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The very first time you ask your students to pick up a pencil in your classroom, you become their guide on a journey to reading and writing that will change their lives and lead them to all sorts of knowledge, ideas, and worlds they didn’t even know existed.
It’s a journey full of wonder and moments of discovery, but also plenty of tough climbs and pitfalls—for both you and your students.
We know teaching early literacy with excellence requires hard work and determination every day. Believe us—we’ve done it. As teachers, we’ve experienced the exhaustion and the struggle to instill confidence in your students when you’re not even sure you can find it in yourself tomorrow.
That’s why we wrote this curriculum.
We wrote it for you, because we know you have what it takes to be an amazing guide for your students on this journey, and because we want to make it less complicated to do just that.
Literacy Essentials is an explicit, systematic, Orton-based phonics and literacy program which teaches students to read through the logic of spelling. Reading skills progress from writing and spelling to reading in a sequence. Each skill is introduced and practiced until mastered from accuracy to fluency. Students journey along a reading continuum in which concepts are first introduced; then, the concepts are supported by repetitive practice; finally, teachers assess these concepts for mastery. The multisensory techniques employed by Literacy Essentials include explicit instruction, interactive analysis, and graphic organization.
Literacy Essentials sequences phonemic awareness instruction from the easiest to most difficult skills. Students learn to identify beginning, final, and medial sounds; segment and blend sounds; rhyme; delete and substitute sounds.
In Literacy Essentials, handwriting begins early in literacy because students need to write letters to spell the sounds they hear in words. Handwriting is a complex skill that is taught systematically by breaking instruction into subskills. Students practice handwriting extensively in order to achieve mastery. Cursive instruction begins in the middle of second grade. Writing is integrated into every literacy lesson.
Through a multi-sensory process, Literacy Essentials explicitly teaches children how the spoken English language is written with 42 sounds represented by 26 letters that are combined differently to form 72 spelling patterns, which are referred to as phonograms.
Students learn that syllables are parts of a word that contain one vowel sound and all the consonants associated with the vowel sound.
Words are syllabicated for spelling. Students learn a total of eight syllable types that include compound words and affixes, which usually form their own syllable for spelling.
The spelling word lists in Literacy Essentials move systematically through English by beginning with the Anglo-Saxon portion of the language and advancing into its Greek and Latin side.
Literacy Essentials teaches students how words change in spelling and meaning by adding prefixes and suffixes to root words.
Literacy Essentials contains instructional sequence for grammar and composition. The sequence commences with kindergarteners learning the four different sentence types; by the end of second grade, students have been introduced to compound sentences, compound subjects, and compound predicates. Moreover, the concepts outlined in the grammar scope and sequence spiral in kindergarten, first, and second grade.
Since writing is the most effective form of integrated practice, students practice different kinds of grammatical structures by writing varying sentence types. Each day, students also practice spelling by writing one or two original sentences using the spelling words provided. These spelling words have been grouped in a manner that reduces their cognitive load and allows them to focus on correct spelling.
Students begin to read and comprehend written text using a set of controlled readers that are aligned to the sequence of phonogram instruction within Literacy Essentials. Beginning in the middle of first grade, students move into uncontrolled and leveled texts to practice comprehension independently.
Teachers read aloud to students daily using high-quality texts and literature.
Teach students to read by using sight words.
Teach students to read by using letter names.
Teach students to guess while reading or writing.
Includes flashcards for each of the 72 most common phonograms, for use in grades K-3. We made them nice and durable for the everyday use we know you’ll need.
This is the book you’ll be reading and using every day, so we made it nice and sturdy as well as easy to use and pretty to look at. There is one for each grade K-3 with a separate volume for each semester. These guides are your go-to for all guidance on instruction and planning, as well as detailed daily lessons.
This will probably sit on your shelf right next to your Teacher Guide. We separated out every bit of information we thought you might need or want to copy and put it in here for quick and easy handling as you run back and forth to the copier. There is one of these for each grade level, featuring spiral binding for easy-to-copy references, word lists, practice sheets, and assessments to accompany the Teacher Guide.
This is the place you’ll start before the school year does, and the place you’ll come back to when you’re feeling stuck or need a refresher. The Training Manual provides the necessary background as you learn to use this curriculum for the first time, as well as reference and supplemental information that will support instruction throughout the year. The Training Manual is now available in its Pilot version.
We have developed several different resources for displaying relevant Literacy Essentials information on your classroom wall. For Kindergarten and First Grade, we recommend an Alphabet Strip with upper and lowercase letters printed large for your smallest students. Our original Wall Chart Set was also developed for these grades and contains two large clock charts and 20 lined charts, all specially coated for use with dry-erase markers. For Grades 2nd +, we’ve created a smaller set of Wall Charts with a clock chart, three lined charts, a manuscript alphabet chart, and a cursive alphabet chart.
For students in First, Second, and Third Grades. Contains graphic organizers to accompany instruction of phonograms, spelling, and grammar. Please note that student notebooks must still be purchased directly from Access Literacy.
We’re in this for the long haul, and we want to make sure this curriculum serves your real, everyday needs. We’re so grateful for every bit of insight you give us to help us improve it as it moves through the stages to its final version.
Literacy Essentials has been written, organized, and formatted with your daily needs as a classroom teacher in mind.
Our goal is to give you all the information you need in a guide book that is pleasant to use and easy to navigate.
Here are some examples of what we’ve done:
A specific guide for each grade level, with specific content and guidance for your grade—no more wondering where you should start and end the year
New background information you need to know is included when you need it first, with detailed instructions for new concepts and activities
Lesson planning guidance
Separate Copy Master book with easy-to-use reference, practice, assessments, word lists, and example wall charts
Especially in Kindergarten, there is so much new content to be learned and taught, so we have included background information for you every time a new topic is introduced, including:
Semester Resources to help give you the big picture
Background Knowledge sections every two weeks
Weekly Deep Dives into the nitty-gritty of specific topics
References back to these pages as the concepts come up during daily lessons
At the beginning of every week, you’ll find a section to let you know what new concepts are coming up and guidance on how to plan and teach them throughout the week, as well as what to do to prepare and even which copies to make. You’ll also see:
A list of phonograms or spelling words for the week
References pointing you back to any background information you should review
Directions of which pages from the Copy Masters you’ll need for the week, where to find them, and how many copies to make
Which wall charts you’ll need and how to use them
How to introduce new concepts, review and practice old ones, and assess at the end of the week
Lessons for each day will evolve throughout the year in Kindergarten as students progress from learning basic skills to spelling words. Once spelling begins, lessons will include:
The spelling words for the day with markings
Information about phonograms, pronunciation, markings, and rules for each word
Guidance for practicing the word throughout the day and which wall chart it should go on (or student notebook page, in later grades)
Grammar and writing integration
Explanation of unusual spelling patterns
We began piloting the program for the 2019-20 school year with schools affiliated with Hillsdale College or those receiving training from Access Literacy (our authors!) We have improved the program each year since and are now ready to make the program widely available. To begin ordering, simply click on the “ORDER” tab or visit shop.hillsdale.edu. For purchase orders or tax-exempt ordering, email us at shop@hillsdale.edu.
In the earlier years of the program, we piloted Kindergarten and soft launched grades 1-3 as beta editions. Since then, we have gradually moved them from their beta to pilot editions. Every year, we work hard to make a new pilot installment available to our network. As of summer 2022, all materials are available in their pilot format. We expect to release final editions with a few tweaks (based on your feedback!) in summer 2025 and beyond.