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I am a teacher and have recommended these books to any of the Kindergarten teachers I run into. She just wanted to read the books she had memorized. Our daughter was ready to read but anytime we asked her to tell us what a word was she would shut down. Yesterday, my daughter asked to take one of the books to her preschool class and she sat in the teacher's chair and read to the class. We gave the entire Bob books set for Christmas and she won't put them down. Because the books do such a good job of introducing only a few sounds at a time she is able to read most of the next book in the set she has never seen before on the first try so she feels great success. These books were better than I imagined for turning my reluctant reader into a ready reader. Thanks.
I agree with M.Beyer "mom of two" regarding the boredom factor of these books. He even helped me cut the paper strips for the chain. Apparently Ms. She's in first grade, but these BOB BOOKS looked like they may have some benefit for extra practice in the later sets, according to their titles, and that they might reinforce her school reading. In the spring, the king sang a ringing song.
But one day a funny thing made the little train stop. Then, upon closer inspection, I realized it was very misleading, and didn't concentrate on that at all. (LOTS OF CONSONANT BLENDS, NOT LONG VOWELS). All of their titles are misleading. I'm not saying that HOOKED ON PHONICS can do all that, but it certainly did get him over that hump of resistance to learing to read.
The characters are creative and likeable. There is also a large book for exercises to be sure he has mastered one step BEFORE moving on to the next step. The back of the box describes the author and illustrator: Master Teacher Bobby Lynn Maslen taught kndergarten for 13 years (is she "Bob" perhaps). That little boy, now eight yrs old, in third grade, just got his first official "report card".straight "A"s. I only bought sets 3, 4, and 5 for my six-yr old granddaugher. I feel compelled to share what I've seen in this series with parents who may start on this journey into Bob Books (for the sake of their children).
That was an amazing program. I think I only saw three instances of a real long vowel with a silent "e" on the end--besides characters names James, Jake, Kate, and Bud (yeah, I said "Bud") - yet they titled this box of books LONG VOWELS. I think everyone should be warned about SET 4, that is called "Compound Words.". "O.K., Chicken big." she said. It's too bad he decided not to do any watercolor illustrations like so many other children's books use, especialy since he's so talented in it. "Who will get the little chair", said Chicken Big.
What can a kid do without reading. Chicken Little ran to her friend. It was very clear on the order in which to present the material, and how to introduce each new step to the child, from mastering the recognition of the SOUNDS of each letter, to putting them together in words. And they were at a similar reading level to these boring BOB BOOKS. Here are examples of what's on those pages and be sure to watch for LONG VOWELS: "Who will get the big chair.", said Chicken Little. She was never as resistant as her brother, she actually WANTED to read, so I left it up to her mom.
Don't waste your money or time on them. I shouldn't have even tried these. I never did work with her on that program. ALERT. Maslen doesn't think so. By the way, he's played the Violin and Chess since he was four, and he's also the star of his local traveling soccer team with his picture on the front of their magazine.
It's not bad enough that their stories are boring, but they also aren't even bothering with accuracy in their titles. And I still have much to add. Well, you get my drift. I even enjoyed listening to them myself when my grandson was reading them to me. They are even funny. ALERT. She'll probably just laugh at me. With patience, parents cannot miss with this system of teaching their child to read.
She did not smile. We're not suprised. I am extremely annoyed by what they're doing in that set. On the track was a big brown cow.
I had taught her brother to read with the HOOKED ON PHONICS set for Kindergarten level, when he was four. She did not like his song. Ding-dong, ding-dong," was all in vain. What a disappointment. I have no idea why.
They are just lies. It helps for young children to SEE the visual results of their own success to keep them motivated. We learn through ALL our senses, and the audio CDs in that program performed miracles of grabbing the attention of a little boy who had already decided he didn't want to be bothered with learning to read when his mother had tried with the early reading books. Why would they name this set as they did. Even the little square soft cover books, with colorful covers and inviting titles, numbered and carefully planned according to each achievement in the earlier steps, BEFORE you introduce the separate story books, are very appealing. It has a colorful wall poster with stickers for him to mark his succeses with rewards. The rest are just as bad. No.
I'll be returning these Bob Books before I even show them to her. But I have read Sets 3, 4, and 5, and still have much to say. I plan to contact the publisher "Scholastic" about this discrepancy in what is intended to be an educational set of books. Although he has always been extremely bright (possibly a little genius)., he had become so resistant to her attempts to teach him to read, that it was starting to turn ugly. Everyone already knew how smart he was since he was a toddler, but he does have a mind of his own, and he would not even try reading until I tried the HOOKED ON PHONICS with him.
"Toot, toot, toot. I even constructed a paper chain, adding a ring with each successful passing of another exercise three times before adding it. Once I made arrangements for regular visits, with the HOOKED ON PHONICS series to work on with him, everything changed. Although I haven't read the first two numbered sets of this series, I assume they must be similar to the last three, which I have read.
It was strung on the kitchen wall, and he had fun watching it get longer and longer until it stretched across the whole wall, then up and across the whole ceiling. (More CONSONANT BLENDS, NOT LONG VOWELS). i bought this to help a first grader become more accustomed to recognizing LONG vowels in words after working so herd to master reading short vowel sounds in her earlier books. It contained many vowel combos: ("ea"), ("ai"), ("ow"), down, stool, maid, bow, double "o" ("toot"), and even consonant blends. Either Bob has no idea what a compound word is, or they just stuffed all the wrong books into that box. I could not find one compound word in any of the EIGHT books in that set. Where would those straight A's come from.
It included audio CDs for listening to a very pleasant rhythmical upbeat ladies' voice, plus a parent's guide on how to use the system correctly. She did not say, "Long live the King." (I found two long "i"s in "smile" and "like"). Especially this one, SET 5, that claims to be a study in LONG VOWELS. Here are more: It went from town to town. Now, as a continuation for my granddaughter, I think I must choose to continue with the SECOND GRADE version of the Hooked on Phonics series her brother used. I didn't know it was supposed to be a quiz to make the children look for one, did you.
Chicken Big crashed to the ground. That's all I have to say about SET 2. Note: THERE ARE NO COMPOUND WORDS IN the SET 4- COMPOUND WORDS box. That's impressive, but why did they bother to tell us about that, since he drew practially stick people with black ink in these books. `Lots of luck finding them. I wonder how many children were not taught the meaning of a "compound word" in her class. I'm being too nice. The system was fun.
Aren't these examples (two words combined into one): sometimes, tablecloth, overboard, outside, hairdo, etc. I guess I should add this review to the "HOOKED ON PHONICS" page, right. By the way, I thought the SET 5 OF BOB BOOKS ("Long Vowels") might be very useful for new practice in long vowel sounds, since students are taught short vowel sounds first, and must later add the new information to their repertoire of reading info. I read every one of them. And also, apparently John Maslen has won dozens of watercolor awards.
As a 1st grade teacher, these books are indispensable for my emerging readers who still need a short, quickie book that allows them to focus their skills on basic decoding and sight words. The pictures are a delight and the kids feel very comfortable with these. The pictures really help the kids who are struggling with the vowels. Familiarity is key.
We have all 5 sets and they worked out great. The best part is they follow the same format as my son's kindergarten teacher uses.
My 5 year old reads these to my 2 year old, they both love them. The books are short but do help teach them to read and reinforce what they have learned so far.
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