The Sharpen Reading program is effective for struggling readers because it can incorporate multi-sensory components (visual, auditory, and kinesthetic/tactile) that can help them better process and retain information, as well as strengthen their reading skills. Additionally, students with learning difficulties such as dyslexia, attention problems, and general cognitive impairments or delays need comprehensive and direct instruction. Carefully sequenced lessons and instructional language that is simple but precise are also very helpful. Sharpen Reading provides all of this. Multi-sensory, structured literacy benefits all students, not just struggling readers, which makes Sharpen Reading a great option for any family looking to support their child’s reading skills.


Tutoring sessions are held over Zoom and last 45 minutes. Parents must help their learners log into Sharpen Reading and then share their screens if necessary. Once a session begins, parents are only needed if the learner experiences computer issues. With kindergarten students, I ask that parents sit with their child for at least the first few sessions.

Class 1---- consists of an introduction and placement assessment. This assessment will determine what level the student will start at in the program. Here is a breakdown of the skills students will focus on at each level:

Level A (regular and accelerated)
Grade K through beginning of Grade 1

    Think about the individual speech sounds of words
    Learn consonant-vowel-consonant (CVC) words, with some beginning work with CCVC and CVCC words
    Practice letter/sound correspondences in a variety of exercises
    Read, spell and manipulate words and their parts
    Read sentences and simple texts with words containing only the letter-sounds students have studied

    Sound out consonant-vowel-consonant words like mop, sat, and big
    Spell these words
    Read simple words and sentences with these words, such as "The cat ran to the rug."

Level B1
Grade 1

    Learn advanced vowel spellings such as ea, ar, and ow
    Practice reading words with these vowel spellings
    Practice reading two-syllable words such as finish, and number
    Blend and segment words with five sounds such as stamp
    Read connected text

    Read first-grade level trade books series such as Frog and Toad and Amelia Bedelia, and works for beginning readers by Dr. Seuss

Level B2
Grade 2

    Learn advanced phonics
    Learn simple yet effective techniques to read three-, four- and five-syllable words

    Read simple chapter books like The Magic Treehouse series and Step 3 books like Hungry, Hungry Sharks in the Penguin Random House Step into Reading Series, or Level 3 books in the HarperCollins I Can Read series, such as The Josefina Story Quilt

Level C [print only]
Grades 3–4

    Learn Latin roots, prefixes and suffixes
    Be prepared for success in decoding more complicated single words and text

    Read longer chapter books at third-grade level, such as Louis Braille by Margaret Davidson

Level D [print only]
Grade 5–6

    Learn Greek roots, prefixes, and suffixes (combining forms)
    Be prepared for success of decoding more complicated single words and text
    Be engaged in fast-paced exercises to help them read and spell these words easily as well as to learn what they mean

Classes 2-23-Consists of carefully sequenced lessons that incorporate multi-sensory components (visual, auditory, and kinesthetic/tactile) that can help them better process and retain information, as well as strengthen their reading skills. I will guide the learner through a series of carefully sequenced activities built on the science of reading. Activities are paced to optimize student engagement and deep learning and include sounding out words and word parts and performing tasks with letter tiles while connecting those sounds to letters and letter combinations (decoding). Activities are designed to leverage the most proven and effective ways to teach core decoding skills. With fun names like Word Puzzle, Tap and Say, and Breaking Words Apart, students are building their foundational orthographic map and practicing critical skills like sound discrimination, phoneme manipulation, and phonemic awareness. Again, the placement assessment, will determine what class 2- 12 will look for each student. 
 
*** The program is designed to help students  improve a grade level within 3 months.