What Do You Have?

April 1, 2012

PreS-Gr 1-These books may be small, but they're sure to make big impressions on beginning readers. Colorful, simply designed, and fortified with image-text matches on every page, the three subsets that make up this collection ascend in required mastery: starting with "My First Consonants and Vowels," then "More Consonants, Blends, and Diagraphs," and ending with "Short Vowel Rimes," students are walked through letter introduction to commonly used sight words. The first series consists of a book per letter and repeats an "I see a (insert noun here)" sequence; the second series employs a "This is a (noun). Find the (noun)?" pattern (or one that's very similar) for the letters Q, V, X, Y, and Z, in addition to two-letter blends. The third series explores the rhyming possibilities of short sight words in brief sentences. Every book concludes with a glossary (the words are defined by illustrations), as well as suggested activities. Although they don't break any new ground, these starter books are a solid springboard to launch students on their way to independent reading.

Copyright 2012 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.