Last week I introduced a kindergarten student that I work with, with one of my favorite beginner reader reading programs is SRA's Reading Mastery. It's a scripted program that teaches basic decoding and comprehension skills. I love how this program gives students that strong foundation in phonics that they all need to be great readers. It works with the idea that students need to be able to segment and then blend words. The words they are learning to read are taught to be read fluently and spell them. Items are taught orally first with tons of practices--errorless practice that some many students need. This errorless practice has helped to hear the sounds in words and reblend them to the original word. A skill that he was having trouble mastering.

Yes, its decodable.  Since this will not replace the students core guided reading program, I'm not to worried about that. But decodable text has a place and at some point in time he will get both from me. Authentic text has its place and for this student it will help to expand his vocabulary and language use in ways that decodable text cannot. Decodable text is great to ensure students understand how to segment and blend words but if it's used all the time than students don't learn to master other reading strategies that great readers use when they are reading.

The ideas and concepts behind Reading Mastery can be used as word study for students in DRAs 1-3 or Fountas and Pinnells A-C. As students learn sounds, rhyming words, and spelling.

RM 1 Review Game