Reading Lesson Book

Originally developed as a software package, the success of this simple, phonetically-based program encouraged the publication of The Reading Lesson book. The Reading Lesson is broken into 20 lessons, intended to be done side-by-side with a parent or teacher. A correlating Reading Lesson CD-ROM is available from the publisher, which features animations, audio and simple games. However, the book can be used on its own, and at this time the book is the only component we are offering.

Lessons introduce and use specific letters and sounds. The entire alphabet is not taught at the beginning, nor is it taught in order. Letters and sounds are introduced in groups which can be used to read the corresponding simple stories. For example, Lesson One introduces c, o, s, a and t while Lesson Two features m, d and r. Each lesson contains information for the parent or teacher, words, exercises and short stories. The pacing of the lessons will depend on the child's age, and a suggested number of pages per day is provided. The authors suggest spending no more than 15 minutes on a lesson each day, so as to not exceed the child's attention span. Each page is written to both student and teacher, with instructions in small print at the top. Where letters, words, or sentences are given, small bars underneath the letters remind the reader to focus on one sound at a time, as they point at the letter (these bars disappear towards the end of the book). Gradually (with the parent modeling) the student will start to blend the sounds and read the words. The book teaches most phonetic sounds and blends; however, there are several that might be taught specificially in another course that are designated as "sight words" in this course. Only lowercase letters are taught until the 11th lesson, when several capital letters that look similar to their lowercase counterparts are introduced ('I' is also introduced here, with an explanation on its slightly different look). Other topics, such as the suffix "-ing",and apostrophes are also introduced as they are necessary, but are not covered in a great amount of depth. The emphasis here is to give the child the skills to decode and read words, so that they will "graduate" from the book with a 2nd-grade reading level. With the straightforward presentation, simple effective activities and reinforcement, this book makes the task do-able for student and teacher. Please note that there are several other companion products that are available from the publisher. To preview these, please check out www.readinglesson.com. - Jess