PG question for Shay and experienced elementary PG users

Hi Janis,
I only use the stupid stories in the program and then they go immediately into literature. I also like the books in the Wilson’s reading program for young adults. Don’t let the name confuse you, you can use them with your young readers as well. The reason that I like them is because each story targets a sound with all of the digraphs in that sound. The sooner you get the student into grade level reading with error correction, the faster the remediation and you can’t do that with decodable text.

Shay,

This is just what I needed to know. I am only working with this boy twice a week and I know his parents will be expecting him to have books to practice reading between now and the end of the year. I will be slow with PG because this will be my first shot at really taking a kid through it. I explained that to the parents but they have no other choice but an LD teacher who offered them computer time on Language Tune Up kit daily. (Yes, that is true.)

I’m sure this won’t be the last time I ask for help! Thanks so much!

Janis

Shay,

I looked at the Wilson readers. There are 12 student readers. Do you have any idea how many stories are in each one? Are ther plentiful stories for each sound? I would guess so sinnce there are 12 books! This child is 7. So even though regular Wilson is for third and up, you think these readers would work okay for 6 and 7 year olds?

Thanks,
Janis

Yes they would work for 6 or 7 yr olds as well as anyone learning how to read regardless of age.

hi janis and shay,

So even though
> regular Wilson is for third and up, you think these readers
> would work okay for 6 and 7 year olds?

are you two familiar with the wislon program? i have read that it was developed as a program for “older” students (over 3rd grade), but has it changed significantly to include different materials for beginning readers?

my child’s school wants to use the wilson program with him 30 minutes per day 4 days per week in a 2:1 setting. what i have seen of it is a “slam-dunk-type” session and i am just not convinced it is the right approach for my first grade struggling reader.

also, does anyone know how wilson teaches “sight” words to beginning readers? how does phonographix teach sight words to get kids reading other than decodable text quickly?

thanks for your help and input!Janis wrote:

Hi, Annise,

I’ll let Shay chime in and correct whatever I tell you that is wrong!

PG does not teach sight words. It teaches all words as decodable (and almost all are). And once decoding is automatic, the words are read as automatically as sight words. I personally don’t see anything wrong with learning a few of the common words as sight words, but I wouldn’t be doing it while doing PG.

The original Wilson was for third grade and up, but they now have a lower level program which I saw on their site when I looked at the readers. The readers Shay mentioned are part of the original program, but I am sure Shay means that the beginning readers would work for kids under third grade because they are on a beginning reading/decoding level. Unfortunately, the Wison site gives little information on the levels of the 12 readers, so I’d have to call them to find out more before ordering. I may go with the Language! readers as my state may be offering workshops in that program in the near future.

So all you need to find out is if the school has the newer Wilson program for K-2 and if so, your child is very fortunate! Also ask if the teacher is trained!

Janis

Annise,

I took another look at the Wilson site and the K-2 program is really a regular ed. program that teaches good phonemic awarenss skills I supppose to prevent reading failure. It has an intervention component for kids having trouble. What age/grade is your child again?

Janis