Getting Ready to Teach - Part 4: Curriculum Essentials

Last updated: February 17, 2026

At Air Reading, we use a Structured Literacy Approach to effectively teach the key components of foundational reading skills. This article provides a brief introduction to our approach to teaching two literacy curriculum essentials: phonemic awareness and phonics. For a more in-depth discussion of these topics, please visit the folders Phonemic Awareness and Phonics.

Table of contents

Phonemic awareness
Phonics
- Phonics sounds and motions
Downloadable PDFs in this article

Phonemic awareness

Phonemic awareness is the ability to focus on and manipulate the phonemes (sounds) in spoken words (Ehri et al., 2001). It is one of the five components of effective reading instruction identified by the National Reading Panel (2000).

In the Air Reading curriculum, phonemic awareness activities are based on current research. Students practice blending sounds into words and segmenting words into individual sounds. These are auditory activities.

You will notice that in the early levels, before students have mastered the alphabetic principle, there are empty boxes representing each phoneme (sound). This design is intentional and teachers are encouraged to avoid writing anything on the slide. Even when letters are included in later levels, research has shown that the focus may best be on recognizing the sounds (and not asking students to read).

It is highly recommended for teachers to read the teacher script carefully and follow the Teacher Directions. This could help to ensure you deliver strong foundational instruction.

For a more detailed discussion on phonemic awareness, visit the following articles:

Phonics

At Air Reading, we teach phonics systematically and explicitly. Students are directly taught phonics sounds and rules. Following the Teacher Directions closely will ensure that you deliver this foundational content effectively.

For an excellent resource on how to deliver clear phonics sounds, check out the Rollins Center for Literacy and Language's video on the 44 Phonemes.

Some essential documents to have on hand when teaching include a set of one-pagers outline Air Reading's keywords, hand motions, and articulation instructions. Access the following downloadable PDFs for quick reference when teaching:

Phonics sounds and motions

Follow along with the video below to learn and practice the phonics sounds and hand motions used at Air Reading.

For a more detailed discussion on phonics, visit the following articles:

Downloadable PDFs in this article

Articulation One-Pager

Keywords One-Pager

Sounds and Hand Motions One-Pager

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