Review: Memoria Press “First Start Reading”
Book A: 25 lessons
The first book begins with each letter separately presented. The order is similar to other phonics teaching materials I’ve used: M, A, S, N. It allows the child to begin sounding words out pretty quickly (am, Sam, man). For each of these lessons my son learned to pronounce the letter and print it in upper and lowercase. There are coloring pictures of things that started with that letter that he enjoyed coloring. The final word mastery review includes words such as Pat, that, cap, fan, has, naps, and sap.
Book B:
The second book of First Start Reading is a bit more advanced. I like how in the beginning of the book it lists in chart form what the contents are. You can easily check to see which letter/sounds, common words, reading skills (like using an exclamation point), and sentences will be taught in each of the 25 lessons. There is a lot more writing of words, as opposed to individual letters, in Book B. My son started reading sentences and stories, which he loved! He also had the opportunity to draw his own picture of something from the story.
Book C:
Book C continues getting more difficult and adds some sight words like of, said, and does.
Book D:
The final book still has the same basic format but adds some other activities such as a page where the child is to find and color an animal that begins with wh, an object that ends with ch, etc. There are assessment pages at the end of each book which help you determine where the student needs more practice. The very last two stories in Book D contain words such as sleeve, stitch, and trash. It will be fun when my son is able to read those!
Teacher Guide:
The teacher book was extremely specific in explaining how to teach each lesson. Every student page is pictured in the teacher book, along with explanations on how to teach that page. If you have never taught a student to read before, you can do it with Memoria Press! This curriculum can be used in a homeschool or classroom setting. The reading philosophy is phonics driven.
One of the things they included in the First Start Reading Teacher Book were some small “posters” to put up on the wall: to show right from left, how to slant the paper while writing, using “bed” to help prevent b and d letter reversals, and a picture of each vowel. See below how he colored those.
Memoria Press is a really wonderful curriculum company which produces classical education products, such as Latin, Logic, Literature, and History. I’ve used some of those and am glad to now have tried one of their Preschool resources. The Schoolhouse Review Crew will be reviewing more Memoria Press products in the coming months!
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