Welcome to the Reading Rockets Forums! My name is Jessica and I’m the moderator for these forums. This is a place for people to come together to discuss a subject near and dear to all our hearts – helping a child learn to read. To keep the discussion flowing and to avoid any confusion, please follow the guidelines below.
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We’re very happy to have students with us, and we hope that you will have some fresh ideas to share. You need to remember, though, that the members of this forum are not here to help you with your assignments or to do your research. Give as well as take.
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Happy Posting!
Jessica
Forum Moderator
Reading Rockets
Re: Help finding old reading books.
Jane,
While I also have fond memories of the Dick and Jane series, they will not work for your son. We see cases like your child’s on this board all the time, sadly. He is the victim of an educational system that simply does not know HOW to teach him to read. The best and easiest program that I know of that really works and is easy to implement is called Phono-Graphix and is found in a book called “Reading Reflex” by Carmen and Geoffrey McGuinness. It is under $12 at Amazon.com. Tutor him youself or contact www.readamerica.net and see if there is a certified tutor in your area. No child with normal intelligence should eb reading at first grade level in fifth grade. He obviously has not had proper instruction. Here is a good site for you and especially this link on reading programs:
http://www.schwablearning.org/Articles.asp?r=318&g=2&d=5
You may also want to buy a new book called “Parenting a Struggling Reader” by Susan Hall and Louisa Moats. It is very sad that schools do not know how to remediate reading disorders, but it seems to be the case more often than not. You must educate yourself and find tutoring for him. Please do not wait another moment on that school to help him.
Janis
Re: Help finding old reading books.
I agree that Dick Jane and Sally is probably not the best way to teach reading, although I don’t think it hurts to use it once in a while along with other reading materials because it contains so many high frequency words. Dick Jane and Sally are now collectors items and can be quite expensive. However, if you frequent library book sales and yard sales- you might come across a few. I know, my husband did a little spring cleaning here while I was at work and donated my Dick Jane and Sallys to the library. They were probably sold for about 10 cents, along with my son’s “Primary Phonics” series- which I would highly recomend for K-2. Primary Phonics readers are paperback books that can be purchased inexpensively on line. I believe they would be a far better choice for you.
Re: Help finding old reading books.
In fact the Dick and Jane books have become collector’s items and are rare and quite expensive. But you can find similar texts by checking through used book stores, and they can be good resources as *part* of a good readiong program.
But the other posters above are absolutely right; your child definitely needs a *systematic* reading program including a solid systematic phonics base. Many people here speak well of Phonographix and that is one good place to start. Email me if you want suggestions for more resources as well.
Re: Help finding old reading books.
I thought I’d just add in that the Primary Phonics readers are available from www.epsbooks.com. There are 5 main sets of 10 books which are about $20 each. And there are two extra sets as well. I buy phonics readers on Ebay.
Other sources of phonics readers are Modern Curriculum Press Phonics Practice Readers, and there are some Lindamood-Bell sequenced readers available from Pro-Ed (one is named Poppin Readers or something like that).
Janis
Re: Help finding old reading books.
WalMart has a Treasury of Dick and Jane. At least that is what I think it is called. About 10 or so stories put together for $9.95. You could buy that to see if it is what you really want.
I’m a mother of an adhd and ld student. My son is currently in fifth grade, with a reading level of a first grader. He is in self contained classroom, but I don’t see much improvement. I’m looking for Ideas to help him and also for the old Dick and Jane books. That I read in the late sixties or early seventies. Please help. Thanks.