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Foundational Skills in Reading For Students in Grades 1-3

At Rising Readers Literacy Center, we specialize in building strong, confident readers from the ground up. Our reading instruction is based on proven, research-backed practices that support each child’s unique learning journey. We focus on the five essential components of reading — also known as the “Big 5.”

  1. Phonemic Awareness: Hearing, identifying, and adding to or changing individual sounds in spoken words.

  2. Phonics: Connecting sounds to letters to decode (read) and encode (spell) words.

  3. Vocabulary Development: Building a strong word bank to improve reading comprehension and language use.

  4. Reading Fluency: Reading in longer phrases, paying attention to punctuation, and reading with expression.

  5. Comprehension: Understanding what was read.

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Growing as Readers  
For students in Grades 4-8

As students progress we help upper elementary and middle school students strengthen reading comprehension, build writing skills, and become confident, independent learners. Whether your child needs help catching up or is ready to advance, we offer personalized support for academic success.

Reading Skills

As texts become more complex, readers need to build advanced strategies to understand, analyze, and apply what they read.

  • Comprehension Strategies

    • Summarizing and paraphrasing

    • Making inferences and drawing conclusions

    • Analyzing theme, plot, character development

    • Understanding figurative language and author’s craft

  • Critical Thinking

    • Comparing texts and perspectives

    • Evaluating arguments and evidence

    • Interpreting tone and point of view

  • Vocabulary Expansion

    • Context clues and word roots

    • Academic and domain-specific vocabulary

  • Reading Across Genres

    • Fiction, nonfiction, poetry, articles, and informational texts

    • Understanding text structure and features

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Literacy Skills in All Subject Areas
For students in Grades 1-8  

📘 Math

Literacy in math goes beyond numbers. Students need to read and understand word problems, follow multi-step instructions, and interpret mathematical vocabulary. Strengthening reading comprehension helps students grasp the why behind the numbers and communicate their thinking clearly.

At Rising Readers, we also support the development of core math skills for students in grades K–5. Whether your child is learning to count, mastering place value, or tackling fractions, we provide individualized instruction that builds both confidence and understanding.

🔬 Science

Science is filled with complex texts, from informational articles to experiment procedures. Literacy skills help students decode scientific terms, make sense of diagrams and data, and understand cause-and-effect relationships. Good readers become better scientists when they can analyze information and draw evidence-based conclusions.

🌍 Social Studies

Social studies requires critical reading of historical texts, maps, and primary sources. Students use literacy skills to compare perspectives, recognize bias, and connect events across time and cultures. Reading and writing in this subject help build critical thinking and a deeper understanding of the world.