Foundations for Reading Success: Oral Language to Print – Virtual Morning

This immersive two-day institute gives educators a deep dive into the building blocks of literacy — oral language, vocabulary, and phonemic awareness — all grounded in the latest reading research. You’ll leave with a toolkit of routines that connect sounds to print, supporting students’ early reading and writing development through explicit, engaging instruction. Through game-based learning and hands-on practice, you’ll gain strategies that make foundational literacy skills accessible and exciting for every young learner. Walk away ready to implement purposeful literacy instruction that builds confident, capable readers from the ground up.

Date: June 24th-June 25th (2 mornings), 9:00 a.m.- 12:00 p.m. ET
Presenters: Kinjal Nicholls, MA; Dana Carr-Ford, MA, MsEd
Grades: PreK-2
Location: Virtual
Credits: CTLE credits – 3 hours per full-day workshop

Day 1: Designing Powerful Early Literacy Instruction: From Research to Practice

This workshop equips early childhood educators with evidence-based strategies for building the foundational literacy skills young learners need to succeed. Deepen your understanding of how children develop oral language, vocabulary, and phonemic awareness — and walk away with practical instructional routines, print-rich environment strategies, and structured language practices that support the diverse needs of every learner in your classroom. In the afternoon, put learning into action by planning student-centered activities — including read alouds and games — using ready-to-use templates you can bring back to your classroom immediately.

Key Learning Objectives:

• strengthen understanding of the role of oral language in early literacy and learn instructional routines that intentionally build students’ listening and speaking skills
• learn and practice evidence-based approaches to vocabulary development
• develop and practice instructional routines for phonemic awareness
• learn effective teacher modeling and structured language scaffolds to demonstrate thinking, support student participation, and build students’ confidence using academic language
• gain templates to plan read alouds and games to encourage and enhance oral language

Day 2: From Sounds to Print: Integrating Phonological Awareness, Reading, and Writing

Building on Day 1, this session helps educators translate research into engaging, print-based classroom practices — connecting sounds to print through game-based activities for early reading approaches that support decoding and meaning-making, and developmentally appropriate approaches to building the gross and fine motor skills essential for early writing. Leave with a fully planned, print-based literacy activity that integrates phonological awareness, early reading, and writing, ready for immediate classroom implementation.

Key Learning Objectives:

• strengthen early foundational skills instruction by implementing routines that build sound–spelling knowledge, including letter identification
• apply phonemic awareness skills to print-based activities that support early reading development
• learn and implement early reading strategies that support decoding and meaning-making
• develop and practice instructional approaches that support early writing skills
• design integrated literacy activities that connect reading, writing, and play, including planning a print-based lesson that incorporates phonological awareness, early reading, and writing