Difference btwn. McGuffey Primer & Pictorial Primer?

[tld]

I see both of these on Amazon for the grades 1-2. What is the difference between the two?

[Susie in MS]

If you are talking about the brown and tan ones I really can't say they are grade 2 material, but I guess they do progress to some words that are considered 2nd grade level. The Primer I didn't find as much use for as I did the PP. It starts off with the alphabet over 4 pages. The first 2 are regular print, the next 2 italics. Then the next 8 pages have 1 picture and 1 word per page. Words like cat, man, etc. Now you move to 2 pages that review these words without pics. They will be in all caps and in lower case. Next 2 pages will have simple sentences ( 16 of them) like It is he. Then you move back to 1 word and 1 pic per page for the next 6 pages. 4 pages of a little more complex sentences like How old are you? While it begins well, I feel it moves too fast and there are no phonics taught. By the end of the 60 pages you have sentences like Oh, let me speak no bad words, nor do any bad act; for then God does not like bad words or bad acts. You see occasional words like leaves, from, and quite.

 

The Pictorial Primer I got a lot of use out of it in conjunction with Phonics Pathways.You start with the alphabet over 2 pages: lower case, upper case and italicized lower case.then five pages with a word for each letter of the alphabet printed in lc and uc.Now the lessons begin with words like it_is_an_ox and at the bottom this will be placed into a sentence. There are 9 of these on that lesson. By lesson 2 the sentences are not broken up. Lesson 3 you have sentences like A brown cow. Has she hay? It slowly progresses and you are given words to read then sentences with those words. This book has 131 pages and 88 lessons. By the end of the book you have sentences like One fine morning, he was sent to school. The sun shone, and the birds sang on the trees. You will see words like prison, would, moments and music. I like the way the clump word families from time to time. Ex: hare, care, pare; found, pound, bound.

 

My dd loves McGuffey!

[UrbanSue]

The brown/tan Mott media editions are sight-word based. The blue/gold McGuffey's were revised by his brother later in the 19th century and are phonics based. The blue/gold primer (and the non-pictorial brown/tan primer) move even more quickly than the pictorial primer. It is assumed, I think, that you will have taught all the letter sounds before getting to the primer. My kids love McGuffey, too, but it is definitely not the first stop for learning to read.

[ElizabethB]

The brown/tan Mott media editions are sight-word based. The blue/gold McGuffey's were revised by his brother later in the 19th century and are phonics based. The blue/gold primer (and the non-pictorial brown/tan primer) move even more quickly than the pictorial primer. It is assumed, I think, that you will have taught all the letter sounds before getting to the primer. My kids love McGuffey, too, but it is definitely not the first stop for learning to read.

 

 

What she said.

 

But, the Spellers were used for both learning to read and spell. The definition from Noah Webster's 1828 Dictionary for Spelling-book states, "n. A book for teaching children to spell and read."

 

So, you would start with the Speller and then go to the Readers. The Primers were actually added later, I like the phonics progression in the 1879 First Reader better than the Primer.