Open Court Reading

 First, this post is about the original Open Court program with basal readers. This is NOT The McGraw-Hill program.  You can read more about the program in Let’s Kill Dick and Jane.  Don Potter published an excellent essay explaining more of Open Court Reading’s history and background.  Open Court Reading books have literature: stories, fables, poems, songs, etc. Here is an analysis of the Headway program.  I love these books!  Why?  They have classic stories, part of American culture.  It is hard to find a decent basal reader.  I struggled to find a decent textbook for Paul during COVID.  You do have to devise your own curriculum.  Select words from the passages to form the spelling list.  Use a reading for a dictation.  Let your child do copy work from the textbook.  Use the questions as the basis for paragraphs or short essays.  Most of this material is more suited to younger kiddos, under ten.  Once children read fluently, have them start to read the classics.  

1. Here is the original phonic program with videos for the Program Foundation,  Blue Book, and Gold Book from Paul Wigowski.  Be sure to look at the Teacher’s Guide. Here are the Story Books which align with phonics cards.

2. Scroll down this page to see the books in the Headway Program, intended for grades 2-5.   Here is an analysis of the program.  

3.  Below is the list of 1989 readers.  These textbooks are also anthologies.  It’s not easy, but you may be able to find work books or skill books for this series.  However, you can devise your own curriculum by selecting vocabulary words, spelling, and questions from the textbook.  Just as mentioned above, your kiddos can copy passages, write dictations, and use the dictionary to look up unfamiliar words.  Go old school with vintage books.

You may want to look over California’s Reading Wars Timeline and The Mississippi Miracle Explained.  The Open Court resources above were used by teachers to teach reading with a phonics approach successfully for many, many years.