A Spanish reading program for teaching
reading, spelling, and handwriting
Effective
Aprendo Leyendo is a beginning reading program that incorporates reading, spelling, and handwriting using multisensory techniques. It utilizes the best instructional practices supported by scientific research and is an effective program for all children.
Comprehensive
Aprendo Leyendo contains all the critical elements of a comprehensive reading program for primary grades: phonemic awareness, phonics, decoding, word recognition, vocabulary, spelling, handwriting, and comprehension strategies. All these vital components of reading are taught simultaneously in integrated lessons, each subject reinforcing and strengthening the others.
Authentic
Aprendo Leyendo was written by Latin American authors. All the stories are authentic and relevant to the culture and people of the continent. In addition, the teacher instructions are concise and easily accessible. There is no need for a large assortment of books and materials for each area of study. Everything children need for a lesson is contained in just two books: a decodable chapter book and a Skills Book.
For Students
Chapter Books
These beautifully illustrated decodable chapter books are unlike any other beginning readers. The narratives have all the basic elements of good storytelling—character, setting, plot, conflict, and resolution. Children love the adventure and humor!
The decodable text only contains sounds that have been taught so that children can sound out the words. There is a repetition of vocabulary to develop recognition of common words and the length of words and complexity of sentences gradually increases. The books provide the practice needed to develop accurate and fluent reading, as well as coherent stories that support effective comprehension strategies.
Skills Books
Each chapter book has a corresponding Skills Book. Comprehensive Skills Books contain activities for teachers to provide direct instruction in phonemic awareness, decoding, word recognition, spelling, handwriting, vocabulary, and comprehension. They are meant to be used under teacher supervision with discussion and immediate feedback.
For Teachers
Aprendo Leyendo Teacher Handbook
The Teacher Handbook (Manual para el Maestro) includes detailed instructions in Spanish on how to implement the program, as well as words and sentences for spelling dictations for each level of the AL sequence. AL Teacher Handbook covers the entire curriculum and includes detailed instructions for teaching and assessing at each level in the program. It covers the alphabetic code, suffixes, compound words, orthographic code, digraphs, and strategies for reading multisyllable words. Instructions for teaching nonfiction text, sentence writing, and summarizing are included. As well as instructions for teaching students to read complex sentences with conjunctions, pronoun referents, and other cohesive ties. It also explains how to teach basic text structures—problem and solution, cause and effect, and time sequence.
Teacher Editions
Each chapter book has a corresponding Teacher Edition (Edición Maestros). The purpose of the Teacher Edition is to provide a model of how to teach reading strategies while at the same time monitoring comprehension of the text. The prompts in the Teacher Editions encourage teachers to use and elicit more sophisticated language in discussions than is used in the readers. The Teacher Editions are guides, not scripts.
Cards Packs
There are four card packs. The Juego de Tarjetas del Abecedario, contains illustrations of a key word for each new sound of the alphabet and the corresponding letter or digraph for each sound. The Juego de Tarjetas de Repaso are used at the beginning of each Aprendo Leyendo lesson to review recently taught skills and any skills that children have not mastered. These cards are used to develop automatic sound-symbol associations which are the foundation of fluent reading and spelling. The Juego de Tarjetas de Bolsillo are helpful at the first levels of the program Aprendo Leyendo for spelling and dictation activities in Aprendo Leyendo.
The Cognate Picture Cards were designed by the PAF and Aprendo Leyendo teams to support students while they are learning the sounds of the alphabet in English and Spanish. Cognates are words that share a similar meaning, spelling, and pronunciation. For bilingual children, cognates are powerful tools that make learning both languages easier and strengthens their reading and comprehension skills. The Cognate Cards can be used in dual language classrooms or with multilingual students.
Center Work Activities
New for the 2025-2026 school year, Center Work Activities will be available for classrooms in the United States. These activities can be done independently by the students while the
teacher is working with a group. They are designed to reinforce skills previously taught in the Aprendo Leyendo instructional sequence. Keep in mind, the activities are meant to supplement a lesson; they are not part of the Aprendo Leyendo lesson. The center work activities can give teachers ideas to create similar ones for their students.
Detailed information on how to access and use the Center Work Activities will be provided during Aprendo Leyendo Professional Development. For questions please email us at orders@intelexia.com.
Aprendo Leyendo Assessments
Aprendo Leyendo provides a variety of opportunities for quantitative and qualitative assessment. All curriculum based assessments are administered in Spanish. Most notably, students read aloud to teachers each day. This monitored oral reading allows for daily assessment of student learning and for teachers to adapt instruction as needed. Training on how to administer, assess and utilize data from assessments is provided in Aprendo Leyendo’s Professional Development. AL offers three assessments:
1. The Prueba Palabra Aislada (Test of Single Word Reading) is a quantitative assessment used for program placement of new students and monitoring progress. While the test can be administered on paper, the Aprendo Leyedo Assessment Management Tool provides a more efficient solution for teachers, particularly those working with many students. With this digital tool, teachers can administer and score the test, track student progress, and produce reports in far less time. Students always take the test on paper, regardless of whether the teacher manages it on paper or with the Assessment Management Tool.
To inquire about purchasing a license for the Assessment Management Tool, please email us at support@intelexia.com.
Assessment Management Tool
2. The Evaluacion Preliminar de Sonidos y Palabras (Alphabet Test) is used as a baseline test of the alphabetic code given to kindergarten students prior to beginning the AL program. In addition, it is also administered to students who cannot read any CVC words on the Prueba Palabra Aislada.
3. Evaluación Final de Cuadernillo (Proficiency Test) provide more detailed and qualitative reading evaluations. The Proficiency Tests are curriculum-based assessments that measure how well students have learned the specific material taught. They help teachers maintain the proper pace of instruction, highlight skills that need reteaching or additional practice, and tell whether a group of students is ready to continue in the sequence.
Detailed information on how to administer and access all assessments will be provided during Aprendo Leyendo Professional Development. For questions please email us at orders@intelexia.com.
Professional Development
The goal of Aprendo Leyendo’s professional development is to ensure effective instruction by teachers and successful reading outcomes for students. To this end, comprehensive teacher training and ongoing support can be tailored to the needs of individual schools and districts and can be delivered onsite or through synchronous platforms. Courses are taught in Spanish by expert master teachers with more than 20 years of experience teaching reading in Spanish to elementary school students. In addition, Office Hours will be available to all teachers teaching with Aprendo Leyendo on the first Wednesday of every month during the 2025-26 school year. Refer to Office Hours in the chart below for more information.
For the first year of implementation, districts and schools that need to train their teachers and staff can take advantage of one of two professional development models opportunities/offerings:
The Aprendo Leyendo Professional Development for Districts and Schools. Comprehensive teacher training and ongoing support can be tailored to the needs of individual schools and districts and can be delivered at a time convenient for each district/school, onsite or through synchronous platforms. We provide support to help develop a model that will meet the needs of all students.
The Aprendo Leyendo Professional Development for Districts and Schools consists of two parts:
Course (8 hours) will cover:
An overview of research-based multisensory techniques for teaching reading, spelling, and handwriting
Teaching Spanish in dual language classrooms
Cross-Linguistic connections between Spanish and English
Components of an Aprendo Leyendo lesson at various levels in the sequence
Planning an Aprendo Leyendo lesson
Instructional practices for developing accuracy, fluency, and comprehension
Meeting students’ diverse needs
Administering and analyzing Aprendo Leyendo’s curriculum-based assessments
Ongoing Support (8 hours) will include:
Coaching teachers based on shared videos of lessons
Feedback sessions
Lesson planning
Placement of students in instructional groups
Differentiating instruction
Pacing of instruction
Instructional language
Assessments
Question and answer sessions
Center Work Activities
The Aprendo Leyendo Professional Development for Teachers. For individual teachers seeking professional development in Aprendo Leyendo or for new staff hired by districts or schools already implementing AL, we offer the following professional development opportunity delivered through a synchronous platform.
The Aprendo Leyendo Professional Development for Teachers consists of two parts:
Course (9 hours) will cover:
An overview of research-based multisensory techniques for teaching reading, spelling, and handwriting
Components of a AL lesson at various levels in the sequence
Planning a AL lesson
Instructional practices for developing accuracy, fluency, and comprehension
Administering and analyzing AL’s curriculum-based assessments
Ongoing Support (4.5 hours) will include:
Assessments
Pacing of instruction
Differentiating instruction
Instructional language
Question and answer sessions
AL Professional Development Cost:
Course & Ongoing Support 1 teacher with TH (#509) : $575
aprendo leyendo fall 2025 course
ONGOING SUPPORT for Fall 2025
Completion of either professional development opportunity is essential to the success of the Aprendo Leyendo program in your school or district.
Thereafter (in year two or later), additional hours of ongoing support are available and strongly encouraged.These sessions will give educators the opportunity to dive deeper into the fundamentals of Spanish structured-literacy instruction. Topics covered include reading comprehension, spelling, pacing, grouping, assessments, and differentiating instruction, among others. Refer to the AL Ongoing Support Sessions in the chart below for more information.
Finally, professional development is also offered in specific aspects of the Aprendo Leyendo curriculum, giving teachers the opportunity to dive deeper into the fundamentals of multisensory instruction. These topics include reading comprehension, instructional pacing, spelling, and assessments. Refer to the Refresh Professional Development for AL Schools in the chart below for more information.
To inquire about Aprendo Leyendo's professional development and materials, please write to us at orders@intelexia.com