Payne Education Center’s First Grade Foundations

Description: First Grade Foundations is a compilation of structured techniques for the multisensory teaching of language skills based on Orton-Gillingham-Childs concepts and Alphabetic Phonics, and is designed to be combined with any basal reading program. It is a scripted, sequential, repetitive and multisensory classroom curriculum delivering phonemic awareness, the forty-four sounds and ninety-eight spellings of the English language in a spiraling approach. Each lesson includes a decodable story based on the graphemes explicitly taught to facilitate fluency and prosody in reading. The morphological sources and grammatical structures contained within the curriculum provide the foundation for written composition. The program also includes assessment at approximately each fifteen lessons which enables the teacher to track student success.

First Grade Foundations (FGF) is a 4-day OSDE approved Structured Literacy training program that provides first grade teachers a multisensory scripted reading curriculum that meets the needs of a variety of students, from reading-disabled to gifted. First Grade Foundations features instruction in phonological awareness, phonics, oral reading fluency, vocabulary, comprehension, grammar, handwriting, and spelling. FGF allows teachers to be prepared for any student reading level with pre-literacy techniques and a comprehensive, balanced approach to the basics of language arts instruction. Each lesson contains a decodable story for fluency development and assessment. FGF can easily be supplemented with standard literature or literature from any basal reading program. Periodic student assessments occur every 15-20 lessons. Teachers who attend First Grade Foundations are able to access a support page on our website that is full of helpful instructional videos, curriculum resources, and supplemental materials.

Objectives: At the end of this course, trained educators will be able to:

• Demonstrate knowledge of the foundational concepts involved in oral and written learning.

• Demonstrate knowledge of the structure of language, including phonology, orthography, morphology, semantics, syntax, and discourse organization.

• Demonstrate the ability to teach phonological awareness, phonics and word recognition, fluent reading of text, handwriting, and spelling.
• Interpret and administer assessments for planning of instruction.

Hours:  4 Day 32 hours In Person

COMPETENCIES:

Knowledge and Practice Standards for Teachers of Reading (IDA, 2018)

Standard 2: Knowledge of Diverse Reading Profiles, Including Dyslexia

2.2 Know fundamental provisions of federal and state laws that pertain to learning disabilities, including dyslexia and other reading and language disability subtypes. Evidence: Session 4

Standard 4 Structured Literacy Instruction

B: Phonological and Phonemic Awareness

4B.2 Understand/apply in practice considerations for levels of phonological sensitivity.  Evidence in lessons 13, 14, 15, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 47, 48, 27, 28, 29, 31, 32, 33, 46, 49, 50, 52, 53, 56, 65, 71, 72, 73, 74

4B.4 Know/apply in practice consideration for the progression of phonemic-awareness skill development, across age and grade.  Evidence in Lessons 1-75

C: Phonics and Word Recognition

4C.1 Know/apply in practice considerations for the structure of English orthography and the patterns and rules that inform the teaching of single- and multisyllable regular word reading.  Evidence in lessons 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48,49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63, 64, 65, 66, 67, 68, 69, 70, 71, 72, 73, 74, 75

4C.2 Know/apply in practice considerations for systematically, cumulatively, and explicitly teaching basic decoding and spelling skills.  Evidence in lessons: 10, 15, 16, 19, 20, 21, 25, 28, 31, 32, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63, 64, 65, 66, 67, 68, 69, 70, 71, 72, 73, 74, 75

4C.3 Know/apply in practice considerations for organizing word- recognition and spelling lessons by following a structured phonics lesson plan. Evidence in all lessons 1-75

4C5 Know/apply in practice considerations for adapting instruction for students with weaknesses in working memory, attention, executive function, or processing speed. Evidence in all lessons 1-75

4C.6 Know/apply in practice considerations for teaching irregular words in small increments using special techniques.  Evidence in lessons 5, 6, 7, 8, 9,10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17,18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 51, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 60, 61, 62, 63, 64, 66, 67,68, 69, 70, 71, 72, 73, 74, 75

D: Automatic, Fluent Reading of Text

4D.1. Know/apply in practice considerations for the role of fluent word-level skills in automatic word reading, oral reading fluency, reading comprehension, and motivation to read. Evidence in lessons: 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 21, 22, 24, 25,26, 27, 28, 30, 31, 32, 34, 36, 37, 38, 39 ,40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63, 64, 67, 68, 69, 70, 71, 72, 73, 74, 75

4D.2 Know/apply in practice considerations for varied techniques and methods for building reading fluency Evidence in lessons: 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63, 64, 66, 67, 68, 69, 70, 71, 72, 73, 74, 75

E: Vocabulary 

4E.3. Know/apply in practice considerations for the role and characteristics of indirect (contextual) methods of vocabulary instruction. Evidence in lessons 10, 11, 13, 14, 15, 17, 18, 19, 21, 24, 25, 26, 27, 30, 31, 32, 34, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 46, 47, 49, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63, 64, 67, 68, 69, 71, 72, 73, 74, 75

F: Listening and Reading Comprehension

4F.1 Know/apply in practice considerations for factors that contribute to deep comprehension.  Evidence in lessons: 10, 11, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 19, 21, 22, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 30, 31, 32, 34, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 42, 43, 44, 46, 49, 51, 52, 53, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63, 64, 67, 69, 71, 72, 73, 75

4F3. Know/apply in practice considerations for the role of sentence comprehension in listening and reading comprehension. Evidence in Lessons 10, 11, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 21, 22, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 30, 32, 34, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 42, 43, 44, 46, 49, 51, 52, 53, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63, 64, 67, 69, 71, 72, 73, 75

G. Written Expression

4G.2 Know/apply in practice considerations for research-based principles for teaching letter formation, both manuscript and cursive. Evidence in Lessons 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63 64, 65, 66, 67, 68, 69, 70, 71, 72, 73, 74, 75

4G.3. Know/apply in practice considerations for research-based principles for teaching written spelling and punctuation. Evidence in lessons 10, 11, 12, 13, 15, 16, 22, 25, 29, 30, 31,35, 36, 37, 38, 40, 41, 42, 43, 47, 48, 50, 65, 66, 69, 72, 75

Micro-credential Review Process:

Credentials Unlimited follows a rigorous process to approve a micro-credential, ensuring it aligns with high standards in literacy education. The process begins with mapping the course’s assessment or outcome product to the Knowledge and Practice Standards for the Teachers of Reading (IDA, 2017), conducted by literacy experts. This ensures that the course content is aligned with the most current and effective literacy practices. Additionally, an online quality review of the professional development course is completed by a trained Credentials Unlimited team member. This review provides constructive feedback to the course developer, focusing on improving the course, rather than rating it. Literacy experts from Credentials Unlimited also thoroughly review the course content to ensure it meets the expectations and standards of the Science of Reading or Structured Literacy. This comprehensive process guarantees that every micro-credential supports high-quality, evidence-based literacy instruction.