"It's just common sense!" Actually, it's the Blue Book Common Sense Reading Program and yes, everything about this program is common sense. A very complete program organized around quality children's literature (like all LLATL programs) and covering phonics, reading, spelling, grammar, vocabulary, handwriting, and higher-order reasoning. Phonics instruction is systematic, introducing a few sounds at a time and providing opportunities to read a "real" (small story book) book which uses those sounds. The literature component - carefully selected children's favorites - reminds students that the reason for all the hard work in phonics is the joy of reading wonderful books. And woven through both of these elements is comprehensive instruction in all aspects of language arts. Relying heavily on Ruth Beechick's principles for teaching reading (including her letter dice activities), the program includes a wide variety of activities appealing to all learning styles. The teacher's manual is a homeschooler's dream with all the work having been done for you, taking you step-by-step through the 36-week program. New skills are listed for each lesson with a materials list included at the beginning. Almost no teacher preparation is needed - you teach as you read. All answers are provided within the lesson. Higher-order thinking activities are italicized. Examples and diagrams are user-friendly including the easy-to-follow references to the Student Activity Book. Each of the four parts (readiness, short vowels, consonant blends and short vowels, and long vowels) concludes with an evaluation for determining your child's readiness for the next level. The Student Activity Book contains the materials (except for household and school supplies) needed for cut and paste, word wheels, flip books, picture sequencing, story-telling puppets, PLUS handwriting pages that teach all upper and lower case letters, numbers, and punctuation. The comfortable, natural handwriting method that isn't exactly traditional, modern, or italic was developed by the authors. This handwriting instruction is coordinated with the phonics and includes pages for children to carefully complete and display or give as gifts.
The Student Activity Book is consumable, even having an easy-release binding that allows for clean page removal. Even the back cover is put to good use providing the miniature book covers to be added to the personal reading chart that marks the child's progress. 28 separate readers cover short vowels, blends (bridge readers), and long vowels. They are small-sized for little hands and include black-and-white illustrations. Stories are engaging which is a good thing since a week's worth of learning activities are built around them. The student uses puppets to retell the stories, completes sequencing activities with a series of reader-related events, and answers comprehension questions. One interesting aspect of the teacher-student interaction concerning these readers is that the week's lesson starts off with the teacher reading the small book to the child. After several lessons thoroughly covering the new phonics steps and practice reading parts of the story, the student concludes the week with the successful reading of the small book. This is an effective variation of the typical approach because the goal of reading the book is always before the student. The materials packet is a useful collection of color-coded letter and word cards to use for learning and review along with cards used for reinforcement games and, of course, the letter dice (to be assembled from cardstock patterns). While this part of the program is not exactly consumable - you could use the various components again - the components do get a workout. If you are expecting to use the program with another child, you'll want to save these items and covering them with clear contact paper to preserve them would also be a good idea. The program includes the Teacher's Manual, the Student Activity Book, the 28 Readers, and the Materials Packet.
We sell additional Student Activity Books, Reader Sets, and Material Packets so you can use the program with a second student. Well-known children's literature (Read-Aloud Library) is suggested each week, so at the same time your child is learning phonics, he is also learning other important reading skills such as literal recall, comprehension, predicting outcome, and drawing conclusions. These books are an integral part of the program and the Student Activity Book relies on them. Although usually available at the local library, for your convenience we also sell them. They are listed in order of use. Although this program focuses on first grade skills, it would be possible to use this program with a "ready" kindergartner. It would also work well with a slightly older child who is still a just-getting-started reader. ~ Janice
The Common Sense Reading Program, the Blue Book, for first grade skills, is the perfect reading program for beginning readers. The updated third edition is even easier to use with clearer instructions and a colorized companion Student Booklet. Lessons include: phonics instruction using the "Successful Reading for Beginners" series. Your student begins reading stories right away!
- 36 weekly lessons divided into easy-to-use daily plans. Lessons require little or NO preparation! Read-aloud stories and "real books" provide a basis for language arts skills: phonics, reading, spelling, grammar, and higher order thinking skills, even handwriting included!
- The real book read-alouds for this program may be obtained through your library or purchased from bookstores or catalogs.
- A systematic phonics approach includes: short and long vowels, consonant blends, word families, and sight words.
- Handwriting instructionteaches upper and lower case letters, numbers, and punctuation! Illustrated practice sheets encourage your student to do his best.
- Games, word-wheels, flip books, and MORE hands-on projects and activities are effective for ALL types of learners.
- Assessments enable teachers to evaluate progress. Essential to the program, consumable Student Activity Books may be purchased separately.
Our first grade reading program includes a Teacher Book, a Student Activity Book, 28 readers, and a materials packet, all packaged in a convenient, attractive full-color box.
Language arts programs listed in this section cover most areas of language arts (reading/literature, writing, grammar, spelling and handwriting) in one curriculum, although some skill areas may be covered with less intensity than a focused, stand-alone course.
"It’s just common sense!" Yes, everything about this program is common sense. Offering a literature-based language arts program for Kindergarten through High School, Learning Language Arts through Literature lays a foundation with phonics and reading skills, and then builds on them with spelling, vocabulary and grammar, composition skills, and literary studies and analysis. Handwriting is also taught at the elementary levels, while Higher Order Thinking skills are woven throughout. The books are designated by colors but correlate with skills taught at specific grade levels. Since some parents are unsure of where to begin their child in the series, we have placement tests for each Learning Language Arts through Literature level available. A biblical and Christian worldview is evident in all courses. Each Course provides one year of language arts and requires a Student Workbook, Teacher Guide, and either the phonics readers and student packet in the Blue and Red Levels, or the Student Workbook, Teacher Guide, and required chapter books for Yellow-Gold levels.
A very complete program organized around quality children's literature and covering phonics, reading, spelling, grammar, vocabulary, handwriting, and higher-order reasoning. Phonics instruction is systematic, introducing a few sounds at a time and providing opportunities to read a "real" (small story book) book which uses those sounds. The literature component (carefully selected children's favorites) reminds students that the reason for all the hard work in phonics is the joy of reading wonderful books. Handwriting method is unique to the program. The Program is sold in a boxed set (Blue and Red only), and includes the Teacher Book, which provides 36 step-by-step lessons, answers, and periodic assessments (no teacher prep needed); the consumable Student Book; level-specific phonics readers, and the Materials Packet which contains cardstock manipulatives. Well-known children’s literature from the Read-Aloud Library (an integral part of the program) is suggested with each weekly lesson. These are available in a Complete Program Package with the Boxed Set as a separate purchase. A user-friendly phonics and complete language arts program, LLATL Blue and Red offer a wide range of activities that will appeal to all learning styles.
The Blue Program (K-1) covers beginning and intermediate phonics. It begins with readiness lessons, and then teaches short vowels, consonant blends and short vowels, and long vowels. Along with the phonics instruction, lessons cover vocabulary development, sequencing, comprehension skills, thinking skills, spelling, handwriting instruction using a unique “natural common sense” model, and an introduction to grammar. Three sets of practice readers are integral to the program: short vowel readers, bridge readers, and long vowel readers. Additional read aloud books are recommended from a variety of beloved children’s authors. The titles may be available at your local library. For your convenience, we offer these tiles in a separate, Read Aloud Library Package
The Blue Program Set includes Teacher Book, Student Book, three sets of Readers, and Materials Packet. Materials Packet is non-consumable and contains letter/word cards and cardstock letter dice. Components are also available separately.
Thirteen popular children’s books make up the Read-Aloud Library. These are separate from the phonics readers and are used for the literature part of the program. You can purchase them in a set with the Blue Program, purchase titles individually, or source them at your local library.
E-book versions of the Blue Program Teacher Book, the Student Book and the Materials Packet are also available. In 1-2 business days after the order is processed, the publisher will send an email with information on how to access the files. Once the email is sent, you have 14 days to download the material. Once downloaded, they never expire from the customer's computer and can be read and printed from any device.
| Product Format: | Binder |
|---|---|
| Brand: | Common Sense Press |
| Author: | Debbie Strayer |
| Grade: | 1 |
| ISBN: | 9781929683581 |
| Length in Inches: | 11.25 |
| Width in Inches: | 8.875 |
| Height in Inches: | 2.25 |
| Weight in Pounds: | 5.2 |
