The NextGen reading program is designed to cultivate and enhance the reading abilities of students spanning from Grade I to V. This innovative curriculum places a strong emphasis on nurturing foundational reading skills essential for academic success and lifelong learning. By tailoring instruction to the specific needs and developmental stages of students in these early grades, the NextGen program aims to instill a love for reading, improve comprehension, vocabulary acquisition, and fluency, setting a solid foundation for their future academic endeavors. Through a blend of research-based strategies, engaging activities, and targeted assessments, the NextGen reading program strives to empower young learners to become confident, proficient readers who are well-equipped to navigate the complexities of the written word.

The primary level reading program is a three-year journey that encompasses three essential elements: the foundation of reading, expanding reading horizons, and mastering reading. This comprehensive approach ensures that students in grades I through III progress systematically in their reading development.

Year 1: Foundation of Reading
In the first year, the focus is on establishing a strong foundation for reading. Students learn letter-sound correspondence, develop phonemic awareness, and acquire essential decoding and encoding skills. Sight word recognition and fluency practice through repeated readings and shared reading experiences lay the groundwork for more advanced reading abilities.

Year 2: Expanding Reading Horizons
Building upon the foundation laid in the first year, the second year of the program aims to expand students' reading horizons. Vocabulary development takes center stage, with direct instruction of key words, word study, and semantic mapping. Comprehension strategies, such as making predictions, asking and answering questions, and identifying main ideas, are explicitly taught and practiced through engaging literature and informational texts.

Year 3: Mastering Reading
The final year of the primary reading program emphasizes the mastery of reading skills. Students delve deeper into a variety of literary genres, engaging in author studies, literature circles, and book clubs. Comprehension skills are further refined, with a focus on making inferences, summarizing, and analyzing text structure. Fluency is honed through reader's theater and paired reading activities, preparing students for the more complex reading demands of the intermediate grades.

What makes NextGen reading program?
The NextGen reading program incorporates research-informed best practices to cultivate a love for reading and develop reading habits in students. This comprehensive approach draws upon the expertise of renowned literacy experts, including Fountas and Pinnell's Guided Reading strategies, to provide a robust framework for mastering reading skills.

NextGen Reading Program includes research-Informed best practices that include:
Phonemic Awareness and Phonics Instruction: Research highlights the significance of explicit phonemic awareness and phonics instruction in building foundational reading skills (National Reading Panel, 2000).
Vocabulary Development: The program incorporates strategies for direct vocabulary instruction, word study, and semantic mapping to enhance students' vocabulary acquisition 
Comprehension Strategies: Explicit teaching of comprehension strategies, such as making predictions, asking and answering questions, and identifying main ideas, is a key component of the program.
Fluency Development: Repeated readings, reader's theater, and paired reading activities are used to improve fluency, as research suggests that repeated practice with feedback is essential for fluency development.
Literature-Based Instruction: The program's emphasis on literature-based instruction is grounded in research that suggests that reading high-quality literature can foster a love for reading and improve reading comprehension.