OVERVIEW OF LEVEL 5

By the time the student gets to Level 5 they should have a very good understanding of the following reading and writing skills;

• · Story Mapping ― Story Mapping within the CompuRead series is fundamental to the overall teaching and reading strategy.

The student should have a firm grasp of what story mapping is, how it works and how one applies it to the overall composition of any story or article, either fiction or nonfiction.

The student should understand what the MAIN IDEA should be, 1-2 or maybe 3 ideas within the story, the SETTING; where the story takes place and describe it, the PROBLEM; and what the characters are trying to solve, the GOAL and HOW THE PROBLEM WILL BE SOLVED, or how the characters will go about solving the problem to reach the end goal. A big task for any author, whether younger and just beginning to write or older, with years of experience.

• · Prefixes and Suffixes ― A majority of our English language words and have some kind of a word or part of a word that comes before and just after the main (root) word. The student is thoroughly versed in prefixes and suffixes throughout the CompuRead program and will have a firm understanding and foundation on their use.

• · Phrases ― Vocabulary phrases are foundational within CompuRead. By phrases we mean the use of words that are used together to relay a thought. Many children’s educational books are written in very simple words that express a thought, however, the CompuRead program is light years beyond that.

CompuRead takes a simple phrase, used in everyday writing and speech and converts the phrase to a much higher expression.

For example: a low vocabulary phrase might be;

“grandfather loved to tell stories”

and converts that to a higher vocabulary phrase of

“Brad and Alax’s father’s father enjoyed relating events.”

Or another would be,

“slide into the narrow cave,” and rephrased to;

“slither through the slender opening in a natural hole in the earth.”

There are hundreds if not thousands of these types of phrases throughout the CompuRead series, all worded for the child’s level of understanding.

• · English Letter Sounds ― Of course this is taught in Level 1 and the student has ample opportunity to master letter sounds in multiple ways. If the student working in Level 5 has missed a few sounds, they need to review and master this before moving on.

• · English Letter Blends ― Blends are a very common way to sound out a word. By the time the student arrives at Level 5, he/she will be able to attack any word with confidence and will know the sound, or sounds, of each letter and how they are “blended” together to make a word. Throughout CompuRead, this is basic and is emphasized within the first few levels for the student’s blending mastery.

• · Sight Words ― See page 203 of the CompuRead Teacher’s Manual. A sight word is a common word that a student needs to know and retain in memory. When the student sees the word, they can instantly sound and read it without needing outside assistance. Thousands of sight words are taught throughout the CompuRead program.

• · Phonics and Word Construction – Fundamental to any reading is phonics, or assigning a sound, or sounds, to a letter and letter blends to form words and sentences. Again, very basic and is taught throughout the program.

If your student needs assistance, now is the time to master this concept by reviewing past lessons in CompuRead before moving on to higher and more difficult reading and writing tasks.

• · Dyslexic Tendencies—if any. By the time a student arrives at Level 5, you the teacher/parent would have a good idea of the struggles or lack thereof, of your child and the fluency in which they read. By working with the CompuRead program and the many activities provided to the student, the dyslexic learning disability is greatly diminished.

• · Be well versed in the CompuRead layout and story structure. See page Section 10, page 116 of the CompuRead Teacher’s Manual.

• · Comprehension Skills, both reading and picture; Literal, Middle or Inference or Interpretive, and Critical or Evaluative. Comprehension is emphasized throughout the entire program. For more detailed reference and background information about comprehension, see Section 11, page 124 of the CompuRead Teacher’s Manual.

• · Initial, Medial and Final Sounds ― This refers to the ability of the student to “pick out” or hear sounds that make up English words. See page 74 of the CompuRead Teacher’s Manual for more detail.

• · Writing Skills of fiction and nonfiction. See Section 13, page 144 of the CompuRead Teacher’s Manual. One of the main skills taught in the CompuRead program is writing. By this time, your student or child should be able to write a coherent sentence and develop a paragraph that conveys his or her thoughts. CompuRead emphasizes writing beginning in Level 1. CompuRead emphasizes many genres within the writing skills. A few of the more common genres would be fiction and nonfiction. Story Genres and how they apply to writing both fiction and nonfiction.

• · Oral Expression or Answering Questions verbally. See, Section 3, page 39 of the CompuRead Teacher’s Manual for ideas teachers and parents can use to help a child overcome the fear of speaking in class and expressing their ideas. Again, CompuRead leads the way for the young child to stand on their feet and express their thoughts verbally.

• · Advanced Vocabulary of lower and higher vocabulary and sentence construction. CompuRead uses low and high vocabulary comparison sentences to show how easy and simple sentences are constructed, and compares the simple sentence to more advanced wording that conveys the thought in advanced language and sentence construction.

One of the major contributors to a highly successful academic and professional career is understanding the meaning of words through advanced vocabulary.

As you, the teacher or parent have supervised your student, along the way of reading proficiency and have used the Reading Skills Review listing and you’re child has mastered many of the items on this list, you’re now ready to tackle Level 5 and beyond to Level 6.

Good luck and happy reading.