Volume 2, Issue 4
Over the course of the last four months, Columbus Public Schools has been in the process of incorporating the Reading Horizons low level literacy courseware into its curriculum, especially as it relates to English as a Second Language learners. The courseware has been purchased for 27 middle and high schools in the greater Columbus area. The primary impetus behind the adoption is the relocation of 30,000 families that are native to Somalia. This massive influx of ESL students prompted a search for educational courseware that would help the students learn to read, write, and spell in English. This is especially difficult in light of the fact that many of the students have difficulty reading their native tongue, which was made official in 1972. Many of the students have never attended any sort of formal schooling.
Reading Horizons was chosen for its ability to provide a firm reading foundation. Focusing on the 42 sounds of the alphabet and helping students internalize those sounds is a crucial step in language acquisition. The state of Ohio proficiency test requires specified levels of reading ability before students are allowed to graduate from high school. Students who are learning English as their second language are not exempt. The individualized approach employed by Reading Horizons will allow students to work at their own pace and to repeat lesson material until they master the skills that are taught. ESL students who move in during their high school years will find the Reading Horizons program to be especially helpful as they have less time to prepare for graduation. In 40-60 hours, they will learn the skills necessary to read and decode high school level words. The courseware will be made available in individual classrooms as well as labs throughout the schools. Please watch for status reports on the progress of the students in Columbus in subsequent newsletters.
Did you know that we offer Teacher Workshops? HEC offers a 7-hour teacher in-service for up to 25 teachers. If you only have a few teachers who are interested, give us a call to see if we are conducting any in your area. (800) 333-0054
HEC is now able to offer classroom\training materials separate from the Teacher’s Kit. Call us for more information.
Report says 90% of school age kids have computer access. Nine in ten children from ages 6-17 had access to a computer in 2000, with four in five using a computer at school and two in three using one at home, according to a report from the Commerce Dept.’s Census Bureau. The report says schools have “leveled the playing field” by giving computer access to children without computer access in their homes. In addition, Home Computers and Internet Use in the United States; August 2000, finds computer use at school was more nearly equal across various income, race or ethnic groups than was the access at home.
Info: Report available, http://www.census.gov/prod/2001pubs/p23-207.pdf
We are considering the possibility of offering Discover Intensive Phonics for Yourself training via our web site. We are interested in ascertaining the interest of our users in such an opportunity. If web- based training were available, would you use it? Would it be more helpful to have an entire workshop on the web or a question and answer page (or both)? Any other ideas or feedback that you can give us would be helpful. Please e-mail your responses to info@readinghorizons.com
I can’t thank you enough for this opportunity. I had previously thought highly of the Orton-Gillingham phonics, but I think more highly of this. *Ryan had plateaued using the Orton-Gillingham phonics and this program was able to not only take him farther than short vowels and blends, but it motivated him and allowed him to experience success very quickly.
Ryan progressed from Lesson 14 to Lesson 23 during the month of May. He continued to be very interested, motivated, and willing to expend the effort necessary for a severe dyslexic to learn reading and writing. Once again, this program is the reason he stayed so motivated. He quickly learned and applied the short and long vowel rules as instructed here. We saw carryover into all his classes. He began writing answers to assignments on his own (this was never demonstrated before) and although the spelling wasn’t always accurate, for the first time, he could actually communicate to others in writing what he wanted to say. He completed two of the Interim tests. He scored 97% on the first test and 93% on the second one. He was very pleased with these results, and if you compare these with his pretest, where his reading level was less than a first grade level, he made fantastic progress with the short amount of time we were able to use this program. The best parts of this program were how motivated Ryan was, how he was actively engaged in the learning, and how quickly he could experience success.
Contributed by Donna Wood Sioux City, IA
*Name of student has been changed
Leslie Johnson is a tutor in Concord, Massachusetts. She works with individuals who are developmentally disabled. This past summer, Leslie worked very closely with a 33-year-old man named *Fred. At the beginning of the summer, Fred only knew the alphabet. He could not read or write. Leslie helped Fred get started on the Reading Horizons courseware. Even with his learning disability, Fred was able to read and write words up to eight letters long after only three months. Before starting the program, Fred had a wish. He said, “I want to be able to read letters and cards people send me.” That wish has now become reality. Leslie believes that the methods really helped Fred. After he completed the courseware, Leslie commented, “It was a joy to see him learn and grow....He felt very happy with his newfound self-empowerment.” Congratulations, Fred. Good luck in the future.
*Name has been changed.
I was facing Home Schooling for the first time, with a very active little boy as the student. Without any teaching experience, I was wondering how I would manage teaching him to read.
A friend of mine, who had tried several different phonics curriculums, recommended a phonics curriculum she had enjoyed, called Discover Intensive Phonics for Yourself. I purchased the curriculum, and right from the beginning, I enjoyed the way it approached teaching reading. The student is able to begin reading as soon as they have mastered the first four letters and a vowel. As we progressed, I would read to my son, Mark, stopping and having him sound out and read the words he had learned to that point.
We are currently into our second year with the Intensive Phonics curriculum, and Mark is progressing at an above average rate. Mark loves reading books with us, and I find him trying to read words on everyday things by himself.
I am very pleased with the curriculum and would highly recommend it to anyone looking for an easy-to-use reading curriculum.
—Tammy Wreford
Did you know that there are hundreds of private, community and corporate foundations around the country just waiting to give grant money to the right facility? Locate the money that is out there waiting for you. Visit our web site for state-specific grants.
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To Whom It May Concern,
I have had the opportunity of teaching Discover Intensive Phonics for Yourself in my first grade class for six years and in a fifth grade class for two years. It is a wonderful phonics program that benefits every age group and reading ability, when properly taught and administered.
I found that the greatest benefit to the program is the opportunity for every child to work on individual chalkboards, no matter what level of reading or ability that they had. I would purposely place a high child, that understood the given phonics concept, along side of a child who was unsure of themself and needed some extra help. I always encouraged my students to use their neighbor if they were not sure of the sound or the word. When their self-confidence increased, almost 90 to 95% of my class would be able to do their own work and not need to look off their neighbor’s chalkboard to get the answer. I feel this high percentage is best accomplished by not grouping the children or pulling them out of the class in groups of high, medium or low achievers, and trying to teach to a select group. My eight years of experience has proven that teaching to the whole classroom and making observations and necessary moves of certain children would benefit everyone.
When a low child was struggling with any concept or a new child moved into the classroom, I immediately placed that child by one of my faster, sharper students. Within a few weeks, the child who struggled would be able to pick up the needed concept and depend less and less on their neighbor for help. On the other hand, it was always helpful to the higher student to be asked to work with another student who was struggling in phonics. This would teach them a sense of empathy, caring for others, and, amazingly, helped the higher student take their time and perform even better work with their handwriting and letter formations. The higher student needed to slow down and write neater for his new neighbor to see the work and begin picking up a newly acquired phonics skill.
After many weeks of observing my classroom children, I would eventually see one to three children who were not trying to do their work on their own, and became too dependent on their neighbor. My solution was to place those two or three students right by each other and allow them to look off each others work for awhile. Surprisingly, one of them realizes that they are forced to think and do their own work, which they began doing. After a few days, I move that student out of the little group, back where they used to work and allow the two children left to continue to use each other until one of them becomes the stronger one who doesn’t need to depend on their neighbor. I finally spend more time working with the last child who still depends too heavily on others. Again, this works because I have access to the whole class instead of splintering off various groups because of their ability. I use this threesome grouping for the purpose of teaching a child independence and not because they are three low students.
Discover Intensive Phonics for Yourself has benefited thousands of children in our district and I strongly feel it is because we do not group children by their ability, but teach to the whole class, monitor their progress instantly, and adjust teaching on a daily basis to help each child.
Sincerely, Ed Schollenberger Principal
I would very highly recommend this program for anyone that is having difficulty with reading. It works very well with older students as they can work at their own pace and not have to read items that do not hold their interest due to a low reading level. It is easy for younger students to understand, but not too elementary for older students.
Janice M. Coates Custer School District
Reading is a basic tool in the living of a good life.
— Mortimer J. Adler