Meet the Sight Words - Level 1 - Easy Reader Books (boxed set of 12 books)

Got these for my preschooler and it is really the best money I have ever spent. He already knew his sight words from watching the DVDs but these are different. He already has hundreds of kids books at home which he never reads on his own so I wasn't sure about these. When I got the books I felt like they were a little bit of a rip off since there's like one sentence per page and the pictures look amateurish and all but I realized that what they do is that they build confidence in young readers. My son knows a lot of words but if you give him a page with more than two sentences written on it in small characters, he won't read it and I now know that it's because to him, it feels daunting. These books are a must because what they teach kids is not so much to read as to realize that they CAN read, that the skill is within their grasp. And this made me reminisce about what it was like when I was the same age. I would read words on the blackboard at school when prompted by the teacher but at home, I never touched the books my parents got for me and my brother because I was AFRAID of books and failing. And that fear was the main roadblock for me. My mom would read us stories every night and I loved it but at the same time, I thought that it was some kind of magical skill only grown ups possessed. I was convinced I would never be able to read. And then one day, my big brother who is two years older started reading his books and I remember thinking “Uh Oh… he’s no longer a child. He’s crossed over… He is a grown up now… Next thing I know, he’ll be wearing a suit and drinking coffee and beer” So at night, my mom asked him to read my stories but I had lost interest. I was dejected by the whole thing. Everybody could read but me. There was no point in embarrassing myself. It just wasn’t for meI had to find something else I would excel at. That’s what I was thinking at the time. So my mom got fed up with it one day and she told me "I got to leave for work now but when I come back you'd better be done reading these three books or you're going to get a spanking so big your butt will itch long after you've reached adulthood" So I cried and whined but eventually, I had to start reading the books. To this day, I still remember the titles (“Marmouset takes a bath”, “Marmouset’s Hand” and “Marmouset goes to school”) and guess what? I read all the books and the second my mom crossed the door, I ran to her, didn’t even wait for her to ask me if I had read the books, I showed her what I could do. Of all my childhood memories, this is probably the best. Anyway, my point is this: Fear is the main barrier when trying to get your kids to read books. They may have the skills but you must build up confidence first if you want them to be successful and get over their fear of books. Now, my son is going everywhere with these twelve books, holding on to them and reading these silly stories to everyone. I put the books in his backpack so he can show off at school in front of his friends. Right now, he is holding on to these books because he thinks these are the only books he can actually read. I’m giving him another couple of weeks and then I’ll introduce other books in the same category until he realizes that he can read anything he wants. That’s normal. I went through the same phase at the same age. After reading these first three books, I asked my mom to get me other books: “Marmouset’s foot”, “Marmouset’s Hair”, “Marmouset’s Nose”, etc. And she did! Eventually, I read all about Marmouset and asked that she get me books about other kids. Kids who were actually doing fun stuff, not just marveling at the fact that they have a nose on their face. To summarize, don’t buy these thinking that your child will be entertained or that the stories are fun or interesting. Nuh Uh. There are no stories to these books. They are bland and as uninteresting as the Marmouset books of my childhood. All they do is use words your preschooler should know by now to make them realize that: 1. Reading is within their grasp if they apply themselves 2. Words have meaning and combined in such or such way, they make sentences and are in fact, as important as spoken language. Totally recommend.

Good for young kids

I bought Levels 1, 2 and 3, and my son loves them! Each book is short, which keeps his short attention span. I actually thought the authors were very good at making up small stories from a limited number of words. And they are about simple subjects that a preK or kindergarten students will recognize such as sharing day, playing in the rain, a new toy, going to school, etc. The biggest win is that these books, coupled with his few lessons on sight words, have enabled him to quickly be able to start recognizing the words and to actually read full sentences! I was surprised to even see a couple of negative reviews on these. It seems the reviewers who didn't like them were comparing them with other early reader books. It should be noted that these books are best for 4 or 5-year-olds who are starting to recognize 3 and 4-letter words (such as cat, hat, etc.), are starting to recognize and be taught sight words, and who are learning to track words from left to right across a page. For that level, I found that these books are perfect.

We have these books both in hard copy and in kindle. We also have all the preschool prep co videos. I am shocked that my son knows all of The sight words in the videos and is able to apply many of the phonics strategies presented in the videos as well. My daughter would not take the time to sound out words and she barely knew her sight words until age 5. I realize that's still on-track, but I attribute much of my son's success to the Preschool Prep materials. He LOVES these books. He is familiar with the pictures and characters, so he gravitates toward these when we do his reading practice time. At first I read them to him a few times, but now he is reading to me! He usually reads me one before bed, and then during the day if he is getting too hyper I have him go get me one of his sight words books and he sits down for a few minutes while I am cooking or changing the baby and he reads me a book. This program was slightly expensive when I bought the DVDs and books up front, but it is sooo worth every penny. We only use the kindle version once in a while, for instance, if he wants to use the iPad he sometimes has to read me one of his sight words books from the kindle app first. Amazing product--I highly recommend!

I bought this site word books for my granddaughter who's four and a half years old. What I did is I introduced her to one book at a time and taught her every word in that book. She wrote it out and now she reads the book by herself. The first book I started her was the dog. She absolutely loved it and so proud that she can read. We're going to start the next book. She's entering kindergarten this year and she's already ahead of her Pre-K class