Courses

NOTE: Our Orton Gillingham Basic Language content is included in the Phonics Module of this course.

This comprehensive course is a powerhouse, as it not only covers the Big Five components of literacy development according to the Science of Reading, but it also comes with lesson plan packages for each of the components:

• phonological awareness
• phonics
• fluency
• vocabulary
• comprehension. 

The Comprehensive Structured Literacy Course covers the following:

• The Science of Reading
• Phonological Awareness (Including activities to complement the comprehensive lessons)
• Phonics:
  • An Overview of Dyslexia
  • An Overview of the Orton Gillingham Approach
  • All components of a successful Orton Gillingham lesson plan
  • The essential elements of the approach and how to incorporate them in every lesson
  • The alphabetic principle
  • Syllabication
  • Miscellaneous spelling rules

• Fluency
  • Practitioner’s Notebook Level 1 (91 pages) – Aligns with column 3  (1^st grade)
  • Student Workbook Level 1 (97 pages)
  • Practitioner’s Notebook Level 2 (105 pages) – Aligns with column 4 (2^nd grade)
  • Student Workbook Level 2 (118 pages)
  • Practitioner’s Notebook Level 3 (107 pages) – Aligns with column 5 (3^rd grade)
  • Student Workbook Level 3 (160 pages)

         *Each level comes with the following:

• • • An informal coding assessment for benchmark data
    • Fluency passages for hot and cold reads, along with progress monitoring tools, charts, and graphs
    • A Student Workbook for each level that provides student passages, fluency phrases (each passage has been divided into phrases for fluency practice), a comprehension activity, and a student chart for self-monitoring progress.
    • 108 decodable readers to supplement each lesson
    • 108 Read, Practice, and Perform (a Reader’s Theater Approach) activities/lessons to build fluid readers

• Vocabulary – 108 lessons Include vocabulary activities for:
  • background knowledge
  • tier 2 instruction
  • foundational morphology (Intermediate Practitioner’s Notebook) – This resource includes prepared lesson plans, reinforcement student sheets, & checks for understanding/progress monitoring. This is an Inquiry into common Anglo-Saxon base words and the commonly affixed prefixes and suffixes and how the affixes change the meaning of words.

• Comprehension
  • Scarborough’s Reading Rope: Language Comprehension
  • Background Knowledge
  • Vocabulary
  • Language Structure
  • Verbal Reasoning
  • Literacy Knowledge
  • 108 comprehension lessons including:
    • Reading passages
    • Vocabulary and background knowledge
    • Phrase matching
    • Picture sorting
    • Retelling activities
    • Higher Order Thinking (HOT) questions
    • Writing activities to enhance comprehension

Everyone is different, so lesson planning will look different for each student or group of students, depending on the specific learning needs. Some students will need time to practice phonological awareness skills during a lesson, while others will need more time spent on comprehension. Some students who have strong comprehension skills struggle with automaticity and fluency. Finally, some students will need exposure in all areas of literacy development during lessons to grow along the language continuum. Teachers have limited time to devote to any given content area, as a result, they must be able to collect diagnostic information and use this knowledge to prescribe lessons to make optimal use of the time available.

In this course, we take a deep dive into each literacy component. This ascertains that individual needs can be met in the classroom through intensive intervention in a specific content area (each content area in this course offers complete lesson plan packages), or for those who need less intensive lessons, but would benefit from exposure in all areas, we also provide a step-by-step lesson to demonstrate how each of the areas can be incorporated in a 45-60 minute lesson. These Big Five lessons have been added to a Practitioner’s Notebook and corresponding Student Workbook (covering 108 comprehensive plans and supplemental materials aligning with our scope and sequence). No matter the situation, we have you covered in this 50-hour structured literacy course.

Materials and resources available in PDF format: 

• Course manuals for each of the Big Fig components of literacy development (phonological awareness, phonics (Orton Gillingham), Fluency, Vocabulary, and Comprehension)
• Complete lesson plan package (including 108 lessons) for each of the Big Five areas:
  • • Phonological Awareness activities
    • The Orton Gillingham Materials in the Phonics module include:
      • Phonogram card deck
      • Pre-reader lesson plan package (preschool/kindergarten)
      • Initial assessments
      • Informal Coding Assessment for gathering benchmark data and progress monitoring
      • Discussion forums throughout in which participants can dialogue with each other and facilitators
      • Demonstration videos
    • Fluency Package (as described above)
    • Vocabulary Package (as described above)
    • Comprehension Lesson Plan Package (as described above)
    • “Bringing it all Together” Module we offer:
      • 3 Practitioner’s Notebooks (grades 1-3)
      • 3 student workbooks (grades 1-3)

*The eBooks include 108 Orton Gillingham lessons covering all of the Big Five components of literacy development. The lessons follow the structure and format of Orton Gillingham lessons, and they include practice in phonological awareness, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension. Each lesson should take 60 minutes or less.

Participants have unlimited access to the course content and materials.  *All course materials are embedded in the virtual classroom for you to download and print. 

The course is completely self-paced. There are no deadlines, and you can take all the time you need to complete the course requirements (allot 50-60 hours to complete the course requirements). Content is presented in video lectures, PowerPoint lectures, video demonstrations, and downloadable reading material. There are required assessments and activities throughout this course, including a final observation video assignment. Upon completion, our course participants are well-equipped to deliver successful comprehensive lessons. We will award a certificate of completion stating that you have completed a 50-hour Comprehensive Structured Literacy Course.

It has been our mission to provide a user-friendly virtual classroom with affordable courses for parents, teachers, and school districts. Our participants have unlimited access to the course content to circle back in the future for clarity and for any of the downloadable materials. We are very involved with the participants and continue the dialogue throughout the course and after as they are working in the field to mentor and answer questions. Once enrolled, participants have unlimited access to the discussion forums in which they can dialogue with other participants and facilitators.

NOTE: Immediate access to all course content is given after enrollment. Thus, all sales are final.

-$595.00  30-40 hours

The Orton Gillingham Basic Language Course for Older Students is appropriate for those who teach older students. This may mean upper elementary, middle school, high school, or even adults who have gaps in their foundational literacy skills. We often get questions from people who are interested in learning basic language using the Orton Gillingham approach, however, because their students are older, the primary approach that caters to kindergarteners through third graders is not appropriate for this population. This course teaches foundational language by incorporating advanced language structures that will prepare the older students for the literacy rich texts to which they are often exposed. For example, if an older student needs to learn the short vowel sounds, teaching them the words, cat, web, sip, jog, or mud as we do in basic language is too primary and is often disrespectful to them at their age and ability. Instead, our new basic language course for older students will prepare teachers to teach the short vowel sounds by embedding morphology. The older student can learn that short o says /ŏ/, as in the prefix con, and the short u says /ŭ/, as in the root word struct. This knowledge enables them to put the morphemes together to scoop and blend the word "construct." Exposing the older students to morphology, as well as explicitly teaching them the primary phonemes, rules, and patterns, sets the foundation to successfully moving forward with advance language, which is what most adults use on a daily basis, particularly in the professional arenas.

Keep in mind, the Orton Gillingham Basic Language Course for Older Students is best for students grades 6+. While it covers foundational language skills often missed in the earlier grades, the lessons include morphological structures and vocabulary that would not be grade-appropriate for the younger students.

*Graduate level professional development credits are offered to those who successfully complete the course Bachelor's degree required to register for graduate credit hours.

Our Orton Gillingham Comprehensive course work is based on Orton Gillingham principles. This Basic Language Course (Level 1) for Older Students is all-inclusive and will send you on your way to teach foundational literacy skills to older students using this effective, evidence-based approach.

Included in this Course:

·      Overview of Dyslexia and the Orton Gillingham Approach

·      All components of a successful Orton Gillingham lesson for older students

·      Initial and benchmark assessments

·      Teaching resources

·      Demonstration videos

·      Unlimited access to course content

This course offers prepared PowerPoint presentations and Google Slide presentations for each of our lessons. Teachers use these resources to teach whole, small group, and one-on-one instruction.

After completion of the Orton Gillingham comprehensive course requirements, the academy will award participants with a certificate of completion.

NOTE: Immediate access to all course content is given after enrollment. Thus, all sales are final.