around them. Students are always learning new words, which help their fluency and comprehension skills.

A research-based vocabulary strategy is using read alouds to teach new words. First, the teacher should introduce the book and the new words, connecting them to background knowledge and experiences (Gallingane & Han, 2015). According to Gallingane & Han (2015), show the words to the students and practice saying the words aloud. Read the story, ask questions, teach and discuss the words, and continue using the words throughout the week (Gallingane & Han, 2015).

Vocabulary is necessary for reading and writing. Without words, no one would be able to read or write. Students need to continue learning vocabulary words in order to progress in reading levels and writing proficiencies.

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Comprehension is understanding what has been read. After reading a text, students can summarize what happened or explain what the text is about. They also should be able to make inferences and ask questions.

A research-based comprehension strategy is using a graphic organizer to summarize the text (Anderson, 2009). A story glove graphic organizer includes "characters (thumb), setting (pointer finger), problem (middle finger), events (ring finger) and ending (pinky finger)" (Ellery, 2010, p.435). This gives a wonderful visual of the components of a story, so students can remember easily.

If someone reads without comprehending, they are just reading empty words. Comprehension is vital to reading because it shows the student understands what was read. This is the same with writing. A student needs to understand the words in order to write something coherent.

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Anderson, C. (2009). The Five Pillars of Reading. Library Media Connection, 28(2), 22–25.

Ellery, V. (2010). How do we teach reading as a strategic, decision-making process? The Reading Teacher, 5, 434.

Gallingane, C., & Han, H. S. (2015). Words Can Help Manage Emotions: Using Research-Based Strategies for Vocabulary Instruction to Teach Emotion Words to Young Children. Childhood Education, 91(5), 351–362.

McCarthy, P. A. (2008). Using Sound Boxes Systematically to Develop Phonemic Awareness. Reading Teacher, 62(4), 346–349.

Shefelbine, J. (1998). Strategic phonics: research-based phonics strategies bolster your reading program. Instructor (1990), 2, 102.

Young, C., Durham, P., Miller, M., Rasinski, T. V., & Lane, F. (2019). Improving reading comprehension with readers theater. Journal of Educational Research, 112(5), 615–626. https://doi-org.lopes.idm.oclc.org/10.1080/00220671.2019.1649240