Best sight reading teaching tool on the market
584131
Best sight reading teaching tool on the market, in my opinion.  I use it with my voice students ages 12-20 and each is making good progress.  Progressively difficult exercises whose organization and explanation makes good sense. The regional children's chorus with whom I work also selected it for the entire choir (independent of my recommendation).
4126831
I bought 3 of this, since I have long sighted eyes, and my two daughter are in school.  This version of dictionary is a must have for all the student.
3207792
My favorite manual teaching visual aide! The children enjoy them immensely.
1801342
I purchased my first edition of Spectrum Word Study and Phonics in the early 90's. I used it for my oldest who was in Public School at that time. I can't say enough about this workbook. I began by purchasing the 2nd grade edition which covers all the K-2nd grade phonics rules. It was helpful in skipping ahead and having fluent early readers. I still try to purchase the older editions if possible because they are more comprehensive in material because we homeschool now. The newer editions are shorter in lessons and would be great to supplement their reading over the summer breaks.

If your child is eager to learn to read, buy this workbook. You can make flash cards of the phonic's sounds with examples and teach phonics very quickly and create Spelling tests (in the early years) that will reinforce what they are studying.
3602520
Bob books are the best. The only thing that I've done wrong, it not buying the entire set at once and save some money. My 5 year old that had Pre-K training was able to learn and master his sight words from these books. The satisfaction that a child receives from being able to read on their own is amazing. He loves the books, especially the variety. I would recommend to anyone. I am going to end up buying the whole series.
3454873
As a licensed cognitive brain trainer, special/general educator and mom of a child with special needs, these cards work very well to strengthen your child's ability to process visually.  I use these cards with all my students who have weak visual skills.  I start off by assessing their underlying cognitive skill set and when the results indicate weak visual system then I know these cards will be added to their personalized and individualized brain training program along with cognitive strategies to integrate their skills back into the classroom/home.  There is a BOX A that goes with this product that you can purchase separately.  I recommend using Box A first then moving to Box B.  There are 100 cards in the box and I recommend to parents to work with their child for about 10 min. a day on the cards within their program.  How quickly you get through the cards depends on your child.
2970745
We have a lot of the ThinkFun games and we love every one of them, but the sight word Zingo! just might be my favorite. I home school my kids and my boys ages 6 and 4 love to play games...but don't love to read as much as my girl does. This game has been huge in helping both of them recognize sight words not only in the game but in reading their books as well. They are much more willing to read when they don't get frustrated over these words that don't "sound out" like other words. The game can be played together at both of their skill levels, so that makes it really nice. I also love that they can play it independently without my help and supervision when I need to be working with their older sister or taking care of the baby. I know that they are learning and having fun at the same time and as a mom, that is huge! I would recommend this game to anyone with a preschooler through second or third grade. Especially those that have a frustrated reader or two like myself!
4546605
I must have enough material in my house to open a small kindergarten - after despairing that my daughter refused to learn the alphabet and read. I tried every kind of material from videos to audio tapes to books to bingo to card games you name it I tried it. Finally a bit of bribing to sit down with me ten minutes a day and the READING LESSON. I got 5 and a half year old daughter reading basic sentences with confidence in two months. We did the first five chapters in 8 weeks and since then it is smooth sailing. I can't reccomend it enough. It will be the best investment you will ever make if you want your child to read.
1231126
Apologies for the caps on; this is how Sidney emphasizes the sound symbols, I'm not shouting .

I've tried a few other programs because our son is begging us to teach him to read.  While I still like the Preschool Prep series (and perhaps his familiarity with sound symbols/phonics aided with his quick understanding of this new program) this book is now by far my go to resource.

In day one we focused on UP, then my son wanted to do "ON" (a word he knew from preschool prep); he figured to combine them to make UPON. He "got" the concept and came up with CUP, PUP then LOG, DOG
And I think 2 more.  I've overheard him sounding out other 1-2 syllable words throughout this week after starting.

I think my main 2 reasons for liking this book are:

Very fun, and it works.

I am able to stay at home with him but I still limit it to just 30 minutes 4 times a week to keep him interested.

This book makes it easy to follow for single moms/working parents/ babysitters etc.

I particularly like the emphasis on capital letters and lack of picture cues to reduce guessing (the guessing trap is something that my son easily falls into when going through the Preschool Prep books as well as the Bob books).

Truthfully I've not finished reading the book bc my son is straddling the preschool / Kinder grade level.

The only drawbacks I see so far;

My son wants to do the sound symbols in alphabetical order, so he tries to get ahead of the lessons and because he's gone through other "pre reading" programs there is a slight amount of un-learning to do.

It's easy to get ahead of the lessons (skipping to different sounds, Long vowel sounds etc) if you have a particularly eager kid; resist these urges.

Perhaps in school age children this is ok, I've not read past the Kinder sections.

I understand that English is complicated and our phonics rule exceptions are both wacky and numerous. For this reason the memorization of sight words is important.  I think that this sound symbol method is important as well and I'm still trying to decide if 1) phonics 1st or 2) sight words 1st or 3) doing them simultaneously is more effective. Sidney has views on this but I kind of think it varies by child.
3325676
I really like this product and my children were very eager to try it out! As a mother and an elementary school teacher, I am always on the lookout for great ways to enhance learning and keep it fun and engaging!  The Quiz Shark was very easy to set up and understand.  It uses either C batteries or an AC adaptor (not included).  I had an AC adaptor that worked on it, so that was a great bonus!!  I loaded the provided CD ROM (Card Maker software) into my computer and easily followed the prompts to create my first test.  I love that you have mulitiple options on how you can set up the questions and the responses (multiple choice with 3 or 4 choices, or True/False)  I had my 7 year old create a quiz to see how well his siblings know him.  He was able to create his own quiz and we printed it out and had the whole family see who knew "Sam" best!  The Quiz Shark also allows you to choose the size and style of the test font and you have the choice to add graphics to the quizzes as well.  You do not even need to use a computer because you can also hand write quizzes.
I see this as a valuable tool in the classroom as well.  It is so easy to create a quiz for any subject or topic in a matter of minutes!  The format is a great way to practice and review for tests.  Children are given instant feedback as to whether or not they answered correctly (A HUGE PLUS!) It is a great way to motivate students to read and check their reading comprehension skills with immediate feedback.  Children can also create their own tests to show learning as well!  It is a great independent learning center and it also keeps score!  The quiz maker software can also be used to create tests that can be copied for the whole class.
I highly recommend this product and look forward to finding new ways to incorporate it into my classroom and at home.
This would make a great gift for for a teacher, parent, or a child!
3371714
On lesson 88 now with my 5 1/2 year old son, and so am ready to write a review.

My son has been in very progressive environments since starting nursery school.  While I am whole hardheartedly for this, it also meant that he was never "taught" to read.  I don't think reading by age 5 is necessary.  Maybe by 6-7.  But, I understand the pressures, and have experienced it myself: When he entered a new kindergarten as a young 5 year old (at a very progressive school), they were concerned that he couldn't sight read letters, let alone sight read some simple words. So I got this for him, figuring it was a low cost (if slightly high effort, see below) solution that was worth a try, and probably couldn't hurt.  I am so amazed at the results, that I now recommend it to all my friends.

The book does take dedication.  Doing it EVERY night, no matter what, is really important.  Finding the right time to do it, for your child, is also very important, so that it becomes part of the routine.

Here is why this book is amazing, from multiple perspectives:

First, this (phonics) is the appropriate way for children to learn to read.  Not to sight read, or memorize, or regurgitate, or copy or guess based on pictures mindlessly, like they do in so many classrooms.  But to actually read and sound out.  My son can now sound out almost any word he comes across in his kindergarten classroom, even novel words.

Second, it uses --intentionally or not-- tried and true, empirically robust psychological principles of learning.  Spacing (of new concepts/letters/words), and generation.

Third, each lesson is just long enough time to make it challenging, but not to make it overly frustrating/too hard/over the top.  We do it after dinner each night, and my son still has enough time to play for a bit once he's done.

Fourth, the stories are semi-quirky.  If the kid pays attention, they may notice this, and it will make them more engaged.  This is especially true at the end of the book.  Eg, story 87 is called "The eagle meets a beagle -- part 1" but the whole story is about the beagle.  My son said, "wait, but where's the eagle?"  Then he flipped to the next story (I let him peak) to find out.

Fifth, and maybe I shouldn't say this, but the author is very responsive.  I emailed her with a question, and incredibly, she answered within a day.

Thank you so much for this book!
1255684
This tracing book is a fantastic teaching tool.
It is really well developed for both kids or grown ups who never got the opportunity how to learn to read.
It was made in an extremely detailed and friendly way, with nice figures spread all over it that would make a child want to learn more.
The quality/price ratio of this product is definitely a 'Must Buy'.
2291331
This book describes a sight-word approach for the beginner reader that is so appropriate for those students who are very literal and/or have difficulty with sounding out words. I am using it as the basis for literacy training workshops for parents and tutors of individuals with Down syndrome.
810266
As an early childhood educator, I really like the simplicity of the program and how it progresses so that the child can build upon what they already learn. Sight words are given 3 at a time and child will master it very fast. Highly recommend.
2658275
This flipchart is an incredible learning tool. My 4 year old son wanted nothing to do with the alphabet before we were introduced to this.  He's now beginning to read less than a year later.  My 2 year old daughter picked up on the sounds of the letters while I was teaching the older child.  She loves this book.  It's her favorite of any we have.  She amazingly knows all her sounds and comments quite often, that's a b...or a c...while we're out in public.  Many people have stopped us to ask how she knows her letters.  It's much more than AMAZING.  It's a great find and a great education tool.
2392611
I think this book is a great way to encourage learning sight words. I did feel like it moves kind of fast, so it is probably best for kids to whom sight words have already been introduced and need more review than kids who are being introduced to them for the first time (the Star Wars kindergarten workbook with sight words would be a great one to do before this book, then move to this one!). My son likes the variety of activities and the practice writing is great for him too!
I got this workbook and several other spectrum workbooks to review on my blog.
I was not required or even asked to review them on Amazon as part of that agreement and just chose to do so anyway!
4370023
This is a hidden gem! If you want to follow a literature based approach to reading, or want to follow Charlotte Mason's methods for teaching reading, if you want your child's first "readers" to be famous poetry, nursery rhymes, fairy tales, and fables rather than "Matt sat. Sam sat." this is the guide for you. Easy to use and clear. I also kept "Teach Your Child to Read With Children's Books" by Thogmartin on hand alongside as a reference.