<![CDATA[General Background Reading constitutes a foundational capability that must be cultivated during early childhood education. Specific Background Many first-grade learners encounter severe difficulties in recognizing alphabets and understanding simple texts due to monotonous instructional media lacking visual appeal. Knowledge Gap Conventional teaching tools, such as standard textbooks and basic letter cards, fail to engage young learners, often leading to mechanical memorization and contextual guessing without accurate spelling. Aims This classroom implementation utilizes illustrated storytelling materials alongside guided strategies to build letter recognition, syllable decoding, and narrative understanding among twenty-eight first-grade students. Results Observational data across two structured sessions revealed that basic fluency progressed from a 39% baseline to 79%. Additionally, storytelling grasp progressed significantly, with 71% of participants fulfilling minimal rubric criteria and 64% successfully recounting narrative elements by the final session. Novelty Integrating visual narratives with explicit decoding scaffolding transforms passive memorization routines into an active, contextualized literacy experience. Implications Instructors should systematically adopt illustrated literature paired with targeted mentoring strategies to lower learning anxiety and support foundational literacy in elementary settings. Highlights: Visual media systematically lowers learning anxiety and motivates alphabet decoding among first-grade students. Guided literacy strategies transition young learners from mechanical guessing to accurate syllable spelling. Integrating narrative illustrations significantly elevates basic fluency and oral retelling proficiencies. Keywords: Illustrated Narratives, Foundational Literacy, Guided Decoding, Visual Scaffolding, First Grade Learners]]>
