Let's Read

Hi Colleen ~
I’ve worked extensively with Let’s Read for several years. It’s published by EPS. It’s a very systematic series of phonetic readers. There are 9 in all, I’ve found the first 6 the most helpful. The three books are all cvc words: book 1 is short a, book 2 is short i and o, and book 3 is e and u. Book 4 introduces blends: ccvc and cvcc. Book 5 introduces sh, ch, th, wh, and three letter blends. Books 4+5 are also all short vowels. Book 6 begins long vowels with vowel teams. Sight words are integrated throughout, though somewhat slowly. Books 7-9 focus on other phonics concepts and introduce words of 2+ syllables. By the time by my students are able to get through book 6 comfortably I don’t think they really need the other books, and are ready for short novels.
They’re arranged in a word family approach, with the new and review pattern words on the left hand page and stories using the words covered so far on the right. The stories are pretty basic, and can be somewhat confusing since they’re using only the pattern words taught so far; nothing impossible, but I tell my students not to worry about those stories, and that I’m only concerned with how they read the words. I use it to reinforce what I”ve already taught; it’s not a stand alone reading program, in my opinion. I have the kids read 2-4 pages each time, and then we use it to practice dictation, using the words and the sentences. When doing the sentences we also discuss correct capitalization and punctuation. There are workbooks that go along with it, but I haven’t found them useful. The teacher’s manual is worse ~ it doesn’t give you structured lesson plans for each book, but rather gives you a general overview of the whole series and it’s philosophy, and some general guidelines when using it. They are good at reinforcing short vowel sounds, blends, and digraphs, and for having students practice spelling words and sentences with those elemenst in them. I believe it’s most effective for students who you know have an affinity for phonetics ~ it would be hard for someone who learns best through a visual approach such as sight words (I know; I’ve tried). Use it in small doses, as it can be boring, but it does a good job as a review piece. Hope this helps! E-mail me if you have more questions ~ Jenn