This document summarizes literacy development from kindergarten through first grade (Stage One). It covers key areas including spelling development, phonological awareness/phonics, reading accuracy, oral and written language development, and writing. The main goals during this stage are to develop phonemic awareness, letter-sound knowledge, decoding skills, sight word recognition, and the ability to write simple sentences. Instruction focuses on teaching sounds, letter patterns, high-frequency words, and connecting speech to print.

1. Literacy
Development
Stage One: Kindergarten to
First Grade

2. Spelling by Sound
● Definition: Spelling is the knowledge of orthography, the correct sequences of letters
in the writing system. It is not merely the memorization of correct spellings, but a
more complex acquisition of many aspects of word knowledge gained over time.
(Argyros, Best Practices in Literacy, 2008)
● Develop Phonemic Awareness: Phonemic awareness is critical to spelling
development. The child needs to be able to recognize and distinguish the sounds
within spoken words in order to then translate these sounds back to print. If the child
has a phonemic weakness, you need to help that child strengthen their phonemic
awareness with training.

3. Spelling by Sound
● Understand phonemic nature of spelling: The student needs to understand
written English is based on a phonemic code. In other words printed black
squiggles represent sounds in the word.
● Learn the phonemic code:The student needs to learn the code systematically
beginning with the basic code and then adding the complexities with vowel
combinations, r-controlled combinations and other intricacies.
● Approach the process of spelling phonemically: The student needs to base their
spelling on converting the sounds in the spoken word into print. They need to
write the phonemic code for the sounds in the word. Spelling needs to be
approached as re-coding sound to print.

4. Spelling by Sound
● The main aims are to further develop children’s phonological
awareness, letter-sound knowledge, and ability to manipulate
phonemes and syllables.
● These skills should be taught in the context of print, and
children should have ample opportunities to manipulate, trace,
and hear the sounds of letters.

5. Reading Accuracy at Stage one
Characteristics of students reading during stage one include;
● Words recognized as logographs
● Decoding begins
● Reading is slow and non-automatic

6. Phonological awareness/Phonics
Definition: Phonological awareness is a language component. In order to read
students need to know that the speech stream can be broken into smaller units
of sound. The understanding of sound structure is the foundation of
phonological awareness.
Developing Phonological awareness: Children must recognize and have an
understanding that words are made up of individual sounds, and that sounds are
blended together to make words. Phonological awareness is crucial for the
development of decoding skills, and reading fluency.
Teaching Phonological awareness results in higher reading and spelling achievement
for a student.

7. Phonological awareness/ Phonics
In stage one the following are some of the things students should be able to do….
● Distinguish long, short vowel sounds and consonants
● Count, delete, and substitute sounds in spoken words
● Match letter sounds to letters
● Decoding begins
● Begin to master vowel teams
● Track sounds in 1 and 2 syllable words

8. Additional Reading accomplishments
Students in stage one also accomplish skills in the following areas;
Sight word recognition- Many words are recognized as logographs. Masters first
grade Dolch Sight words. Needs 7-10 exposures to recognize words on sight.
Oral Reading- Student read slowly, without expression or proper phrasing.
Takes effort to decode words, and word recognition is inconsistent.
Comprehension- Students in kindergarten and first grade will be able to connect
information. In first grade students will begins to visualize when reading.

9. Oral and Written Language
Definition: Oral and written language are the highest forms of communication.
● Reflects a person’s level of comprehension, concept development and
abstraction.
● How an individual organizes ideas
● Written expression requires complex thought processes
(Mercer, Mercer and Pullen, Teaching Students with Learning Problems. 2011)

10. Skill Development
Extensive experience in these areas typically come before written expression:
● Reading
● Spelling
● Verbal expression
Written expression is the most complex language arts skill. It is based on these
skills:
● Listening, talking, handwriting, reading and spelling.

11. Stage One Development
Early writers typically have these basic skills:
● Student is consistent at left to right and top to bottom.
● Most are “I” sentences.
● Repeated sentence patterns. (I have…, I have…)
● Complete, but simple sentence. “I have a cat”.
● Inconsistent use 0f capital letters and punctuation.

12. Writing Samples
Products that student produce at Stage One:
Students at this level are the most successful with topics in which they are
familiar.
● Narratives (stories about them or family)
● Informational (information about an animal)
● Functional (Giving someone directions)
● Responses (Letters or notes to someone)

13. Writing by Sound: Initial teaching alphabet (i.t.a.)
Initial Teaching Alphabet is an intervention designed to give beginning readers a
logical and reliable reading and writing system. Students learn:
● Phonemic alphabet that represents the 44 sounds of spoken English.
● Print is speech written down
● Words are made up of speech sounds
● The symbols and the speech sounds agree
● Students can read anything that they understand