Nemours Children’s Health recognizes that child health and reading skills are closely linked, and that reading failure is a major child health issue. This concern led Nemours to create a unique program called Nemours® BrightStart!, now known as Nemours® Reading BrightStart! (NRBS!), which specializes in developing products, resources and services to promote a strong reading foundation for all children, as a child health imperative.
Which Level Do You Need?
Select the statement that best describes you and your students to be taken to the recommended level.
The NRBS! Complete Program for Literacy Success: Level One supplemental curriculum is a unique, interactive, and fun program specifically designed to boost early literacy skills in three- to five-year-old children. The 20-lesson program puts teachers on the cutting edge of early literacy best practices with a hands-on approach designed to be especially powerful for those who struggle with early literacy concepts.
The Complete Level One program includes proven strategies for small-group instruction, to develop:
The Nemours®Reading BrightStart! Complete Program for Early Literacy Success puts teachers on the cutting edge of early literacy best practices with an exciting new approach to building reading readiness skills in struggling learners. This program is specifically designed for teaching early literacy skills to small groups of at-risk four- and five-year-old children, but is an effective teaching tool for all children in that age range. Included in this program: Nemours(R )Reading BrightStart! Lesson Plans Kit, Manipulatives Kit, 16 book set, and Milestone Map.
Lesson plans include a variety of components, including Learning Objectives, Read Aloud, Teacher-Directed Practice, Family Connections, Reproducibles, and much more!
Each manipulative in this kit ties directly to one or more lessons in the Nemours® Reading Bright Start! Program, helping children learn with fun, motivating, and developmentally appropriate activities. An essential component to the Nemours® Reading BrightStart! Program for Early Literacy Success,the kit includes magnetic whiteboards, magnifying glasses, magnetic letters, craft sticks, music CDs, puppets, and other items that promote literacy in the early years.
The children's books featured in this set are necessary to complete the Read Aloud selections in the Nemours® Reading BrightStart! Program.
Level Two
The NRBS! Complete Program for Literacy Success: Level Two supplemental curriculum is an intensive and engaging program specifically designed to teach foundational reading skills to beginning readers, especially those who are struggling with early literacy concepts. The complete Level Two program guides children, kindergarten through first grade, towards mastery of foundational reading skills without fear of failure.
The 36-lesson program includes proven strategies for small-group instruction, to develop:
The Nemours® Reading BrightStart! Complete Program for Early Literacy Success puts teachers on the cutting edge of early literacy best practices with an exciting new approach to building reading readiness skills in struggling learners. This program is specifically designed for teaching literacy skills for Kindergarten through Grade 1.
Grade K - 1. Level Two Manipulatives kit is an essential component of the Nemours® Reading BrightStart! Complete Program for Early Literacy Success Level Two. Each manipulative in this kit ties directly to one or more lessons, helping children learn with fun, motivating, anddevelopmentally appropriate activities.
Dual Language Learners
The Dual Language Learners Read Aloud Planning Guide provides tips and suggestions to engage and expand dual language learning during the shared book experience, in the classroom and at home. The guide provides research-based, practical strategies to support language and literacy development in children learning English as a second language. It features family connection ideas, tips for toddlers and twos, technology tips, and much more.
The strategies in this guide are based on stages of language learning and include ways to differentiate instruction, engage children in higher-level thinking, strengthen their use of newly learned language, and support their language progression and development.
3 years & up. Each book in the set represents a variety of formats from popular fictional stories to informative, content specific books that develop language, vocabulary and comprehension skills. Perfect for providing read aloud experiences to children whose native language is Spanish.Includes best practices guide for instructional support. Note: Each book in this set was selected to enhance the lessons provide in both Nemours® Reading BrightStart! programs. The set can also be used in any classroom.
4 years & up. (Level A-E) Expand your classroom library with the Beginning Readers Book Set. Each of the 8 photograph filled books are printed in both English and Spanish for a total 16 high quality leveled readers. Use this set to introduce science, math, or social studies concepts while supporting beginning readers as the develop foundational reading skills.
This full-color illustrated poster addresses parents' and teachers' concerns about children's reading readiness and progress. Includes milestones and warning signs indicating that children might be at risk for reading challenges from birth through age six. By tracking children with this simple map, parents can be sure their children are keeping up with their peers, and intercede if they begin to notice warning signs. Available in English and Spanish.
This full-color illustrated poster addresses parents' and teachers' concerns about children's reading readiness and progress. Includes milestones and warning signs indicating that children might be at risk for reading challenges from birth through age six. By tracking children with this simple map, parents can be sure their children are keeping up with their peers, and intercede if they begin to notice warning signs. Available in English and Spanish. Set of 20 maps.
Learning to read is one of the major milestones in a child's life, and it's one that parents worry about. This guide gives parents information on how to support their child on his or her reading journey. Now parents of children, aged three to five years old, have the power to ensure their child becomes a successful reader. Available in English and Spanish.
Learning to read is one of the major milestones in a child's life, and it's one that parents worry about. This guide gives parents information on how to support their child on his or her reading journey. Now parents of children, aged three to five years old, have the power to ensure their child becomes a successful reader. Available in English and Spanish. Set of 20 guides.
Professional Development
While having this curriculum in the classroom is vital to achieve great literacy outcomes for all children, knowing how to use it is just as essential. Nemours Reading BrightStart! offers professional development and customized training opportunities for early childhood providers using both face-to-face and online trainings.
In addition to these trainings, NRBS! Certified Trainer courses are available, with the goal of increasing capacity among educators to provide high-quality literacy instruction for young children. We offer these certified trainer courses for both NRBS! Complete Program for Literacy Success: Level One and Level Two. Graduates of these courses leave with the skills needed to educate teaching staff, ensure program fidelity, and evaluate student outcomes within their organization.
For more information regarding professional development, please contact us at: [email protected].
Five years ago when this project was given to me by our CEO, I looked through the materials and thought how great it would be to see providers using these activities in their classrooms with children…after all, it’s the same type of practices I try to instill in every classroom teacher on my monthly visits to their programs. After being trained in NBS! and really understanding the theory behind the program, I knew it would be an amazing tool. But it wasn’t until the end of the first implementation year that I honestly realized what a gem we had stumbled upon!
Research
NRBS! has undergone rigorous research for many years, and results show that it significantly boosts early literacy skills in at-risk young children. For example, in successive studies involving about 3,300 preschoolers who were behind in their early literacy skills, we found that nearly 2/3 moved to the age-appropriate range, with an average gain of 114%, after participating in the NRBS! program. This research has been published in prestigious, peer-reviewed journals:
Bailet, L, Repper, K, Murphy, S, Piasta, S, & Zettler-Greeley, C (2013). Emergent literacy intervention for prekindergarteners at risk for reading failure: Years two and three of a multi-year study. Journal of Learning Disabilities, 46(2), 133–153. doi:10.1177/0022219411407925
Bailet, L, Repper, K, Piasta, S, & Murphy, S (2009). Emergent literacy intervention for prekindergarteners at risk for reading failure. Journal of Learning Disabilities, 42(4), 336–355. doi:10.1177/0022219409335218
Zettler-Greeley, CM, Bailet, LL, Murphy, S, DeLucca, T, & Branum-Martin, L (2018): Efficacy of the Nemours BrightStart! Early Literacy Program: Treatment outcomes from a randomized trial with at-risk prekindergartners. Early Education and Development, DOI: 10.1080/10409289.2018.1475202
Many Head Start, child care, and public school programs have used NRBS! for several years and achieve results similar to these research outcomes. Here is what a few of them have to say:
Not only is the growth and development in the children exposed to Nemours BrightStart! phenomenal, but the fact that this one program doubles as probably the best professional development tool I have ever seen is truly phenomenal. And now, we are in our 5th year of consistently utilizing the NBS! program and really enjoying it, I look back and ask why we didn’t start sooner! Our program data consistently reflects the program’s effectiveness with increasing the language and literacy skills of children. Teachers are learning through NBS! and implementation is trickling into other classroom practices.
One of my students started the program not speaking very much at all. During the small group sessions with him, it would be very difficult to get him to make the sounds and participate at all. But after about midway through the program he started participating and even at times leading! He even started acting as if he was quite bored with the pace. I must say he has improved thanks to Nemours BrightStart!.
The teachers love the Nemours BrightStart! Level Two kits. The lessons are systematic, engaging, and fast-flowing. The kids are eager to learn and the program encourages students to participate and respond without fear of being wrong. There are a myriad of concepts being explored in one lesson so it provides teachers with immediate information for remediation and enrichment.
Resources
Nemours Reading BrightStart! provides additional downloadable resources, including observation checklists, Spanish-translated family letters, lesson updates, and predictable student books to keep teachers up to date with the products they are using. Find them here.
