Elson Readers

[shinyhappypeople]

Anyone use these? I think they're unbelievably sweet and am considering them for the DDs. Did you use the TMs?

[shinyhappypeople]

UPDATE: I found this thread: http://www.welltrainedmind.com/forums/showthread.php?t=6442

 

But, I still welcome more input, especially regarding the TMs.

[kids&me]

Last year I bought the 3rd grade reader for my son, and he loved the book. He would read a story or 2 in the morning and then a sonlight

reader in the afternoon. I bought the 4th grade reader and the teachers manual this year but haven't had much time to use it. The teachers manual isn't necessary but if you need some extra help with questions for your child the TM is good. I love the variety of short stories, tales, history etc. Plus

the literature is sweet. I would recommend them.

Angie

[Karenciavo]

I collected the originals, love them.

[amsunshine]

Yes, we use them. We use the Fourth Reader now and used the Third Reader last year. Love them! (Also used the Treadwell (sp?) readers before that, which were also lovely.)

 

I also use the TM, but I really just skim the TM right before we read a particular piece/story to get ideas for comprehension questions to use during discussion. I never use any of the occasional written activities.

 

You can definitely get by w/o the TM.

[Another Lynn]

We use Elson here and love it. (SO much more than any of the McGuffeys we tried!!!) My 8yo ds is actually excited when he sees Elson on his assignment sheet (I usually have him read from Elsons a couple days/week and then one day I have him do a McCall Crabbs reading comprehension drill and one day I have him read a book from Let's Read and Find Out to his younger siblings.)

 

Anyway, if you just want to read and narrate or whatever you definitely don't need the TM. The TM will ave some oral comprehension questions and vocab (or phonics) words. There is also a worksheet for each story in the TM. The worksheet may be something like writing a letter, writing a narration, identifying cause and effect, opposites, etc.... I like them, but rarely use them because we have other work we need to do. When I put my 7yo back in Elson (we've paused to work on fluency) I will probably have her do the worksheets because I think she would benefit from the extra opportunity to think and respond.

[GESTEP]

We use these for reading out loud (they read, not me). I use the TM for the comprehension questions but rarely use the extra worksheets since we do other LA separately. I did notice a few days ago starting in book 3 that the same comprehension questions are in the back of the reader without the answers. As the stories get longer we will probably just use them for silent reading and I can ask the discussion questions. I will definitely want the TM then for the answers.

Our dd's still enjoy reading from these books and the stories are much more enjoyable than McGuffey. They have a nice mix of historical stories, fairy tales, poetry, and character building stories. Since no one enjoys poetry in our house having it mixed throughout the book makes it tolerable and we are not tempted to skip it as we would if it were a dedicated section.