Fostering key literacy skills is important for laying a strong foundation for a child's future academic success. As educators, it's crucial to understand the key elements of literacy instruction to ensure that learners not only learn to read but also learn how to comprehend, analyze, and engage with written words. Seven key early literacy skills that set children up for literacy success are listening, oral language, vocabulary, phonological and phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, and comprehension.
Hatch Early Learning provides two classroom solutions that work together to address these seven crucial literacy skills and contribute to the holistic growth of young learners: Key Foundations by Hatch™ and Ignite by Hatch™.
Key Foundations is an evidence-based solution that unlocks literacy instruction for children in pre-K through kindergarten and their teachers through print-based resources. Resources include a robust teacher guide, 30 Pre-Decodables Books, a Game Book, Cue Cards and Picture Cards, Alphabet Bops, and consumables.
Ignite is a digital learning platform anchored in a child-facing app that delivers engaging, research-based learning experiences through a dynamic digital play environment. Ignite games cover a range of skills across seven domains of learning.
Listening, Oral Language, and Vocabulary
Key Foundations includes Word Game lessons, Cue Cards, and Picture Cards that help children develop listening skills, knowledge of oral language, and language organization skills. These games help children practice skills like describing, comparing, and categorizing; asking and answering questions; and making connections between words and concepts while building background knowledge and vocabulary words.
All Ignite games give children opportunities to practice active listening, understanding, and following oral directions as well as skills for receptive language. Additionally, Ignite games help children develop vocabulary and academic vocabulary words and practice categorizing and comparing objects. Because Ignite skills cover seven domains of learning, children also build background knowledge across domains as they play.
Phonological and Phonemic Awareness
In the Key Foundations Lesson Book, teachers will find lessons centered around sounds, like Sound Hunts and Sound Games. These activities help children engage in finding and recognizing sounds, clapping syllables, and practicing other critical phonological and phonemic awareness skills, such as rhyming, blending, segmenting, and isolating sounds. Key Foundations Picture Cards and Pre-Decodables Books help children build additional phonological and phonemic awareness skills, like making sound–letter connections and beginning to decode words.
Ignite has a robust offering of phonological and phonemic awareness experiences. These Ignite games engage children in the purposeful practice of key skills, like alliteration, blending, segmenting, rhyming, and phoneme manipulation (adding, deleting, and substituting phonemes).
Phonics
An important piece of Key Foundations lessons is helping children learn letter–sound links and letter recognition, from word to sound to letter. The Lesson Book includes activities that help children link sounds to letters, recognize letters, and practice writing those letters. Additionally, the Alphabet Bops use rhythm and rhyme to help children recognize letters of the alphabet and recognize the sound or sounds that go with each letter. Key Foundations also includes 30 Pre-Decodables Books that help children practice book and print knowledge and transfer their letter knowledge to decoding.
Phonics is an important piece of Ignite’s Literacy domain. As they are playing Ignite games, children have opportunities to practice letter and letter–sound recognition, book and print knowledge, and emerging skills for writing.
Fluency and Comprehension
Each Key Foundations Pre-Decodables Book includes questions for comprehension and critical thinking. Each fiction book includes an activity to help children practice retelling the story in sequence and remember key ideas and details from the story.
Ignite includes many book and reading games where children can practice active reading and critical thinking skills, recalling key ideas and details from stories, and retelling and sequencing stories. Additionally, Ignite includes decoding games that help children practice fluency.
By weaving listening, oral language, vocabulary, phonological and phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, and comprehension into the fabric of literacy programs, Hatch products equip students with the tools not only to read but also to thrive in a world that demands effective communication and critical thinking. Key Foundations and Ignite can help educators build foundational skills that help young children attain academic success and embrace a love of lifelong learning.
