Illustration of an owl wearing a graduation cap and holding a pointer. The owl stands next to the word 'Fundations,' spelled with three tiles 'f,' 'u,' and 'n,' and a fourth tile with 'o' seems to be jumping into place. 'Wilson Language Basics' is written below.'
Fundations® Resource

Fundations
Ready to Rise®

Learn how Ready to Rise can help your struggling readers as a summer program or in the first 20 days of school.

A boost for rising first and
second graders

Whether implementing a summer program or looking to provide an intensive boost when returning to school in the fall, the Fundations Ready to Rise Program is designed to help teachers instruct their rising first and second graders by targeting foundational skills. To prepare students for the next level, this 20-day program focuses on three key skills: decoding, transcription, and fluency.

Ready to Rise helps teachers organize for and accomplish accelerated learning by:

  • identifying a small number of key foundational skills essential for the next school year’s success;
  • focusing on the mastery of those key skills; and
  • assessing students to determine progress toward that mastery.

Learn more about how this approach aligns with research-based recommendations in one of our Stories and News articles. Also, check out this article by David Steiner and Barbara Wilson on the importance of adopting an acceleration strategy and its key features. 

Foundational Skills for Rising Students

  • Students currently in Kindergarten who will be in first grade during the upcoming school year will be placed in a Fundations Ready to Rise® Program for Rising First Graders.
  • Students currently in first grade who will be in second grade during the upcoming school year will be placed in a Fundations Ready to Rise® Program for Rising Second Graders.

For both groups, each Fundations Ready to Rise lesson is 90 minutes, divided into three components.

30 minutes

  • Phonemic awareness
  • Alphabetic principle
  • Sound and word accuracy and automaticity
  • High frequency word recognition

Handwriting and spelling

30 minutes

  • Letter formation/automaticity
  • Spelling
  • Sentence dictation/punctation

30 minutes

  • Application of skills
  • Fluency and connected text

Ready to Rise Program at a Glance

Any student in need of additional foundational skills support to address learning loss, including ELL and struggling students.

Summer Implementation:

90 minutes in three components following the 20-day plan in the Ready to Rise Guide:

  • Word Study (30 minutes)
  • Transcription Skills - Handwriting and Spelling (30 minutes)
  • Application & Fluency (30 minutes)

If students can only be scheduled for 60 minutes a day, students can do the Word Study Component each day, and alternate between the Transcription and Fluency Components. This 1/3 reduction in time, however, will also likely result in reduced outcomes for most or all students.

Group size is ideally 3-4, but up to 6 per group (larger groups may require time or lesson modifications).

Back to School Implementation:
Click here to access Ready to Rise Back to School Implementation Recommendations

Ideally, any individual with Fundations teaching experience who has attended a Launch Workshop. However, with the Teacher Guide and the Ready to Rise Workshop, other educators and tutors can be prepared to implement this instruction.

Fundations Ready to Rise Teacher Guide and minimum teacher and student materials.

See full list of materials recommended to implement the programs.

Minimum Teacher Materials

  • Ready to Rise Teacher Guide
  • Baby Echo
  • Standard Sound Cards 1
  • Trick Word Flashcards 1*
  • Manuscript Letter Formation Guides*
  • Posters: Letter Formation Poster, Large
  • Letter Formation Grid, Large Dictation Grid

Minimum Student Materials

  • Student Durables 1
  • Ready to Rise Student Practice Booklet

* Contact Wilson for cost-saving alternative.

Ideally, teachers will have attended a Launch Workshop. Additional 3-hour Ready to Rise Workshop.

To further support teachers, a virtual, half-day Ready to Rise Workshop is also available! It provides a review of the program schedule and activities as well as an overview of the day-by-day Teacher Guide.