An Evaluation of the Orton-Gillingham Method PRIDE Reading Program

(Beginning Letters & Sounds and Book 1) 

This is a sponsored post with PRIDE Reading Program.

Reading is one of the most foundational skills in education and often one that homeschool parents are most concerned about how to teach. Once students can read, it becomes easier for them to become independent learners in many other subjects. Therefore, finding a good, solid reading or phonics program is essential to many parents. PRIDE Reading uses the Orton-Gillingham method as the basis of their reading program. PRIDE Reading Program (Beginning Letters & Sounds and Book 1)  is the first level in their multi-level phonics program. The total program includes eight levels that take a student from learning letters through more challenging phonics, and finishes with a level for reading comprehension. 

What Does the Program Include?

The PRIDE Reading Program (Beginning Letters & Sounds and Book 1)  includes a teacher’s manual, student book, online resources, sound cards, and an activity kit. The program teaches young students their alphabet and letter sounds in preparation for beginning reading.

Teacher’s Manual:

The teacher’s manual includes three scripted lessons aligned with the Orton-Gillingham method for each letter: Introduction, Practice, and Reinforcement.

The Introduction lessons introduce the new letter (lower case) and sound and provide several short practice activities. For example, students will practice finger tracing the letter. Students also will listen as the parent reads a list of words and identify which ones begin with the letter that is being learned that day. 

Next, the Practice lessons involve five additional practice activities for the letter taught in the Introduction activity. Students will practice by sky writing the letters, writing with a pen, and identifying pictures. 

Finally, the Reinforcement lessons review the letters learned up to that point and introduce the capital letter corresponding to the letter taught that week. During this portion of the lesson students will practice verbalizing the sounds, learn a motion to accompany the letter sound, and listen to a story that focuses on the sound that is being studied. 

Student Book:

The Student book has four pages for each letter: a letter and picture page, a tracing page (finger, pen, and writing), sounds (pictures and words), and a page with blanks for a sound dictation activity.

In addition, there is a full-color alphabet chart in the back with upper and lowercase letters and a picture. This chart can be unfolded and used in the book or taken out for display.

Online Resources for Using the Orton-Gillingham Method:

The online resources include the information from the teacher’s manual broken up by letter; in addition, there are sound clips for hearing a clear version of the sound.

There are also online games to reinforce the letters and a list of additional optional activities for each letter. For example, for the letter b, students could have breakfast on a blanket with foods that begin with the letter b. Students could also use beans to make the shape of a letter b or learn more about bees. This is a great way to keep students engaged and having fun while practicing. 

The one challenge with the online teacher’s manual, that is solved  with the hard copy, is that you cannot see the next lesson until you have marked the previous lesson as complete. This means that the parent either has to wait for the completion of the last lesson to plan for the next lesson or mark things finished ahead of actual completion.

This is not an issue for most lessons, as very little preparation is needed. However, some additional optional activities include reading about specific topics or having fun themed snacks that would require a little preparation for the parent.

How to Use PRIDE Reading Program (Beginning Letters & Sounds and Book 1) :

This Orton-Gillingham method program is designed to be parent-led and is very open-and-go. The lessons are scripted in the teacher’s manual, each one taking about 20-30 minutes. If you want to cover one letter each week, that would entail doing lessons three days a week, one day each for introduction, practice, and reinforcement. If desired, you could do the online games and optional activities on the other two days.

The parent would work directly with the student and guide them through each lesson. The lessons have the students work with the letters using multiple different modalities (kinesthetic, auditory, and visual)  to help students remember the letter and accommodate various learning styles. 

Upon completion of the book, students should know how to recognize both by sight and sound twenty-five of the letters in the English alphabet (all of the letters except q) and will begin to sound out and identify CVC (consonant vowel consonant) words like cat, hat, sat.

Who Would Benefit From PRIDE Reading Program (Beginning Letters & Sounds and Book 1) ?

The Pride Beginning Letters and Sounds program is excellent for any parent who wants a structured program to help them teach their child to read phonetically. The design is a simple, easy to understand manner for easy implementation.

The use of multi-sensory activities and the Orton-Gillingham method makes it an effective program for various learners. Be sure to find out more about the program and purchase your copy at the PRIDE reading site, where you can also see the other available program levels. 

HomeschoolingFinds.com Author

Dawn is a passionate follower of Jesus, wife to Chris, and homeschool mom of four (soon to be five). In her spare time she loves to read, hike, and write on her blog Schoolin’ Swag. She enjoys talking about curriculum and helping moms find the right fit for their family.