Literacy instruction begins with skills that children learn before they actually begin to read. These "concepts of print" are important because they help beginning readers understand many things about books. For example, children learn to identify the front and back cover and the title. They also learn that words are read from left to right and top to bottom. Teachers also emphasize the importance of using pictures as clues to help understand the stories.
Phonics instruction begins in kindergarten. It is a method of teaching reading that focuses on the letter-sound relationship. Children learn to recognize and name each letter of the alphabet, then identify and produce the sound for each letter. The next step is phoneme segmentation in which students learn to look at a word, say the sound for each letter in the word, then blend the sounds to make the word. When children can decode and sound out words, they are reading. Teachers work on phonics skills in whole and small group settings with games and activities that reinforce letter naming and alphabet-sound correspondence.
The definition of fluency is the ability to read accurately, smoothly, with expression and at a rate that enables comprehension. Fluency is achieved as a result of the mastery of several skills. Children learn reading skills in isolation, but apply them all when reading independently. Fluency is strengthened every time a child reads, but is also reinforced by listening to fluent reading models like teachers and adults at home. A lack of fluency contributes to poor comprehension. When a child has to spend most of his time sounding out words, the meaning and details of the story are lost.
Comprehension has many facets. It is not based on a single skill. Comprehension is basically the ability to understand what's been read. Teachers in the primary grades begin with simple comprehension like names of characters, plot and setting. As students progress from kindergarten to first grade, they will learn how to predict based on prior knowledge. In the second and third grades, students learn self-questioning techniques that demonstrate critical thinking about characters' motivations and feelings.