Building a Strong Phonics Foundation

Recommended For:

• Age 6 and above to dramatically increase reading speed.
• Struggling readers of any age.
• Teaching English as a second language (TESL).

Description of the revised Phonics Drill Reader (PDR):

The PDR is unique amongst reading materials. Although others have produced books containing the well-tested and proven phonics word drill method, this edition uses that methodology with a truly Christ-Centered emphasis. Consequently, it is an exceptional tool to help students skillfully learn to read while centering their attention upon the Lord Jesus Christ through five spiritual themes: Creation, the Fall, the Flood, the Law, and Grace (KJV).

The word drill method is an intensive phonics approach to reading which is rather like learning to type. At first the goal is accuracy, and then speed, until there is no need to think about the process. In other words, as a student tries to read a set number of words within a specific time period, he learns to more rapidly apply phonics rules to sound out the words. Through consistent practice, reading times decrease as the student transitions from the slower process of sounding out to instant recognition. At that point, he will have graduated from the “learning to read” phase to the adventure of “reading to learn.”

The PDR word lists and reading assignments follow the introductory order of Christ-Centered Phonics Flashcards 1-118 (Part 201). These pages contain the 300 words and their variants that "make up 65 percent of the words [a student] is likely to encounter through junior high school." (Cited in 3000 Instant Words.) In addition, nearly all of the 1,000 English words used in about 90% of English reading materials are also included.

The PDR's "TEACHER'S GUIDE TO READING" (pp. 125-146), which was added in 2011, explains the three levels of reading plus how to prepare to teach the PDR. The “Christ-Centered Phonics Rules" (Appendix 1) and “Christ-Centered Phonics Spelling Rules" (Appendix 2) list all the rules associated with Christ-Centered Phonics Flashcards 1-118. Included are some tips on how to use the PDR as a spelling resource plus a few “Suggested Games.” “Syllabication and Accent Guidelines” (Appendix 3) are also included.

RECOMMENDED: Order the Christ-Centered Phonics Flashcards Drill CD (Part 201.5) to practice saying the correct letter names and sounds represented by the Phonics Flashcards listed on each of the four Phonics Section Charts.

For the BEST RESULTS ...
Order Complete Phonics Kit C (Part 003) which contains the PDR plus the main elements needed to teach the Advanced Phonics Program: Levels C:2 and C:3.

When should a student begin the PDR?

Whether you are teaching Phonics Lessons for Flashcards 67-93: Level C:2 (Part 209) or the Phonics Drill Reader only, begin scheduling quiet times for PDR daily drill practices (two or three 10-minute sessions) plus an oral reading assignment in a supplemental reader. For the best results, the PDR’s daily drill practices and reading assignments should be continued for several years. To dramatically increase reading speed, every time your student goes through the PDR’s timed pages (100 words each), he should strive to exceed his previous words-per-minute scores.

The PDR word lists (100 per page), phrases, sentences, and paragraphs cover the following skills:

• Initial consonant blends
• Short/long vowel words
• Consonant digraphs
• Adding suffix -s
• Giant blends
• Adding suffixes -es, -ed, -ing
• Vowel digraphs
• Modified vowels
• Diphthongs
• Consonant and vowel variants (rule breakers in English)
• Silent letters
• Common prefixes/suffixes.