At Reading Roots Tutoring Academy, we use research-based methods to teach children how to read. Scarborough’s Reading Rope shows that skilled reading is made up of two key strands:

Word Recognition (Cracking the Code)
These are the skills that help children sound out and recognize words.

• Phonemic Awareness – Hearing and playing with sounds in words (e.g., recognizing that “cat” and “bat” rhyme).

• Phonics – Connecting letters to sounds and learning spelling patterns.

• Sight Recognition – Quickly recognizing familiar words without sounding them out.

Language Comprehension (Making Meaning)
These are the skills that help children understand what they read.

• Background Knowledge – Knowing facts about the world that help with understanding.

• Vocabulary – Knowing the meaning of words.

• Language Structure – Understanding how sentences and grammar work.

• Verbal Reasoning – Making inferences and thinking critically about a story.

• Literacy Knowledge – Understanding how books work (e.g., reading left to right, understanding story structure).

As these skills strengthen and weave together, your child becomes a confident, independent reader. 

Our 10-week structured program focuses on all parts of the reading rope, setting the foundation for lifelong reading success!