Wilson Reading program question

I like Wilson and found it easy to use in the classroom because along with strong skills it has word lists, phrases, sentences and paragraphs where students can practice the sound they are learning. The program also has workbooks to provide practice. Much of the appeal of the program for older students is the fact that the pages do not have babyish pictures, in fact there are no pictures on the pages. The skills, sequence and methods are appropriate for all age groups. The most important thing being that your teacher has experience and feels confident in what she is doing. See how your son does with the program and see if you can learn some procedures to reinforce what he is learning. (I am thinking of the way they finger tap the sounds and blend them together) PG and LMB are excellent too, but I would have been happy if my son had a well trained Wilson teacher. I had to go looking for programs because I was not trained in college or at my job in current reading programs. Congratulations on being willing to help educate your district.

Wilson materials were originally for 4th grade and up. However, they now have Level A for students in the lower grades., and level B for 4th grade and up. The concepts taught are the same, but the level of the words are different.

Angela,

I want to ask you a quick question. Shay had suggested using Wilson readers for practice decoding while teaching PG. I will be working with a child who is completing second grade (and reading at early-mid first grade level). How many of the 12 readers would I need for children in second-third grade? I assume some of the latter readers incorporate higher level skills than that. I just don’t want to buy more than I need.

Also, there is another set of supplementary readers, Stories for Steps 1-3 (etc.) by Jay Brown. What are those?

Thanks,
Janis

Stacy,

I have just been looking at the Wilson site and they are saying third grade and up. They do have two sets of workbooks as Linda mentioned. So I guess since your son is already 8 and will be in third grade soon, it’ll probably be okay. You are very fortunate because many, many schools do not have an equivalent program to Wilson.

Janis

Unfortunately I left my Wilson books behind when I changed school districts. I would imagine you could start with say the first four book, but that is a guess.I haven’t seen the Jay Brown series. Sorry I’m not more help.

Thanks for the feedback. I go for the big meeting today. I feel a little more prepared.

n/m

I would want to know just hwo much preparation the teacher has had. IF she’s done a quick-and-dirty workshop she may do a quick-and-dirty job of delivering Wilson, and spend much time doing things she is more accustomed to, whether or not they work. (Only saying it ‘cause I”ve seen it happen… “sure, we are doing Wilson” — well, a couple times a week we do some activities from it. Systematic?? Not hardly — but hey, we’ve exposed them….aargh…)