Find your child’s starting point

Understanding where your child is in their reading journey helps determine the right starting point for their learning adventure. Each section below outlines the skills developed in our different box levels, helping you identify which stage best matches your child’s current abilities. Explore the descriptions to find where your child will thrive and grow in their literacy journey.

Is my child ready for the Early Literacy Boxes?

There are two Early Literacy boxes designed for students approximately 4-5 years old working at the preschool level. These boxes contain all the basic pre-reading skills that children must know before they can become successful readers.

Skills reinforced are:

  • Identify and name shapes
  • Identify and name colors
  • Sort objects by size, shape, color
  • Demonstrate one to one correspondence
  • Matching    
  • Observation                                
  • Concentration                       
  • Visualization                             
  • Imagination                 
  • Strategic thinking (questioning, summarizing)
  • Executive functioning(memory, flexible thinking, self-control)
  • Understand first, middle, and last
  • Count to 10
  • Identify some letters
  • Write their name
  • Follow directions
  • Match/categorize
  • Use a pencil
  • Fine motor

Ready for the Early Literacy boxes? Click HERE!  

If your student has mastered these skills, you may want to choose the Phonemic Awareness boxes for more advanced skill development. 

Is my child ready for the Phonemic Awareness Boxes?

There are two Phonemic Awareness boxes designed for students approximately 5-6 years old working at the kindergarten level. These boxes contain products to help students identify, hear and manipulate the individual sounds, or phonemes, in spoken words. It's a fundamental skill that's essential for developing reading and spelling abilities.

Skills reinforced are:

  • Word Awareness
  • Syllable Awareness
  • Isolating sounds
  • Blending 
  • Rhyming
  • Onsets/rime
  • Segmenting
  • Deleting
  • Adding sounds in words
  • Substituting sounds in words         

Ready for the Phonemic Awareness boxes? Click HERE!  

If your student has mastered these skills, you may want to choose the Phonics boxes for more advanced skill development. 

Is my child ready for the Phonics Boxes?

There are two Phonics Boxes designed for students working at the kindergarten-First Grade level: approximately 5-7 years old. Phonics teaches children the connection between letters and their corresponding sounds. The Brainee Star Phonics Boxes contain products to help students identify, hear and manipulate the individual sounds and associate them with letter(s) of the alphabet. Phonics is a fundamental skill for developing vocabulary, fluency and, ultimately, comprehension. The skills reinforced in the Phonics Boxes are:

  • Identifying and using consonants and short vowel sounds
  • Identifying and using consonant digraphs and blends
  • Identifying and using long vowel/final e
  • Identifying and using long vowel digraphs
  • Identifying and using other vowel patterns
  • Identifying and using syllable patterns
  • Identifying and using prefixes and suffixes

Ready for the Phonics Subscription boxes? Click HERE!  

If your student has mastered these skills, you may want to choose the Vocabulary Box for more advanced skill development. 

Is my child ready for the Vocabulary Box?

Strong vocabulary skills are correlated with academic achievement across subjects and are essential for reading comprehension. There is one Brainee Star Vocabulary Box designed for students approximately 7-8 years old working at the second-grade level. Skills included are:

  • Word Meaning                                               
  • Word Recognition                                
  • Root words/prefixes/suffixes         
  • Vocabulary Acquisition                 
  • Word Relationships (synonyms, antonyms)                                    
  • Vocabulary Application          
  • Contractions

Ready for the Vocabulary boxes? Click HERE!

If your student has mastered these skills, you may want to choose the Fluency Box for more advanced skill development. 

Is my child ready for the Fluency Box?

Reading fluency is important because it develops comprehension and motivates readers. Children must be able to read fluently to understand (comprehend) what they are reading. There is one Brainee Star Fluency Box designed for students approximately 7-8 years old working at the second-grade level. Skills included are:

  • Accuracy
  • Rate 
  • Prosody (expression, intonation, tone)

Ready for the Fluency boxes? Click HERE!

If your student has mastered these skills, you may want to choose the Comprehension Box for more advanced skill development. 

Is my child ready for the Comprehension Box?

Comprehension is important because it is the ultimate skill in reading; leaning to understand text. Children must be able to remember what happened in the text after they read it for full understanding. There is one Brainee Star Fluency Box designed for students approximately 7-9 years old working at the second or third grade level. Skills included are:

  • Using Prior Knowledge
  • Predicting
  • Identifying the Main Idea
  • Summarization
  • Questioning
  • Making Inferences
  • Visualizing

Ready for the Comprehension boxes? Click HERE!

If your student has mastered these skills, celebrate their accomplishments and achievements as a new reader!