MAKING CURRICULUM CONNECTIONS

Connecting with A-Z for Mat Man® and Me

Letter Learning is a multifaceted skill that includes knowledge of letter names, letter sounds, and letter forms. Letter learning, also known as alphabet knowledge, is integral to early literacy and has been shown to be one of the strongest predictors of later literacy development (Piasta et al., 2020; Reutzel et al., 2019; Treiman et al., 2008). A–Z for Mat Man® and Me teaches alphabet knowledge and prepares children for Set A of Phonics, Reading, and Me™, which builds high-utility phonics skills such as short vowels and consonant digraphs.

A–Z for Mat Man ® and Me Similar Features Phonics, Reading, and Me ™

• Research-based letter order

• Explicit instruction and practice in every lesson

• Ties print concepts, phonemic awareness, and phonics

• Learning is focused on books

• Digital literacy activities reinforce and extend learning

• Same books for all children

• Different prompts and practice books for emerging and developing readers

• Books for shared reading are rich with words for children to learn and meaningful stories

• Books center on habits and diverse, relatable characters

• Teachers can easily differentiate to meet individual children’s learning needs

• Teacher’s Guide gives support to novice and experienced teachers with many models

INFORMED BY READING SCIENCE

• Clear scope and sequence

• Explicit instruction and practice in every lesson

• Ties to phonemic awareness, morphology, and fluency

Print And Digital Mediums

DIFFERENTIATED INSTRUCTION

Multicriteria Text

• Learning is focused on books

• Digital texts and digital phonics activities deepen knowledge

• Same books for all children

• Prescriptive support for below level, on level, and above level

• Texts for independent reading are intentional about word-level reading and meaning

• Rich, relatable text topics, with habits and knowledge building

SMALL-GROUP LEARNING

EMBEDDED PD

• Teachers use data for flexible groupings to help children with like needs learn collaboratively

• Lesson Cards build routines and the teaching tool offers more implementation ideas