Reading Sessions
What happens during the first reading session?
During your first session with The Everyday Tutor, your child will take a placement test to identify the foundational areas to focus on during future sessions. Students will be evaluated on their ability to hear and manipulate sounds as well as their phonics skills. This quick test will help customize your child's instruction based on their current skills and abilities. The results help the tutor place them in Level 1 (Master the Basics), Level 2 (Developing Fluency), or Level 3 (Understanding Language) of the Reading Road Map. Please note that students can receive instruction from all three levels to master the basics, develop fluency, and begin to build understanding of what they read.
Families can also provide any school assessments or reports that may help The Everyday Tutor get a clearer idea of your child's academic strengths and areas of need. This helps accelerate the pre-assessment process, and the tutor begins planning for the first instructional lesson.
Reading Roadmap
What skills does my child have now, and what skills will they learn next?
Level 1
Master the Basics
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Recognize and manipulate sounds
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Identify letter names and produce sounds they make
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Sound out unfamilar words (CVC, CVCC, digraphs, blends, vowel teams, etc.)
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Recognize and read sight words
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Understand how books work and are built
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Understand how sentences are organized
Level 2
Develop Fluency
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Read words correctly without frequent mistakes
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Use phonics skills automatically rather than guessing
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Self-correct when something doesn’t sound right
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Read with expression and attention to punctuation
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Use voice to show understanding of the text
Level 3
Understand Language
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Build background knowledge
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Define unknown word using context clues
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Understand how sentences are formed
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Make inferences
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Understand cause and effect
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Compare ideas
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Understand figurative language
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Identify text genres
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Understand how books and print are organized
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Identify text and grapic features
1. Master the Basics
Students focusing on foundational reading skills will participate in tutoring lessons from the University of Florida's Literacy Institute's Foundations teacher manual. These lessons are explicit, systematic, and based on the Science of Reading.
The journey your child will take to master the foundational skills needed to develop fluency and comprehend complex messages in fiction and non-fiction texts is outlined below.
(2025). UFLI Foundations Toolbox. University of Florida Literacy Institute. https://ufli.education.ufl.edu/foundations/toolbox/
2. Develop Fluency
Students develop reading fluency by working closely with The Everyday Tutor to improve pacing, phrasing, and oral expression. During fluency practice, students reread the same passage multiple times, with each reading serving a different purpose.
During the first read, students focus on reading the words accurately. On the second read, they practice reading more smoothly with fewer pauses between words. During the third read, students focus on reading with expression and understanding, helping them connect fluent reading to meaning.
3. Understand Language
Students work closely with The Everyday Tutor to build a strong understanding before, during, and after reading using research-based strategies aligned with the Science of Reading. During these sessions, students practice asking and answering questions, learning the meanings of unfamiliar words, making inferences, comparing and contrasting story elements, identifying the central idea, retelling and summarizing texts, and responding to reading through written responses/
How Do Reading Skills Develop?
Level 1: Beginning Readers
Beginning readers start by building the foundational strands of reading. Instruction focuses on phonological awareness (working with sounds in words), decoding (sounding out words), and recognizing common words automatically.
Level 2: Developing Readers
At this stage, students have mastered basic word reading and are working toward fluent reading. They practice reading grade-level text more smoothly, with fewer pauses, so they can focus more on meaning.
Level 3: Expanding Readers
Once word recognition and early fluency are established, instruction expands to the language comprehension strands of reading. Students build background knowledge, grow vocabulary, strengthen understanding of sentence structure, use verbal reasoning, and learn about different types of texts and genres.
GOAL: Skilled Readers
Skilled readers use all strands of the rope together—word reading and language comprehension—to fully understand, think about, and learn from what they read.