| The Treadwell Primer by Harriet Taylor Treadwell |
Just as I did previously with Daughter A., as we reached the end of our Bob Books sets, I transitioned to the Treadwell Primer. This, my friends, is the first lesson!
Like Daughter A., Daughter Q. was so happy to read something fresh and new. Very few readers written for this stage of reading ability are written well. Many of them have tiresome, boring stories, with stilted language and no rhythm. We can contrast this with the Treadwell Primer, which is full of nursery tales that have been enjoyed by generations of English-speaking children of the past.
Here are a few things you need to know about these lessons:
- The label I’ll be using is “TP” meaning that, for instance, the first story will be labeled “TP:1”–and so on and so forth for each new story. I hope this makes the lessons as easy to find as the Bob Books lessons are.
- I do not require my student to read these stories twice. These old-fashioned stories teach reading through a sort of natural repetition. For instance, in the story of The Little Red Hen, the hen goes to different animals and says variations of the same sentences over and over. That is enough repetition by the end of the story, in my opinion!
- The page numbers are for this specific printing of the Primer. If you have a copy that is not published by Yesterday’s Classics, there is a chance that the lessons will not match up exactly. That doesn’t make them unusable, but you will need to prepare in advance.
This is the point where some children, like Daughter Q., really take off on their reading. While others, such as Daughter A., still need very careful lessons. Don’t be afraid to let your natural readers take flight. Spending a single day on a story is plenty, if that is what they are ready for. Just be careful that they aren’t reading for so long that they become tired and begin to dread their reading lessons.
Lesson One
- Introduce new digraph: ea
- Review appropriate sections in the binder.
- Read: Treadwell Primer, Story 1 (“The Little Red Hen”) pp. all
Click here for tips on teaching the vowel digraph ea.
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