The BEST Reading Kit 1 teaches reading to children using the phonetic approach originally developed by Dr. Maria Montessori.
The BEST Reading Kit 1 is designed to be used in 5 successive stages, each comprised of a variety of material to help the child accomplish specific and carefully graded tasks. Within each stage, materials are divided into two color coded levels, pink denotes 3 letter phonetic words (e.g. cup, net, rug), blue denotes phonetic words of 4 or more letters (e.g. gift, truck, magnet).
Used systematically, the BEST Reading Kit 1 takes new readers through basic matching, word recognition, and phrase reading exercises to the point where they can confidently read sentences and stories of increasing length and complexity.
Price: $200, which includes all 5 stages listed below.
(Refer to Order form for information on purchasing partial kits.)
The BEST Reading Kit 1 contains the following:
| Words and Picture Matching |
Stage One – The first stage consists of two exercises. In the first exercise, the child matches phonetic words with individual cards. In the second exercise, the child selects the appropriate picture form a sheet of six pictures to match with a word card.
Materials: 4 pink and 5 blue boxes each containing 6 single pictures and matching cards. 8 pink and 9 blue picture sheets each with 6 mounted photographs and separate matching word cards.
| Words and Lists without Picture Cues |
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Stage Two – The child unfolds "mystery" paper squares to reveal a phonetic word which acts as a focus for reading without the aid of pictures cues. The child than progresses for reading single words to lists of 8 to 16 words.
Materials: 1 pink and 1 blue word box, each containing 20 "mystery words’, and 6 pink and 8 blue word lists.
| Booklets |
Stage Three – The child advances from matching and single word tasks to reading booklets charmingly illustrated with photographs or pictures in full color. They include only phonetic words, allowing the child to progress independently.
Materials: Level A, 5 booklets each containing 6 phrases and pictures. Level B, 10 booklets, each with 6 short sentences and pictures. Capitol letters and punctuation marks are introduced for the first time. Level C, 10 longer sentence booklets, each with 6 illustrated pages.
| Action Picture Cards with Matching Sentences |
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Stage Four – The next stage involves a substitution exercise. The child matches picture and sentence cards in which either one verb or one noun at a time has been varied in otherwise constant sentences. The child must understand the written word in order to match a sentence with the appropriate picture card.
Materials: 6 sets of 6 pictures and matching sentences, each set is a plastic packet.
| BEST Story Books |
Stage Five – Children practice reading with original, entertaining, and attractively illustrated story books. A few non-phonetic words (e.g. the, are, was) are introduced. Once these sight words are learned, beginning readers can read the stories with minimal assistance.
Materials: 11 full color illustrated books of differing length.
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