Road to the Code: A Phonological Awareness Program for Young Children

I am the parent of a 9 yo 3rd grader, recently diagnosed as dyslexic. Unable to get appropriate help from the school district, I have a tutor I am working with who suggested I use Road to the Code to help with phonemic awareness. It was very easy to follow and I was surprised how much my older child actually enjoyed the games. He recently finished the last lesson as has made significant progress with his short vowel sounds and letter recognition. He is also beginning to understand there is a logical "code" to attack words with. There is practically no skipping around a paragraph, looking for a "clue", like he was doing prior to this instruction. Now that he is on to more advanced curriculum, he sometimes asks to do some of the "Road to the Code" exercises for fun. I will definately use this program with my (non-dyslexic) kindergartener. The use of only the 8 most frequently used letters, the repetition, and variety of exercises are highly effective and simple. All materials are very low cost and easy to make. I wish they would have used this for him in kindergarten!!!!!

I am a Reading Specialist and certified Reading Recovery teacher. I find this to be an excellent resource for helping Kinder. and beginning 1st graders (can move at a faster pace) develop phonemic awareness. I use this 4 days a week with a group of three 1st graders who have been identified to be most at-risk for reading failure (NOTE: I did NOT use DIEBELS to assess. DIEBELS only screens and it's scores are based solely on the speed in which a child can supply answers. Not enough information if you want to teach children to recognize their strengths and become strategic readers and writers. In fact, DIEBELS does not even consider a child's ability to encode words onto a page. I got all the info I needed from Marie Clay's Observation Survey, CLEF, last year's teacher, and current classroom teacher).

We begin our time together with Road to the Code and then move into some quick "extensions/reviews" (hands-on activities, phonem. aware. based songs or poems, etc.), followed by a guided reading lesson that is Reading Recovery based (this of course includes independent and share-the-pen writing). This gives the children an authenic opportunity to apply what's been learned in Rode to the Code.

It is very well organized and these ladies REALLY know what they are "talking" about!

The book cam quickly in the mail and was exactly as described. Thank you!

I am impressed by the organization of this phonological awareness program. I have just started using it with Kindergarten children who need more help developing PA. They love the game-like, quick exercises and are learning the difference between a sound and a letter name. I use a dolphin puppet for Fix-it which the children look forward to seeing every time we meet.

Road to the Code is just loaded with information and ideas for use in the classroom. Begins at the beginning with phonological awareness activities and prodeeds forward. Great source for instruction and differentiation. Super !!!