Our diverse learners need a strong phonics foundation for reading success. And today’s teachers need a program, with proven results, that equips them to differentiate instruction.
This research-based program offers the skills students need in phonics and phonological awareness through scaffolded practice–in small group instruction–to ensure students can read connected text independently.
- Phonics, Reading, and Me concentrates on a targeted skill within a systematic scope and sequence, focusing on the most important phonics skills for your students.
- Each lesson is structured with recommendations for utilizing the decodable text in a small group, with differentiation and scaffolding that supports all learners.
- The oral reading intelligently recognizes how students are doing on a skill and provides targeted interventions to address the specific gaps.
Closing the Gap for Your Struggling Students
If you’re seeing more students struggling with reading, you’re not alone. National data shows that 69% of 4th graders are reading below the proficient level. Students need more targeted intervention than ever, and the good news is that Phonics, Reading, and Me works.
- Just 20 minutes a day can close the gap for 75% of your struggling readers. With intentionally sequenced instruction and carefully scaffolded texts, students gain the high-utility phonics skills they need to move toward grade-level proficiency—and beyond.
- Backed by ESSA Level 3 evidence, Phonics, Reading, and Me helps your hardest-to-reach students make accelerated gains.
- One independent study showed students using the program had significantly higher i-Ready comprehension scores—demonstrating that the resource drives meaningful growth in understanding text.
Phonics, Reading, and Me is designed to support both new and experienced teachers in teaching reading effectively. Whether your students are below or above grade level, the adaptable lessons ensure every child can succeed. Experience the ease of teaching and the joy of seeing students confidently read and comprehend text.
Learning and practicing reading and writing skills simultaneously is crucial because these processes are interdependent and mutually reinforcing. In services of students learning early literacy, our products make it easy for teachers to "braid" the explicit, systematic skills together in support of comprehensive reading and writing success.
Phonics, Reading, and Me is designed for small group instruction, critical phonics and word recognition skills, offering step-by-step guidance for teachers. Students apply these skills in five decodable texts, reinforcing decoding and building knowledge. Personalized supports in digital practice adapt to students' needs and leveled lesson card scripting ensure all students build skill proficiency and read fluently.
Target
Tools to Model Instruction
Each lesson in Phonics, Reading, and Me follows a consistent, high-impact instructional routine designed to TARGET a specific phonics or word study skill.
Apply
Texts to Practice Skills
For each skill, students APPLY in 5 decodable texts, reinforcing decoding while building knowledge. These engaging fiction and nonfiction texts ensure students practice in context, deepening their skills proficiency and fluency.
Adapt
Personalized Supports
Differentiation and scaffolds are offered in the digital practice to ADAPT to the needs of those students who need more reinforcement based on their reading proficiency. Lesson card scripting allows teachers to support students according to their need. This approach ensures all students get the right application to build skill proficiency and read connected text with fluency.
The digital tools help close learning gaps with scaffolded support and engaging practice while giving teachers insight into essential data about student performance.
- Student Digital Texts: Connected texts with immediate feedback, hints, and modeling.
- Digital Screener, Skills Activities, and Assessments: Data-driven activities that support personalized pathways, adapting to each student’s learning needs.
- Teacher and Admin Reports: Access insights at the district, school, class, and individual levels to track progress and engagement.
Try the Phonics, Reading , and Me Digital Experience
Get access to all that the Teacher Digital offers, including resources for planning, teaching, and reporting with our 30-day trial.
Decodable texts play a crucial role in building reading independence by providing learners with the opportunity to apply their understanding of letter-sound relationships and phonetic patterns to decode unfamiliar words.
With Phonics, Reading, and Me, students have a blended experience. They read connected text in print decodable books and digital texts to practice decoding and recognizing common words while gaining content knowledge. The key learning outcome is independent reading proficiency. The decodable books are:
- Carefully constructed to include a high volume of skills words
- Themed for content knowledge and vocabulary building
- Engaging stories and nonfiction texts that motivate and entertain young readers
- Reflective of the rich cultural diversity of our students and their communities
With Phonics, Reading, and Me, students get a cohesive learning experience. As students read rich print and digital texts, they open a window to the world beyond their walls. These texts are organized sequentially to build phonics skills and reading knowledge around concepts and engaging topics. Each unit correlates to social studies and science topics across five themes, including community, animals, jobs, and more.
Technology cannot replace the teacher, but it can complement teachers and help bridge the gap for students who need additional help.
Data from speech-enabled oral readings helps drive personalized pathing using technology specifically built to be accurate for children’s voices and to account for different accents and articulations.
Based on performance, the system will place each student on a path with just-right content and supports.
Combining expert teaching strategies with cutting-edge technology, Phonics, Reading, and Me provides personalized reading support. Using an accurate voice engine, it listens to students read aloud, assesses progress, and delivers targeted activities to strengthen literacy skills.
- Connected Practice: Engaging digital and print activities reinforce literacy skills.
- Personalized Learning Paths: Content adapts to each student’s needs.
- Real-Time Insights: Tracks progress and provides actionable teacher data.
BEFORE AND AFTER STARTING DIGITAL LESSON
To Begin: Teacher-Led Instruction
Lead one group and prepares the rest of the class for purposeful practice. You have the control to start the lesson-specific content so the whole class can move along the scope and sequence together.
Lesson Complete! Now What?
If a student receives a check mark for a given lesson, instructional goals have been met and no further action is required. If a child did not yet demonstrate success on the skill, find insights into where the child struggled.
Cumulative Review
Provides systematic practice of essential skills and high-frequency words to reinforce retention.
Supported Reading
Offers connected text with real-time feedback, hints, and modeling to guide students.
Gamification
Engages students in skill-building through fun, interactive activities.
Differentiated Content
Adapts learning paths with scaffolded or advanced content based on individual progress.
A core reading program gets you most—but not all—of the way toward your literacy goals. Phonics, Reading, and Me helps your students succeed by connecting key phonics skills to meaningful, knowledge-building decodable texts. Complement your existing curriculum with Phonics, Reading, and Me for a comprehensive literacy learning experience.
Working together, these programs can:
- Deepen phonics skills through explicit small-group instruction.
- Accelerate success as students cement the most useful phonics skills in rich decodable texts.
- Differentiate with scaffolded activities, so that all students can read grade-level texts.
- Monitor students’ progress through voice-enabled oral reading.
- Provide valuable print and digital resources to maximize small-group reading practice.
McGraw Hill Wonders
Amplify CKLA
UFLI
HMH Into Reading
myView Literacy
Open Court Reading
Proof It Works: Backed by research and real classroom results, Phonics, Reading, and Me helps students make measurable gains, closing learning gaps with scaffolded support and engaging, skill-building practice.
Student comprehension scores improve: Read the Study
Below-level students increase at a faster rate: Read the Study
Johns Hopkins University
Phonics, Reading, and Me is evidence-based and has a positive impact on early literacy achievement as shown in an independent study conducted by Johns Hopkins University Center of Research and Reform in Education.
Efficient and Effective Early Reading Instruction
We are not just teaching reading — we’re cultivating confident, lifelong readers through a research-backed approach to phonics instruction. Our method delivers results that matter and empowers students with a solid foundation in phonics, opening the door to fluent reading and comprehension.
LWT Case Study: Jasper, Alabama
In the community of Jasper, a rural city just northwest of Birmingham, Alabama, students have seen success with Learning Without Tears’ reading program, Phonics, Reading, and Me™.
Explore a range of research-backed resources that go beyond Phonics, Reading, and Me™. These materials offer localized insights and specific studies on the benefits of using evidence-based programs in education. From visual aids to instructional tools, each resource supports effective teaching practices and helps students adapt to various classroom styles with confidence.
Journal of Experimental Child Psychology
Bidirectional Relations of Phonological Sensitivity and Prereading Abilities: Evidence from a Preschool Sample
American Educator
Phonics Faux Pas: Avoiding Instructional Missteps in Teaching Letter-Sound Relationships
University of Montana
The Development of Phonological Awareness Skills in Preschool Children: From Syllables to Phonemes
Phonological Interventions for DLLs
A Systematic Review of Phonological Awareness Interventions for Latino Children in Early and Primary Grades
Taylor & Francis Group
On the Role of Phonology in Reading Acquisition, The Self-Teaching Hypothesis
Every child’s literacy journey starts with the right tools and strategies. At Learning Without Tears, our programs are developed through rigorous research to provide proven, practical solutions that support educators in building strong foundational skills. From early readiness to advanced literacy, our resources empower students to thrive.