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THE FIVE ESSENTIAL COMPONENTS OF READING

1. Phonemic awareness is the ability to recognize and use sounds to create words.  Children need to be able to hear sounds in words and realize that words are made up of these sounds (phonemes).

2. Phonics is associating written letters with spoken sounds.  Children need to learn the sound-symbol relationships.

3. Reading Fluency is the ability to read a text accurately, effortlessly, and with expression.  Reading fluently does not mean reading fast.  Being a fluent reader allows the reader to focus more on comprehending.

4. Vocabulary is essential to comprehension in that readers need to know the meanings of words to understand what they are reading.

5. Comprehension is basically understanding what has been read.  This is the goal of reading.

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