Coming Soon - The Beginning Reader Toolkit

Our curriculum set includes everything you need to teach beginning readers aged 5-9, in a small group or homeschooling environment. The Beginning Reader Toolkit provides for 1 to 3 years of literacy development, depending on the pace taken with it. It’s systematic - simply start where the child is at, one word set at a time.

It’s as suitable for older dyslexic kids as it is for students just learning to read and write.  

The Beginning Reader Toolkit consists of 67 word card sets in a cabinet of drawers, a full set of 8 worksheets (each with 3 writing levels), double lined writing paper (each with 3 levels for handwriting support), a Literacy Assessment, a Basic Code Chart, a Spelling Mat, and a Teacher’s Manual. Directions are given for engaging children in all the lessons necessary to learn to read and write at a Basic Code level.

Word cards provide low pressure reading opportunities, and sorting is an activity that grows logical connections that stick. Our word sorts cultivate a sense of discovery, as children start recognizing the patterns in the words themselves. They provide the basis of student discovery of the code. 

THE WORD CARD SETS INCLUDE:

The Basic Code which teach the entire phonemic basis of the spelling code

Multisyllabic word cards: compound words, double letter words, open & closed syllables

Suffixes: -er & -est (comparative and superlative adjectives), -s & -es (plurals), -y (full of), -er (one which does), -s -es -ed -ing (tense)

Blending Cards: ‘easy blending’ cards, beginning and ending blends, CCVC & CVCC words

Code Overlap: sets of word cards which teach the multiple sounds connected with the same letter or letter teams: c g y a e i o u ow. 

Real or Nonsense: Children who guess, rather than read, need these cards to focus on decoding.

‘E’ at the End’ and ‘e transformations’ highlight the code for all 19 English spelling patterns which have the letter ‘e’ at the end of words.

‘First Letter Says Its Name’ cards teach a handy trick for dealing with 25 of the most common letter teams in our code.

‘Bed Letters Kit’ helps kids overcome letter and number reversals. It also helps them learn to segment the sounds in CVC words, differentiate the short vowel sounds, to phonemically distinguish the short and long vowel sounds, and to associate the letter ‘e’ at the end with the corresponding phonemes.  

‘Segmenting Blocks’ are manipulatives that are handy for valuable support with writing. 

‘C Letter Words’ support proper letter formation with 5 of the lowercase letters.

Sight Words are words that aren’t decodable at a beginning level, and should be memorized. This is a set of all 99 sight words.

The opposite of reading is writing - and writing is the most powerful tool of all for retaining code knowledge. Worksheets provide the practice students need to exercise their memory and really learn.

The worksheets are adaptable to all of the word card sets in the kit. They support teacher’s open use, as well as the self expression of students. 

The range of activities on the worksheets give students a variety of ways to creatively practice their code knowledge. They can be given choice, and the expectations adapted for different learners. They can do all the worksheets with each set, or they can select some and not others. It just depends on how much practice each child needs to learn.

In addition to ingraining code knowledge, the worksheets provide practice for many other learning objectives: spelling, copying, drawing, writing conventions, and much more.  

Our specially designed double lined worksheets and writing paper come in a variety of sizes, supporting the development of good handwriting. You print the version of each worksheet that’s most suitable for your student(s), from the provided pdf.

Students get in the habit of practicing both sides of literacy. After reading and sorting word cards, students engage in one of the 8 writing activities on the worksheets. In the process of completing each of them, students use a proper phonological strategy for writing: they voice the phonemes they’re writing. As students complete worksheets for each and every word card set, their brains ingrain the spelling code.  

THE WORKSHEETS:

1. Read and Write worksheets give practice writing all the words from the set they just read. They give practice with accurate copying.

2. Hear and Write worksheets facilitate deep learning of spelling patterns. They cause students to map phonemes to spelling patterns from memory.

3. Word Drawing worksheets facilitate drawing skill while practicing the spelling code.

4. Graphic Story worksheets facilitate drawing skill and visual imagination. They teach sequencing, narration, story structure, interjections, character development, and more.

5. Draw and Write worksheets open up the imagination and get storytelling juices flowing. Students like to work out their stories visually, then formulate their thoughts with writing.

6. Sentence Writing worksheets ask students use words from a set in sentences. They can think of their own, or teachers can orally dictate sentences for the child to write. Teachers can use them for teaching writing conventions, handwriting, parts of speech, sight word spelling, and much more. 

7. Word Search worksheets ask students to create their own word searches with words from a set. When complete, they switch with a classmate, and solve one another’s word search.

8. Fill-in-the-Blanks worksheets are another way for students to make up sentences which involve the words from a set. They’re great for trading with a classmate, then filling in the blanks of one another’s sentences.

Writing Paper: 3 sizes of double lined paper to support proper handwriting development

Basic Code Chart: a comprehensive chart of all of English’s spelling patterns, presented in a logical order.

Spelling Mat: This is a dynamic spelling tool. With all 3 levels of the code mapped to the Basic Code - it’s the logical phonemic basis of our spelling code.

THE TEACHER’S MANUAL INCLUDES:

1. Guidance on voicing and teaching each English phoneme.

2. An exploration of what it means to take a linguistic approach to beginning literacy, and why we do.

3. Teaching points for each set of word cards.

4. General guidance for teaching in a sound-to-print orientation, including ‘un-learning’ strategies

5. Do’s and Don’ts of early literacy instruction

6. Information about the reading sub skills: blending, segmenting, and phoneme manipulation

7. Step by step instructions for teaching each worksheet lesson

8. Ways to adapt lessons for different interests, learning speeds, and abilities.

9. Simple ways to give positive and productive error corrections

10. A discussion of the importance of handwriting instruction, and how to support proper letter formation

11. How to assess a child’s skill and relative literacy level