Pictures, sound, and animation provide a context for reading and hold a child's interest. Bridge to Reading has a continually increasing reading level, both in vocabulary and sentence complexity. It starts with 'Cat' and moves slowly to 10-15 word sentences. Words are gradually introduced through the events on the screen that provide a meaningful context for their comprehension. Introduction of new words is carefully spaced out, so that previous words have become familiar, but there is constant learning.
Every word has at least eight repetitions, several close to the place it was originally introduced.
Each word is introduced in such a way that its meaning is reinforced from the context of the sentence and the graphics on the screen. Since each use is within a meaningful context, the word becomes a meaningful object, a word attached to a concept. Conceptualization means that words are in long-term memory, while things learned by rote are often only in short term memory. Children are shown that sentences start with capital letters, and are introduced to commas and question marks. Sentence structure and syntax are learned naturally, by reading real sentences.