Content & Sequence
Thirty interactive, voice-narrated lessons comprise Reading Horizons. The following table describes the content and sequence of these lessons:
| Pre-Test: | A teacher-guided test to determine the student’s reading level before starting the Reading Horizons program. |
|---|---|
| Lesson 1: | Introduction to the course and instruction in computer operation. |
| Lesson 2: | Name, sound, and formation of the consonants B, D, F, G, and the vowel A. Joining consonant and vowel sounds to form a slide. How to mark and pronounce a slide. |
| Lesson 3: | What constitutes a word? Adding ending consonants to slides to form words. Reading and spelling words using the four consonants and vowel learned in lesson 2. Introduction of some Most Common Words (MCWs). |
| Lesson 4: | Name, sound, and formation of the consonants H, J, L, and M. Joining with vowel a (slides). Introduction of the vowel E. Slides formed from the eight learned consonants and vowel E. Reading and spelling words using the eight learned consonants and vowels A and E. Introduction of more MCWs. |
| Lesson 5: | Name, sound, and formation of the consonants N, P, R, and S, the slides formed with these consonants, and the vowels A and E. Introduction of the vowel O. Slides with the 12 learned consonants and the vowel O. Reading and spelling with the 12 learned consonants and three learned vowels. Introduction of more MCWs. |
| Lesson 6: | Name, sound, and formation of the consonants T, V, W, X, and Y. The slides formed with these consonants and the vowels A, E, and O. Name, sound, and formation of the vowel U. Slides with the 16 learned consonants and the vowel U. Reading and spelling words using the 16 learned consonants and four vowels. Introduction of more MCWs. |
| Lesson 7: | Name, sound, and formation of the remaining letters of the alphabet: the consonants C, K, Q, and Z, and the vowel I. (For spelling with the consonants C and K, see Lesson 10.) Slides formed with the vowel I joined with all consonants. Review of slides and words. Introduction of more MCWs. Note: Students who need only a review of the vowels and consonants may begin here. |
| Lesson 8: | Review of all consonant names and sounds. Review of all vowel names and sounds. How to form a slide. Review of MCWs. Introduction of more MCWs. |
| Lesson 9: | Review of what constitutes a word. Reading, spelling, and identifying the vowels within three-letter words. All consonants and vowels are used in this review. More review of MCWs. Introduction of more MCWs. |
| Interim Test 1: | Test covering topics from lessons 2–9. |
| Lesson 10: | Spelling with the consonants C and K. The vowel tells when a word should begin with C or K. Introduction of more MCWs. |
| Lesson 11: | What is a blend? The six L-Blends: bl, cl, fl, gl, pl, and sl. Forming slides by joining the L-Blend sounds to vowel sounds. Learning to mark blend words. Words ending in double S, F, and Z. Introduction of more MCWs. |
| Lesson 12: | The seven R-Blends: br, cr, dr, fr, gr, pr, and tr. Slides formed by joining the sounds of R-Blends to vowel sounds. Reading, spelling, and marking words using theR-Blends. Introduction of making words plural with -s and -es. Introduction of more MCWs. |
| Lesson 13: | The eight two-letter S-Blends: sc, sk, sm, sn, sl, sp, st, and sw; and the five three-letter S-Blends: scr, spr, str, spl, and squ. Slides formed by joining the sounds of the S-Blends to vowel sounds. Reading, spelling, and marking words using the S-Blends. Introduction of the extra blends dw and tr. Review of MCWs. |
| Lesson 14: | Introduction of the long and short vowels concept and use of diacritical markings. Review of MCWs. |
| Lesson 15: | Introduction of Phonetic Skills #1 and #2. Explanation of the term “guardian,” defined as the one or two consonants that immediately follow a vowel. In Phonetic Skills #1 and #2, these guardians cause the vowel to be short. Reading, spelling, and marking words using Phonetic Skills #1 and #2. Review of MCWs. |
| Lesson 16: | Introduction of Phonetic Skills #3 and #4, which deal with long vowel sounds (vowels stand alone and silent E skill). Reminder about long E sounds in rare words. Reading, spelling, and marking words using Phonetic Skills #3 and #4. More MCWs. |
| Lesson 17: | Introduction of Phonetic Skill #5: adjacent vowels. Reading, spelling, and marking words using skill #5. Review of all Five Phonetic Skills. More MCWs. |
| Interim Test 2: | Test covering topics from lessons 10–17. |
| Lesson 18: | A new sound for C and G. When followed by E or I, the sound of C always changes to that of S. When followed by E or I, G will usually have the sound of J. Read, spell, and mark words containing those combinations. Double guardians and silent E: Two consonants followed by a silent E usually count as guardians. Introduction of the three sounds of gh. More MCWs. |
| Lesson 19: | The word endings -ing, -er, -ed, and -est. More MCWs. |
| Lesson 20: | The many jobs of Y. Punctuation rules for declarative, interrogative, and exclamatory sentences as well as direct and indirect quotations. Review of the 30 Most Common Words (MCWs). |
| Lesson 21: | Words are made up of syllables. Introduction of Decoding Skill #1: When a single guardian follows a vowel, that guardian must go on with the next vowel to the next syllable. More MCWs. |
| Lesson 22: | Introduction of Decoding Skill #2: When a vowel has two guardians, the first stays with the first syllable, and the second moves on to the next syllable. Practice marking multi-syllabic words with adjacent vowels or vowels ending in E. Introduction of the -le ending. Review of all MCWs. |
| Lesson 23: | Introduction of Murmur Diphthongs ar, er, ir, or, and ur. Practice marking and recognizing Murmur Diphthongs. How W affects words, especially those with Murmur Diphthongs. |
| Lesson 24: | Introduction of Digraphs ch, sh, and wh, and the two sounds of th. Practice sliding and marking Digraphs. Introduction of Digraph blends chl, chr, sch, thr, and shr. Practice marking multi-syllabic words with Digraphs and pluralizing words with double-letter Digraphs. |
| Interim Test 3: | Test covering topics from lessons 18–24. |
| Lesson 25: | Introduction of Digraphs ph, gh, kn, ck, and wr. Practice marking Digraphs. Introduction of Digraph blends phl and phr. Practice marking Digraphs when blends split. |
| Lesson 26: | Special Vowel Sounds au, aw, ou, ow, oi, and oy, and the two sounds of oo. Hear the two possible sounds of ow. Practice marking Special Vowel Sounds. |
| Lesson 27: | Practice Decoding Skills #1 and #2. Reading and marking the endings -tion, -sion, and -ous. New rules concerning ce, ci, ge, and gi. The three sounds of the -ed ending. |
| Lesson 28: | Identifying the proper spelling for words ending in /kuh/. Pronouncing words with double consonants, cc in particular. Exceptions to Decoding Skills #1 and #2. |
| Lesson 29: | Using and pronouncing the articles “a” and “an.” Apostrophes to denote possession and contractions. Identifying and using contractions. |
| Lesson 30: | Adjacent vowels ea, ee, and ie. Identifying and pronouncing reversed vowels such as ei and ea. The gh combination. |
| Interim Test 4: | Test covering topics from lessons 25–30. |
| Post-Test: | A teacher-guided test to determine the student’s reading level as a follow-up to the Reading Horizons program. |
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