Language Arts for Grade 1 Readers

by Anna P on 2011-11-10
I really like the natural reading approach. This program lets you teach that in an organized way. Each day is scheduled with reading, writing, and other activities. My twin 6 year olds are loving it! Reading has been hard for them, but with this program they are advancing nicely. Also, just to note, the I Can Read books are a bit of nonsense, but the words are appropriate for the level they are reading. There are only 3 I can read books, and then you move on to other books. All in all, I love it! We will definitely be doing your language program next year as well.

by Helen T on 2011-10-12
I am returning to Sonlight's LA 1 after leaving it for about 10 months. I found it pretty intense for my 6yr old and wanted something less strenuous. After trying a Charlotte Mason style program I soon missed the more difficult lessons from Sonllight! My son was much more advanced due to Sonllight's good curriculum in K and the first 11 weeks of 1 and now anything else seems too simple for him. He soon became stagnant. Well, we're coming back, Sonlight! I have come to appreciate SL's style and realize that I don't have to do EVERYTHING on the schedule. I only need to do what my son needs. We have stopped doing the Copy Work sections in favor of Copy Work from 'Hand Writing For A Reason' and I'll have him copy sentences from good 'living books' he enjoys. I like the natural progression of the 'I Can Read It' books but don't want to focus too much on the non-sensical stories by having him do copy work from them as well. As they say, you don't appreciate what you've got until it's gone. Now I really appreciate SL more. Thank you, Sonlight!

by Preston B on 2011-02-25
I'm relieved to see that I'm not the only one that didn't care for this program. The stories are nonsense which left my daughter feeling like there was no point to what she was reading. And when do we learn phonics rules? She is learning to read so I am grateful for that but she didn't really enjoy to prosess.

by Melissa D on 2010-12-19
We're using 1 LA with Core P4/5 this year, and we're really enjoying it. As the teacher I find the program easy to manage and just the right amount of work for my six-year-old. I can't say my daughter enjoys the I Can Read books because reading is still hard work for her, but she CAN DO IT! Her pride is visible each time she finishes one of the books. The stories are cute and progress in difficulty via small easy steps. I used K LA last year and I thank Sonlight for taking the mystery out of teaching my child how to read. I also love the creative writing aspects of the curriculum...again just small activities that stimulate the imagination and teach good writing at the same time. Cool!

by SARAH S on 2010-05-13
I'm currently teaching my fourth child (out of 6) to read with Sonlight's reading program. The "I Can Read It" books are phenomenal! They are fun stories, even though some are kind of silly; yet they are progressive in difficulty, teaching along the way. As a mom, going through this program sooooo many times, it's nice that I can actually enjoy the stories and not just plod through listening to them practice reading. So far I have three great readers and another on the way.

by HEATHER N on 2010-03-25
I have to agree with Linda H on her point about the books making sense. Maybe there's a limit to what they can do with the words they are trying to teach, but I really dread doing them. It's not that they are hard. They are just kind of non-sensical. Also, there's too many sentences on the pages, so you have to cover up the lines above and below the sentence the student is reading, and since the books don't lay flat... it's a bit of a pain. I've moved on to other ways of teaching reading.

by KELLY W on 2010-02-24
I could not disagree more with Linda H. The I Can Read It books are BY FAR the best I have ever used-and I have used many beginner reader programs! We started with Sonlight before these books were written, and I'm so thrilled to now have them as part of the curriculum. They are well thought out, progressive, just challenging enough and just plain fun to read! Thanks for writing them-and don't change a thing!!

by JENNIFER G on 2009-08-26
I have not been very pleased with the language Arts 1 curriculum. I was not pleased with the daily assignments. Many of the items seemed thrown in randomly, and didnt go step by step on how they were to learn the lessons. I use the language arts on my older children, and they are wonderful, I just didnt feel like this worked well for my 1st grader. I am ordering another language arts curriculum, and hope for better luck.

by LINDA H on 2008-10-02
Really bad phonics instruction. I have used Sonlight for many years, but the I Can Read It books ( phonics) are horrible! It doesnt even make sense ( The stories that the child must read) We were glad to end it after only a few lessons. Revise please !

by Heather V. on 2008-04-01
My son is thrilled with the new, 2007 version, LA for Grade 1 readers. He reads the Grade 2 Readers for fun, but as a Kindergartner I felt LA1 was a better fit, and I was right. We use the level 1 readers as assigned in the LA and he loves it. In a few short weeks he's learned to read with inflection, pausing when he sees a comma, and voicing a question or exclamation when he sees the punctuation for either. He's written similes and dialogues, and makes a game of asking us to spell words backwards, and correcting us if we get one wrong! The grammar, spelling, creative writing -- all of it is just right for his age/grade level. In fact, he asks to start his day with the "good stuff" each day; when I asked him what the good stuff was, he explained it was his language arts! Now THAT is high praise, and truly indicative of a 5 star program. Thank you, Sonlight, for the revisions this year; it's made a world of difference!