Does anyone know anything about the ARI “Advanced Reading Instruction� series of the “I See Sam� books?

[rachelpants]

DS is working his way through the BRI “Beginning Reading Instruction†books and they seem to be helping him with fluency.

 

I’m wondering what the skinny is with the ARI books.  Do you just teach the words/concepts as they come up in the stories?  Are there lessons for them somewhere or do you just use them alongside another phonics program? I’m curious.  :bigear:

 

Thanks!

[alisoncooks]

We have these.  We've been using them alongside Dancing Bears... but if a new sound comes up in the book, I just go ahead and teach it.

 

DD has just finished BRI3 (which I have LOVED) and while she has really liked this level, she has totally balked at continuing to the ARI series (which is why they are listed on the Classifieds.)  Her complaint:  the animal friends (Pat, Bip, Snap, Lil, etc) are phased out in ARI 1.  :huh:

 

Here's an idea of what is included in the ARI levels:

 

The stories in getting longer.  ARI 1 books each have 2 stories each (not chapters).  ARI 3 has 4 stories in each book, best I can tell.  (Those are the only sets I have open, so I can give you feedback on just them.)

 

ARI 1 says:

ARI Set 1 introduces 2-syllable words with the suffix -ing and -ed.  This set contrasts possessives and contractions.  The stories contrast one phoneme, single syllable 'ng' ending words with 2 phoneme, 2-syllable words with the suffix -ing ending.  The large word class involving the split digraph is introduced. (Split digraph = long vowels, CVCe best I can tell.)

 

ARI 3 says:

ARI Set 3 continues to introduce advanced code, increases the number of compound words and 2-syllable words introduced and incorporates a selection of 3-syllable words.  The set expands the number of words with suffix endings: -ful, -fully, -er, -ed, -ing and introduces suffix -ness and the endings -le and -el.  The stories increase in length and grammatical complexity.

 

 

Also, inside each individual book (ie. ARI 1, book 6) is listed new words/concepts from that specific book.  

So from ARI 1, book 6:

2-syllable names Rosa, Anna, Carlos

Contraction: he'll

Split digraph: a-e (ate, came, gave, made, lake)

 

From ARI 3, book 6:

Introduces words containing grapheme "wr" representing phoneme /r/ (wrap, wreck, wrist, write, wrapping, wrong)

Focuses on words containing grapheme "mb" representing phoneme /m/ (lamb, limb, thumb, plumbers, thumbs, dumb)

Introduces word ending "tion" (invention, potion, question, attention)

Introduces word ending "ture" (capture, future, creature, adventure, picture)

[Shay]

I have taught the ARI books when I used to tutor. They are terrific. My sets are from Reading for All Learners (RALP). You can look inside the books, I believe, on their site.

 

I tutored extremely hard to teach strugglers. With some, I did have to use letter tiles and I would use the sequencing in the books to build my multisensory instruction. There were just those kids who had to touch and move.

 

Using another phonics program alongside would have killed the beautiful sequencing and confused the students. That is my opinion for those kids to whom reading does not come easily. For kids who learn easily, they might be able to handle this "on the side," but there is really no need to use anything else. These are the best bit-by-bit code based learning I have come across for home use. I also just used the word lists and sequencing in the books for spelling, too.

[rachelpants]

Thank you both! :)

 

Alison....I wish the characters were the same for the advanced books too. DS thinks the BRI books are super funny and he actually asks to read (this is new at our house lol).

 

Shay...Did you teach ONLY the words that would be covered in the books? How well were your students decoding other books and applying the concepts by the end? Did you use flashcards at all?

 

Thanks again!

[Shay]

Thank you both! :)

 

Alison....I wish the characters were the same for the advanced books too. DS thinks the BRI books are super funny and he actually asks to read (this is new at our house lol).

 

Shay...Did you teach ONLY the words that would be covered in the books? How well were your students decoding other books and applying the concepts by the end? Did you use flashcards at all?

 

Thanks again!

Yes, I only taught the words in the books, but you could easily teach more with the same pattern on a whiteboard. The books provide abundant practice with enjoyable reading. What I feel is brilliant with the books is that words that could be confused if you don't read all-through-the-word are placed in the stories together. This will help to break a guessing habit if the child already has one, or it can prevent one from happening.

 

About the characters: all of my young students missed the characters, too, but as they entered first grade (and the strugglers in second ), the stories are age appropriate with all sorts of adventures they still enjoyed.