Understood Journey Reading Rockets

Understood began with a dream to give parents everywhere access to the kind of resources usually only available to a few. Then 15 nonprofits came together to make that dream a reality. Experience it now at http://www.understood.org Reading Rockets is an award-winning national education project offered by WETA, the PBS station in Washington, DC. They also produce LD OnLine (about teaching kids with LD), AdLit.org (all about adolescent literacy), Colorín Colorado (for parents and teachers of English language learners), and Start With A Book (about summer learning). Reading Rockets is a national public media literacy initiative offering information and resources on how young kids learn to read, why so many struggle, and how caring adults can help.

We bring the best research-based strategies to teachers, parents, administrators, librarians, childcare providers, and anyone else involved in helping a young child become a skilled reader. Our goal is to bring the reading research to life — to spread the word about reading instruction and to present “what works” in a way that parents and educators can understand and use. Discover the gentle, powerful voice of Walter Dean Myers, author of The Greatest.More>> Why not publish the work of local kids? It's a great way for kids to read and write about topics they care about.More>> Frank McCourt taught in New York City schools for 27 years before writing Angela's Ashes.

He hosts the fifth program in this Reading Rockets series. Want to know more? These articles provide tips on encouraging kids to read and understand. Text Comprehension>> When Kids Hate to Read>> Read and watch our interviews with some of the nation's top reading experts. Joanna Williams>> G.

Reid Lyon>> Reading Rockets is a national public media literacy initiative offering information and resources on how young kids learn to read, why so many struggle, and how caring adults can help. Access the website here. Teaching All Children to Read: The Challenge of Our Times – Rowland Equipped for Reading Success (2016) by David Kilpatrick Reading Matters, Connecting Science and Education

Teaching, Reading & Learning: The Podcast Help us bring the science of reading to every educator, parent, and child. Learning to read is a fascinating journey that children embark on, and it’s much more complex than just recognizing letters and sounds. When I dive into this topic, I’m often amazed by the multiple skills and types of knowledge required for this seemingly simple task. Children don’t just look at a page and understand it instantly. Instead, they face many challenges, especially in connecting sounds to print, developing fluency, and constructing meaning from those printed words.

1. Understanding how sounds are connected to print In the English alphabetic system, the letters you see on a page are just abstract symbols without any inherent meaning. For children, one of the first big hurdles is learning how these symbols (letters) are associated with specific sounds. This process, called phonemic awareness, involves recognizing that spoken words can be broken down into smaller sound units called phonemes. I remember helping my child practice this by playing word games that focused on rhymes and initial sounds.

This might seem simple to us adults, but it’s a significant step for young learners. Once children understand the connection between sounds and letters, they need to become fluent readers. Fluency is the ability to read texts accurately, quickly, and with appropriate expression. It’s like riding a bike: once you learn, you can do it without thinking about balancing. For reading, fluency serves as the bridge between decoding words and understanding what those words mean. I’ve seen firsthand how repeated reading of favorite books can help kids become more confident and fluent readers.

It’s heartwarming to watch them get better with each reading session. Moving beyond fluency, the ultimate goal of reading is comprehension—being able to make sense of and find meaning in what has been read. This is where background knowledge and vocabulary play crucial roles. Children benefit from rich oral language experiences and diverse reading materials, as these experiences build the background knowledge that helps them understand new information. For example, if a story is about a trip to the zoo, having prior knowledge of animals and zoo visits can enhance a child’s understanding and enjoyment of the text. During the summer, kids usually don’t get as much reading practice as they get in school.

But with fun books (or alternatives to books), kids might be more motivated to read over the summer. Here are some ideas. Find more great summer reads. Visit Start with a Book, a book-based summer learning initiative of Understood founding partner Reading Rockets. Experience firsthand the daily challenges of kids with ADHD, dyslexia, and dyscalculia. See differently, so you can act differently.

At Let’s Go Learn, we are dedicated to promoting tools and initiatives that advance literacy for students of all ages. One such initiative that is making a profound impact is Reading Rockets, a national multimedia literacy project created in 2007 by WETA, the second-largest public television station in the United States. Supported initially through major federal funding, Reading Rockets has since become a vital resource for educators, families, and students alike. While its primary focus has been on the critical early years of education (PreK through 3rd grade), Reading Rockets’ extensive research-based resources are equally valuable for K-12 education, especially when supporting students who may... Resources from Let’s Go Learn and Reading Rockets work together. Let’s Go Learn provides diagnostic tools and instructional programs tailored to individual learners, while Reading Rockets provides free, broad guidance on literacy and the teaching of reading.

A homeschooling parent or educator should consider first using Let’s Go Learn to diagnose and measure a student’s strengths and weaknesses, so that a clear picture emerges of the instructional content the student needs. Then, using best practices from the science of reading, a parent or educator can utilize Reading Rockets to understand how children develop reading skills. Along the way, Let’s Go Learn also provides the platform to track a child’s progress through structured supplementary instruction. Reading Rockets’ commitment to improving literacy outcomes has been recognized at the highest levels. In 2016, the project was awarded the David M. Rubenstein Prize, the highest honor within the prestigious Library of Congress Literacy Awards.

This award celebrates organizations that have made significant contributions to advancing literacy both nationally and internationally.

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