Ready, Set, Read

Ready, Set, Read is a literacy initiative that highlights the importance of literacy and reading. It is designed to provide information, materials, resources, tips, examples, and support to all stakeholders to ensure literacy. Students who do not learn to read will have difficulty mastering academic content, succeeding in school, and fulfilling their life potential, the schools' fundamental responsibility is to ensure that all students read proficiently. There are many connections that school and home can make together as partners to make reading come alive for our students. Ready, Set, Read will provide guidance so schools, communities, and families can focus on what matters most and that is reading. 

Ready, Set, Read has been established to promote reading! The graphic below shows the important components of reading. There are many components of learning to read and reading to learn. Defining a "proficient reader" is connected the mastery of the skills needed when learning to read. The five components or "Big Five" of reading can be defined as the first layer of the circle below. The five essential skills are phonics, phonemic awareness, fluency, vocabulary, comprehension. These skills are foundational skills that are essential when learning to read. The next layer that is important are the components of Balanced Literacy. The five components of Balanced Literacy are instructional methods to teach the foundational skills needed to become a proficient reader and writer.  The components include: Read Aloud, Shared Reading, Guided Reading, Independent Reading, and Word Study. The Balanced Literacy components and the "Big Five" are directly linked and are interwoven to help students become proficient readers. Reading is essential for students to become college and career ready so they have the ability to speak, listen, write, and critically think at high levels.