Emergent Literacy
Beginning Rdg & Wtg
Transitional Rdg & Wtg
Fluent Rdg & Wtg
Assessment & Instruction Across Stages
100

Children in this stage pretend to read, rely on pictures, and explore books.

What is the emergent reading stage?

100

Students begin to match letters to sounds, a process known as this.

What is the alphabetic principle?

100

Transitional readers begin to read with greater speed and accuracy, known as this.

What is fluency?

100

Fluent readers read with accuracy, rate, and this.

What is prosody?

100

This assessment helps identify a student's spelling stage.

What is a spelling inventory?

200

Emergent writers typically produce this kind of writing before letters.

What is scribbling or mock writing?

200

Early readers often use this strategy: looking at the first letter and guessing a word.

What is partial alphabetic decoding?

200

Transitional writers begin using more conventional spelling patterns, known as this stage.

What is within-word pattern spelling?

200

A student decodes accurately but reads very slowly. Identify the fluency component missing.

What is automaticity?

200

Emergent readers benefit most from instruction in these two areas.

What are phonological awareness and print concepts?

300

Children at this stage begin to understand that print carries meaning.

What is print awareness?

300

Writing at this stage often includes beginning and ending sounds.

What is phonetic or partial phonetic spelling?

300

Students at this stage begin to rely less on pictures and more on this.

What is automatic word recognition?

300

Fluent readers switch from "learning to read" to this.

What is reading to learn?

300

Transitional readers benefit from instruction in this higher-level skill.

What is comprehension strategy use?

400

Emergent readers rely heavily on this cueing source (pictures, context).

What is meaning based or semantic cueing?

400

Students begin reading these types of texts to practice decoding.

What are decodable texts?

400

Transitional readers begin to use this skill to understand longer texts.

What is comprehension monitoring?

400

Fluent readers rely on this type of vocabulary to understand academic texts.

What is Tier 2 vocabulary?

400

Transitional readers need instruction that builds this to support comprehension.

What is vocabulary and background knowledge?

500

This early phonological skill - recognizing rhymes and alliteration - develops during emergent literacy.

What is phonological awareness?

500

Early readers benefit from explicit instruction in this foundational skill that supports decoding.

What is phonemic awareness?

500

Students begin to understand more complex vowel patterns such as CVCe and vowel teams.

What is advanced phonics?

500

Fluent writers revise and edit their work, demonstrating this stage of writing development.

What is conventional writing?

500

Teachers should match texts to students' developmental levels using this principle.

What is instructional level text selection?