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The Phonetic Reader (vintage).... anything modern that's like it?


Ms.Ivy
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I have a copy of "The Phonetic Reader" by Charles W. Deane.  I've used it with most of my kids at a preschool level to help teach the idea that letters make sounds.  It has worked so well!  We have never gone through the whole book.  I primarily use it as a supplement to Alpha Phonics and Bob Books and McGuffey.  

 

What is unique about this book is that it will show an illustration of dogs growling, with the letter R, to show that R sounds like a growling dog.  It has a pocket watch for the letter T, and a hissing cat for F.  

 

I am wondering if there is a more modern version of this concept.  Some of the illustrations just aren't as relevant in the life of a modern three- or four-year-old.  (the Phonetic Reader was published in 1896).  I have a few more kids coming up the phonics pipeline, and I would love to find something like it to use.  I find they pick up on phonics much faster this way, compared to the usual way of showing them a picture of something that starts with the sound of the letter.  

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Well, it isn't a book, but the Leap Frog Letter Factory DVD does this.  It's modern and has memorable associations of the letters with their sounds.  The V room vibrates.  The H room is hot and the H's are panting.  The C room is c-c-c-cold.

 

Your book sounds really neat, though, and I'm partially posting to be sure not to miss if someone posts a similar book for you. :)

 

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The teacher's guides to the two first old open court books are online now at http://wigowsky.com/school/opencourt/opencourt.htm. Each letter/letter combination is associated with a sound that has a picture that goes along with it. On that website, there is also a recording of a story that introduces each sound.

 

Anna-Maria

Thanks, that is a great resource!

 

Here is the letter to sound direct link from there for the original question from the OP:

 

http://wigowsky.com/school/opencourt/sounds.htm

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A modern workbook that follows the long vowel first progression of the old Open Court is School Phonics. The stories from the old Open Court are better and are more available than the beginning workbooks from the old Open Court series.

Here is the entire program, you can email them to see if you can order just the workbooks, they used to be listed on the website but I cannot find them now.

http://www.didax.com/schoolphonics/ordering.cfm

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Oh my goodness!  you guys have made my day.  I can't believe it!  That old Open Court was the program my mom used to teach me to read 30 years ago when I was homeschooled.  Wow, that sure brings back memories :-)  My mom passed away before I had kids so I never asked her what it was that we used. I LOOOOOOVED Millie and the Cowboy, but I couldn't remember what it was called. I didn't remember that it taught phonics that way, either.  How weird is that?  I had no idea that the way I wanted to teach my kids phonics was the same method that my mom used on me.  I feel sooooo nostalgic right now.  *sigh*  

 

Thank you all so much for responding and giving me new leads.  

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Here are a list of the Open Court Readers, the first 5 books especially have nice retellings of Aesop, other folk tales, and some good poem selections for readers building up their skills.  After that, they are nice but they should be reading anything by then and good story selections can be found using anything.

 

First Star

The Blue-Pillowed SKy

A Shiny Golden Path

Rainbow Bridge

Slide Down the Sky

From Sea to Shining Sea

Time for Dreams

Across the World

Over the Moon

Sound of the Sea

Promises to Keep

 

These follow on Readers are all copyright 1989.  Also, a very interesting book if you enjoy the Open Court series is 

Let's Kill Dick and Jane: How the Open Court Publishing Company Fought the Culture of American Education

 

http://www.amazon.com/Lets-Kill-Dick-Jane-Publishing/dp/1587319195/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1411189423&sr=8-1&keywords=lets+kill+dick+and+jane

 

Ravich wrote a good review of Lets Kill Dick and Jane in 2007, her review is a better description of the book than the Amazon blurb!

 

http://educationnext.org/the-triumph-of-looksay/

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Oh my goodness!  you guys have made my day.  I can't believe it!  That old Open Court was the program my mom used to teach me to read 30 years ago when I was homeschooled.  Wow, that sure brings back memories :-)  My mom passed away before I had kids so I never asked her what it was that we used. I LOOOOOOVED Millie and the Cowboy, but I couldn't remember what it was called. I didn't remember that it taught phonics that way, either.  How weird is that?  I had no idea that the way I wanted to teach my kids phonics was the same method that my mom used on me.  I feel sooooo nostalgic right now.  *sigh*  

 

Thank you all so much for responding and giving me new leads.  

 

That is a really cool story!!

 

If you need help tracking down any books, PM me, I can help match dates and names and cover colors, I have the whole series except the first two which are available online and super hard to find otherwise.  (Also, my children are beyond that point and so are 99.99% of my remedial students.)  No ISBNs for the early books make it a bit hard to be sure you are buying the right thing.  I have the Blue and Gold workbooks and then the readers listed in the post above.  My son needed a lot of repetition for phonics, he has gone through the syllabary in Webster about 5 times, he went through several other good phonics programs, then the Open Court Blue and Gold books, then the School Phonics workbooks.  Now he is in the 2+ syllable word portion of Webster's Speller and finally past basic phonics.  I am alternating between an Open Court book slightly below his reading level and a challenging level of the 1879 McGuffey reader for his daily read aloud work.

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Thanks, Elizabeth.  I'll let you know if I need anything more.  I have an 8 year old son who sounds similar to yours.  I started using the Webster's Speller with him upon your recommendation here on the boards a couple of years ago and it really helps.  Thanks for all your hard work and research!

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