What are the 5 Pillars of Reading?

Peanut butter and jelly. Salty and sweet. A good book and a rainy day. Music and dancing. Chips and queso.

Each of these pairs is great on its own, but so much better together!

Similarly, the five pillars of reading—phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension—are essential building blocks. Each is valuable individually, yet they need to work together for students to read proficiently.

🏛️ Phonemic awareness is the ability to hear, identify, and manipulate individual phonemes, the smallest units of sound, in spoken words. This is a foundational skill upon which phonics is built.

🏛️ Phonics is the process of teaching students to read by understanding that sounds correspond to specific letters or groups of letters in written words. This knowledge, known as the alphabetic principle, shows that letters and their sounds represent language.

🏛️ Fluency is a student’s ability to read with appropriate speed, accuracy, and expression. It bridges the gap between simply decoding words and moving toward reading with comprehension and enjoyment.

🏛️ Vocabulary instruction involves teaching students strategies to understand words, their relationships, and how they function in different contexts. This helps students progress from decoding simple words and stories to understanding grade-level texts and content-specific writing.

🏛️ Comprehension is the ultimate goal: students making meaning from what they read (or hear read to them). It begins with listening comprehension and grows as students learn to decode and eventually read on their own.

The five pillars of reading culminate in a powerful result: students gain the ability to independently understand and connect with what they read. With each pillar supporting the others, students build not just reading skills but a lifelong foundation for learning, critical thinking, and discovery.