Foundational literacy skills instruction means an evidence-based method of teaching students to read that includes phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension that enables students to develop reading skills required to meet Tennessee’s academic standards.
Literacy
HCS Foundational Literacy Skills Plan
This Foundational Literacy Skills Plan has been approved by the Tennessee Department of Education and meets the requirements of the Tennessee Literacy Success Act. All portions of the Foundational Literacy Skills plan were submitted to the department and approved. To view the supplemental artifacts, please contact the district directly.
Foundational Literacy
K-5 Home Literacy Letters and Videos
These letters are to inform parents about specific reading deficiencies that have been identified through the iReady Universal Screening.
K-5 Home Literacy Letter (English)
K-5 Home Literacy Letter (Spanish)
The videos below help to explain each part of the letter.
Literacy Activity Directions and Demonstration Videos
Foundational Skill |
Activity Directions/Resources |
English Video |
Spanish Video |
|
Fluency: |
Fluency (English).pdf | Fluency | |
|
Letter Names: |
Letter Names (English).pdf | Letter Names | |
| Letter Sounds & Word Parts: (phonological awareness): a broad category comprising a range of understandings related to the sounds of words and word parts |
Letter Sounds and Word Parts (English).pdf | Letter Sounds and Word Parts | |
| Phonemic Awareness: the ability to notice, think about and work with the individual sounds in spoken words |
Phonemic Awareness (English).pdf | Phonemic Awareness | |
| Rapid Naming: ability to connect visual and verbal information by giving the appropriate names to common objects, colors, letters, and digits |
Rapid Naming | ||
| Sound/Symbol Recognition: understanding that there is a predictable relationship between sounds in spoken language and letters that represent those sounds |
Sound/Symbol Recognition (English).pdf Letter Tiles.pdf |
Sound/Symbol Recognition | |
| Sounding Out Words: (decoding skills): using knowledge of letters and sounds to recognize and analyze a printed word to connect it to the spoken words it represents |
Sounding Out Words (English).pdf | Sounding Out Words | |
| Spelling: translating speech into writing |
Spelling (English).pdf | Spelling | |
|
Comprehension: |
Comprehension (English).pdf | Comprehension |
PreK
Kindergarten Readiness
Preparing for Kindergarten is an important task, but it doesn’t have to be stressful! The tips in the K Readiness Booklet is designed to be included in your everyday conversation and quality time with your student.
Reading Resources
Home Library Resources
Below are reading resources to help your child at home. Included are videos of children’s books being read aloud, as well as one-page help sheets that provide suggestions and activities to use to make reading time together at home more enjoyable. Find more books and thinksheets here.
| Grade | Books and Thinksheets | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rising 1st | |||||
| Rising 2nd | |||||
| Rising 3rd | |||||
Free Books!
Receive Free Books to Your Home
Decodables
Available to all Tennessee K-2 families!
All children birth to age 5 in Tennessee are eligible to receive a free book each month.
Resources for the Family
In collaboration with Tennessee PBS, the state’s six PBS stations, the Tennessee Department of Education created “Starting with Sounds” to highlight the importance of early literacy and how families and students can practice reading.
ABCYa provides over 300 fun and educational games for grades PreK through 6. Activities are designed by parents and educators, who understand that children learn better if they are having fun.
Cultivating Early Literacy Apps
This website features three apps that you can use as a family to build literacy skills.
Sesame Street School Readiness
These videos help prepare children for preschool with lessons on letters, sounding out words, rhyming and more!