Grades K-3
Elementary Reading and Spelling Curriculum
Prepare elementary teachers with the curriculum and training to ensure every K-3 student builds a solid foundation in reading and spelling.
Phonics-based Method
The Reading Horizons Discovery® Curriculum is based on the powerful Reading Horizons Method. The method uses a unique marking system to help students decode the majority of all English words. The method teaches students to identify sound patterns, determine whether a vowel should be pronounced short or long, and properly split words into syllables.
Learn some of the key skills in the Reading Horizons Method:
Teacher Manuals & Materials
The Reading Horizons Discovery® Direct Instruction Materials empower elementary teachers with a detailed guide and resources for implementing research-based reading and spelling instruction in the classroom.
Instructional Software
The Reading Horizons Discovery® Software gives teachers an automated assistant for monitoring student progress and reinforcing teacher-led instruction. By reviewing performance data, teachers can uncover and target student needs that slipped through the cracks during whole class instruction.
Training & Implementation
Implementation makes or breaks a reading program. For a new program to stick, implementation must be simple and sustainable. Reading Horizons helps your school or district get off to the right start with a variety of implementation resources.
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Phonics-Based Method
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Teacher Manuals & Materials
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Instructional Software
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Training & Implementation
The Reading Horizons Discovery® Curriculum is based on the powerful Reading Horizons Method. The method uses a unique marking system to help students decode the majority of all English words. The method teaches students to identify sound patterns, determine whether a vowel should be pronounced short or long, and properly split words into syllables.
Learn some of the key skills in the Reading Horizons Method:
The Reading Horizons Discovery® Kindergarten Direct Instruction Materials help teachers provide engaging and effective instruction on the building blocks of the English language. Manuals provide a detailed guide for lesson planning and additional materials help students master the skills they have been taught.
Explore our kindergarten instructional resources:
Make it easy for teachers to prepare research-based lessons for teaching alphabet sounds, blends, basic sight words, and basic word formation according to the Reading Horizons Method. Teachers can access corresponding blackline masters, teacher aids, and activities on the Reading Horizons Accelerate® customer website.
Help students transfer basic reading skills into basic text. Twenty full-color Little Books use controlled vocabulary and original illustrations to reinforce the specific skills taught in the Kindergarten Teacher's Manual and corresponding software lessons.
Boost student engagement with the Games Supplement. This manual includes a variety of differentiated activities for reinforcing the skills taught during teacher and software-led instruction.
Students work to transfer decoding skills into fluent reading with 696 large-print Transfer Cards.
It’s hard for students to remember everything. Four wall posters (Alphabet, Blends, Special Vowel Combinations, and Vowels) serve as a student reference to the sounds and skills taught during teacher and software-led instruction.
The Reading Horizons Discovery® Direct Instruction Materials include detailed manuals for teaching research-based explicit, systematic, and sequential phonics-based instruction in elementary classrooms. Additional instructional materials increase student engagement and facilitate student transfer of decoding skills into fluent reading.
Explore our instructional resources available for grades 1-3:
Scripted lesson manuals help teachers know how to model and adjust to this research-based model of reading instruction. Corresponding blackline masters, teacher aids, and activities can be accessed through the Reading Horizons Accelerate® customer website.
Students build fluent reading with text that reinforces the skills they’ve learned. The Reading Horizons Discovery® Little Books include fifty-four full-color stories written with controlled vocabulary and decodable text that correspond to each specific skill taught during lesson instruction.
Provide teachers with a variety of games for increasing student engagement and differentiating instruction to different skill levels as they teach the skills of the Reading Horizons Method.
Students practice decoding skills and transfer them into fluent reading with 756 Transfer Cards.
Extend student memory with seven wall posters (42 Sounds of the Alphabet, Blends, Vowels, Special Vowel Combinations, Adjacent Vowels, Five Phonetic Skills, and Two Decoding Skills). Students can refer to these posters when they need a quick reminder of the skills they’ve already been taught.
Take spelling instruction beyond a memorized list. The Reading Horizons Discovery® Spelling Supplement provides teachers with an explicit guide for teaching students how to encode and prove words are spelled correctly. The Spelling Supplement is perfectly correlated to the Reading Horizons Discovery® reading program.
Learn about the different components of the Spelling Supplement:
Students can increase their understanding of the structure and patterns of the English language with 15-20 minute daily lessons of explicit spelling instruction. Each lesson includes pre- and post-tests to assess student progress.
To be sure that students are retaining what they’ve learned, the Review Activities Manual includes review activities and cumulative assessments for every six weeks of spelling instruction.
The Teacher Resources Manual helps optimize teacher time and enhance student lessons. The manual includes answer keys and scoring information for each pre- and post-test, a variety of student activities for each lesson, timeline information, and other teacher resources.
Students work to master each spelling skill through word sorts, cloze passages, writing prompts, and homework pages. Resources are accessed by teachers through the Reading Horizons Accelerate customer website.
To keep students motivated and engaged, the Reading Horizons Discovery® Software uses a reward system, instant feedback, student progress reports, engaging games and themes that appeal to kids.
Learn how the software fuels student motivation and engagement:
Students direct their learning through the Clubhouse. There are four main options for instruction and practice: Lessons, Vocabulary, Games, and Library.
To fuel student motivation, students earn coins throughout software instruction are used to access games and to purchase items to customize their Clubhouse.
Students can check their progress and achievements through the student dashboard—where chapter maps, “coins,” and “trophies” are stored.
To help students stay on track, they receive a performance summary or corrective feedback after each lesson exercise, chapter test, and reading comprehension check.
Lesson material is reinforced through six skill-based games associated with each chapter. Playing games is voluntary, and teachers can enable or disable the games for individual students in the Administration System.
Sometimes students need a break. Three mini-games break up long lessons, tests, and assessments—increasing student engagement. As students play these games, they earn coins to access additional games and to use in the Clubhouse Store.
To increase student access to effective reading instruction, students can access the Reading Horizons Discovery® iPad App. The app can be accessed both at school and at home—that way students can stay on top of their learning even if they have to miss a day or two of school.
The Reading Horizons Discovery® Software teaches students the skills needed to read and decode the words of the English language—and how to transfer these skills into fluent reading. Lesson content follows a deliberate sequence of instruction, practice activities, and assessments. The number of skill lessons, MCWs lessons, and Reference lessons varies by grade level: kindergarten, first grade, second grade, and third grade.
Explore the different types of software instruction:
Beginning readers learn to identify and recognize word patterns with the Reading Horizons Discovery® Software skill lessons.
Give students a head start on reading with software lessons that help them master the 300 Most Common Words in the English language. These 300 sight words make up 80% of all written text.
Give beginning readers a quick overview of the basic grammar rules of the English language with the grammar lessons in the Reading Horizons Discovery® Software.
Build the vocabulary of beginning readers with the Vocabulary Word Wall—a 2,200-word database that allows students to expand their vocabulary as they develop reading, listening, pronunciation, spelling, and decoding skills. Vocabulary words correlate directly with the skills taught in each lesson.
Students learn to transfer foundational reading skills to written text with 74 illustrated stories. These stories use controlled vocabulary and decodable text that matches skill instruction—allowing students to practice decoding skills in a real-world context. After students read a story, they answer comprehension questions to gauge understanding.
Students learn the proper letter and sound formation of each letter and English sound with ABC Say and ABC Draw. Using the ABC Draw tool, students can watch the proper formation of letters. Using the ABC Say tool, students listen to and pronounce the sounds learned and practiced in the lessons. Students can record themselves repeating the sound and compare their pronunciation with the narrator’s.
When teachers closely measure and monitor student progress, students stay on track for reading success. The Reading Horizons Discovery® Software uses a series of assessments to individualize student instruction and track progress. Assessment and lesson performance data can be reviewed by teachers and administrators through the administration system.
Monitor student progress through:
Establish student benchmarks, monitor progress, and measure student gains in foundational reading skills with three computer-administered assessments: Phonemic Awareness, Most Common Words, and Spelling/Word Recognition.
Validate student gains and connect students with text that matches their individual reading level with the Reading Assessment—created in partnership with MetaMetrics® using the Lexile® Framework for Reading. This assessment is purchased separately as a software add-on and can be administered three times a year (as assigned by the teacher).
Measure student mastery and skill retention through six chapter tests. Students must pass each of the chapter tests with at least the required minimum score. If a student score falls below the set passing rate, he/she is given a refresher on the specific skills that weren’t passed in the test.
As a quick assessment, teachers can assign Check-Ups on the software after direct instruction lessons to collect data on student understanding. Teachers who do not have access to the full software suite can use a limited version of the software to access the Check-Ups.
Teachers can review student data and edit student settings through the Administration Portal. Teachers can also preview student lessons and assessments and receive message alerts when a student struggles with a skill.
Teachers can know exactly what students to watch and which specific skills are causing a student difficulty through the Reports section of the Administration Portal. View student progress on lessons, Chapter Tests, assessments, vocabulary practice, and the reading library. Individual student and group data can be viewed.
For schools that want to take their implementation to the next level, we offer the implementation coach program. Schools that invest in this program are assigned a dedicated implementation specialist to ensure a smooth transition and to maintain school-wide instructional fidelity overtime.
The implementation coach program includes:
Connect all of your students with extra reading practice and skill reinforcement with unlimited access to the online software.
You don’t have to make big changes alone. Implementation coach partner schools are assigned a dedicated Reading Horizons expert that provides two days of initial on-site training, two on-site coaching days during the school year, and unlimited distance coaching and communication to assure implementation is effective and sustainable.
Get all of your staff on the same page. Each implementation school gets two-days of in-person training from their implementation coach to prepare staff to implement the Reading Horizons Method and materials in the classroom.
Ensure instructional fidelity and improve classroom instruction with two on-site coaching days. Partner schools choose any two days during the school year for their implementation coach to come and provide on-site coaching.
Because Reading Horizons gives teachers a new perspective on reading instruction, professional development is an important first step for any school that wants to implement the program. Teachers are the most important piece of any program, and without the proper training it is difficult to fulfill this key role. During training, teachers learn instructional strategies for teaching beginning and struggling readers.
Training options include:
One day of hands-on, in-person instruction in the Reading Horizons Discovery® course. Attendees are familiarized with the history of the method, instructed in the basic framework of the program, and participate in games and activities to become familiar with what their students will experience. The single day of training is paired with unlimited annual site access to the Reading Horizons Online Professional Development Course.
Teachers can be trained at their own convenience with the Reading Horizons Online Professional Development Course. This course uses six virtual training modules to prepare teachers to teach the Reading Horizons Method. Each module begins with a pre-test to determine the depth of training the teacher needs for each module. The modules are completed sequentially but can be reviewed in any order after completion of each module. A certificate of completion is provided when the modules are complete.
Teachers are provided with a wealth of free resources for successfully implementing Reading Horizons in the classroom. Both the Reading Horizons Accelerate website and free technical support, help teachers fully implement the program. The Reading Horizons Accelerate website provides lesson planning tools, how-to videos, downloads, and a helpful community forum.
Implementation is supported through these free customer tools:
Teachers can efficiently build their daily Reading Horizons lesson plan with a tool that connects them to a wealth of resources and uses software data (when available) to automatically create student groupings by performance. The lesson planner is available on the Reading Horizons Accelerate website.
Teachers access how-to videos, downloads, and other resources to enhance student lessons through the Reading Horizons Accelerate website.
Teachers can ask implementation questions and share tips with other teachers about using the Reading Horizons Method in the classroom. The forum is accessed through the Reading Horizons Accelerate website.
Help is always a phone call away. Reading Horizons offers free tech support to every customer. Each account is assigned a dedicated customer success manager to aid implementation and resolve any tech or implementation issues.
Reach a range of needs in elementary classrooms with
the Reading Horizons Discovery® Reading Curriculum
Prevent general education students from falling behind
Because Reading Horizons Discovery® is aligned to the National Reading Panels findings for effective reading instruction, the program provides a strong core curriculum that prevents general education students from falling behind— including students in Title I school settings.
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Software assessments catch and alert teachers when a student is struggling with a specific skill
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Direct instruction lessons include a differentiation table to adjust reinforcement activities for students below, on, and above level for each skill
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Student check-ups are available for teachers that don't have software access to assure each student has mastered a concept before moving on
Provide basic reading instruction to kindergarten students
Help students get off to the right start with reading. To cater to the needs of kindergarten students, Reading Horizons offers separate manuals and Little Books for these young kids. A lesson track for kindergarten students is available on the Reading Horizons Discovery® Software.
These resources help kindergarten students master the basic building blocks of the English language:
- Alphabet sounds
- Letter formation
- Blending sounds
- Building basic words
- 42 sounds of the alphabet
- Simple sight words
- Basic grammar
Reach all three RTI tiers
Provide students in each RTI tier with the right depth of targeted research-based reading instruction with one powerful reading curriculum.
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Use a common language to reduce cognitive load for students and to ensure interventionists can communicate efficiently within and between tiers.
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Empower teachers to provide students in each RTI tier with the right depth of research-based reading instruction that helps prevent and identify reading difficulties.
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Simplify differentiation and individualization for intervention students with robust technology tools and detailed instructional guides.
Help students with dyslexia improve their reading skills and fulfill legislation
When you work to meet the needs of students with dyslexia and fulfill state-specific legislation regarding dyslexia, you don't just help your students with dyslexia--you provide benefits to every student.
With Reading Horizons and the Reading Horizons Discovery® Curriculum, elementary teachers are prepared to:
- Screen every student for the risk factors of dyslexia
- Provide clear, research-based reading instruction that is crucial for students with dyslexia, but beneficial for every student
- Differentiate instruction to meet the needs of students below, on, or above level for each reading skill
Address the needs of students in Special Education
The Reading Horizons Discovery® products help educators address the needs of students in special education through:
- Multisensory reading instruction that uses research-based best practices to help students build new brain connections
- Tools for easily differentiating instruction to individual student needs
- Short, simple lesson plans that keep students engaged
Adapt instruction for English Language Learners
The Reading Horizons Discovery® Curriculum helps English Language Learners (ELLs) understand the patterns and structure of the English language through clear, research-based instruction.
Feature Highlight:
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The ABC Say and ABC Draw Tool in the Reading Horizons Discovery® Software, helps ELLs master the writing of each letter and the pronunciation of each sound of the English language
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Prevent general education students from falling behind
-
Provide basic reading instruction to kindergarten students
-
Reach all three RTI tiers
-
Help students with dyslexia improve their reading skills and fulfill legislation
-
Address the needs of students in Special Education
-
Adapt instruction for English Language Learners
Because Reading Horizons Discovery® is aligned to the National Reading Panels findings for effective reading instruction, the program provides a strong core curriculum that prevents general education students from falling behind— including students in Title I school settings.
-
Software assessments catch and alert teachers when a student is struggling with a specific skill
-
Direct instruction lessons include a differentiation table to adjust reinforcement activities for students below, on, and above level for each skill
-
Student check-ups are available for teachers that don't have software access to assure each student has mastered a concept before moving on
Help students get off to the right start with reading. To cater to the needs of kindergarten students, Reading Horizons offers separate manuals and Little Books for these young kids. A lesson track for kindergarten students is available on the Reading Horizons Discovery® Software.
These resources help kindergarten students master the basic building blocks of the English language:
- Alphabet sounds
- Letter formation
- Blending sounds
- Building basic words
- 42 sounds of the alphabet
- Simple sight words
- Basic grammar
Provide students in each RTI tier with the right depth of targeted research-based reading instruction with one powerful reading curriculum.
-
Use a common language to reduce cognitive load for students and to ensure interventionists can communicate efficiently within and between tiers.
-
Empower teachers to provide students in each RTI tier with the right depth of research-based reading instruction that helps prevent and identify reading difficulties.
-
Simplify differentiation and individualization for intervention students with robust technology tools and detailed instructional guides.
When you work to meet the needs of students with dyslexia and fulfill state-specific legislation regarding dyslexia, you don't just help your students with dyslexia--you provide benefits to every student.
With Reading Horizons and the Reading Horizons Discovery® Curriculum, elementary teachers are prepared to:
- Screen every student for the risk factors of dyslexia
- Provide clear, research-based reading instruction that is crucial for students with dyslexia, but beneficial for every student
- Differentiate instruction to meet the needs of students below, on, or above level for each reading skill
Reading Horizons has been endorsed by the Council of Administrators in Special Education (CASE) for use in special education settings.
The Reading Horizons Discovery® products help educators address the needs of students in special education through:
- Multisensory reading instruction that uses research-based best practices to help students build new brain connections
- Tools for easily differentiating instruction to individual student needs
- Short, simple lesson plans that keep students engaged
The Reading Horizons Discovery® Curriculum helps English Language Learners (ELLs) understand the patterns and structure of the English language through clear, research-based instruction.
Feature Highlight:
-
The ABC Say and ABC Draw Tool in the Reading Horizons Discovery® Software, helps ELLs master the writing of each letter and the pronunciation of each sound of the English language