Pyramid: Special Reading Exercises [Large Print]

by Dolores G. Hiskes

Book Overview

Pyramid Reading Exercises is an excellent resource for teaching decoding and building fluency. It aligns with Phonics Pathways (also by Hiskes), but it also serves as a stand-alone supplement to any... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Large Print: Yes
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1884580300
• ISBN13: 9781884580307
• Release Date: January 1997
• Publisher: Dorbooks
• Length: 80 Pages
• Weight: 0.75 lbs.
• Age Range: 6 to 17 years
• Grade Range: Grades 1 to 12

Customer Reviews

It Works!

Pyramid Reading Exercises is an excellent resource for teaching decoding and building fluency. It aligns with Phonics Pathways (also by Hiskes), but it also serves as a stand-alone supplement to any reading program. Depending on need, it is appropriate for grades one to four, and perhaps beyond. It begins with basic primary level single syllable short vowel words (bed) and ends with words of several syllables (sympathetic), suitable for intermediate grades. Pyramid provides beginning readers with the type of sequenced and scaffolded instruction they need. The page prior to each large pyramid provides the practice in blending that is so necessary to beginning reading. When ready, students then attack the related pyramid, which uses the sentence expansion method. By limiting the expansion to only one or two additional words per line, the task becomes manageable. Confidence grows with fluency as students begin to more easily, more quickly, and more correctly complete a whole page of text. The mini pyramids towards the end of the book present larger multi-syllabic words in manageable chunks, facilitating the decoding process. Pyramid includes the accent mark for the stressed syllable. This is very important, especially for English Language Learners. The type in the book is very large. A classroom teacher could successfully copy the required page onto transparency film and use it for whole class or group instruction. With the large type, the print is clearly visible. A nice tool, belonging in every reading teacher's kit.

Pyramid Review

As a tutor with Yes Reading, I have found the Pyramid book extremely useful when working with kids who are having real difficulties with beginning phonics. I have used it with several children who were seriously stuck until I tried Pyramid and who subsequently made a real breakthrough after just a few hours' work with this workbook.

Great Companion to Phonics Pathways by Same Author

As a reading tutor for more than 10 years and as the Executive Director for The National Right to Read Foundation, I use Pyramid as a valuable companion to Phonics Pathways. While Phonics Pathways gives systematic, explicit instruction in phonics, Pyramid provides additional reading practice. It is especially useful for students who need practice reading long sentences. At the top of each page, the student reads a word on the first line, then a phrase on the second line, then a longer phrase on the third line, until he reads a long, complex sentence at the bottom of the page. Pyramid is not a stand-alone phonics program - it is designed to be used in conjunction with Phonics Pathways or another phonics program to develop fluent oral reading skills. This non-consumable text can be used again and again, which makes it a good value for the money.

Pyramid Reading Exercises

Four years ago I wrote Dolores Hiskes, the author of Pyramid Reading Exercises, the follow experience: Today one of my fourth graders who had originally read at a third grade level finished Pyramid. I hadn't listened to him read, he just came into the room every day and sat reading it by himself. He really enjoyed the book, and came to me saying, "I am done, Mr. Potter." I had previously taught him the 68 Orton Phonograms and 840 High Frequency Words; and at that point, he was reading at a fourth grade level. It is highly unusual that a student would be able to sit alone reading a book and come up with such a fundamental improvement in reading as the case appears to be. I immediately gave him a new 1987 Riverside Informal Reading Inventory, and he now can be placed in sixth grade reading! He has a systematic, automatic use of phonics and went from 21 errors to only 5 on the Miller Word Identification Assessment, all of which he cold read correctly when he went back and spelled the words. After seeing this student's progress, everyone in the class wants to read Pyramid. Pyramid is one book EVERY parent and teacher will want to have. I have also used Dolores' other book, Phonics Pathways to improve students reading. It is highly effective. Don Potter, www.donpotter.net