Alpha Phonics Curriculum Review

by Laurie
(Wisconsin)

I have Alpha Phonics to teach children just learning to read, and as a remedial reading program for a 6th grader

Likes: This is a very successful approach for some children. It groups words into categories, and teaches one “rule” at a time. It is excellent for helping students learn to spell as they learn to read. It takes a short amount of time (10-20 minutes) daily. The book is very plain – no pictures, which some children find boring, but helps focus the attention on the words.

I tutored a 6th grader who was in a remedial reading program. We worked through the book at an accelerated rate – completed it over the summer – and when school started again she was tested and found to be reading at grade level.

Dislikes:
I wish it included books, or a list of recommended books, to use for reading practice with the various word groups. It would be helpful to have books that emphasized the word groups being taught. Some people use Bob books for the early levels, but it takes extra effort to find books for the later levels.

This Book is Amazing!

by Sheri
(Auburn Hills, MI, USA)

We used this program in 1990, 1991, 2001, 2003, and 2004.

Likes: This book is amazing! There are no distracting pictures. The work is laid out so that the student is actually 'reading' in the first lesson. It only requires about five to fifteen minutes a day and the student is reading fluently before the book is done. I've taught four of my six children to read with this book.

One of my children learned to read in a private school and was really struggling. When we kept her home to school at the kitchen table, we pulled out Alpha Phonics and had her start at lesson one. She was a bit insulted at first but I asked her to sit with me for fifteen minutes a day; she could get through five or six lessons in that time. Her reading improved significantly with this book.

All of the others learned to read really well with this book as our sole method. It is great for adult remedial reading or for teaching illiterate adults too; no insulting childish pictures in it.

Dislikes: Honestly, there is nothing to dislike about this book. It's inexpensive and so easy to use.

Good Price, but Not a Good Fit

We used this program in 2006.

Likes: The book was not expensive.

Dislikes: We didn't like Alpha Phonics much because it didn't have direct teaching instructions with phonics rules.

The font used lettering that was not familiar to my children so it confused them a bit.

It was repetitive and the lists got boring after a while.

Easy to Use

by Cammie
(California)

Likes: I have used AlphaPhonics with all 5 of my kids during 2001-02 and 2008-09. Though I wish I had used it from the beginning for my oldest two. It is easy to use and my 3 youngest learned to read with no problem using this program. I used it as a continuation for my first two. The ones who used it as their only phonics are better spellers than the older two!

Dislikes: Spells ryhme as rime.