Teaching to Read

Beyond the Code Book 3 uses engagingly illustrated stories such as: Kids Need Pets, What’s the Fuss?, Day Care for Dogs, A Fish That Can Fly!, and Kate and the Ten-Speed Bike. Introductory exercises teach word families and vocabulary, while follow-up questions develop students’ understanding of the stories and encourage their reasoning abilities. Drawings accompany many of the new words to help students understand the vocabulary. After each story, students can complete illustrations by adding their own drawings. 

First Language Lessons, written by Jessie Wise (co-author of The Well Trained Mind), is essentially a day-by-day, word-for-word, activity-by-activity script for the parents. It contains everything you need for 1st grade: memory work, stories, copy and dictation work, narration, and grammar. It even contains reminders to praise and encourage your child! 

First Language Lessons 4 uses classical techniques of memorization, dictation, and narration to develop your child's language ability in the important, foundational years of language study. The text covers a full range of grammar topics, including parts of speech, punctuation, sentence diagrams, and skills in beginning writing and storytelling. Optional end units provide practice in dictionary use a letter writing.