Program Description

Levels 1 & 2 - Usually Taught in Kindergarten

Level 1: Meet the Superkids

The focus is on 13 letters of the alphabet, 5 short vowels and 8 consonants. Students systematically learn how to read and write these letters of the alphabet, the letter-sound associations for them, and several Memory Words. They learn how to blend sounds to read simple words. By the end of this level, students begin to understand how the written language they are learning relates to the spoken language they already know.

Level 2: Superkids' Club

Superkids' Club builds on the first level and introduces letter-sound associations for the remaining 13 letters of the alphabet. Children start to use their new decoding abilities to read independently and to develop comprehension skills and strategies. Students begin to understand that the primary purpose of reading is to gain meaning from what they have read.

Levels 3 & 4 - Usually Taught in Grade 1

Level 3: Adventures of the Superkids

Students learn more complex letter-sound relationships, such as digraphs and long-vowel sounds. They continue to develop their decoding and encoding skills and read longer stories where comprehension and fluency are emphasized. They also gain a growing awareness of the structure and function of words and learn to spell phonetically irregular words, which aids reading and writing fluency.

Level 4: More Adventures of the Superkids

Students continue to develop skills in all the language arts while learning a greater number of phonetic variables, such as -ow in bow and snow. Children also learn strategies for using context to identify words. By the end of this level, students can read and spell all 220 words on the Dolch Basic Word List. Most children will be confident readers and competent writers capable of spelling phonetically regular words with accuracy.

Levels 5 & 6 - Usually Taught in Grade 2

Level 5: The Superkids Hit Second Grade

The second-grade program reviews and reteaches all 44 phonemes. The decodable text, The Superkids Hit Second Grade, is accompanied by the Word Work Book that teaches the mechanics of language — decoding, spelling, and grammar. This level also includes four issues of a nonfiction magazine entitled SUPER that contains real-world content and exceptional photography. Its appealing articles provide cross-curricular content for teachers to use as they introduce important strategies for reading nonfiction. Quality literature is provided at this level in the first eight of 16 books from The Book Club for Super Kids. The Book Club books, written by well-known authors, are presented in their original trade-book format, giving children pleasure and pride in reading "real books" rather than anthologies. In the last component, Write it Right, carefully sequenced lessons break writing instruction into small steps so day-by-day successes keep students and teachers motivated.

Level 6: The Superkids Take Off

Students' skills continue to grow in phonics, spelling, and grammar using the decodable text, The Superkids Take Off, and the Word Work Book for Level 6. Issues 5-8 of SUPER magazine and eight additional Book Club books encourage the love of reading different genres and multicultural literature. During their expressive writing time, students learn to write pieces they are proud to share: poems, stories, letters, autobiographies, and magazine articles. They also learn cursive. By the end of Level 6, students are confident readers and writers, ready for intermediate-grade work.