Customer Reviews

Explode the Code 1

5 star:		(19)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I'm a children's reading specialist and author ("Teaching Kids To Read for Dummies"). I've reviewed dozens of workbooks but use only a handful of the best. Nancy Hall's workbooks are among my favorites because they make absolute good sense. I could go into a lot of technical hoopla about the systematic and progressive teaching of "phonemic awareness", but really, this is what it boils down to: Nancy Hall knows her stuff and presents it in an easy to follow, attractive way with plenty of repetition and reinforcement. Great books.

I bought this workbook when my child was about halfway through "How to Teach your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons." We were beginning to stall out and "Explode the Code" has been a good choice for expanding our phonics program. "Explode the Code" contains worksheets that reinforce both reading and writing. The same sound is covered again and again but with different activities so that it doesn't seem repetitious. It's very hands-on and my five year old can work fairly independently on it, once I read him the directions. "Explode the Code" is a nice supplement. I also recommend the "Victory Drill Book" for helping children improve the speed at which they read.

Both of my children have done this workbook and have found it thoroughly rewarding. There is a lot of repetition and good focus on spelling. Lots of phonics repetition as well. It is certainly one of the best workbooks I have ever seen for beginner readers.

The progressive phonics introduction, the engaging little drawings, the repetitive tasks, the systematic skill progression, among other educational objectives, all boil down to one fact ~ THIS WORKS! I've tried several other methods to assist my special child in spelling and reading. While these workbooks are marketed more as a supplement to a reading program, nothing has been more influential in my daughter actually GETTING IT! She is always eager to pull out her Explode the Code book first. The publisher of this series also produces the wonderful Wordly Wise 3000 workbooks which are equally successful and well-received by my students.

I purchased and have used Explode the Code books 1-4 to date. I also bought and am using the Teachers Guides as well. I enjoy the Guides as they take me through the process of introducing a skill, by offering short and effective interactive presentations or exercises. These usually take only minutes each, and with only a small amount of creativity can be extended when needed. Such activities include a short review of previous skill(s), a phonemic awareness activity, fluency, comprehension, writing, and a challenge, as well as the introduction of that unit's skill. The feedback from these is just what I need to know if its time to progress or not. The exercises also allow me to teach objectives from several angles despite my limited experience. Additional exercises are also presented to appeal to various learning styles.

My student enjoys the Student pages in the Explode the Code books. Once a student learns to do each type of exercise they can be completed with a great degree of independence. Some times we spend more time on student pages one day and more time with other activities the other just to mix it up a bit.

The ETC 1/2 numbered series offers more practice on the same skills taught in the whole numbered books.

For those on a budget, or who are not ready to commit to purchasing an entire phonics system, as well as others who only need to remediate certain objectives, the fact that these books are sold separately is nice.

While I use these as part of our home schooling day, I feel these books would be well suited for parents who wish to challenge a reader who is not being challenged in early grades at school, or who wishes to help remediate a slow or struggling reader. Explode the code is actually written for use in a class setting but well designed and lends to any student to teacher ratio.

...my daughter started with the "pre" books at age 4-5 and now at 6 is up through volume 6 and using the accessory "Beyond the Code" books as well...the drawings, word repetition in various forms, and gradually increasing word and sentence sophistication make these books an excellent resource...I would say they do require parental involvement...and I would recommend working only 10-15 minutes a day early on...but you'll be amazed at the progress you'll see over a year.

WOW! Our daughter was a struggling reader. The school's means for teaching her how to read just did not work for her. I remembered as a child that my parents drilled me with phonics workbooks, and I am now an English teacher. Therefore, I bought the series for our daughter. From day one of using this series of workbooks her confidence shot through the roof. Lessons are straightforward and precise. The format is repetitve so she can easily familiarize herself with what's expected of her. She is now reading at grade level, and will soon start to shoot ahead (and she hasn't even finished with the third workbook). Glad I invested in this set; I wish the schools would consider such a worthwhile product.

This series is amazing!!!!! My four year old has completed explode the code 1 and is sounding words out, reading and SPELLING!!!!! These books are engaging and she loves them. Where were these books when I was a child? The author has broken down phonics, reading and spelling into a very easy, very user friendly system. I use it and my best friend who also homeschools in using these books with the same results.

Even though most schools will tell you they teach phonics, most really do not. At best, they begin teaching phonics in first grade after teaching high frequency words with flashcards in kindergarten... which simply teaches young children that the way to read is to memorize what a "word picture" looks like. From everything I've read, getting a kid who has learned to read this way to put in the effort to learn phonics is like pulling teeth so I was determined to teach my daughter proper reading with phonics.

Once my daughter knew her letter sounds (thank you Leap Frog's Letter Factory!), I began showing her how the sounds could be "squashed" together to make words and how those sounds were inside of words. Since this concept requires a developmental leap, it can not be rushed or forced. Slowly she began to understand (she was 3.5 at the time) and one day, the light bulb clicked on. She could pick out the letters in simple words that she heard and read simple C-V-C words like 'cat'. That's when I went looking for the next step.

I checked out several books from the library, including "Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons", "Phonics Pathways", and "The Reading Lesson". Of those, I liked "Phonics Pathways" the best and bought a copy. I began spending 5 minutes a day, a few days a week, working with my daughter but quickly realized that she HATED the book and it's boring lessons. So, I bought "Explode the Code 1". What a difference!

While the pictures are crude, they were just enough to catch my daughter's interest. Since each lesson has the same format, the same types of activities, she quickly learned what was expected on each type of page - a great comfort to a young child learning to do something new and difficult. We spend no more than 10 minutes 5 days a week but she has made great progress in learning to read; happily trying to add things to my shopping list and trying to sound out words she sees other places.

We also use the Bob Books (Level 1) and the Now I'm Reading books (Level 1, Animal Antics) to reinforce what she is learning and to get her comfortable reading slightly longer stories on her own. Of the two, I prefer the Now I'm Reading stories. Both are very phonics based but the pictures and stories in NIR are much better than in Bob.

Should you use Explode the Code with your child? It depends...
(1) Can your child reliably say each letter? Not the letter name but the basic letter sound like "c" in "cat" and "x" in "box"? If not, start with the Before the Code books or try the Leap Frog DVD "The Letter Factory". Do your child a favor and keep it fun - skip the flashcards.
(2) Can your child blend letters together to read simple C-V-C words like "cat"? Does she understand the concept? If not, play word games to get her hearing those letter sounds, play "spot the letter ___" in stores where each of you try to find things that start with a specific letter. Remember, this stage can not be forced and pushing your child too hard, too soon, may turn her off to reading. It's better to wait several months and try again than it is to try to force your child to be the first one in preschool to learn to read. It's not a race, it's an education.
(3) Once your child knows those letter sounds and understands the concept of sounding out words, you are ready for these books.

Does your child need fine motor skills? Not really. Yes, these books teach writing and many of the pages have the child circling or crossing through choices as well as printing words - but you don't actually have to do that. My daughter's fine motor skills are only now becoming good enough to learn to print but that hasn't stopped her from learning to read. We usually snuggle up together when we use this book and she points to the correct answer instead of marking it. We simply skip the "copy these words" pages or she tells me the letters she would need to write.

This series of work books provide letter & sound recognition exercises which kids love. This book works with the short vowels.