Customer Reviews

Jacob's Ladder Reading Comprehension Program, Level 2

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This book is an excellent entry in the area of reading comprehension, especially geared to high-ability readers. The selections are a good mix of fiction and non-fiction, along with some student-written pieces, offering a good variety of genres from which to choose. The targeted skills include summarizing, paraphrasing, creative synthesis, consequences and implications, cause and effect and sequencing. The activities involve working on these skills and this can be done from a basic level to a higher level, progressing up the "ladder" of depth of skill. These are important skills for students to work on, and often gifted readers do not get to work enough on further development of these skills because they are already high-ability readers. Of course it would be nice if it were a bit cheaper, but it is worth the money. As a teacher, it is an invaluable resource which will be used over and over. As a parent, it is an excellent resource for supplementing what your child is doing at school. It can be used throughout the school year, or used over the summer to retain skills and to help the student continue to progress over the summer.

Jacob's Ladder is an excellent addition to a gifted curriculum. Each ladder focuses on different skills and encourages critical thinking and higher level thinking skills. The book is teacher friendly and easy to understand. After appropriate training, the idea of Jacob's ladder can be used for any type of literature. This book will give you everything you need to challenge your students' thinking in regards to reading comprehension and literature. There is a variety of reading genres including poetry, short stories, and non-fiction selections. This is a must buy!! I do believe that with the right accommodations, you could even use this with lower level learners to bring up higher level thinking skills.

For the last few years, I have used Jacob's Ladder materials with high-ability students, achieving wonderful results. When we start a lesson, they know that there will be a lively discussion, followed by ladder activities. The students do not hesitate to give creative responses, voice their opinions and to use their ability as critical thinkers. They view these lessons as challenging and higher-level work, which gives them a sense of pride and accomplishment. I love it!

This is a wonderful resource that can be used in a variety of ways. Although it may be difficult for a student that is average ability to below average it can be used as a shared reading experience and discussion so everyone may benefit. I have found that using Jacob's Ladder in this way allows all the students to benefit by listening and sharing. Surprisingly, it was some of my average to below average students that were some of my deepest thinkers. I have also used Jacob's Ladder for small group instruction. I love using this because the way the activities are structured it sparks great conversation that requires some teacher guidance. I found that the more the students had these rich conversations the less I had to jump in. I would highly recommend this for all classroom teachers at levels 4-6!

I have used Jacob's Ladder with my high ability readers for a few years now. I really like the fact that the reading passages are short enough to be read in a few minutes so that the students can concentrate on completing the ladders and really reflecting on their thinking. There is a great mix of fables, myths, poetry, and non-fiction written by adults and kids. Once the kids learn the different ladders, the program pretty much runs itself. You get incredible work from the students with very little new teaching time. They are able to take the skills they learned and apply them to the different pieces of literature. You can easily compare the ladders over time to see the growth in your students.