Reading Horizons Review: Carol Beaumont

One of my 5th grade students has been working so hard for many years to master the complex skill of reading. What comes so easily to many kids has been built for him sound by sound, syllable by syllable, word by word. He is a very bright student who has a wealth of world knowledge that he gained from listening to anyone and everything. We were so reluctant to send him on to middle school without strengthening his reading skills a little more. Our district offered Reading Horizons training as one more way to reach this student. Although we have used Orton-Gillingham-based instructional programs for a long time, Reading Horizons provided just the right additional elements of kid-friendliness and creative instructional strategies. Although I was very skeptical of the marking system Reading Horizons uses, this student took to it right away and became a marking machine in no time. He still needs prompting to use those marks to read words accurately, but because they stay put, unlike the auditory or tactile input, we can refer to them as often as necessary. The most empowering part of the program for this student has been the Little Books. They are so carefully written that they are readily decodable. The themes are interesting and even at the lowest reading levels, the books are engaging to upper grade elementary students.

***The review (above) is based on the award-winning Reading Horizons elementary reading curriculum. Reading Horizons also has a full range of reading curriculum in its lineup including a reading intervention program, and an ELL reading program. ***

Grade Level: Elementary