Level 15
Grade Level 1.5

Illustrated by
Jennifer K. Mulcahy

New to our Online Books?  Then please read below,
otherwise, click picture above to begin the story.

Important strategies that must be used by the adult when reading with the child:

1)  Use your mouse to serve as an excellent pointer
to guide the child's eyes to the appropriate area.

2) Understand that there are two main errors a child can make when reading the book words.

A)  Says the word incorrectly (hop instead of hot)

B)  Doesn't even attempt the word ("I don't know what the word is....")

If your student did say a word but said it incorrectly ("hop" instead of "hot")
please - do not tell them the correct word immediately.
The key is to make them look at where they made the error:

If they said "hop" instead of "hot" you would then ask the child -
What sound does this letter make - and use your mouse pointer to point
at the letter "t" in the word "hot."  The child will say "tuh" at which point you would ask -
then if "t" says "tuh" what is this word again? (Pointing at the word "hot").
9 times out of 10 the child will now say the word correctly.

In "Whole Language" reading programs teachers are told at this point
not to even mention phonics clues, but rather, to ask the child to
look at the picture for clues or to ask the child to analyze their
sentence to see if it makes sense.  Although this type of whole language
approach may have its place with higher functioning readers, it will cause
serious frustration and delays in progress for the majority of Grade 1 children. 

Now what about if the child says he/she doesn't know the word and
won't guess at it.

Do the "Stop at the Vowel Sound" strategy.

A) Ask the child to say the sound of the color letters only (which is the vowel sound) 
B)  Then, have them make the sound of all the letters blended together up to the color letters
C)  Then attempt to say the entire word

Try this a couple times and if the child is still unable to say the word correctly then

For example, if the actual word is "will"

Then say to the child - "Is this the word will or win?

If the child has difficulty with one of the words that does not have a colored vowel sound -
such as our "Words of the Day" words, you can also use this same
"Recognition Memory" Trick and give 2 choices for the word.

By giving the child 2 choices it makes it easier for the child to analyze
the sounds and make the proper guess.

One last point.  Some sentences in the following online story may sound somewhat awkward.
This is because the story was written using a very limited vocabulary
to minimize frustration.   Also, we've repeated some difficult words many times over
to provide the increased repetition and exposure needed to achieve memorization.
So, when some of the sentences sound a bit unusual when reading,
please don't be too critical and remember the underlying reason. 

Thank you - Richard Pressinger (tampareads.com)

OK - Let's Get Reading