The Ladder of Literacy

IntroductionIntroduction

• Learning to read is like climbing a ladder.

• A person is not illiterate one day and literate the next.

• It is a gradual climb and there is no top to a ladder of literacy.

• Everyone can continue climbing to achieve their personal goals.

The Laubach Way to The Laubach Way to ReadingReading

• LWR uses a structured format, enabling a volunteer with no teaching experience to be a successful tutor.

• The LWR series teaches more than 260 basic reading skills in a systematic, sequential way.

The Laubach Way to The Laubach Way to ReadingReading

• There are many ways to teach reading and writing.

• The Laubach Way to Reading is one way that has proven effective with adults with little or no reading ability.

• Designed to teach students to read the language they speak as quickly and enjoyably as possible

Content of LWRContent of LWR

• There are four Skill Books in the series.

• The books enable a beginning student to acquire a reading level of approximately fifth grade.

Skill Book 1Skill Book 1

• Lays the foundation for reading.

• Teaches one sound for each letter, and how to blend the sounds to decode words.

SkillSkill Book 1Book 1

Skill Book 1 •Supplementary Readers:

•In the Valley

•More Stories 1

•Crossword Puzzles

•Focus on Phonics-1

•Workbook for Student

Skill Book 2Skill Book 2• The LWR series sorts out the difficult sound

system of the English language.

• The English sound system comprises of:

• 26 letters make up 43 sounds

• 18 sounds for the five vowels

• 22 spellings for the five long vowel sounds

• 88% of common English words have regular spellings.

The little bee is on the beautiful red flower.

How many sounds does the letter e make in following sentence?

How many sounds does the letter e make in sentence below?

Ellen Bell sells fresh eggs.

The Laubach Way to Reading Series avoids confusion by teaching only one vowel sound at a time.

Skill Book 2Skill Book 2

•Supplementary Readers:

•City Living

•More Stories 2

•Workbook for Student

•Focus on Phonics-2a

•Short Vowel Sounds

•Two for the Road

•Pat King’s Family•Focus on Phonics-2b

•Consonant Blends

Skill Book 1

Skill Book 2

Skill Book 3Skill Book 3

• Introduces long vowel sounds.

• Includes longer stories with material relevant to the student’s life.

• Includes practical, life skills material.

• Introduces cursive writing.

Skill Book 3Skill Book 3

•Supplementary Readers:

•Changes

•More Stories 3

•Laubach Way to Cursive Writing

•Workbook for Student

•Focus on Phonics-3

•Long Vowel Sounds•Five Dog Night

•The Many Ears of CB

Radio

•Crossword Puzzles

Skill Book 1

Skill Book 2

Skill Book 3

Skill Book 4Skill Book 4

• Presents the remaining vowel sounds such as /oo/, /ou/, /oi/, etc.

• Presents consonant sounds with irregular spellings (ph, kn, etc.)

• By the end of this book, students will have learned all of the word attack and phonic skills needed to decode words.

• Students will know how to look up words in a dictionary.

Skill Book 4Skill Book 4

•Supplementary Readers:

•People and Places

•More Stories 4

•Workbook for Student

•Focus on Phonics-4

•Other Vowel Sounds

•Consonant Spellings

•Crossword Puzzles

Skill Book 1

Skill Book 2

Skill Book 3

Skill Book 4

Teacher’s ManualTeacher’s Manual

• Very detailed instructions for the tutor.

• Reduced copies of each page from Skill books to help in preparing lessons.

Supplementary MaterialsSupplementary Materials• Checkup

• Provides means of assessing how the student and tutor are doing

• What needs added emphasis or reinforcement as student progresses

• Certificate

• Given to recognize the student’s completion of each level

Skill Book 1

Skill Book 2

Skill Book 3

Skill Book 4

ANY QUESTIONS