After detailed computer analysis of the most popular grade-level textbooks used in schools throughout the United States, we've identified the precise reading vocabulary words your students (or child) must know for each elementary grade from Grade 1 through Grade 6. The resulting list includes over 4000 critical vocabulary reading words with approx. 700-800 words per grade). When your child or student masters the vocabulary in any of our grade level lists, he or she will typically score in the top 10% on any standardized reading test.
ReadingKEY = Efficiency
While identifying appropriate grade level reading words is the first step in a successful reading vocabulary program - the next step for maximum success is to teach words in a manner that will achieve the most learning in the least amount of time - in other words - Efficiency. This aspect of ReadingKEY is what makes ReadingKEY stand out from other reading programs.
ReadingKEY will not only be the most effective method for improving your child or students' reading ability, but also the easiest to use. It is our unique method for teaching reading (shown in the video above) that allows for this greatly improved progress. Our strategies are based upon the NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND research stating that vocabulary and fluency (reading words easily without hesitation) is the essential backbone for achieving maximum reading comprehension. In other words, comprehension can not be achieved until the child can read the words correctly and without hesitation). Research aside, we believe it simply makes sense that if a child can read words in his/her grade level textbooks fluently, that comprehension will automatically improve. Give us a try using our free materials below and you'll see why teachers, parents and entire school districts have purchased ReadingKEY and are saying that we are the most effective reading improvement program they've ever used! - To see our unsolicited testimonials click HERE.
What makes a
"BETTER" reading program?
When it comes to quality reading instruction - what really makes one reading program better than another? Quite simply, it should based upon how much improvement your child or student will make for every hour of time invested. To determine the amount of "true" reading improvement any student has made, it must be based upon precise Grade/Month reading levels, rather than general statements such as "on grade level" or if a child answered x out of y questions correctly. As a parent or teacher, you want to know real figures that compare your child or students to all other children of the same age or grade. Any reading company proud of their results will always give scores based using a Grade/Month format. For example, 2nd Grade 5th month (represented as 2.5 in "teacher talk") means where a child should be reading in the 2nd Grade after completing 5 months of school. There is a large difference between a 2.1 and 2.9 reading level (although both can technically be called "ON GRADE LEVEL") since a 2nd grade student learns approximately 800 new words over an entire school year! Reading test specialists have worked for decades using tests such as the Woodcock-Johnson to accurately determine what reading skill level a child should be expected to have for each month of each grade. As you can see, reading test scores based on a Grade and Month are the only accurate way to give you a clear understanding of precisely where your child is reading in comparison to other children. These numbers can also be used accurately for comparing the effectiveness of any reading program. Imagine if one reading program enabled your child to advance from a 3.1 grade level to 3.5 grade level in 3 months (certainly not a bad improvement), however, if another reading program enabled your child to improve from 3.1 to 4.1 in 3 months, you could then see which reading program is truly better. By the way, the latter reading improvement score (one year in 3 months) is what you can typically expect to see when using our Fluency Builder Lists shown in the video for 20-30 minutes daily with practically any student - even children with mild to moderate learning problems achieve this level of progress.
Research Based - What is it?
ReadingKEY is based upon the latest research as outlined in the No Child Left Behind Act. This research demonstrates that the most important skills for becoming an effective reader include being able to read words correctly and with fluency (often referred to as "word-recognition"). This certainly makes sense since hesitation or incorrect reading of even one word in a sentence can seriously disrupt student concentration and impair comprehension.
Unfortunately, many reading programs today still invest large amounts of time using elaborate comprehension based practice methods before insuring students have successfully achieved "word-recognition" for their grade level reading words. Trying to teach a child to comprehend reading material before he/she can read 95% of the words correctly is putting the "cart before the horse" and not only results in slower reading progress, but also increases student frustration and negative attitudes toward school. This issue is especially critical for students who exhibit any form of learning difficulty or handicap.
Memorization Strategies
After identifying the precise reading words elementary students must know for each grade level, we then took these words and separated them into unique vowel sound groups of approximately 7 words per list. This was done because we found in our 20+ years of research that teaching words in small groups that share the same vowel sound (short i - short a - long a - ou - er - etc) will dramatically improve the rate in which a student is able to permanently memorize (learn) the words - and as an additional benefit, greatly improves a child's spelling skills (since spelling requires knowing which letters to assign to the sounds heard in the word).
Don't waste time practicing
comprehension exercises if your student
cannot first read the words fluently!
The 2000+ reading words taught in our Grade 1 - Grade 2 and Grade 3 Program are what we call "Common Conversational Vocabulary." These are words a student typically uses in conversation with his/her peers, teacher, parent, friends etc). These are the words that are used in books rated at Grade 3 or less. Since they are commonly used words, their meaning is already understood by the child. Therefore, additional word definition practice is not required until beginning the Grade 4 Vocabulary Program. After trying ReadingKEY for 20 minutes, you'll see why ReadingKEY really is an immensely powerful reading improvement program and very easy to use.
Certainly, the best way to determine the value of a reading improvement program is to try it for yourself. An exceptional reading program should be able to show clear results in a very short period of time. Give us 10 minutes by following the steps below (and shown in the video) and you'll see why ReadingKEY really is the fastest and easiest way to improve any student's reading ability.
HOW DO I GET STARTED?
STEP 1
TAKE THE READING
PLACEMENT TEST
Below you will be able to download the first nine weeks of any Grade
in our ReadingKEY Program free of charge. You can either download a
list a little above your child's current reading level, or take our new online
reading test that will identify your child's Grade/Month reading level and
automatically pick
the best place for you to start. If you want to check your child's reading level in 5-10 minutes CLICK HERE - otherwise, continue reading and choose a grade level list
below.
STEP 2
DOWNLOAD THE APPROPRIATE
READING LISTS
Download one of our Student Reading Wall Vocabulary Lists from one of the links below
(links are at the bottom of this column and available in either Microsoft Word or
Adobe Acrobat format).
For the sample here, choose a list that is approximately where your child is
currently reading.
STEP 3
PRINT & TAPE ON A WALL
Next, print out the list on your printer - get some scotch tape and tape 3 lists
side-by-side along a wall.
STEP 4
FOLLOW THE STEPS AT THE TOP OF EACH LIST
To make it easy for you - we list the 4 special teaching (memorization) steps at the top of each list.
Since a picture is worth a thousand words - you can also watch a video showing
ReadingKEY developer, Richard Pressinger, using the program with a Grade 1
student.
Along with the Student Reading Vocabulary Program, we also have excellent vocabulary building worksheets that parallel the same words in the lists as well as a Classroom Program for teachers. For beginning readers, we have excellent materials in our Kindergarten section for insuring the memorization of letter names and consonant sounds (the fist steps in learning to read). Samples of all these additional materials can be seen from the half-circle links below.
TRY READINGKEY ABSOLUTELY FREE !
Below you can download our actual Student Reading Wall Strategy Lists free of charge. These are the core of the ReadingKEY program. We do this so you can see for yourself how much faster ReadingKEY works for improving your student's reading level. We're not exaggerating when we say that in just 15 minutes from now you'll see a dramatic increase in how fast your student learns new reading words. To see if we are correct about ReadingKEY's effectiveness - begin by downloading our Student Reading Wall list from the PDF link below. Choose a grade level higher than where your student is currently reading so he/she will have difficulty with the words. After downloading, print the sheets and tape along any wall about 3 feet off the floor. Bring two chairs up to the lists (for you and your student) and follow the simple directions on each list. Then watch how our unique learning strategies enable a level of learning that you never thought possible (Yes, there are techniques that can greatly accelerate learning if you know what they are - and we'll show you these immediately after downloading a list!). To watch a video of the steps used in our ReadingKEY Vocabulary Program click HERE.
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Grade 3 |
Grade 4 |
Grade 5 |
Grade 6 |
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THERE ARE 4 STEPS IN LEARNING HOW TO READ |
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STEP 1 |
STEP 2
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STEP
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STEP 4 |
What words should After detailed computer analysis of grade level literature and textbooks for word frequency of occurrence - we have identified the precise vocabulary words your students need to know in order to score in the top 10% for their grade level. |
