Friday, March 6, 2020

Working on Reading Comprehension with the PRIDE Reading Program {A Homeschool Review Crew Review}

Disclaimer: I received a FREE copy of this product through the HOMESCHOOL REVIEW CREW in exchange for my honest review. I was not required to write a positive review nor was I compensated in any other way.


When I first learned about the PRIDE Reading Program, I wasn't sure if it was something we were going to be able to review, seeing as all of my children can read at this point. In fact, even Harold is reading chapter books now. However, I then realized there is a Reading Comprehension level available. I decided this would be a great chance to spend some time with Hannah and make sure she is actually understanding what she is reading, as I have had some concerns. So, once I was selected for the review, I was able to order the PRIDE Reading Program Reading Comprehension Kit


The PRIDE Reading Program, developed by Karina Richland, M.A., is an Orton-Gillingham Method Reading Instruction Program. The anagram PRIDE stands for Phonemic Recognition Instruction Delivering Empowerment. There are actually 8 different levels that children can work through while working on reading, writing, spelling, and comprehension. Beginning Consonants, plus Levels 1-3 are the beginning levels, then there are the advanced levels: Levels 4 and 5, the Primary Accelerated Review, and the Reading Comprehension Level that we have been working in. 


There are both online and physical components of this program. We received the physical PRIDE Reading Comprehension Workbook and PRIDE Activity Kit in the mail.


Hannah started out by examining all the components, then she decided to be a bit of a silly.


Here are all the components, minus the bag/apron (yes it is a tote bag, yes my daughter is silly):


We received:

The Reading Comprehension Workbook, which is a softcover, 163-page book. Though the cover is in color, the pages themselves are all black and white. 

A 9x12 white board

Sound chart

Two dry erase markers

An eraser for the white board

A pen

A reading tracker

A die

A pouch for the smaller items

And the PRIDE carry bag which we can use for storage (or an apron, whichever). 


In order to teach the program, I also had access to the PRIDE Reading Comprehension Online Teaching Guide. This can be accessed on either a desktop computer or mobile device.

When I log in, I go to the PRIDE Reading Program and it brings up our course. I click on that to show the different modules. These correspond to the chapters in the workbook. The only difference is that the online teaching guide includes the "About the PRIDE Reading Comprehension Program" as Module 1. 

Desktop view: 


Mobile view:



Then we have the modules:
  • Sequencing
  • Predicting
  • Visualizing
  • Inferencing
  • Putting it all Together
These modules each have three units: Introduction, Practice, and Reinforcement. 

Each time I log in to the program, I just need to click on the title of the unit which is highlighted in blue. This will take us to our lesson.

The lesson scripts give me the words to say (in blue), instructions of what to do (in black), and what to write, notes, answers (in red).


Once we complete a unit, I just click on "Mark as Completed," and we move to the next unit. Our progress is recorded on the course page with the green circles with the check mark in them. 


Now, let's take a closer look at the book as I explain the different lesson steps in each unit. 

Step 1: Introducing the Concept.

The first page of each unit shows boxes with pictures in them. When we worked on sequencing, Hannah had to put "first," "then," "next," and "last" in the correct spots. 


Now that we are working on predicting, she needs to look at the picture and predict what will happen next. 



Step 2: Visual Association

This is when we utilize the Question Cards that are provided in the back of the book. These cardstock cards help guide us through the Who, What, Where, Why, and When questions that are asked in the lessons.




Step 3: Connecting the Concept

This step helps the child see how the concept connects to real life. For example, in the first picture above we talked about the people baking in the kitchen. In Step 3, we make it personal and talk about a time when we baked cookies, utilizing the question cards. This is all done orally.

Step 4: Story Organization and Step 5: Writing

While we were working on sequencing, Hannah was given a story idea to work on, and she had to work through the different steps. Then she was to write her story.


While working in the predicting module, she was given a prompt, told to come up with a prediction of what would happen, and then she was to write some reasons why. Then she was to turn that into a story.



Step 6: Reading a Story

Hannah is to read the story to herself a section at a time, then I ask her questions. After that she reads it out loud to me, so I can check how she is doing with her actual reading. Then we move on to the next section of the story, and so forth and so on, until we are done with the story. 

Step 7: Evaluation

This step is again done completely orally. Hannah was to tell me the sequence of the store and answer more questions. 

Step 8: Illustration

In this step Hannah was to illustrate the story, making sure someone who hadn't read the story could understand what was going on. 



Step 9: Summary

In this final step, Hannah was to write a summary of the story, utilizing the concept being taught, such as making sure to include first, then, next, and last in the sequencing lessons.



Each unit concludes with an Extra Learning Activity, such as a timeline of the child's life, scrambled paragraphs, and 20 questions in the sequencing units, and opposites in the predicting lessons.

I figured we would work through the program at a pace of one unit a week. We have done some units a bit slower, others a bit faster, depending upon what we have had going on in our days. So, each module will take us about three weeks. We are currently at the end of the Predicting Practice Lesson and will finish the Predicting module next week. From then we will work our way through Visualizing, Inferencing, and Putting it all Together. In looking ahead, I have noted that the units all follow the same format when it comes to the steps, which I do appreciate. 

I have enjoyed working through this with Hannah, though she isn't a huge fan of the writing, which is why we take a full week for each unit. Writing her own story and writing the summary take the longest so those lessons are worked on with nothing else on those days. I will say, we haven't been using the reading tracker, as she doesn't have a need for it, and she doesn't really need me to be reminding her with the question cards. She feels they are for younger children. 

I have appreciated being able to hear her read out loud, to make sure she is reading properly. I have discovered she does have struggles with figuring out what to write and how to organize her thoughts, so we will be working on that. Thankfully there are lots of opportunities to do so in this program. 

I think it is a great program, even though at times I wish we could choose what to write in the writing step. She found it difficult trying to figure out what an otter would do and what to talk about when it came to playing a guitar. I may just let her choose her own topic next time and see how she does.

I am very glad we had a chance to use the PRIDE Reading Program Reading Comprehension Program. It is an interesting way to work on reading and writing and organizing ones thoughts.

 You can find PRIDE Reading Program on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, and YouTube

Twitter: https://twitter.com/PrideReadingCo
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/pridereadingprogram/
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/pridereading/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCCfQB_M2vL2Ebo8deuwwCrw

Don't forget to click on the banner below to see what my fellow Crew Mates thought of the level they worked with.

PRIDE Reading Program Level Kit. {PRIDE Reading Program Reviews}

Thursday, March 5, 2020

Throwback Thursday Blog-Style #297: March 5, 2020

Welcome back to... 


Yes, I'm a day late, so let's call this Throwback Thursday on Flashback Friday.

I know, I know, Throwback Thursday seems to be all about sharing pictures from the past, great memories that mean something to you, that you would like to share with others. At least that is how it appears to me. Throwback Thursday wasn't something I was participating in, and then I came up with an idea.

I thought it would be great fun and a help to my blog to share old content, but not just any old content. Each week I will share an old blog post from a previous year, any year, BUT it has to be from the current week (for example, something I've posted around March 5th, from any previous year)  I will go in, edit the post if needed, add a pinnable image if I don't already have one, and share it on Facebook.

Would you like to join in? You do not need to edit your past post in any way, you don't need to create a pinnable image, though it couldn't hurt, in fact it will help your blog traffic to add quality pinnable images to your posts.

Just go into your archives, choose a favorite post from this current week from any previous year, and link it up below. (If you don't have anything from this current week, it is still okay to link up with a post from a previous year around this time. And if you haven't been blogging for a full year, feel free to share any earlier post.)


Please make sure to share from the past as instructed above.  The spirit of Throwback Thursday Blog-Style is to share posts from the past. Please follow the guidelines. I would hate to have to delete your link.
Thank you

I will be pinning posts to my appropriate Pinterest boards and will be randomly selecting a Featured Throwback Thursday post to share next week. Just a note, I will be sharing a picture from your post if you are selected as the featured post, but I will link back to your post. I will ALWAYS give credit and link back. By linking up you are giving me permission to use your picture in the post. 

Here is my Throwback Thursday post

Here is this week's randomly selected
Featured Throwback Thursday post:

Danielle from Confessions of a Fairy Tale Mom shared


To participate, link up below. It would be great if you could visit several of the other posts that have linked up. Stop by, comment, and pin images so we can help each other.

No button currently, and there won't be one until I can figure it out seeing as Photobucket has changed things. Feel free to still share the picture in place of the button. Just link it to my Throwback Thursday Blog-Style permalink please.



Happy Throwback Thursday!


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Wednesday, March 4, 2020

Wordless Wednesday: March 4th, 2020 (w/linky) - Missing Our Swiftpaw

We have no clue where Swiftpaw went and are very sad and missing our kitty. These are a few of the last pictures I have of him.




Looking forward to seeing your Wordless (or not so wordless) Wednesday posts this week.

No button currently, and there won't be one until I can figure it out seeing as Photobucket has changed things. Feel free to still share the picture in place of the button on your Wordless Wednesday post or in a list of Wordless Wednesday linkies. Just link it to my Wordless Wednesday permalink please.



You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!
Click here to enter

Tuesday, March 3, 2020

Littles Learning Link Up: Under the Sea Unit: Hermit Crab Lesson


Littles Learning Link Up is back on Tuesday!!

Each month you will find:
  • Posts where I share what I have been up to with my elementary-age children and the preschoolers I work with at our homeschool co-op (including occasional highlight posts where I share how we used ideas that have been linked up here on Littles Learning Link Up).
  • The occasional round up post.
Each week, I will host a link up, where you can share either what you have been up to recently, or old posts that may go with the theme.  Feel free to link up more than one post.

Each week I will continue to feature a couple of posts from those that have been linked up. 

I hope you will continue to share your wonderful posts, and I hope you will find something new to try with your child(ren).

It would be great for everyone to stop by and visit the other linked-up posts as well. Check them out, leave some comments, pin those that interest you. Let's make this a real party and socialize with each other.

Here's a peek at what we have been up to in our homeschool.

Unfortunately we didn't get as much done last week as I would have liked. We were dealing with a stomach bug that kept making stops on different family members. We focused mainly on getting math done and working on geography with Let's Go Geography. Tabitha has continued reading ahead in her history reading. She's several weeks ahead of us now. 

Tabitha is also reading about George Washington with the book from YWAM Publishing that we are reviewing. I started reading it to the other children and we are going to start using the unit study that we also received. Additionally, I have started a lapbook about Benjamin Franklin from Home School in the Woods. This is mainly with the younger two children, but I am having the older children listen to the story. 

I'm working on reading comprehension with Hannah. We are using the Reading Comprehension Program from PRIDE Reading Program. That review will be posting this week.

Moving on to our preschool lesson:

We continued with our Under the Sea unit by focusing on hermit crabs for the next two weeks.
We read the book A House for Hermit Crab by Eric Carle.


I searched for ideas for hermit crab crafts online. Because we did the handprint fish, I thought it would be cute to make handprint hermit crabs as well. There were several similar ideas, so I am not exactly sure who came up with it first. However, I really liked the idea I saw over at I Heart Craft Things, where she added the friends to the craft. I  used some of her ideas, and tweaked them as I usually do.

Handprint Hermit Crab Craft

Here are the supplies you need:


Light blue construction paper
Small paper plate
Orange, brown, green, blue, white, and pink construction paper
Red pipe cleaners
wiggle eyes
red acrylic paint
school glue
crayons
Black permanent marker
gray marker
paintbrush
q-tip
watercolor paints

 First, I prepped the friends at home. I cut out all the needed pieces for the sea anemone, starfish, coral, snail, sea urchin, and lantern fish. I actually surprised myself by being able to draw my own version of the lantern fish.

After singing our two fishy songs from the previous week, I read the book. Then we painted the children's hands red for the hermit crab body. While they dried,  the children used the permanent marker to draw on the spiral and then they painted the shell with the watercolor paints.



The children went to have snack and gym. When they returned, we glued the shell and handprint to the blue paper. We used the school glue because I figured glue sticks wouldn't hold really well. We also added the pipe cleaner as eyes stems and added on wiggle eyes at the ends. Then we went through each month of the year as a review and talked about what friend the hermit crab met that month.



You can see details over at I Heart Crafty Things for how she made each of the friends. As I said, I did make a few change. For instance, I couldn't find my tissue paper, so the sea anemone was made entirely of construction paper. And we used glitter as sand on the bottom of the paper. Plus we used the gray marker to draw pebbles around the crab.

Here are their finished crafts:




The second week they made Hermit Crab lapbooks. 


How humans decorate their houses, compared to how the hermit crab decorated his. I thought it would be a fun way to review the order of the months and when the friends joined him.




I found this poem online:


And then we compared things crabs have, humans have, and we both have/do.





These are the songs we sing:

"One, Two, Three, Four, Five, Once I caught a fish alive." 

Plus a song that goes to the tune of "The Wheels on the Bus." We found a video for this song online, but I don't have signal at the camp, so we didn't watch it. I just wrote down the words. There were five different ocean animals. And, of course, I added motions.

The shark in the ocean goes chomp, chomp, chomp, 
Chomp, chomp, chomp
Chomp, chomp, chomp
The shark in the ocean goes chomp, chomp, chomp
CHOMP....CHOMP....CHOMP!

Same pattern for the following:

The turtle in the ocean goes snap, snap, snap...
The crab in the ocean goes click, click, click...
The jellyfish in the ocean goes wibble wobble wibble
The fish in the ocean goes swish, swish, swish (though the one girls wanted to do, The fish in the ocean goes swimmy, swimmy, swimmy...)

We will be continuing the Under the Sea ocean for at least another couple of weeks. Our next animal is the seahorse

Here are a couple of things I would like to share with you:

Fishy Under the Sea Literature and Craft Round Up


St. Patrick's Day Shamrock Fun Round Up


Now onto:
Littles Learning Link Up Features

On my last Littles Learning Link Up post, there was 1 wonderful post linked up. 

Please, don't forget to stop by other posts that are linked up. See what catches your eye, stop by, pin the post to a relevant board, and perhaps leave a comment to let the author of the blog know you have been by for a visit. I know I appreciate others commenting and letting me know they have read my posts, so I am sure others do too.

This week's featured post is:


Gale from Imaginative Homeschool shared St. Patrick's Day Free Faves.

Join the Party!

I would love to have you join in this week! What sort of activities do you do with your young children? Do you have some favorite activities you would like to share? I invite you to link up below. I will be pinning posts on one of my relevant boards, and I would love to feature some of the activities each week from what is linked up.

Please know I may share a picture from your post and link back to it, along with sharing how we used your idea in our school time. By linking up you are giving me permission to use a picture from your post. I will ALWAYS give credit and link back. Additionally, if you choose to try out any of the ideas with your child, please make sure you give credit where credit is due.

Linky will be open through Monday night, to give me time to check out all the posts and get the Features organized. Please take the time to visit some of the other wonderful posts linked up.

No button currently, and there won't be one until I can figure it out seeing as Photobucket has changed things. Feel free to still share the picture in place of the button. Just link it to my Littles Learning Link Up permalink please.



I am sharing over at

Homeschool Coffee Break

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Monday, March 2, 2020

Tuesday's Giveaway Link Up- March 3, 2020


Welcome to Tuesday's Giveaway Link Up with your hosts Karen @ Tots and Me, Emily @ Emily Reviews, Shelly @ The Attic Girl, and Rena @ An Ordinary Housewife.

So glad you could join us as we share our giveaways on  Tuesday's Giveaway Link Ups. 

This link up will be posted Monday at 7 PM est. and run all week long! Make sure you stop in as often as you can to list your latest giveaways.

Here is how to use the Giveaway Link Up

1. Post your reviews and/or giveaways, as many as you have, be sure to add the end date (family friendly please)

2. Help spread the word about the giveaway link up by grabbing our button, Tweeting or posting on Facebook. (Not mandatory- but it helps get more exposure to your giveaways as well!)

3. Take a moment to enter any giveaway that strikes an interest to you!

Featured Giveaways



Featured Reviews





If you would  like to follow the  hostesses, we will gladly follow you back! Simply leave us a message to do so.

Thank you for linking up with Karen @ Tots and Me, Emily @ Emily ReviewsShelly @ The Attic Girl, and Rena @ An Ordinary Housewife .


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