in the beginning...Reading Program

Samples from the Reading Program

Here are a number of samples from the in the beginning... reading program. Below is the th label card. There are a total of 39 label cards.
th TH
1. A big (capital) t is T.
2. (the) If the child is reading and he comes to the word the and is puzzled, ask him what is the first vowel? the beginning? He must say th not t. Remember, the beginning is everything in front of the first vowel. Now is the time to skywrite th, the /th/. When he has given you its beginning tell him t h e says the. Otherwise, have him run the th beginning into the vowel as in this or that.
3. If he is writing, ask him what says /th/, then skywrite th, the /th/. Tell him the word the needs an e at the end.
4. Skywrite th, the /th/; th, thumb (show your thumb), /th/; th is a digraph. Th has two sounds.
5. Add #1 th, thr and #3 th cards to the blending box.
6. Any th word that he asks about, remind him to "put it in the blending box." Skywrite th every time you come to it if your child needs it.

Below is one of the 16 cards that go with the label card "th Th." (There are a total of 261 of these cards.)

This is fun.
The dad held a box.
That lamp is on.
This desk is big.
The plant has a red bud.
The belt is thick.

Below is the content of the label card for the ow and ou.

ow ou
1st choice as in out and how
2nd choice as in four and show /o/
You can add #2 ou and ow cards to the blending box.

Below is one of the 10 cards that go with the label card "ow ou."
He ran outside.
Our dog will not harm you.
Do you like sour cream?
A big crowd was at the fair.

The book below is book 1 of 40 reading books in the program. Each box represents a separate page of the book.

Miss Cat

Miss Cat is a cat. Miss
Cat is a big cat.

The cat is in a box. It is
a big box. The box is red.

Miss Cat just fits in the
box. Miss Cat had a nap in
this box.

Miss Cat is a pet.

Where is Miss Cat?

What is a nap?

Bud and the Country

My name is Jake and I am

nine. I have a dad, a mom and

two sisters. They are five and

seven years old.

We were living in town and I

liked our house. We had a fenced-

in yard to play in. I had some

friends close by. I could see them

a lot.

One Christmas, Dad and Mom

got us kids two Lab pups. One

was black and one was blonde.

They were so cute. We named

them Buck and Wilson.

Dad said Labs were good with

children and he had trained Labs

before.

But these dogs did not mind

Dad. They kept trying to dig

under the fence and run away.

We would find them and bring

them back.

Then one day, they dug under

the fence and ran off. They never

came back and we could not find

them.

Dad said it was a mistake to

get two pups at the same time.

One day Dad said we were

going to live in the country. We

were sad to leave our house in

town, but Dad said if we lived in

the country we could get a dog.

We moved to the country. It

was ten miles from town.

I had my baseball team out for

a fun time one evening. Dad was

our coach. We had so much room

to play out in the country.

There was a pond and I could

go looking for frogs and all kinds

of bugs. We found a big snapping

turtle. We have seen deer, snakes,

moles, possums and other turtles.

Then one day Mom picked us

up from Grandmother and Grand-

father's house. Mom said, "We

have a pup at our house. His

name is Bud."

Bud is short for Buddy. He is

a blonde Lab. Dad got him when

he was six weeks old. He is so

much fun!

The first night he missed his

mother. The next day he really

liked us. Now he wants to be

with us all the time.

Mom said he is going to be

an outside dog, but he loves to

come inside. She lets him come

just inside the front door and sit

on this rug.

One day at our house, it

started to rain. Bud tried to get

under a blanket. Then, at last,

he ran into his kennel.

We went camping one week-

end and Bud came with us. He

liked the water and even enjoyed

the boat.

Dad was fixing the lunch and

had a cooler on the ground. There

was some butter on top of the

cooler. Bud got up on the cooler

and ate all of the butter.

One time I had put my pop

can down. I told my sisters not

to drink any of it. But Bud came

and licked the can.

My sisters and I have lots of

fun with Bud. Mom and Dad like

him, too. He makes living in the

country even better.

1. How did the first two Lab

pups get away?

2. What does Jake like about

the country?

3. Tell about something Bud

did that was funny.

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