Looking for a research-based, multisensory way to teach reading? All About Reading (AAR) is a comprehensive, mastery-based curriculum that helps children of all abilities—from preschool to upper elementary—become confident readers. Designed with phonics, comprehension, and fluency at its core, AAR is ideal for homeschooling families, classroom educators, and intervention specialists. In this guide, we’ll explore everything you need to know to get started with All About Reading, from curriculum structure and core components to teaching strategies and adaptable methods for diverse learners.


Getting Started with All About Reading

All About Reading (AAR) is a multisensory, mastery-based curriculum designed to teach children how to read using research-backed strategies. Whether you're a parent new to homeschooling or an educator seeking a structured reading program, getting started with AAR is a straightforward process that emphasizes ease of use, flexibility, and proven results.

Understanding the Program Structure

All About Reading is divided into four levels, from Level 1 (beginner readers) to Level 4 (advanced elementary readers). There’s also a Pre-reading level, designed for preschool-aged children to develop phonological awareness and readiness skills. Each level builds upon the previous one and focuses on five key components of reading:

  • Phonological awareness
  • Phonics and decoding
  • Fluency
  • Vocabulary
  • Comprehension

Before beginning, it's important to assess your child’s current reading ability. A placement test is available on the All About Reading website to help determine the appropriate level.

What You Need to Begin

To start using All About Reading, you’ll need the following components for the appropriate level:

  • Teacher’s Manual: Provides scripted, step-by-step lesson plans
  • Student Packet: Includes activity sheets, word cards, and fluency practice pages
  • Readers: Beautifully illustrated books that align with each level
  • Letter Tiles and Magnets: Used for hands-on phonics instruction
  • Reading Review Box (optional but helpful): Keeps word cards organized

Most families also use the Reading Interactive Kit, which contains reusable items used across all levels, such as letter tiles, magnets, and a phonogram chart.

Setting Up Your Learning Environment

AAR is designed to be flexible and adaptable to different settings. Whether you're teaching at a kitchen table or in a classroom, it's important to create a distraction-free and organized space. A magnetic whiteboard is highly recommended for using the letter tiles effectively.

The curriculum is designed to be taught in short, focused sessions—typically 20 minutes per day. This structure supports consistent progress without overwhelming the student, making it ideal for both neurotypical learners and those with attention difficulties or learning differences.

How to Use the Teacher’s Manual

One of the biggest strengths of All About Reading is its user-friendly Teacher’s Manual. Each lesson is scripted and clearly laid out, helping even first-time educators teach with confidence. Lessons include:

  • Objectives
  • Materials needed
  • Step-by-step instructions
  • Optional review activities
  • Tips for adjusting the pace

You do not need a background in education to teach effectively with this program. The manual guides you through each step, ensuring that you understand the purpose of each activity and how to adapt it to your child’s needs.

Pacing and Flexibility

Although the program is mastery-based, it’s also highly flexible. Each lesson can be completed at your own pace, and it’s okay to spend more than one day on a lesson if needed. Regular review is built into the curriculum, and you can repeat activities as often as necessary to reinforce learning.

Some children may complete a level in one academic year, while others may need more or less time. The goal is mastery, not speed.

Support and Resources

All About Reading offers a wealth of support for parents and educators, including:

  • Free placement tests
  • Downloadable sample lessons
  • Video tutorials and demos
  • Online community forums
  • Lifetime access to customer support

The All About Learning Press website is a valuable hub for additional resources, including blog posts, printable supplements, and teaching tips.

By understanding the structure, tools, and philosophy behind All About Reading, you'll be well-equipped to begin your journey in teaching reading using a method that is both effective and enjoyable.

Core Teaching Components

Effective reading and spelling instruction is built around several core components that provide a structured, multisensory, and systematic learning experience. These components are especially emphasized in programs like All About Reading and All About Spelling, which are designed to align with the science of reading and support learners across a variety of skill levels.

Phonological and Phonemic Awareness

Phonological awareness is the ability to recognize and manipulate sounds in spoken language. Phonemic awareness, a subset of phonological awareness, focuses on the smallest units of sound—phonemes. These foundational skills are critical for reading and spelling success.

Instruction in this area includes:

  • Identifying and producing rhymes
  • Segmenting words into syllables
  • Blending and segmenting individual sounds
  • Manipulating phonemes (adding, deleting, substituting)

This component is typically introduced through oral activities before associating sounds with letters, helping students strengthen their auditory processing and prepare for phonics instruction.

Systematic Phonics Instruction

Phonics instruction involves teaching the relationship between letters and sounds in a logical, sequential manner. A structured phonics program begins with simple sound-spelling patterns (e.g., CVC words like “cat”) and gradually introduces more complex patterns (e.g., vowel teams, silent letters, and multisyllabic words).

Key elements of phonics instruction include:

  • Explicit teaching of sound-symbol correspondence
  • Decoding (reading) and encoding (spelling) practice
  • Cumulative review to reinforce past learning
  • Integration with handwriting to strengthen kinesthetic memory

Programs such as All About Reading use color-coded letter tiles and blending boards to support visual and tactile learning.

Decoding and Encoding

Decoding involves sounding out written words, while encoding is the process of spelling words based on their sounds. These are reciprocal skills that reinforce each other and are most effective when taught together.

Effective strategies include:

  • Sound-by-sound blending (e.g., /c/ /a/ /t/ = “cat”)
  • Segmenting words into individual sounds for spelling
  • Dictation exercises to apply spelling rules in context
  • Word building activities to explore patterns and variations

Vocabulary and Morphology

As students progress, it's essential to expand their vocabulary and understanding of word structure through morphology—the study of roots, prefixes, and suffixes. This approach improves both comprehension and spelling accuracy, especially for multisyllabic and academic vocabulary.

Instruction includes:

  • Teaching common Greek and Latin roots (e.g., “tele” = far, “graph” = write)
  • Exploring how affixes change word meaning (e.g., “happy” → “unhappy”)
  • Applying morphological knowledge to decode unfamiliar words

Reading Comprehension Strategies

Reading comprehension is the ultimate goal of reading instruction. It involves understanding, interpreting, and responding to text. Comprehension strategies should be taught explicitly and revisited regularly across all grade levels.

Key strategies include:

  • Activating prior knowledge
  • Making predictions
  • Asking and answering questions
  • Summarizing and retelling
  • Inferring meaning from context

Discussion-based activities, graphic organizers, and guided reading sessions support comprehension development.

Fluency and Expression

Fluency refers to reading with appropriate speed, accuracy, and prosody (expression). Fluent readers can focus more on understanding the text rather than decoding each word.

Strategies for building fluency include:

  • Repeated reading of familiar texts
  • Echo reading (adult reads a passage, child repeats)
  • Choral reading (reading together in unison)
  • Performance reading (e.g., poetry, reader’s theater)

Fluency practice is most effective when it’s short, engaging, and part of a daily routine.

Spelling Rules and Patterns

Spelling instruction should go beyond memorization to include predictable spelling rules and generalizations. These rules help students understand the logic behind English spelling and apply it to new words.

Common spelling concepts include:

  • The “i before e” rule and exceptions
  • Doubling consonants before adding suffixes (e.g., “run” → “running”)
  • Silent e rules (e.g., “hope” → “hoping”)
  • Pluralization rules and irregular forms

Structured programs such as All About Spelling incorporate rule-based instruction with consistent review and application.

Multisensory Techniques

Using multisensory methods—visual, auditory, kinesthetic, and tactile—is a hallmark of effective literacy instruction. These strategies engage multiple senses to reinforce learning and are particularly beneficial for students with learning differences such as dyslexia.

Examples include:

  • Tracing letters in sand or on textured surfaces
  • Using manipulatives like letter tiles or flashcards
  • Listening to phoneme sounds and repeating them
  • Writing words while saying each sound aloud

Multisensory instruction helps create strong neural connections and improves retention.

Cumulative Review and Mastery-Based Progression

Effective programs ensure that students achieve mastery before moving on to new concepts. Cumulative review is built into every lesson to reinforce previous learning and prevent skill gaps.

Features of mastery-based instruction:

  • Frequent review of older material
  • Assessment checkpoints to gauge understanding
  • Pacing based on individual student progress
  • Scaffolded support to promote independence

This approach is especially helpful in mixed-ability classrooms and for homeschooling parents looking to personalize instruction.

Reading and Spelling Integration

Reading and spelling are interconnected skills that benefit from being taught together. When students learn to decode and encode simultaneously, they reinforce their understanding of sound-symbol relationships and word structure.

Integrated lessons might include:

  • Reading a passage followed by spelling words from the text
  • Dictation using story-based sentences
  • Word study activities that connect phonics with vocabulary

Programs like All About Reading and All About Spelling are designed to complement each other, making integration seamless and effective.

By addressing these core teaching components, educators and parents can create a comprehensive, research-based approach that supports all learners in developing strong reading and spelling skills.

Implementing Daily Lessons

Establishing an effective daily routine for reading and spelling instruction is essential for long-term literacy development. The All About Reading program and similar structured literacy curricula emphasize the value of short, focused sessions—typically around 20 minutes per day—to maximize engagement and retention without overwhelming the learner.

Structuring a 20-Minute Daily Lesson

A well-structured 20-minute lesson should include a balance of review, new instruction, and application. Here's a suggested breakdown:

  • 5 minutes: Review
    Begin by revisiting previously taught phonograms, sight words, or spelling rules. This reinforces memory and builds confidence.

  • 10 minutes: New Content
    Introduce a new concept, such as a phoneme, spelling pattern, or vocabulary word. Use multi-sensory tools like letter tiles or flashcards to engage different learning styles.

  • 5 minutes: Practice and Application
    Allow the student to apply what they've learned through reading decodable text, spelling practice, or interactive games. This phase is crucial for reinforcing the day’s lesson in a meaningful context.

Creating a Predictable Routine

Children thrive on consistency. A predictable daily lesson format builds a sense of security and helps learners focus. Using the same sequence—review, instruction, practice—each day makes transitions smoother and supports the development of independent learning habits.

Utilizing Multi-Sensory Techniques

Programs like All About Reading emphasize the importance of multi-sensory instruction, which engages visual, auditory, and kinesthetic-tactile pathways. This approach is especially effective for learners with dyslexia or other reading difficulties, but it benefits all students by enhancing memory and understanding.

Examples of multi-sensory tools include:

  • Letter tiles for building words
  • Finger tracing on sandpaper letters
  • Chanting phonograms while writing them

Adjusting for Student Needs

Even within a 20-minute framework, flexibility is key. Some students may need to spend a few extra minutes reviewing, while others may be ready to move ahead quickly. Use informal assessments—such as observing reading fluency or asking comprehension questions—to guide your pacing.

For younger children or those with attention difficulties, consider breaking the session into two 10-minute blocks separated by a movement break. This keeps energy levels high and reduces frustration.

Tracking Progress Effectively

To ensure that daily lessons are driving progress, it’s important to track both student performance and instructional coverage. Tools like progress charts, checklists, and lesson logs can help parents and educators monitor which skills have been mastered and which need reinforcement.

Programs like All About Reading often include built-in tracking tools, such as:

  • Student progress charts
  • Lesson summaries
  • Mastery checklists

These tools help ensure that instruction remains systematic and cumulative—two critical principles in effective reading instruction.

Fostering a Positive Learning Environment

Encouragement and positive reinforcement go a long way in daily instruction. Celebrate small wins, such as mastering a new sound or reading a sentence fluently. Building confidence is just as important as building skills.

Create a comfortable, distraction-free learning space with all necessary materials on hand. When students associate reading time with positive feelings and success, they are more likely to stay motivated and engaged.

Supporting Different Learning Styles

Understanding and addressing the diverse learning styles of students is essential for effective reading and spelling instruction. Children absorb and process information in unique ways, and a one-size-fits-all approach can hinder progress. Tailoring instruction to suit different learning preferences not only improves comprehension and retention but also fosters a more engaging and inclusive learning environment.

Visual Learners

Visual learners understand information better when it’s presented in a visual format. These students benefit from tools such as:

  • Color-coded phonics cards
  • Illustrated readers
  • Charts and graphic organizers
  • Visual schedules and checklists

Programs like All About Reading integrate visual aids through letter tiles, word cards, and illustrated activity sheets that reinforce phonics and vocabulary. Incorporating pictures and visual storytelling helps these learners associate words with meaning and structure more effectively.

Auditory Learners

Auditory learners process information best when they hear it. They benefit from:

  • Read-aloud sessions
  • Phonemic awareness activities
  • Songs and rhymes
  • Verbal repetition and discussion

The All About Reading program emphasizes this learning style through scripted lessons that involve teacher-student dialogue, sound manipulation exercises, and read-aloud practice. Listening to fluent reading helps auditory learners internalize sentence structure, rhythm, and pronunciation.

Kinesthetic Learners

Kinesthetic learners thrive through hands-on, physical activities. They learn best by doing, moving, and engaging their bodies. Effective strategies include:

  • Tracing letters in sand or on textured surfaces
  • Building words using magnetic tiles
  • Acting out stories or vocabulary
  • Incorporating movement into learning games

Multisensory instruction, a core philosophy of All About Reading, directly supports kinesthetic learners. The program utilizes tactile tools like letter tiles and encourages physical interaction with learning materials, reinforcing concepts through muscle memory.

Logical/Analytical Learners

These learners excel when they understand the "why" behind the rules. They benefit from:

  • Breaking down word structures
  • Exploring spelling rules and patterns
  • Analyzing word origins and meanings
  • Using logic puzzles and pattern games

The structured, rule-based approach of All About Spelling caters to logical learners by explaining the reasoning behind spelling choices and encouraging students to apply consistent strategies.

Social (Interpersonal) Learners

Social learners enjoy working with others and learning through discussion and collaboration. For these students:

  • Partner reading
  • Group spelling games
  • Peer teaching
  • Interactive storytelling

are effective strategies. Parents and educators can enhance learning by involving students in cooperative activities and by encouraging dialogue about reading content and spelling rules.

Solitary (Intrapersonal) Learners

In contrast, solitary learners prefer working independently and reflecting on their progress. They benefit from:

  • Journaling or keeping a reading log
  • Self-paced reading and spelling practice
  • Goal setting and personal progress tracking

Providing opportunities for independent work, along with personalized encouragement, helps these learners stay motivated and engaged.

Adapting Instruction with Multisensory Techniques

Multisensory instruction is a proven method for reaching all types of learners by engaging multiple senses simultaneously. Programs like All About Reading and All About Spelling are designed around this principle, combining visual, auditory, and kinesthetic elements in every lesson. This approach ensures that no matter a child’s dominant learning style, they are supported through varied, reinforcing experiences.

By using a flexible, multisensory approach and observing how each child responds, educators and parents can adapt instruction to meet individual needs—creating a more effective and enjoyable learning journey.

Parent and Teacher Resources

Supporting both parents and educators in effectively teaching reading and spelling requires access to high-quality, research-backed resources. Whether you’re homeschooling, supplementing school instruction, or working in a classroom, these tools and materials empower adults to teach with confidence and clarity.

All About Reading and All About Spelling Programs

The All About Reading and All About Spelling programs are comprehensive, multisensory, and mastery-based curricula developed for ease of use by both parents and teachers. These programs are grounded in the Orton-Gillingham approach and align with the science of reading, making them particularly effective for a wide range of learners—including those with dyslexia.

Key features include:

  • Open-and-go lesson plans: Designed for daily 20-minute sessions, making them manageable and time-efficient.
  • Multisensory techniques: Lessons incorporate visual, auditory, and kinesthetic activities to support different learning styles.
  • Built-in review system: Spiral-based learning ensures concepts are revisited and reinforced.
  • Progress tracking tools: Checklists and reading logs help monitor student achievement and identify areas needing reinforcement.

Online Learning Portals and Communities

Numerous online platforms provide free and subscription-based access to teaching resources, downloadable materials, and professional development opportunities.

  • AllAboutLearningPress.com: Offers downloadable sample lessons, placement tests, and teaching tips.
  • The Reading League: A nonprofit organization promoting the science of reading, offering webinars and professional learning.
  • Understood.org: Focuses on supporting students with learning and attention issues, with resources for both parents and teachers.
  • International Dyslexia Association (IDA): Houses extensive research, articles, and teaching toolkits tailored to dyslexic learners.

Parent and Teacher Training Materials

Equipping adults with background knowledge and instructional techniques is vital. Many organizations and curricula offer structured training options.

  • Parent training guides included in programs like All About Reading ensure that non-educators can deliver high-quality instruction.
  • Professional development courses from providers such as LETRS (Language Essentials for Teachers of Reading and Spelling) or Reading Rockets help deepen understanding of literacy instruction.
  • Workshops and webinars hosted by curriculum developers or literacy experts provide continual learning opportunities.

Printable and Interactive Resources

Hands-on tools keep learners engaged and help reinforce phonics and spelling concepts.

  • Phonogram cards, magnetic tiles, and word-building activities are staples in multisensory learning and are widely available through literacy curriculums.
  • Apps and digital games such as Nessy, Teach Your Monster to Read, and ABCmouse provide interactive reinforcement.
  • Printable worksheets and mini-books from platforms like Teachers Pay Teachers can supplement structured lessons with creative, thematic content.

Collaborative Tools for Parents and Educators

Maintaining open communication between home and school environments enhances consistency and student success.

  • Daily progress logs allow for easy updates between parents and teachers.
  • Reading journals encourage students to reflect on their learning and help adults monitor comprehension over time.
  • Shared digital folders or apps (like Google Classroom or Seesaw) can be used to exchange assignments, feedback, and instructional resources.

By utilizing these resources, both parents and educators can foster a supportive, structured, and enjoyable learning environment that builds strong reading and spelling skills.

All About Reading offers a complete, effective, and enjoyable approach to teaching literacy. Whether you're working one-on-one at home or leading a classroom, its research-based structure and multisensory techniques are designed to help every child succeed. With flexible pacing, step-by-step guidance, and robust support, AAR is more than just a curriculum—it’s a reliable partner in your child’s learning journey. Ready to give your student the tools they need to become a lifelong reader? Explore All About Reading and start building a strong foundation today.