Roseanne Hagen

I am writing this letter to let you know how pleased I am with your Reading Horizons program. I was first introduced to the program when I was completing my teaching degree at Northern Arizona University five years ago. But it wasn’t until the following year when I actually began utilizing it in my reading program. That’s when I realized how beneficial it was to my students' reading success.

My first-grade students are now very confident readers. They know (that) when they come across an unknown word they can use the skills they’ve learned to decode words. I spend 20 minutes each day teaching new skills and allowing time for my students to demonstrate what they’ve learned thus far. They are so confident in their abilities that they often challenge me to give them a “hard” word: “You know, Mrs. Hagen, one with a three-letter blend and a Digraph, such as the word splash.” They are quite amazing first graders! It’s great to listen to them read with such confidence, and I credit that to your Reading Horizons program. It has been an essential part of my reading curriculum, which has proven to be beneficial toward a primary level reading curriculum without the Reading Horizons component.

Thank you for offering such an outstanding program. Students will reap the benefits for many years to come.

Grade Level: Elementary