Phonics Pathways: Clear Steps to Easy Reading and Perfect Spelling [Paperback]

Dolores G. Hiskes (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1, 2005 | ISBN-10: 0787979104 | ISBN-13: 978-0787979102 | Edition: 9

Now in its ninth edition, Phonics Pathways (with help from Dewey the Bookworm™) teaches students of all ages the rudiments of phonics and spelling with an efficient, practical, and foolproof method. Written in an easy-to-use format, Phonics Pathways is organized by sounds and spelling patterns. The patterns are introduced one at a time and slowly built into syllables, words, phrases, and sentences. Printed in a large 8-1/2" x 11" lay-flat format for easy photocopying, Phonics Pathways is filled with illustrative examples, word lists, and practice readings that are 100 percent decodable. While appropriate for K-2 emergent readers, this award-winning book has also been used successfully with adolescent and adult learners, as well as second language learners and students with learning disabilities such as dyslexia.

Dewey® and Dewey Decimal Classification® are proprietary trademarks of OCLC Online Computer Library Center, and are used with permission.

Dewey the Bookworm™, Dewey D. System, Bookwormus Giganticus™, and the design mark of the character Dewey are trademarks of Dolores G. Hiskes and are also used with permission.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Adorable characters like Dewey the Bookworm and illustrations to delight all make this program vital in becoming part of your child's life. Let your child be a lifelong reader—give him the Phonics Pathways advantage!"
—Cathy Fox, New Jersey director, National Right to Read Association, NRRF Teacher of the Year 1997

"I had no idea how to teach phonics, yet in about six weeks my 3 ½ and 5-year-old children were reading and spelling. I always recommend Phonics Pathways—it remains my favorite program."
—Sandra S. Elam, director, The National Right to Read Foundation

"We are homeshcooling our 9- and 7-year-old and were convinced they would never read. Then I discovered Phonics Pathways in our local library. We are absolutely thrilled with their progress and your book!"
—The Walter R. Wright family, Gnadenhutten, Ohio

"After my mom had a stroke she had trouble getting words from her brain to her mouth. Soon after she was back home I began using Phonics Pathways with her. It helped her so much—she loved it!"
—Barb Tessmann, librarian, Oconomowoc Public Library, Oconomowoc, Wisconsin

From the Back Cover

Phonics Pathways: Clear Steps to Easy Reading and Perfect Spelling, 9th Edition

Now in its ninth edition, Phonics Pathways (with help from Dewey the Bookworm) teaches students of all ages the rudiments of phonics and spelling with an efficient, practical, and foolproof method. Written in an easy-to-use format, Phonics Pathways is organized by sounds and spelling patterns. The patterns are introduced one at a time and slowly built into syllables, words, phrases, and sentences.

Printed in a large 8-1/2" x 11" lay-flat format for easy photocopying, Phonics Pathways is filled with illustrative examples, word lists, and practice readings that are 100 percent decodable. While appropriate for K-2 emergent readers, this award-winning book has also been used successfully with adolescent and adult learners, as well as second language learners and students with learning disabilities such as dyslexia.

Phonics Pathways is ideal for school, tutoring, and home use and includes wise, humorous proverbs that encourage virtues such as patience, perseverance, honesty, compassion, courage, and loyalty.

Praise for Phonics Pathways

"Adorable characters like Dewey the Bookworm and illustrations to delight all make this program vital in becoming part of your child's life. Let your child be a lifelong reader—give him the Phonics Pathways advantage!"
—Cathy Fox, New Jersey director, National Right to Read Foundation, NRRF Teacher of the Year 1997

"I had no idea how to teach phonics, yet in about six weeks my 3-1/2 and 5-year-old children were reading and spelling. I always recommend Phonics Pathways—it remains my favorite program."
—Sandra S. Elam, director, The National Right to Read Foundation

"We are homeschooling our 9- and 7-year-olds and were convinced they would never read. Then I discovered Phonics Pathways in our local library. We are absolutely thrilled with their progress and your book!"
—The Walter R. Wright family, Gnadenhutten, Ohio

"After my mom had a stroke she had trouble getting words from her brain to her mouth. Soon after she was back home I began using Phonics Pathways with her. It helped her so much—she loved it!"
—Barb Tessmann, librarian, Oconomowoc Public Library, Oconomowoc, Wisconsin

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: Jossey-Bass; 9 edition (April 1, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0787979104
• ISBN-13: 978-0787979102
• Product Dimensions: 10.9 x 8.4 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (37 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #211,396 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Dolores G. Hiskes has authored a wide variety of nationally acclaimed teaching materials, including her best-selling book Phonics Pathways. She has tutored reading for over thirty years and trained teachers from all over the world. Well-established in professional journals and a winner of numerous honors, Hiskes publishes Phonics Talk, a free online newsletter about teaching reading, which can be found at www.dorbooks.com.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

32 of 34 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Good option but NOT FUN and NOT THE ONLY ONE, January 30, 2007

By 

Knightley Emma - See all my reviews

This review is from: Phonics Pathways: Clear Steps to Easy Reading and Perfect Spelling (Paperback)

Before purchasing this, I did my usual research: read tons of reviews, previewed it at the library, and asked around for comments. My friend, who has used this for four children, tried to warn me that it isn't fun but it gets the job done. I couldn't imagine what she was talking about. Given the glowing review in The Well Trained Mind (and all the rave "Best Phonics Program Available!"), I decided to go ahead with the purchase. I'm writing this review to warn you that YOU MIGHT HATE IT. And no matter how good a program is, if you detest it, you won't use it. Several other hs-ing moms have offered this to me free as a castoff (not knowing that I already have it). I refused to purchase another program so I just use PP as an outline for our phonics lessons. My biggest complaint might be the way it is laid out. It feels like the text is shouting at you and there's hardly any blank space. I like things organized, too, and it doesn't seem to have a particular order. There is a useful 2-page Spelling & Pronunciation Chart at the back but it is not as thorough as the list provided at the back of Alphaphonics. I had to create my own chart of rules. Wouldn't that be great?? A checklist of sounds to cover, IN SOME SEMBLANCE OF ORDER! Other moms I know have used Alphaphonics or How to Teach Your Child To Read in 100 Easy Lessons with great success. Those two books are low-cost alternatives. I like the simplicity of Alphaphonics and it has the child reading real words (I'm not opposed to nonsense words on principle but it does seem fun for them to have real words early on). The pages are also not overwhelming with text the way PP and How to Teach can be. Also, Alphaphonics begins with consonant-ending words (am, at), which is a great way to start blending; it is more difficult to blend from a consonant to a vowel, which is how PP begins. If you like instructions on what to say to your child (which I normally don't), you would prefer How to Teach Your Child. (Going back to that book now, I realize that I actually did what is set out in those teacher instructions.) How to Teach also has longer reading texts (whole paragraphs) instead of just sentences. I think I would have liked either but was too afraid as a newbie that I might be missing something, which is why I got PP. IF you're concerned about issues like dyslexia, PP might be the best option. I don't know; I didn't have that come up. Bottom line: PP works, it is cheap. However, there are other alternatives.

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Very good, with one potential problem, October 18, 2006

By 

Caelae - See all my reviews

This review is from: Phonics Pathways: Clear Steps to Easy Reading and Perfect Spelling (Paperback)

I've been using this with my daughter, who has struggled with other programs and she is making very good progress. Everything is broken down into managable chunks.
The one problem I have with this program is the way the blends pages are layed out. They were actually increasing my daughters dyslexia, rather than preventing it as the books claims it will do. Take pg 19 for example:

Mm
a / m-a / ma
e / m-e / me
i / m-i / mi
o / m-o / mo
u / m-u / mu

The child is to read from left to right, starting with the vowel, then blend the consonant with the vowel, then read the complete blend. The problem was when my daughter would read the vowel FIRST, her eye would skip the consonant, looking for the familiar vowel she had just read, then would track backwards to the consonant, thus reading:

"a / a-m / am"

When I finally realized what was happening, after already working our way through the entire alphabet section, I began covering the vowels with our book mark so she wouldn't get mixed up. This has worked well for her. I think that future editions should consider changing the layout to something more like this:

Mm
m / a / m-a / ma
m / e / m-e / me

or just drop the vowels column all together:

Mm
m / m-a / ma

This would prevent the eye backtracking.
I still give this four stars though, because once this minor problem was compensated for, the program is still very good. It's the most comprehensive and orderly phonics program we've found without loads of extras that increase the price, and are not really necessary. It's all here in one straight-forward book, and in 10 mins a day, your child will soon be reading.

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars It's like a vitamin - very good for you, but rather dull, June 18, 2007

By 

E. Evans - See all my reviews

This review is from: Phonics Pathways: Clear Steps to Easy Reading and Perfect Spelling (Paperback)

I taught my daughter to read with Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons. My daughter was very successful with that, and upon completion I turned to Phonics Pathways to continue her instruction.

That was almost 10 months ago, and over the course of this year we have come very close to working through the entire book.

Pros: Phonics Pathways is very complete. It can take a child that reads nothing up to about a 4th or 5th grade level of reading. It includes more complicated phonics patterns that other books do not cover. It teaches spelling rules and I anticipate using this as a spelling reference as my child gets older. It is very easy to use. We basically read a page a day, repeating if a certain page is tricky. It includes games that could be motivating to some students, although requiring prep on the part of the parent.

Con: Dry, dry, dry! My child loved the zany stories in Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons. When we started Phonics Pathways, she wanted to go back to her old book because Phonics Pathways is not nearly so entertaining. While she thinks Dewey the Bookworm is cute, his inspirational sayings don't do much for her. If my child was a reluctant reader, I think we'd have to scrap Phonics Pathways and find something else that was more fun.

This book does work and is a good reference to have on hand, but like most things in education, it will not be the best fit for every child.