This gives practice in applying new skills to real text. The books are made up of words students have already learnt to process, with a minimum number of the most common words that most students already recognise. But comprehension matters.
Use as many of the books for small group reading as practical for your situation, using the comprehension scripts.
Other books early in the series can be used for paired reading. It is important that the books in the early levels are read aloud. Too many students are in the habit of simply leaving out words that look tricky Once this habit has been eliminated, students can read extra books silently.
Students should re-read the books whenever there is an opportunity, either to a buddy, a page each, or silently. This extra exposure helps fix the words in the student’s sight word memory, and because they have already been shown how to comprehend the text, the students are now able to think about content and meaning as they read.
Note 1: students will have access to one book at a time.
Note 2: Many students, even older students, will want to start using a finger to follow the text. This is helping them track across the words, it is a sign that the student is decoding as they should. Let them do this – they will soon reach the point where this prop is no longer required.