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Literacy course

📚 Literacy Fundamentals

Hear the sounds of language, crack the code of letters, build word power, then make meaning and write your own. From a child clapping syllables to drafting their first paragraph.

20 lessonsAges 3–10Four age versions per lessonPhonological AwarenessDecodingFluencyVocabulary

Complete lesson syllabus

Every lesson below contains age-banded facts and quiz questions. Some lessons also include a make-or-explain artifact prompt. Titles are shown in their current course order.

  1. Hearing the Sounds in Words
    Phonological Awareness · Lit.phono.initial Sounds
    Example: Phonological awareness is the big umbrella idea: knowing that language is made of sound parts you can listen for, count, and rearrange. Phonemic awareness is the most precise piece of it — hearing the smallest single sounds.
  2. Rhyme: Words That Sound Alike
    Phonological Awareness · Lit.phono.rhyme
    Example: The technical name for the matching part is the 'rime' — everything from the vowel onward in a syllable. In 'cat,' the /a/ + /t/ = the rime; the /c/ before it is the 'onset.'
  3. Syllables: The Beats in Words
    Phonological Awareness · Lit.phono.blend Segment
    Example: A syllable is a chunk of sound built around one vowel. Without a vowel, you can't make a syllable.
  4. Pushing Sounds Together (Blending)
    Phonological Awareness · Lit.phono.blend Segment
  5. Pulling Words Apart (Segmenting)
    Phonological Awareness · Lit.phono.blend Segment
  6. Letters and Their Sounds
    Decoding · Lit.decode.letters · Lit.decode.letter Sounds
  7. Reading Your First Words (CVC)
    Decoding · Lit.decode.cvc
  8. When Two Letters Team Up (Digraphs)
    Decoding · Lit.decode.cvc · Lit.decode.fluency
  9. When Vowels Go Walking (Vowel Teams)
    Decoding · Lit.decode.fluency
  10. Sight Words You Just Remember
    Decoding · Lit.decode.sight Words
  11. Reading Smoothly (Fluency)
    Fluency · Lit.decode.fluency
  12. Building Word Power (Vocabulary)
    Vocabulary · Lit.vocab.descriptive
  13. Context Clues — Figuring Out New Words
    Vocabulary · Lit.vocab.descriptive · Lit.comp.inference
  14. Prefixes and Suffixes
    Vocabulary · Lit.vocab.descriptive
  15. Word Families and Greek/Latin Roots
    Vocabulary · Lit.vocab.descriptive
  16. Finding the Main Idea
    Reading Comprehension · Lit.comp.main Idea
  17. Reading Between the Lines (Inference)
    Reading Comprehension · Lit.comp.inference
  18. Story Structure: Beginning, Middle, End
    Reading Comprehension · Lit.comp.retell · Lit.write.narrative
  19. Different Kinds of Writing (Genres)
    Reading Comprehension · Lit.write.narrative · Lit.write.informational
  20. How Writers Actually Write
    Writing · Lit.write.paragraph · Lit.write.sentences

Open a representative lesson

See age-by-age facts, a sample quiz prompt, sourcing where available, and the artifact prompt from Hearing the Sounds in Words.

View the Hearing the Sounds in Words sample lesson →

How age adaptation works

The lesson record contains separate fact sets and quiz questions for Pre-K, kindergarten, early elementary, and upper elementary. This is not the same paragraph with a smaller font: vocabulary, detail, and question demands can change by age band. Parents can still choose a different level if their child needs it.

Assessment and records

Course quizzes provide immediate practice feedback. Completion and progress can feed parent-managed records, but a quiz score is not a teacher-issued grade, independent diagnosis, or accredited course credit.

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Browse all 57 courses · See 16 sample lessons · Read the learning-quality standard