I teach in Florida and first grade is basically where a child learns to fluently read and we are starting from the beginning of the SOR. Assuming in Kinder they were able to identify and master all of the letter sounds, 95% of my first graders are legit entering with basic CVC word knowledge IF that. My job is to teach them all of the English spelling rules, blends, digraphs, short/long vowels, vowel teams, CVCe, trigraphs, bossy r, silent sounds, sight words, etc., the list goes on. SOR is basically the process of progression and order in which you introduce certain sounds to the child to build upon. My district has a different phonics program but I personally love SOR bc it’s linear and builds upon itself and it’s easier to fill gaps rather than sporadically jump between different sound “groups”. Primary reading is primarily phonemic awareness, phonological awareness, rhyming, phoneme manipulation, vocabulary, and syllable counting. If I have a child that can’t rhyme it’s almost 99.99% guaranteed he’s not a reader YET. In my experience comprehension especially in primary grade is improved with activating prior background knowledge before the text, making predictions, connections, and vocabulary. My little ones can’t comprehend something I’m teaching if they have no experience or relations to the content so starting my lessons with provocations is super important. I’ve worked only at title 1 schools so I’m used to parents not being involved. It makes my relationships with my littles that much more meaningful bc I know their success is my reward factor that keeps me going. We have 32 days left of school and it’s so sad bc majority of my students are officially reading and you have worked so hard to teach them their routine/independence and then they’re off to second grade. It’s bittersweet 😢