R&S BNRS

[Servant4Christ]

Have any of you used/liked this? What grades did you use? If you used grade 1, which edition and how many of the components did you use/not use?

Note: I'm not seeking advice for other curriculum programs and I would really prefer this thread not to go down the path of debating teaching explicit phonics vs the phonics + sight words approach. Please limit comments to R&S BNRS grades 1-4 curriculum experience. 

Thank you all in advance. This forum has been a blessing and treasure trove of wisdom to me for many years now. 

[Ellie]

I used this one year, over 20 years ago, when I taught in a little one-room school. The previous year I had done Spalding, with excellent results, but I discovered that I needed to be able to sometimes give children seatwork so I could work with other children, and there's really no such thing with Spalding. So I chose R&S's BNRS.

It was ok. But I learned that in order to get the most out of the product, it was important to do All The Things, so all the little workbooks and the flash cards and the readers and the teacher manual. It took most of the day for my one student to do it. I teach, then assign the seatwork; when he completes it, I teach some more, then assign seatwork; when he completes it, I teach some more....It was easy to use, but it was A Lot. Not sure that I would do it again , primarily because of sight words vs phonics. Would probably not use it at home, because it isn't my natural teaching style, either. Not sure of its efficacy, mainly because y'all, this was over 20 years ago and I just don't remember, lol. My student is an engineer today, so I guess he learned to read at some point. 🙂

[Zoo Keeper]

You may want to look at posts by 2_girls_mommy   -- I know she has used R&S phonics/reading with her familiy.

 

[Servant4Christ]

1 minute ago, Zoo Keeper said:

You may want to look at posts by 2_girls_mommy   -- I know she has used R&S phonics/reading with her familiy.

 

Thank you! I knew someone I'd spoken to over here did! Yes, I believe she used the previous edition grade 1. It's been a while, but I might still be able to search for those threads.

[Zoo Keeper]

Here's a search that may help...

https://forums.welltrainedmind.com/search/?&q="phonics"&author=2_girls_mommy&search_and_or=or

[Servant4Christ]

1 hour ago, Zoo Keeper said:

Here's a search that may help...

https://forums.welltrainedmind.com/search/?&q="phonics"&author=2_girls_mommy&search_and_or=or

I am cracking up laughing because I just figured out how to search by more than  key phrases. I used the search by author feature for the first time and found my own thread from way back...

  https://forums.welltrainedmind.com/topic/707311-rs-phonics-question/?do=findComment&comment=8906582

Edited August 8, 2023 by Servant4Christ

[Stoppingby]

I used  new edition grade 1 ( readers, reading wb and phonics wb). My student s had a basic reading foundation. ( they could read basic readers). But we really liked it. It did take a little longer doing both workbooks but you can split it up. I liked that the phonics book had them practice reading with lists. It also really allowed them to cement phonics rules- reminds me of explode the code. Reading was nice. It spent time on bible stories so the kids really grasp details. I would say reading focuses on vocabulary and recall.

Plan to use 2nd grade this year!

[Terabith]

I did not use them to teach reading, but once my kids were decoding well, I used them as practice for oral reading and some comprehension work.  We didn't do all the parts, but like one year we just read aloud from the readers, and another year the kid read some assignments silently and answered some questions in the comprehension workbook, basically to keep them busy while I worked with their sibling.  They're great for Bible study, too, honestly.  

[Servant4Christ]

On 8/8/2023 at 11:32 PM, Stoppingby said:

I used  new edition grade 1 ( readers, reading wb and phonics wb).

Plan to use 2nd grade this year!

Thanks. I wondered if this would work without the worksheets, practice pages, and black lines. I have the TMs for the new edition but am trying to decide between using it without the extras or just using the previous edition. I plan to use a different penmanship course.

Edited August 10, 2023 by Servant4Christ

[Stoppingby]

On 8/9/2023 at 12:54 PM, Servant4Christ said:

Thanks. I wondered if this would work without the worksheets, practice pages, and black lines. I have the TMs for the new edition but am trying to decide between using it without the extras or just using the previous edition. I plan to use a different penmanship course.

I would think the workbook pages are central to the phonics part....  I feel that is the place they learned the most with all the repetition. 

But, You could definitely do the reading without the workbook in Level 1. 

[Servant4Christ]

34 minutes ago, Stoppingby said:

I would think the workbook pages are central to the phonics part....  I feel that is the place they learned the most with all the repetition. 

But, You could definitely do the reading without the workbook in Level 1. 

Sorry, I think you misunderstood. I would use the readers, reading workbooks, and phonics workbooks as I think those are crucial to the program. I would skip the additional worksheets (these are mostly cut/paste activities), penmanship (because I plan on using a different handwriting program), practice pages, and blacklines.

Edited August 10, 2023 by Servant4Christ

[Green Bean]

I have nothing to add. I just wanted to say "Hi!" to Servie!

[Servant4Christ]

Hi @Green Bean! 

[Stoppingby]

2 hours ago, Servant4Christ said:

Sorry, I think you misunderstood. I would use the readers, reading workbooks, and phonics workbooks as I think those are crucial to the program. I would skip the additional worksheets (these are mostly cut/paste activities), penmanship (because I plan on using a different handwriting program), practice pages, and blacklines.

Oh! Yes! I bought the extras and never used them. It was too much! But some worksheets were so fun, my daughter asked to do them in free time. She loves to color and cut and draw. She had fun cutting out and classifying words. 
I can tell you there were a few days we did not do the workbook in reading..., because we had gone over it all in the class work. And did not want them to tire out writing everything. 
But preparing for this year (level 2), the workbook is critical for reading.