Preschool

Reading Can Be Puzzling: Preschool is a cumulative course for learners who are not yet reading independently. If your child needs to learn letters sounds, blending, and sight/high frequency words, this is the course for them!

**This course is specifically for ages 3-4 years old!

If your child is 5+, they should be in the "Kindergarten" cohort!

I N  T H I S  C O U R S E:
We will cover all beginner reading concepts including:

We will cover beginner reading concepts including:
✅Letter Sounds (Phonemes)
✅Short Vowels
✅Consonants
✅Blending and Orthographic Mapping
✅Sight and High Frequency Words
✅Long Vowels Using the "Bossy /e/" Rule
✅Some Digraphs and Diphthongs

Learners will also work on fluency and comprehension by reading and practicing booklets that go with each lesson as well as decodables.

Kindergarten

Reading Can Be Puzzling: Kindergarten is a cumulative course for learners who are not yet reading independently. If your child needs to learn letters sounds, blending, and sight/high frequency words, this is the course for them!

I N  T H I S  C O U R S E:
We will cover all beginner reading concepts including:

We will cover beginner reading concepts including:
✅Letter Sounds (Phonemes)
✅Short Vowels
✅Consonants
✅Blending and Orthographic Mapping
✅Sight and High Frequency Words
✅Long Vowels Using the "Bossy /e/" Rule
✅Some Digraphs and Diphthongs

Learners will also work on fluency and comprehension by reading and practicing booklets that go with each lesson as well as decodables.

1st Grade

Reading Can Be Puzzling: 1st Grade is a cumulative course for learners reading at a 1st grade level to help them scale all the way through 1st grade reading and into a quarter 1 2nd grade reading level.

I N  T H I S  C O U R S E:
We will cover all of 1st grade reading concepts including:

Review:
✅CVC Blending
✅Sight Words/High Frequency Words
✅Fluency

We will Learn:
✅Consonant Digraphs,
✅Silent Letters
✅Long Vowel Rules,
✅Inflectional and Plural Endings
✅Diphthongs
✅R-Controlled Sounds.

Learners will also work on fluency and comprehension by reading and practicing both decodables and leveled readers in an attempt to scale into a 2nd grade level by the end of the 16 weeks.

2nd Grade

Reading Can Be Puzzling: 2nd Grade is a cumulative course for learners reading at a 2nd grade level to help them scale all the way through 2nd grade reading and into a quarter 1 3rd grade reading level.

I N  T H I S  C O U R S E:
We will cover all of 2nd grade reading concepts including:

Review:
✅Consonant Digraphs
✅Silent Letters
✅Long Vowel Rules
✅Inflectional and Plural Endings
✅Diphthongs
✅R-Controlled Sounds

Learners will learn:
✅Inflectional Endings and Consonant Doubling: dig -> digging
✅Two and Three Syllable Compound Words
✅Variant Vowel /o͞o/
✅Variant Vowel /o͝o/
✅Variant Vowel /ô/
✅Silent Letters: h, b, w, and t
✅Inconsistent Spelling Patterns
✅Beginner Prefixes
✅Schwa

Learners will also work on fluency and comprehension by reading and practicing both decodables and leveled readers in an attempt to scale into a 3rd grade level by the end of the 16 weeks.

3rd Grade

Reading Can Be Puzzling: 3rd Grade is a cumulative course for learners reading at a 3rd grade level to help them scale all the way through 3rd grade reading and into a quarter 1 4th grade reading level.

I N  T H I S  C O U R S E:
We will cover all of 3rd grade reading concepts working mostly on affixes (prefixes, suffixes, base words, and root words), fluency, and comprehension:

Review:
✅Multisyllabic Words
✅Basic Prefixes
✅Basic Suffixes

Learners will learn:
✅Base Words + Prefixes/Suffixes
✅Root Words + Prefixes/Suffixes
✅Advanced Greek Roots
✅Advanced Latin Roots
✅Fluency in Reading at a 3rd Grade Level
✅Comprehension Practice using Root Systems
✅Critical Thinking using Complex Root Systems and Cross Application

4th Grade

Reading Can Be Puzzling: 4th Grade Study Skills is a cumulative course for learners ready to take their reading skills to the next level. We are going to work on skim reading, scan reading, and close reading for learners to get information quickly and accurately.

The goal with this course is to help elementary school students get through homework quickly and efficiently as well as testing. We get most of our information from books and academic text, so students need to know how to pull that information as fast as possible to avoid overwhelm and finish testing quickly.

I N  T H I S  C O U R S E:
We will cover 4th grade reading skills including:

Learners will learn:
✅Skim Reading
✅Scan Reading
✅Intensive/Close Reading
✅Text Structures
✅Author Purpose
Learners will also work on fluency and comprehension by reading passages and books for a 4th grade level. A lot of these are also going to be non-fiction, which is always a bit more difficult.

✨NEW Class for Summer 2026✨

5th Grade

Reading Can Be Puzzling: 5th Grade Speed Reading is an advanced cumulative course for learners who are ready to strengthen their silent reading fluency and learn how to read quickly in their head while maintaining strong comprehension. In this course, students will work toward processing text at faster, more efficient speeds through guided practice, comprehension training, and advanced academic reading strategies.

The goal with this course is to help upper elementary and early middle school students learn how to read and process information efficiently without becoming overwhelmed by large amounts of text. Many students can technically “read,” but still process text slowly word-by-word internally. This course focuses on helping learners transition into reading in larger meaning chunks and developing silent reading speeds approaching adult reading rates while still understanding and remembering what they read.

As students move into middle school, reading demands increase significantly. Students are expected to complete longer assignments, read textbooks independently, take timed tests, and process information quickly across multiple subjects. This course is designed to help learners build the reading stamina, comprehension, focus, and efficiency needed to succeed academically.

I N  T H I S  C O U R S E:
We will cover advanced 5th grade reading skills including:

Learners will learn:
✅ Faster Silent Reading with Strong Comprehension
✅ Increased Reading Speed & Words Per Minute (WPM)
✅ Reading in Meaning Chunks Instead of Word-by-Word
✅ Reduced Subvocalization While Reading
✅ Improved Focus, Attention, & Reading Stamina
✅ Faster Processing of Academic & Nonfiction Text
✅ Stronger Vocabulary Automaticity
✅ Timed Silent Reading & Comprehension Practice
✅ Reduced Reading Regression & Improved Reading Flow
✅ Improved Working Memory While Reading
✅ Efficient Independent Reading Skills for Homework & Testing

Learners will also work on fluency and comprehension through timed reading activities, silent reading practice, nonfiction articles, academic passages, and middle school-level reading tasks. Students will learn how to increase their silent reading speed while maintaining comprehension, accuracy, and retention of information.

A large portion of this course focuses on helping students become more efficient independent readers by strengthening focus, reducing unnecessary rereading, improving vocabulary automaticity, and learning how to process text more naturally and efficiently in their head.

This course is ideal for learners who are already independently reading and are ready to transition from “learning to read” into “reading to learn” at a faster and more advanced level.