Early Reading

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Episodes

Headsprout Early Reading is a K-2 supplemental program that ensures reading success for every child. The program takes a non-reader or beginning reader up to mid-second-grade reading skills in about 40 hours of individualized online instruction.

More About Headsprout Early Reading Episodes

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Why Use Headsprout Early Reading Episodes

Headsprout Early Reading brings a non-reader or beginning reader up to a mid-second-grade reading level through individualized online instruction that adapts to each student in real time. In a matter of months, Headsprout�s scientifically validated approach helps students learn critical skills that align with National Reading Panel objectives of phonemic awareness, phonics, oral reading, and reading comprehension.

The nationally recognized Florida Center for Reading Research (FCRR) stated that Headsprout Early Reading is built on scientific foundations and provides abundant instruction in phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension.

See the full Florida Center For Reading Research Report on the downloads page.

In the episodes, students learn through direct experience that letters make sounds, sounds combine to make words, words combine to make sentences, and sentences combine to make stories. The basic component skills and strategies necessary for reading, such as phonemic awareness, print awareness, phonics, sounding out, and segmenting and blending, are explicitly mastered in a fun, interactive manner.

How to Use Headsprout Early Reading Episodes

The online episodes can be used in whatever environment best suits the needs of your students, whether in a computer lab, the classroom, in the library, or at home. The episodes allow students to work independently, freeing teachers to monitor the entire class. Teachers can listen for oral responses, provide encouragement, celebrate student success, and offer support when needed.

All that is needed to use the program is an internet-connected computer or mobile device with the sound on, although headphones are recommended to prevent distracting nearby students.

Keys to Success

Follow these three keys to success to ensure that students get the most out of the episodes.

Complete a minimum of three episodes per week. We have found that steady use gets the best results, and students enjoy the consistency and reliability.
Speak out loud when this icon is on the screen:
The little yellow face in the bottom right corner of the screen indicates an activity where the student is expected to say sounds, words, or sentences out loud.
Read all the books while progressing through the episodes. The books are ready to read online after the student completes the corresponding episode. You can also print the books and use them in a group reading activity, or send them home to be read with parents.

Efficacy

Controlled research studies and field testing have demonstrated the gains that students make in their reading skills after completing Headsprout Early Reading. With a systematic use of the program (finishing at least three episodes per week, speaking out loud when asked), students quickly progress from being non-readers or reading below grade level, to reading at grade level.

Find out more about our case studies and field tests .

Show Me Only

Showing 80 of 100 episodes

Space World episodes 1-5

Introduces the basic concepts of reading: sounds make words, words make sentences, and sentences make stories.

Phonetic Elements Taught an, ee, n, s, v

Flashcards after episode 5 PDF

Words Taught San, see, the, van, Vee

Dino World episodes 6-11

Reinforces previously taught sounds and words, and introduces new sounds and words. Emphasizes hearing words sounded out and then blended, and firms word and story reading.

Phonetic Elements Taught c, cl, cr, f, fl, fr, l, r, sl, sn

Flashcards after episode 11 PDF

Words Taught can, fan, feels, Fran, Lee, ran

Sea World episodes 12-18

Reinforces general concepts and basic skills of reading, and introduces sounding out strategies.

Phonetic Elements Taught and, ip, p, pl, pr, sp

Flashcards after episode 18 PDF

Words Taught and, Clee, feel, flips, I, out, Pip, plan, reef, sand, sleeps

Sea World episodes 19-23

Continues the reading concepts of earlier episodes; increases complexity in language and content.

Phonetic Elements Taught ish, out, sh

Flashcards after episode 23 PDF

Words Taught fish, sheep, ship, shouts

Jungle World episodes 24-30

Introduces new sounds and more complex words as children practice the basic concepts and strategies of reading.

Phonetic Elements Taught h, ing, old, sw, w

Flashcards after episode 30 PDF

Words Taught cold, fling, folds, hand, hands, his, holds, is, old, peel, Scout, swing, wing, wings

Jungle World episodes 31-40

Continues to practice the basic concepts and strategies of reading, but with new and more complex yet common words. Some of the common words children learn are abstract (words such as "should", "could", and "would"), and the episodes include longer stories.

Phonetic Elements Taught er, st, t, tr

Flashcards after episode 40 PDF

Words Taught could, feet, he, her, hold, plant, she, should, sing, standing, sting, sweep, sweet, told, tree, Trish, wish, would

Jungle World episodes 41-47

Quickens the pace and increases the sounds and vocabulary words learned. Children work with compound and nonsense words, and they experience a greater emphasis on comprehension.

Phonetic Elements Taught ake, b, bl, br, d, dr, ike, k, m

Flashcards after episode 47 PDF

Words Taught a, bake, Blake, blank, bringing, brings, cakes, dish, drank, flake, flipper, hike, lake, like, likes, makes, Mike, needs, pan, pancakes, seek, slips, some, Swish, take, takes

Dino World episodes 48-56

Continues to work with compound and nonsense words, with a greater emphasis on comprehension.

Phonetic Elements Taught ay, g, gr, ill, im, in, j, oo (good), oo (soon), or, th, thr, um, z

Flashcards after episode 51 PDF
Flashcards after episode 56 PDF

Words Taught about, are, book, come, cooking, drink, food, foot, for, good, grand, in, Jill, jump, jumps, long, look, looks, may, moon, noon, on, one, play, playing, said, sang, sank, soon, spoon, three, thump, Tim, too, took, tool, two, wants, wood, word, work, you, zoom

Sea World episodes 57-66

Increases the sounds, words, and stories read; poetry and factual texts are introduced. Children experience more challenging comprehension and critical thinking activities, and their passage reading skill is greatly extended.

Phonetic Elements Taught ad, at, ate, ed, el, en, et, id, ide, ig, it, ot, ox, str, up, us, ut

Flashcards after episode 61 PDF
Flashcards after episode 66 PDF

Words Taught again, band, better, big, box, but, butter, cups, did, digging, Dipper, do, drums, dust, felt, fit, fox, go, got, guitar, has, hat, have, help, here, hid, hide, hides, hoop, horn, hot, Jingles, lid, little, looked, me, more, must, no, not, okay, pig, plate, played, please, pouted, problem, rid, ride, sad, sat, seen, shell, sick, sink, sit, sitting, skate, Spike, spin, Strummer, supper, talking, thank, that, there, think, tied, to, triangle, wanted, we, went, what, where, who, with

Space World episodes 67-80

Continues to extend challenging comprehension and critical thinking activities, and passage reading skill is greatly extended.

Phonetic Elements Taught ace, ack, ai, all, am, ame, ar, as, ch, ea, em, es, est, ew, ex, ick, ife, igh, ime, ind, ine, ir, ire, ix, kn, ock, og, ou, ow (how), ow (snow), qu, spr, uck, ug, un, wh, y

Flashcards after episode 70 PDF
Flashcards after episode 74 PDF
Flashcards after episode 77 PDF
Flashcards after episode 80 PDF

Words Taught almost, am, aren't, asked, away, back, balls, be, beans, because, become, Bernadette, bigger, biggest, bird, blow, blue, brown, Bug, buildings, bus, cannot, card, cards, catch, cheese, color, cookie, count, cow, crow, dime, Diner, Dipper's, dirt, does, dogs, down, duck, each, eat, falls, far, find, fins, first, five, flower, fly, four, fourth, friend, friends, from, game, get, give, glow, going, green, ground, grow, Gus, hard, hasn't, hello, high, home, how, I'd, I'll, I'm, ice, important, isn't, jack, job, jungle, kind, knock, know, la la la, leaf, learned, leaves, let, life, line, live, lot, low, lucky, magnifying glass, Mars, might, mine, most, much, my, name, new, next, night, of, orange, other, people, pick, planet, possibly, pot, probably, put, putting, quack, quick, rain, rainbow, read, reader, saw, say, sea, seed, seven, she's, six, sky, small, snow, so, space, Sprout, star, start, story, sun, swim, tall, tell, terrific, than, that's, their, them, they, throw, throwing, time, tired, today, town, tricks, tunes, us, use, very, was, water, watered, we're, weather, were, wet, when, whew, who's, why, wonder, words, worked, worm, wow, write, years, yellow, yes, Zog's

Jungle World episodes 81-100

Focuses on reading fluency and answering written comprehension questions. Introduces additional letter combinations, including those that have different sounds within words.

Phonetic Elements Taught -ed (/ed/; /t/; /d/), ave, aw, ble, c (/s/), cle, dge, dle, ea (short /e/), g (/j/), gle, ice, ie (long /e/ and long /i/), kle, oa, ode, oi, one, oy, ph (/f/), ple, re-, sion, sure, tch, tion, tle, ture, ui, une, ur, ute, wr, y (long /e/ and long /i/), zle

Words Taught age, air, angle, atmosphere, attention, behave, bridge, buy, canoe, carry, catch, caution, change, choice, city, coast, code, cone, cry, crystal, curled, cycle, dance, dazzles, does, dolphins, done, dunes, edge, energy, enjoy, enough, equipment, every, expert, families, fields, floating, flute, fruit, garbage, gave, gentle, gently, geode, giant, glacier, goes, gone, gophers, head, hoe, hoeing, hollow, hurricane, instead, into, juice, kayak, laugh, lonely, many, meadows, mission, my, nature's, nice, none, office, only, permission, phone, picture, pie, piece, pitch, plains, pollute, price, puzzles, ready, really, reflect, repair, replace, resolution, resolve, rewrite, rough, shield, shiny, shoe, simple, sod, soil, soybeans, sphere, squawk, stone, straw, supply, table, these, this, those, tie, toe, tough, treasure, triple, tune, twice, twinkle, typhoon, wrapping, wrinkle, zone