Woohoo it’s giveaway time here at Top Notch Teaching :-).
Over the last few weeks I’ve been sharing with you a range of catch up reading books by PhonicBooks in my posts:
- How To End The Reading Book Struggle (And Engage Your Students In Reading Again) Part One; and
- How To End The Reading Book Struggle (And Engage Your Students In Reading Again) Part Two.
As you can tell from those posts I think the books are fantastic for engaging older students in reading and building their confidence so that they want to read.
So, I’ve been in contact with the publisher of PhonicBooks and they’ve kindly donated one of the series as a prize for me to giveaway here….yay!
What you could win
Up for grabs is the full set of the Magic Belt Series. This series includes 12 decodable reading books for older students. They begin with a focus at the CVC and CVCC level and move on to consonant digraphs (2 letters, 1 sound) and suffixes: sh, ch, th, ck, qu, ng, wh, le, ed, ing.
You can take a more detailed look at the books on the PhonicBooks website.

Fantastic prize up for grabs.
How to enter
It’s very easy to enter. If you’d like to win, simply leave a comment on this blog post telling us a reading success story. This can be for a child you tutor, your own child or a successful reading story from your classroom.
The publishers at PhonicBooks will select the winner based on originality and creativity.
The giveaway closes at 9pm Tuesday 22 April 2014 (WST – Perth, Western Australia time).
***The giveaway has now closed***
Terms and Conditions
- The competition runs from Monday 14 April until Tuesday 22 April 2014 at 9pm (WST – Perth Australia time).
- Prize includes 1 full set of the Magic Belt Series and postage.
- The winner of the full Magic Belt Series is chosen based on originality and creativity. The judge’s decision is final.
- Entrants will need to provide a valid email address.
- The winner will be contacted via email. If you have not left a valid email address for us to contact you with, someone else will be drawn instead. Winners will need to get in contact and provide their postal address within 48 hours or the prize will be reallocated.
I can’t wait to read your reading success stories, and good luck.
Mel
Graphic & Font Credits: Graphics from the Pond
As a special education teacher, I work extensively with struggling readers.Having a series of books geared to my 4th graders interests yet keying in on the skills they need would be wonderful. One of my success stories would be that of a 3rd grade student who said he hated reading when of course we knew he was frustrated and couldn’t read grade level material. He felt he was stupid so he would act out rather than read. At least when he misbehaved the focus was not on his reading ability. As the year went on, with lots of 1:1 and small group intervention, this child (though still reading below grade level) now considers himself a reader. In small group, reading at his level, he shines! He is able to not only read the text, but he also comprehends the text. It has been a real confidence builder!
As a pre-service teacher a prize such as the Magic Belt series would certainly provide me with a fabulous resource to start my career. My successful reading story involves a student that I taught while on my recent practicum.
Adam* didn’t like to read aloud, whether in a one-on-one situation, or as part of a small group. He was at the expected level of reading for his age and grade but his refusal to participate in reading aloud activities was beginning to impact on other areas of his learning.
I used a story about the solar system to encourage Adam’s interest in reading. After reading the story to the class, I produced a Lego-type replication of the Solar System. With prior knowledge of Adam’s enjoyment of building things, I used this activity to ask Adam to read aloud the instructions for creating the 3D model to the class.
Over the coming weeks, it was noted that Adam was increasingly participating and voicing his opinion in group situations. I continued to incorporate various activities that involved the reading of instructions. On reflection, it seems that Adam gained confidence with the other students being distracted by their building creations, rather than focused on him and his reading.
* not real name
My struggling reader was below kinder level when I started homeschooling in January. Now he’s at early first grade level 🙂 Having high interest decidable books would be a huge help in teaching him to love reading!
I have taught my youngest children to read and am currently teaching my youngest. He would benefit from these.
I am a third grade teacher and witness everyday
Those who struggle to make the leap to I dependent
Reading. My own daughter didn’t like reading til
She was in between 5th and 6th and finally landed
I. Books that grabbed her attention and took her
On adventures. Would live to find more materials
for my kiddos that do just that.
I homeschool and my son in kindergarten had been struggling with reading basic words and one day we were visiting cousins and I asked the boy cousin that was closest in age to him to read with him. My son read the pages on one side and his cousin read the pages the other side. After that he seemed to really get the hang of it and started doing better. We are still struggling a bit in first grade but the majority of the improvement came from that day and him hearing a mother person around his age read and him realizing it didn’t have to sound perfect for him to “be reading”! Thank you for your books and all of the phonics books out there. They truly are so helpful.
We love the adventures of reading.
I homeschool and 2 out of my 4 children are readers. My son is in 1st grade and although he has proven he can read well, the pleasure of reading is just starting to click. I brought him a new book the other day and for the first time he was found nose deep in that book truly enjoying it and having to be told to read. He was reading for fun and that is one of the best, most “successful” moments for me as a homeschooling mom-knowing I taught him how to read. Would love to add these books to our library!