I SEE SAM BOOKS, AKA SWRL books Sam SIs Mit MAT

Many of you teachers may be familiar with the good old “I
SEE SAM” books AKA SWRL books or The Little Books, aka
RALP. These books are new to me as a remedial program as
an LD resource teacher but my own children actually used
these books in their Kindergarten 6 years ago. Some of you
may have actually used these books when you were in
Kindergarten yourself as this program was popular in the
early 70’s late 60’s. Many of these books are still being
used or sitting on shelves collecting dust.
There is Sam, Mit, Sis, Mat and more characters. Many of
the covers used to be yellow but now come in all colors.
Anyway, if you are still using these books, consider
joining our newly formed listserv of users in a yahoo
group called Beginning-Reading-Instruction. We are tutors
or teachers who are just discovering the beauty of this
great reading program even though it seems to have come
before its time. Since the books are in the public domain
and can be copied, we have found a couple a cheap sources
to buy books. One place in IOWA for Set 1 and Set 2 at 1-
800-255-0405 and ask for the SWRL pronounced SWIRL books.
Then there is another source for sets 3-8 that are 30
dollars per set.
Both set 1 and 2 are only $15 from Iowa.
Here is the website for RALP where you can order all the
sets at 30 bucks a set if you want to keep it simple.:
http://www.usu.edu/teach/LittleBooks.htm
If anyone knows of other sources for these books that are
cheaper, please email me or post to the yahoo group called
Beginning-Reading-Instruction. One of the authors of the
books Dick Shultz has joined the listserv and shares how
the program developed. He is working to get it back in
schools. These are great little books that can go with
most reading programs. I think they’d be particularly good
for your lowest kids if you teach primary. It is very
specific practice with the English Code being introduced
slowly. I am going to be using these books with a peer
tutoring project and in my SLD resource room.

I encourage you to check out these books if you are
looking for a cheap, easy, research based program that
works. It can also be used as a HOMEWORK program to be
sent home with parents for fluency and reading practice.
Dick has research to back up this program and I have also
heard many great testimonials for these books. I have only
been using these books for a short time but thought I’d
post to see if any of you teachers would like to join our
group. We have lots of remedial teachers and parents but
very few general ed teachers in the group.

Michelle AZ