Which reading program for a group of 7?

Jsut make all your manipulatives ahead of time..Also you may want to invest in some small whiteboards and markers…

I did reading therapy in 20 minute groups with 5 or 6 first graders at a time. It worked out great..

You go girl!~!

I use Phono-graphix with groups of 5-7 5th and 6th graders. Works great. I couldn’t be more pleased. My kids make huge jumps. I supplement with lots of other things such as Read Naturally, Great Leaps, and comprehension Stategies That WOrk book. PG is pretty darn good if you can figure it out. It takes practice but I get better every day.

Do you know about the listserve that talks PG quite a bit? It is called the ReadNOW listserve at the yahoo groups.

Michelle AZ

Could you please tell me how to order Read Naturally and comprehension strategies that work book. I will check on the ReadNOW listserve. Thanks. I’m trying to get this together. I’ve ruled out the Pace program since it’s for only one student at a time and a lot more expensive. Lindamoodbell programs were also a consideration but I haven’t received any training in them.

Megan,

I do not advise attempting to use Lindamood Bell programs without the training. Phono-Graphix is possible, but you will need the Word Work kit to have the worksheets you’ll need for a group. Anything is better with training, though.

Read Naturally is very expensive because you have to order multiple levels. The Great Leaps is less expensive because each set covers about 3 grade levels (but passages ranging down to primer level). I use the 3-5th grade set. www.greatleaps.com. But you do not work on fluency until you have taken your kids through a decoding program.

Janis

Janis, Are you familiar with Let’s Read (Leonard Bloomfield, Clarence Barnhart)? What I remember is that it is a systematic approach that begins with letter sounds, to CVC patterns, word lists, and stories, which become progressively more complex.
If so, how does it compare to Great Leaps?
I am working with 12 3rd grade students together, all with unique needs. One area we haven’t made much progress in is spelling. I am attempting to find a method and materials to tackle this problem. Thanks, Jan

Jan,

I haven’t heard of Let’s Read. It does sound like it might have similarities. Great Leaps has a timed element so that the child graphs his progress and continues with a passage until he can read it in one minute with less than 2 or 3 errors.

In looking at spelling materials, I think SRA has a spelling program called something like Prescriptive Spelling that might be worth looking at for your age level kids. I have heard that Spelling through Morphographs (also SRA) is excellent for older kids. And many people here use the first couple of AVCO Spelling books. At the moment, I pretty much teach spelling as I teach decoding with Phono-graphix, but I know I will need further spelling materials following that.

Janis

Hi,
I have been using a concrete, direct, multisensory decoding method which helps with both reading and written language. Email me at [email protected] if you would like to know more. Anita

my son’s school (LD school) uses this program as a decoding/spelling program (he needed to read and practise reading as daily homework; they did one lesson a day in a small group- 6? children) but testing et.c. was all encoding/spelling (he had a spelling test each day and end of trimester review tests). He went through Let’s read 4-6 (I believe) last year; this year he is in “morophographs” as a spelling class which is using “spelling through Morphographs” as the spelling porgram.

Great Leaps and Let’s Read are worlds apart; Great Leaps is a fluency program & Let’s Read is a decoding program. (I like ‘em both.)

Let’s Read is well structured and systematic but doesn’t include the multisensory element that, say, Patterns of Success in Reading by Marcia Henry (yet another really good, easy to follow, under-promoted OG based program) does. Of course, I like having them *all* on my shelf ‘cause then I can borrow ideas and words and sentences for any situation.

I might add that *if* appearances are important, then Let’s Read does, unfortunately, look very primary-grade. (And if appearances are important, then they tend to be very important… worth keeping the book invisible or checking out other resources; the Henry book looks much “older student” even though it starts from scratch — and could be used with groups, if the manipulatives are made ahead of time.)
The other program I’ve used *very* successfully with groups is SRA’s Corrective Reading, which is especially good if you’ve got hard-core word-guessers (that’s what it’s “correcting”) who need to learn to decode. It is very structured but does not go into rules; just specific patterns with enough repetition and practice to get kids making the associations. It’s designed for small groups but is marketed to schools and is therefore much pricier.

Sue,

Did I tell you I went to a workshop with Marica Henry back in September? She was wonderful! I had a chance to look at the Patterns manual. It’s a good deal for someone who wants an OG guide.

Janis

I’ve had some wonderful experiences with SRA products: Reading Mastery, Reason and Writing, Decoding, and Spelling. All of the products are geared towards specific functional levels and include spriraling. I have no conncection (other than a user) with SRA but I’ve been extremely impressed with their products.

Chuck

For a good spelling/decoding/vocabulary program you might also take a look at The Spel-Lang Tree. You don’t need any training to use this program and it flows in an excellent developmental sequence. You can test your students and plug them in exactly where they need to begin.

Grace at: http://www.spellangtree.org