Choosing the right Reading Program for your School or your child – A good reading programme requires a combination of sight words and phonics.

Reading in groups

 Reading is a complex task dependent on many different elements.

It is very important to choose the right reading programme when beginning to read.

·       Firstly, a good reading program will be backed by years of solid research or experience that shows what works for children and what doesn’t.

·       Secondly, the reading program must provide clear and in-depth Teacher guidance and resources to back it up.

·       Lastly, the correct reading material needs to be available for the students.

In the world of literacy, the idea of learning words by sight has been highly debated for a few decades as the literacy pendulum has swung back and forth between phonics and sight words. I believe, based on reading research and my experience, that children need both sight words and phonics as they are learning to read and write.

Sight words and phonics do not have to be at opposing ends of the spectrum.

They actually have more in common than you might think.

A good reading programme requires teaching Sight Words and Phonics Together:

·       The two most common sight word lists available are the Dolch Word List and Fry’s Word List. And believe it or not, the majority of the high frequency words on those lists fit nicely with beginning phonics patterns and rules.

·       Seventy to seventy five percent of what a child reads are sight words. 

Many of these words can be spelt out or segmented using phoneme mapping For example, th-i-n-k.

It is important to weave phonics into all reading.

·       Learning sight words can significantly enhance reading speed and fluency.

·       Remember that students usually learn sight words ‘in context’, this helps them to read for meaning. It also helps build their comprehension skills and gets them excited about learning to read. 

What is important is that you look at each individual little reader and adapt accordingly so that the child learns to read.

Is CLIMB INTO READING the right reading programme for your school?

 I wrote this reading program, based on my 30+ years of experience teaching young children to read. I would love to help other teachers and parents to learn how to teach reading. 

Climb into reading is an’ Integrated’ Reading programme that combines the learning of sight words and phonics. It also encourages guided reading in small groups to ensure that no child is getting left behind.

Each ABI and KUMO book comes with Free resources to enhance the reading experience.

It helps them to read with confidence and great success.

Visit our website www.climbintoreading.com and give your child/children a head start in learning to read.