Foundations A-Z Overview

The Future of K-5 Foundational Skills Instruction

Foundations A-Z promotes literacy for EVERY student. Built on the Science of Reading, Foundations A-Z delivers an explicit, research-based, K-5 foundational skills solution that integrates:

  • Systematic, explicit instruction
  • Clearly modeled lessons
  • Embedded professional development
  • Engaging skill-building opportunities

Research-based instruction leads to better student outcomes. Foundations A-Z aligns with the Simple View of Reading and Scarborough’s Rope to deliver an effective solution built on the Science of Reading.

Helping teachers transition to systematic instruction doesn’t have to be stressful. By combining explicit lesson plans with point-of-use professional development support, Foundations A-Z helps teachers build confidence as they drive better student literacy outcomes.

Rich, diverse resources featuring multisensory interactive games and digital books help students learn while having fun. The fun cast of space characters accompanies students on their learning journey as they complete missions and earn rewards through the online and mobile student portal!

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>> Learning A to Z delivers pre-K through 6 solutions that inspire curiosity, ensure comprehension and instill the joy of learning in elementary students. It's award-winning digital products, which include Reading A to Z and Raz-Kids are used by more than 12 million students in more than 170 countries.

Educators are facing increased pressures, such as improving low literacy performance, supporting teachers with research-proven instruction, supporting students with resources they'll enjoy, and currently, teachers and students feel disengaged from teaching and learning.

Learning A to Z supports educators in delivering the right instruction supported by the science of reading, and has developed a solution to make an impact in classrooms around the world. Introducing -- Foundations A to Z. Confidently bolster the K through 5 foundational skills necessarily to boost student literacy with this comprehensive solution. Implement the most current research for effective foundational skills instruction. This solution empowers all teachers to develop the confidence needed to effectively teach foundational skills, and instill the joy of learning.

Delivered with a consistent instructional scope and sequence from kindergarten through 5th grade, Foundations A to Z supports all foundational skills critical to literacy success. The Foundations A to Z instructional approach ensures proficiency, as it is explicit, systematic, sequential -- moving from simple to complex -- diagnostic, cumulative, with multiple exposure and varied opportunities for application and practice -- and built-in spiral review.

Accelerate learning with the right support, instruction and pace. Get the most out of your foundational skills instructional time. We built Foundations A to Z to empower educators with lessons and resources that meet their learning objectives, offer flexibility to accommodate time constraints and address their students' needs. Foundations A to Z can easily be incorporated in any classroom. Let us show you how.

The Complete Foundational Skills Curriculum pathway means educators can access complete units, modules and lessons, and use them in a systematic sequence designed for success. The lessons within this pathway provide everything educators need to deliver explicit, systematic instruction, while incorporating a cumulative review throughout. Get complete support with clearly-outlined learning objectives and national Standards alignment. Save time with all teacher and student materials provided at point of use. Lesson materials are conveniently printable, presentable and can be assigned digitally.

Every lesson in Foundations A to Z follows a gradual release model with embedded tips, checks for understanding and corrective feedback to build pedagogy at the same time. Teachers are at the heart of the instruction. Foundations A to Z lessons support teacher-directed, grade-level instruction for classroom, small group work and dedicated independent practice using a variety of digital resources. Educators can also choose their own pathway by teaching and assigning targeted lessons, for specific skills or Standards, or assign a resource based on students' needs. Discover the path that works best for you.

Keep students from becoming bored and disengaged. Grade-level texts and resources across K through 5 engage every student with diverse and developmentally-appropriate content that is focused on common topics, to build knowledge while building foundational skills.

Research-based and systematically-delivered, Foundations A to Z's digitally-assignable resources provide a wealth of opportunities for students to apply what they've learned while having fun. Let's take a closer look at a few examples.

Narrated by familiar friends, instructional review videos help reinforce key concepts from the day's lesson, and enable students to participate in skills practice in a low-risk environment. While students are engaged in these interactive game-based activities, they're also performing critical independent practice in multi-sensory ways. These activities provide specific feedback, allowing teachers to feel more comfortable with students being taught along the way without the worry of misconceptions. With a variety of non-fiction and fiction multi-criteria texts, decodable books for grades K through 2, and word study passages for grades 3 through 5,l feature compelling illustrations and photography as well as authentic language that students want to read, allowing students to apply phonics patterns learned, high-frequency words, and fluency, while building background knowledge. All accessed within the student portal, additional motivating incentives, such as earning stars to customize their own avatar or a rocket, helps students celebrate their progress. Turn reading into a reading into a relevant, meaningful and connected practice for all students of all ages.

Teachers' experience with explicit, systematic instruction varies. Foundations A to Z supports every educator at any level of experience or comfort with systematic instruction. Maximize your instruction by locating teacher support at point of use in every lesson. Sample dialog gives educators a starting point for modeling their teacher-directed instruction on any skill with these built-in think-alouds. Embedded tips give educators extra guidance for delivering effective foundational skills instruction for personalizing learning for ELLs, social emotional learning, and more. Check for Understanding provides formative assessment opportunities throughout.

Foundations A to Z's formative checks, module observation checklist and summative unit and interim assessments help teachers make data-informed instructional decisions. Locate relevant professional development at point of use for the unit to apply in real-time with ease. Additionally, the Professional Development Library provides access to relevant professional development whenever needed. Professional development is available in a variety of formats, including videos, articles and audio for teachers' convenience and preference, informed daily planning decisions with the data available with the click of a button within Foundations A to Z. Features can instantly access usage activity, progress on assignments and skill reports, to help inform targeted instruction. And how can educators provide the right instruction at the right time to maintain learning momentum and ensure students don't regress.

With auto recommended resources, teachers can assign the appropriate resources to a student to reteach, reinforce or extend a student's skills with the click of a button directly from the reports. Give teachers the support to effectively and confidently teach explicit systematic instruction from the very first lesson. Provide resources that support students, no matter where they are in their literacy journey.

With the powerful duo of Foundations A to Z and Raz-Plus, educators can build critical foundational skills and deepened comprehension and higher-order thinking with this complete literacy solution. When you teach foundational skills in a systematic way, students are poised to achieve more meaningful reading results when they move on to advanced comprehension skills. Additionally, with Foundations A to A and Raz-Plus, teachers can be more strategic on what resources to assign in order to meet literacy proficiency goals. Whether it's assigning a lesson for Foundations A to Z to reinforce a key foundational skill with a struggling student or using a resource within Raz-Plus to extend fluency practice, or provide increased exposure to new text genres, at any time educators have a plethora of resources to support all the students in the classroom where they need it most.

What if you could put every child in grades K through 5 on a path to literacy success, no matter where they are on their learning journey? Learning A to Z has the tools to help you get there. Learn more today!

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Science of Reading

As your class embarks on its literacy journey, Science of Reading research has the power to make an impact.
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A Cambium Learning® Group Company