I need help finding "readers" (like Bob books)

[Ghee]

I like the Bob books. I like that they introduce words slowly, and really work on the words throughout the reader. That said, the font is TERRIBLE. The spacing is "off" or something (I think it's supposed to resemble handwriting or something). That does NOT work for my kid with vision issues. We are working through the Kindergarten and Sight Words sets right now and it is taking much longer than it might just due to him reading two words as one sometimes. Is there, by any chance, a set of readers that is similar in content to the Bob books, but that has "regular" font and spacing?

[kateingr]

My son really enjoyed the Nora Gaydos "Now I'm Reading" sets. They have a serif font and more usual spacing. They are similar to the Bob books in that they are strictly phonetic and incremental, but they have more repetition, which I found useful in the beginner books, and not as useful for the more advanced ones.

[ocelotmom]

The Hooked on Phonics books from the Kindergarten level are very similar to BOB books (at least in my edition). They use a standard font.

 

Progressive Phonics are not like BOB books, but they're good in their own way. And free :)

[edeemarie]

We use the McGuffey Primer, Sonlight's "Fun Tales", and these free I See Sam readers.

[Sebastian (a lady)]

There was a series of Sis and Sam book in the 1970's. because it was originally produced by a state govt it is in public domain. These were cheery yellow books that I remember fondly from my own kindergarten days.

http://marriottmd.com/sam/

[T'smom]

You could type the words in whatever font/size works best for your kid and then paste it over the words in the book.

 

But I'm watching this thread because I could use some suggestions for readers like bob books too!

[poiema]

I had an old HOP set that my kids preferred to Bob Books. I also really like Starfall's Learn to Read. But I would check with your library. Our library has several sets of early readers like that.

[Sebastian (a lady)]

For my own kids I used a set of phonics books published by Scholastic that featured Clifford. There were 5 boxed sets of 12 books each.

[Lara in Colo]

Progressive phonics http://progressiveph...onics.com/ has good readers and you can print them out if you want.

[Shahrazad]

I'm using the Nora Gaydos readers and the early readers by Shelley Davidow.

[Ghee]

I'll be darned. I almost bought Nora Gaydos and I don't know why I didn't. Truthfully, I think I just forgot them :rolleyes: I'm going to track down a set. We are visiting my parents in TN right now and our library system stinks here. I think I recall seeing some Hooked on Phonics stuff in our library in Chicago, though, I'll make a note on my phone to look when we get back. Thanks!

 

We may try the I See Sam again. I tried them last year and it was a bust, he just wasn't ready, but he has come a long way now.

[violamama]

My kid's not particularly vision challenged (corrected with glasses & surgery...) but when he was learning early on, he did do MUCH better when he uses a little 3 x 5 card with a word-sized hole cut in it to isolate the one word he's reading. He also sometimes uses a magnifying glass just to make the page less cluttered for himself. It seems to give him some control over the page so it's not so visually daunting. He likes to "feel like a scientist"- I figure whatever works.

 

I second the person who said they typed the Bob words/text into a computer and printed them out. We did that, on card stock, cut out each word and started by matching it with the printed page. You could easily print two and paste the clearer font over the BOB words. I wanted mine to begin with matching the words and feel some success there, and get fluency. We also played games where he made sentences of his own with the words from the book. You could print these much larger on brightly colored card stock.

 

We have the Star Wars phonics readers. They're totally fluff, but he will read them with no resistance because he thinks they're cool. If I recall, the font is quite large but it is printed over a colored background so YMMV.

[loulou belle]

I am loving the readers in the Memoria Press Kindergarten Program. The first one is Fun in the Sun, then Scamp and Tramp, and then Soft and White. My daughter loves them. I think you can also buy them from Rainbow Resource.

[ElizabethB]

I like Nora Gaydos and I See Sam.

 

Blend Phonics stories:

 

http://www.donpotter.net/pdf/bplitebooks.pdf

[PandaMom]

Here is a website that has quite a few readers in EBook form. You can join by the month or year. http://www.readingware.com/

[JFSinIL]

When I was teaching my son with autism to read, he was too old for Bob books, etc. - so I wrote my own little stories on the computer, and after highlighting whatever sounds we were working on, printed up the stories.

 

You can write individual stories, or start some larger tale (let the kid tell you who is in it and what happens!) and add a page or more each day. You can use the words/sounds you know he/she can read, and add in the sight words or words with the sounds you are targeting. You can make the kid be in the tale, also favorite pets, action figures, etc. (keeps the kid eager to read!) You can use the font that words best for you!

 

Here is a bit of what i wrote today (Joe is 21, and still learning to read!!!)

 

The four men ran across the room to reach the door. Tintin and Joe looked out and did not see Snowy, so it was safe to keep going. Captain Haddock helped Professor Calculus as the men went fast to get out of the house.

 

I use bold for the long e sound in words, and italic for long a. I underline the ch sound as otherwise Joe wants to make it ck. I use simple language as much as possible. And - notice who Joe is with/ his idea - also the men have been shrunk by a machine (Joe's idea) as in Honey I Shrunk the kids.

 

I write about two pages each day, with the text at 20 points and short paragraphs. So it is not much writing on my part, but gives joe a tailor-made bit of reading each day.

When he was younger I'd use half-pages of text and make simple line drawins by hand to illustrate (the sillier the better).

 

Not everything has to be bought.