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Print concept is a set of rules that are followed by readers and writers so that the text can be understood in the intended way (Gunning, 2025).

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The following milestones are typically met around the ages of 3-6 years. This would be preschool to kindergarten-aged children:

Understand that text has meaning

Be able to differentiate that text and images are separate

Knows how to handle/hold a book

Knows the concept of a word: separate words

(Gunning, 2025)

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Two assessments that teachers can utilize to gauge a student's mastery of print concept are letter knowledge and decoding a book page.

The letter knowledge assessment and print concept consists of having a student point out letters and words in a book while watching how they use directionality with pointing. This is used to determine if a student understands book orientation and awareness of letters making words.

Decoding a book page assessment would consist of the teacher asking the student to point to various parts of the book, including the title, word, number, punctuation, etc. (Texas Education Agency, 2024)

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One evidence-based instruction strategy that teachers can use when teaching the print concept is modeling the correct way to engage with books while reading to them. While reading a book, it is important to talk about the different parts of the book and allow the students to ask questions. Point to the words and drag your finger across the page to show the students that words have directionality (Victorian Government, 2023).

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Students with dyslexia would benefit from a teacher using a tape recorder or a recorded video while looking at a book. This is helpful because the student can silently read to themselves while listening to the teacher's voice on a recording or a pre-recorded video, reading through the pages of the book, and modeling directionality (International Dyslexia Association, 2023).

English language learners would benefit from having culturally inclusive prints that would help them connect the print to the meaning of the English word.

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This skill is when students understand and hear the sounds, rhymes, and syllables in words. This includes being able to break words down into smaller components (Chard & Dickson, 1999).

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Explore reading basics as well as the key role of background knowledge and motivation in becoming a lifelong reader and learner. Watch our PBS Launching Young Readers series and try our self-paced Reading 101 course to deepen your understanding.

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Starting in prekindergarten and going until 1st grade (4-7yrs), the milestones that show mastery of this skill are:

Recognizes rhyming words

Clapping syllables in words

Identifying onset and rime (the two parts of single-syllable words)

(Chard & Dickson, 1999)

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Two assessments that teachers can use to measure a student's understanding of phonological awareness are Phonological Awareness Literacy Screening (PALS) and DIBELS: The phoneme segmentation fluency.

PALS allows the teachers to measure the students' ability to segment and blend words. The program then tailors lessons that the student will work through. Their progress will be recorded, and the teacher can then readminister the test at the end of the year and see the students' overall progress (Gunning, 2025).

The phoneme segmentation fluency assessment measures the student's ability to accurately segment words into their individual letter sounds EX: cat /c/ /a/ /t/

During this assessment, the teacher will measure the number of correct words per minute that the student was able to segment and readminister the test to compare growth.

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Paths to Literacy DIBELS. For teachers, families, and others interested in literacy for children and youth with visual impairments

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One evidence-based instruction strategy that can support students in understanding phonological awareness is the guess-the-word game.

During this game, the teacher will give the students picture cards with easily recognized pictures on them, such as a dog, a ball, a cat, and a sun. The teachers will use snail talk (slow, drawn-out speech) and drag the word out. The students are then asked to guess which word card the teacher is dragging out. This game teaches them segmenting and blending words.

(Chard & Dickson, 1999)

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One differentiation strategy a teacher can use for students with Dyslexia is using clapping during whole group instruction to represent the segments or syllables of words. This helps engage multiple areas of their brains and helps them retain the interactive and fun syllable lesson (Reading Rockets, 2023).

A differentiation strategy that can be used to support English language learners is using songs that have easy-to-remember chants or rhymes in both English and Spanish. This will help them remember the words with a fun song and simple words.

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Phonemic awareness is when students are able to identify the individual letter sounds in words (Gunning, 2025).

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Phonemic Awareness: What Is It and Why Is It Important?

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Phonemic awareness is the ability to identify and manipulate individual sounds in spoken words. Learn more about how and why it’s important.

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The age range of mastery of this skill is 5-7 years old or Kindergarten through 2nd grade (Gunning, 2025).

The milestones are:

Being able to identify the first and last sounds of words

Mastery of segmenting words and breaking apart words into the correct syllables

Adding or deleting letters to make new words

(Gunning, 2025)

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As done with phonological awareness, the use of DIBELS helps assess a student's ability to break various words into phonemes in a one-minute time slot. As the student progresses in this skill, the number of words broken into their phonemes will increase. They can be tested multiple times to record progress (Gunning, 2025).

Phoneme isolation is another assessment that can be used to test phonemic awareness. The teacher can ask students individually to identify the initial sound of each word. For example: What is the first sound in cat? /c/

This can be used to determine if the child understands the directions and also gives the teacher a good understanding of whether the student has mastered the skill by tracking the speed and accuracy that which the student answers (The Access Center, 2023).

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An evidence-based instruction strategy that can be used to teach phonemic awareness is the use of Elkonin boxes (sound boxes). These boxes are placed under images, and students are then asked to write the phonemes they hear in the words. For example: Image of a cat with three boxes placed below it. Inside the boxes would be /c/ /a/ /t/.

This helps the students segment the words correctly and make the connection between oral and written letters and their sounds (Gunning, 2025).

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For students with dyslexia, the teacher should modify the word list that the student will have to segment. This will ensure that the student can join in with the lesson without being left behind and frustrated. This differentiated approach can also be scaffolded to allow for the students' growth.

English language learners would benefit from the teachers being consistent in modeling the correct pronunciation of words and how to segment them (Gunning, 2025).

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Letter-naming knowledge is the ability to correctly identify a letter shape and the sound that that letter makes (Gunning, 2025)

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The following milestones are typically seen at ages 4-7 years or prekindergarten to 1st grade:

Students recognize their name

Able to name most upper and lowercase letters

Matches the letters to their sounds

(Gunning, 2025)

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Two assessments that can be used to measure a student's letter-naming knowledge are the alphabet letter naming assessment and the alphabet walk game.

The alphabet letter name assessment works by giving students a set amount of time to correctly name and identify as many letters as they can. This measures accuracy and fluency and can be tested periodically to measure progress (Reading Rockets, 2025).

The alphabet walk can be an informal whole-group assessment. The teacher should have alphabet cars placed on the floor and play music. When the music stops, the teacher will hold up a letter card and have the student stand on the corresponding card to identify which letter it is. This allows the students to find the matching letter and practice identifying its name. This reinforces the letter name to its shape (Gunning, 2025). If the student gets the letter wrong, the teacher can make a note of it and address it later.

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One evidence-based instruction strategy that can be used to teach letter-naming knowledge is singing songs that require students to spell out words such as "Bingo" (Gunning, 2025). This helps children identify the letters in the song through repetition and rhyming.

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Super Simple Songs

"There was a farmer had a dog and Bingo was his name-o..." Everyone loves the BINGO song. This Super Simple version adds clapping, patting your legs, patting your head, patting your tummy, and jumping! It's great for learning letters and body parts.

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"There was a farmer had a dog and Bingo was his name-o..." Everyone loves the BINGO song. This Super Simple version adds clapping, patting your legs, patting your head, patting your tummy, and jumping! It's great for learning letters and body parts.

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One strategy that a student with dyslexia would benefit from is focusing on introducing a small number of letters presented to the student. For letters that look similar to other letters, the teacher needs to point out the differences between them, such as b & d and y & v (Reading Rockets, 2025).

Teachers should try and build on the students' knowledge of their Spanish alphabet. Try and identify any similarities between the Spanish and English alphabet and connect them (Gunning, 2025).