The puzzling adoption in 1930 of a deaf-mute method for teaching beginning reading to hearing children in America can only be understood when the long history of teaching beginning reading is known. The deaf-mute method adopted almost immediately after 1930 from the Atlantic to the Pacific Oceans and from Canada to Mexico was the "meaning" approach to teach the reading of alphabetic print instead of the "sound" approach. "Dick and Jane" primers and their clones, which teach beginning reading by meaning instead of by sound are, indeed, the disgraceful source for America's functional illiteracy problem. The history is an attempt to bring together most historical sources on those primers and on the long teaching of beginning reading itself so that functional illiteracy can be properly understood and successfully corrected.

Best Seller. Eight units with 62 lessons, 63 kid-sized reproducible books, as well as letter and word cards, give teachers the tools to teach successful readers. Suggested materials for reading are included as well. ESL & Special Ed.

If only we could understand that seemingly inexplicable moment when children suddenly "get" reading. Then our instruction could be directed toward creating those specific circumstances which help every student recognize the pattern of meaning behind the marks on a page. Now, thanks to Richard Gentry's Breaking the Code, we can. In his most important book to date, Gentry combines cutting-edge, brain-based research with sound classroom knowledge to explore early literacy development. Starting with the crucial interrelationship of reading and writing, he looks inside and out at the minds of emerging readers to find out how they construct the idea and process of reading. Then he presents a blueprint for instruction and early intervention that combines his new findings with best-practice teaching. His comprehensive instructional model focuses on building the specific skills, capacities, and experiences kids need by teaching them to write as they learn to read. Gentry gives you everything you need to implement successful beginning reading strategies as well as a variety of effective tips for supporting readers and writers throughout the primary grades. Writing with the same clarity and teacher-friendly approach as in his best-selling The Science of Spelling, Richard Gentry will show you how scientific thinking and student-centered teaching can work together to create powerful literacy instructional practices. Let Breaking the Code open a window for you into the minds of young readers, so that you can open a window for them into a world of literate possibilities.

In this practical guide to teaching beginning language learners of all ages, Calhoun encourages us to begin where the learners begin--with their developed listening and speaking vocabularies and other accumulated knowledge about the world. Engage students in shaking words out of a picture--words from their speaking vocabularies--to begin the process of building their reading and writing skills. Use the picture word inductive model (PWIM) to teach several skills simultaneously, beginning with the mechanics of forming letters to hearing and identifying the phonetic components of language, to classifying words and sentences, through forming paragraphs and stories based on observation. Built into the PWIM is the structure required to assess the needs and understandings of your students immediately, adjust the lesson in response, and to use explicit instruction and inductive activities. Individual, small-group, and large-group activities are inherent to the model and flow naturally as the teacher arranges instruction according to the 10 steps of the PWIM. Students and teachers move through the model and work on developing skills and abilities in reading, writing, listening, and comprehension as tools for thinking, learning, and sharing ideas. Note: This product listing is for the Adobe Acrobat (PDF) version of the book.

Beginning to Read reconciles the debate that has divided theorists for decades over what is the "right" way to help children learn to read. Beginning to Read reconciles the debate that has divided theorists for decades over the "right" way to help children learn to read. Drawing on a rich array of research on the nature and development of reading proficiency, Adams shows educators that they need not remain trapped in the phonics versus teaching-for-meaning dilemma. She proposes that phonics can work together with the whole language approach to teaching reading and provides an integrated treatment of the knowledge and process involved in skillful reading, the issues surrounding their acquisition, and the implications for reading instruction. A Bradford Book

Silent reading is now universally accepted as normal; indeed reading aloud to oneself may be interpreted as showing a lack of ability or understanding. Yet reading aloud was usual, indeed unavoidable, throughout antiquity and most of the middle ages. Saenger investigates the origins of the gradual separation of words within a continuous written text and the consequent development of silent reading. He then explores the spread of these practices throughout western Europe, and the eventual domination of silent reading in the late medieval period. A detailed work with substantial notes and appendices for reference.

The classic bestseller on phonics—the method that can teach children to read in six weeks. In 1955, Dr. Rudolf Flesch published Why Johnny Can’t Read, a sharp criticism of teaching methods being used in American schools—methods, he argued, that were failing children and lowering the nation’s literacy rates in comparison to other countries. He championed a return to phonics, which emphasized learning letters and their sounds rather than trying to memorize whole words and recognize them on sight. Time magazine reported that the book would “shock many a US parent and educator”—and indeed, it remained a bestseller for thirty-seven weeks and changed the way reading was taught. Today, this method of teaching is recommended by the U.S. Department of Education, and for parents who want to teach their child to read—whether in a homeschooling setting, in the preschool years, or as a supplement to classroom lessons—Why Johnny Can’t Read contains complete materials and instructions. “Forthright, clear, and persuasive.” —Language “For use by parents who will be able to help their children at home, with the primer contained in the book.” —Kirkus Reviews