i would like to get some input from reading teachers out there on using the old dick and readers as part of a “tutoring” program for a 1st grader.
i have posted about him before and provided test scores. he is gifted (145 full scale i.q.) but not reading where he should be for mid first grade. he is showing varied confusion and is inconisitent/resistent to reading instruction. his p.a. is strong and he can decode relatively well, when he attends to decoding.
he has been working with a tutor who does all of the following: direct handwriting instruction; p.a. exercies; blending and decoding exercises; and also uses the old dick and jane primers for high frequency word reading. my child likes them and she switches the books a lot so that he does not “memorize” the stories.
i have noticed other “tutors” are using disk and jane. any one else out there usign them? any comments - postive or negative? any feedback would be appreciated.
Re: comments on dick and jane readers
I don’t see a problem with it, especially since it seems to be fun. I thought those things were fun, too — and then thought the Hardy Boys were great and ate ‘em like popcorn.
Some schools of reading take major issues with anything that isn’t “authentic” reading. I think this is simply forgetting developmental stages.
Of course you should be actively addressing the cultural stereotypes that I’m sure our kids pay so much attention to :-)
Re: comments on dick and jane readers
I was trained on Alice and Jerry. Dick and Jane were Yankees. : )
Re: comments on dick and jane readers
Your child seems to have some of the characteristics of dyslexia, ie, high iq but performing below expectations. There is no “cure” for dyslexia, but some of the strategies being on used for him appear to be right on target. Sight words, skywriting, even phonics instruction may also be helpful. Good luck!
Re: comments on dick and jane readers
Sue, I am guessing that your last comment wasn’t serious? I really don’t think young kids notice a bit.
We are caucasian and our youngest child is adopted from China. So I always buy books when see kids of different races in the pictures as well as buying her dolls with varying skin colors. But ya know what? When we go in WalMart, she does straight to the blond Barbies. She could care less about the beautiful Asian ones that I get so excited about! Kids are SO much more color blind than adults. I like that.
Janis
Re: comments on dick and jane readers
I use the “Dick and Jane” books when tutoring kids who are struggling in reading. The high frequency words provide the practice that the student needs and it also provides success early. I find that when the student has some basis and early success when reading that they will tend to take more risks and try to read “harder” content. The guided handwriting and just writing sentences about stories read by them or read to them is excellent “reading” as well. Encourage creative writing as a way to spark reading for fun. I found that some kids will write a story, correct misspelled words and read over and over what they wrote. Reading, writing and spelling are all tied together. smjchurch
Re: comments on dick and jane readers
This sounds a lot like what I do in tutoring, and in general the combination of phonics plus writing plus high-frequency word reading is the most successful that I know. Go for it! I also use Dick and Jane as a spare set of readers for extra practice. They are dreadfully dated, but there are worse things than being dated, such as being illiterate.
If your teacher is interested in other high-frequency books, ask her to email me.
As far as “authentic” reading, has anyone out there actually *read* the books being touted as “authentic”? The stuff my students are bringing home from class is quite literally sickening. It is far more artificial than Dick and Jane ever were in the primary grades, and dreadfully boring with it. Today we got to read a “story” (I hate to dignify it with the name of anything literate) about a hat that got blown in the wind onto this animal’s head and that animal’s head and … by the fifth or sixth animal my student was as tired of it as I was; then the hat got to be a nest for this animal and that animal and … and then the farmer found it again; I restrained from mentioing what he got on his head when he put it back on after squirrels had been nesting in it, but barely.
Re: comments on dick and jane readers
Hi Annise,
The reason the Dick and Jane readers were discontinued in the schools is because the children were required to memorize most of the words. This, of course, led to guessing and a generation of illiterates. However, and this is a very big “however,” when you introduce the words with PHONICS, you get the BEST of BOTH worlds - independent decoding skills and the following unique advantages of the Dick and Jane readers:
1. The developmental vocabulary.
2. Repetition of words throughout the reading series to assist mastery.
3. The humor and light-heartedness of the stories which keep the kids coming back for more.
4. Literature-Based stories included in the special sections on Folkktales, Animal Tales, Biographies, Pioneers, Aesop, etc.
In my book, these are the ULTIMATE basic reading tool WHEN the words are introduced with intensive phonics. What I’d like to know is where people are getting copies of these readers? I just paid out $91 on E-bay for the Dick and Jane Pre-Primer I, WE LOOK AND SEE. If anyone is interested in the way I integrate phonics right into these Dick and Jane readers, you can check out my web site at http://www.OnlineReadingTeacher.com.
Re: comments on dick and jane readers
Yes, I do just the same, using many developmental readers. Phonics plus developmental reading is a very powerful tool.
of course, i meant dick and jane!