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ABeCeDarian Company offers a reading program for new readers (Kindergarten or early 1st grade) up to 6th grade. It is divided into 4 levels: Level A for students reading at kindergarten through mid-1st grade level, Level B for students reading at mid-1st grade through 2nd grade level, Level C for students reading at 3rd and 4th grade level, and Level D for students reading at 5th and 6th grade level. So for our review we have been using Student Workbook A1, Teacher Manual A1, and Set of 10 Storybooks once we got to Unit 4 in the Workbook. The Lesson A-1 workbook is divided into lessons as well as Units. At the end of each Unit we review everything learned up to that point. Each lesson is made up of 3-4 activities and we are currently doing one lesson per day.
At first when we started, Mary had a very hard time focusing because there aren't a lot of pictures, but that's because this is teaching kids to read! And that actually made her mad! But after doing a few of the first pages, I saw her able to actually read the words even when they were switched in order. After that, I was very impressed! Plus, she's retaining her information from each day and learning quickly too which makes me believe this system really does work.
The Teacher Manual offers a step by step guide on how to conduct each lesson. I was very impressed by the detail! It not only breaks down each activity but also includes what you should say out loud and what to do when a mistake was made. Nothing is left to guess work which is very helpful to me. Like I said, I have a hard time with planning lessons and then actually remembering so a written dialogue is amazing for me.
ABeCeDarian definitely takes a unique approach to learning to read. Instead of using letters as we traditionally know them we jumped right into recognizing letters by their common sounds. I'm completely in love with the entire system and I think it's perfect for Mary since she's had a hard time learning other ways of reading in the past.
ABeCeDarian Teacher Manual A1 costs $28.50, and the student workbook costs $12.25. The storybook collection is a set of 10 softcover readers and costs $21.50. For more great reviews from the Schoolhouse Review Crew (including reviews of the other levels) click on the button below!
CONVERSATION