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Nov. 22, 2008
Rime to Read
Rime to Read is a phonics program for beginning readers. It was developed by a team of three women: a Learning Specialist (Ph.D), a Reading Teacher (M.S.) and an illustrator. The program consists of 20 short books covering simple consonant-vowel-consonant (c-v-c) words with short vowel sounds. In addition, the program introduces 35 sight words. Each of the short vowel sounds has a set of four books, each containing a different word-family or rime. (Yes, rime is actually a word. Rimes are words that not only have endings that sound alike, but also look alike.) Each book focuses on one group of rimes. The first one is the -at family in the book Pat. This is followed by -an in Dan, -ad in Dad, and -am in Pam and Sam. These books are available on-line and can be fully utilized on-line, but they can also be printed. The on-line version has an audio function that allows the young reader to hear many of these words pronounced.
Rime to Read is an incremental program with each book building on the previous one. Because of this feature, the books must be read in order. Each left hand page introduces a word and reviews all the previous words in the group. The right hand page has the text of the story. A unique feature of the program is that the rimes are presented in different, but related colors. All the a rimes are different shades of blue, the e rimes are shades of red, the i rimes are shades of green, etc.
 
From Sid pp.14-15
On the above sample pages you can see how the left hand page has a list of the rimes that have been introduced up to this point in the book. This right hand page demonstrates the variety of colors used for the rimes, how various words are reviewed as part of the story, and how the new sight words are introduced in a box at the top of the page. The other sight words (the, is, in, with, and not) were already introduced in previous books.
The opportunity to review this product came at an ideal time for me. My third child, a 6-1/2 year old boy, is currently learning to read. Maybe I should say that I have been trying to teach him to read. I had used Alpha Phonics and Phonics Pathways for reading instruction with my older two children, but neither of these programs was working for my little guy. I couldn't get through a page of either of these books with him. I couldn't even get him to look at the words most of the time. I purchased Happy Phonics hoping that the games would capture his interest and allow me to get him to focus on the words to read. He definitely showed some progress in his ability to pay attention, but he got stuck in the blending phase. From my previous experience and from reading the experiences of others, I believe that blending is a skill that has to "click" for a child. And frankly, it wasn't clicking for him yet. So I was trying, often unsuccessfully, to keep exposing him to blending c-v-c words in a low-key, non-stressful way.
It was at this point that I received Rime to Read. I really love the way it starts with a single word and then adds riming words. This is similar to Alpha Phonics, but there are not nearly as many words on the page in Rime to Read. However, the defining difference that sets this program apart is the integration of a story, complete with illustrations. The student doesn't just read columns of words with the occasional irrelevant sentence thrown in at random. This program catches the student's interest immediately because there is a story to read from the beginning. Another benefit of this program is the ability to read the books on the computer. I have my son read each story on the computer for the first reading. I find it very convenient to use the mouse to point to the words for him. The computer allows the process to be more interactive for the reader as well. I also print each of the books for later reading. Using this program is transforming the process of learning to read from a drudgery to a joy. My son voluntarily read Pat to his grandfather! That was a huge achievement!
The full program (all 20 books) costs $44.99 or the books are available in sets of 4 for $9.99 per set. You can also read the first book for FREE. The cost of this program is a one-time fee; it is NOT a subscription. So it is non-consumable and can be used again with younger children. I am looking forward to using these books again when my youngest daughter is old enough to read!
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Nov. 24, 2008 - Untitled Comment