The pages above are from the fourth and ninth of the retold tales. These tales are useful for children who need large type (26 point) and plenty of white space between the lines but who also need the kind of interesting, age-neutral stories that are too often found in books with small print and long words. The nine stories are in separate folders (235 pages in all) and range from roughly second-grade to roughly third-grade level. They serve as either supplement or detour for children in grades two through five who have progressed beyond the primer level.
For tutors and home-schooling parents, these books can supplement the books that a child is already reading, giving your pupil a breather from a reading vocabulary that expands too rapidly or print that is too small; or they can make a detour around books that are too hard or too boring to hold a child's attention. Meanwhile they are coordinated with games that systematically build reading vocabulary.
37 Color-Matching Gamesand the Two-Sided Cards are listed at the bottom of this page. They are part of the Color Code materials. The Color-Matching Games contain all the nonphonetic and two-syllable words in the stories. The Two-Sided Cards have the same words as the games. Each of these cards lists the game number for its word and is used for pre-testing and also for practicing the words in both color and black.
Poor comprehension can result from lack of fluency. Lack of fluency, in turn, can come from reading a book with too many unfamiliar words, from snow-plowing through words that should have been sounded out ahead of time. Since you can prepare all the words before starting each of these stories, your pupil can read it fluently enough to understand it and enjoy it.
Because of the color games, good story-telling words like window and heart and island can be introduced earlier than usual in the learning sequence without violating a pupil's systematic approach to decoding. This way children can use the color games for training wheels, then kick away the wheels by switching the word-cards to the black side. Once they have kicked away the wheels, they are ready to concentrate on the story.
These old stories are interesting and eventful. They have stood the test of time because they hang together and because the events flow out of each other in a way that helps children remember what happened and predict what will happen next.
Some--not all--children do well with phonetic books, but there is a body of basic nonphonetic words that are essential for reading anything beyond the simplest phonetic books. If these nonphonetic words are buried in a rapidly multiplying vocabulary of phonetic words, they don't get the careful treatment they deserve. These tales have a natural story-telling vocabulary that grows gradually enough to allow a child to become fluent with those basic words that form the skeleton of everything we read.
I have found that having a non-look-alike vocabulary that grows gradually and avoiding an overdose of consonant-blend words can foster fluency and the comprehension that comes from fluent reading--provided that the words are carefully prepared ahead of time.
Children who have problems with the visual side of reading, who are confused by small print and tightly packed text, can find that reading isn't so hard after all when their stories are printed in 26 point type, with space between the lines. If they are second graders or older, they need real stories, not babyish, large-print beginner books.
Children who have trouble with visual tracking often do well if you point to the words as they read orally. The pointing keeps their eyes moving smoothly, and the oral reading allows eye, ear, and speech to work simultaneously for mutual feedback.
NINE RETOLD TALES...........................................................................................$20.00
A placement test for the one-syllable phonetic words is included
37 COLOR-MATCHING GAMES (333 words)........................................................20.00
For the non-phonetic and two-syllable words in the nine stories
TWO-SIDED CARDS................................................................................................20.00
All the words that are in the Color-Matching Games
One side is in color, and the other side is in black.
For pre-testing the words. (ALWAYS pre-test in black.)
Also for transferring to black by practicing in both color and black
76 SLIDING CARD PAGES.............. .....................................................................10.00
These pages use the spelling-with-clues approach.
They are for the phonetic words in the Nine Tales.
Some children won't need them. Use the placement test.
Three-letter words are not included.
If three-letter words are a problem, postpone these stories
Manual and shipping are included Check or money order
Ann Turner, 211 Mountainside Road, Mendham, NJ 07945
The king was still having
his dinner. When he saw the
river coming at him, he had
to hop out of his chair and
out of the room.
The river still came after
him, so the king had to jump
out the window to get away.
"There is a lake far, far
from here," said the giant. "In
the middle of the lake is an
island. On the island is a church.
Next to the church is a well. In
the well is a duck. In the duck
is an egg. And my heart is safe
inside the egg."
