Dash Into Reading {Curriculum Review}

My experience teaching kids to read has been exciting, frustrating, humbling, and amazing… all wrapped into one. After using and loving the All About Reading program all the way through with my first, I assumed I would always use that exclusively. Lo and behold, my current 6yo just hasn’t been connecting with the curriculum. He stalled out and started showing all sorts of resistance. The pace was moving too quickly for him, and he needed more time with the concepts.  I backed away, thinking I would put it on the shelf, give him some time, and reassess. But, my gut told me I should keep him working with the basics he had already mastered. Enter, the Dash into Reading program!

The readers are so darling and very approachable. They’re simple- the program consists of a set of small books with a lesson included in a tidy little page in the front of each book. There are optional activity packs as well (simple games/puppets to craft, etc.). My Kinder is typically pretty resistant to “crafty” type activity packs or anything that looks “babyish.” He is so intrigued by the illustrations of the series, though, that he is totally on board! Yay!

After purchasing the entire program myself and completing the first level, I became an affiliate. I can now offer you a discount code to purchase their already affordable products: librarianinthehouse20 for 15% off (not valid on sale prices). Click here to visit the website. 

To introduce Dash into Reading to my son, I wrapped the first book in gift wrap (a scrap I had laying around!) and told him it was a surprise for helping him learn to read. My not-easily-impressed boy was delighted! It feels like the rest was just history… just two weeks later he was proudly reading the first book to his grandparents over Skype.

What We Love

• It’s Simple. This is not a complex process with a lot of pieces. We’ve been using the 7×7″, 10 page books 98% of the time with not a single other component needed. It’s simple for me as the teacher, and it’s not intimidating for my Kindergartener (who is a perfectionist and easily scared away). He finds the stories so engaging that he will page through them on his own, enjoying the illustrations (my independent reader 8yo picks these up too!). All I have to do is grab the reader and GO…. that’s truly “open and go” curriculum!

• It’s Adaptable. The activity packs are a great option to add to the curriculum. Occasionally (on gameschool day!) we pull out a game from the corresponding activity pack. The characters and concepts taught in the lesson are reinforced. Crafty or younger kids would enjoy the puppets, play mats, basic crafts, and coloring pages.

• It’s Adorable. The illustrations are really darling, and my son is always pointing out special details on the pages. I appreciate that the characters don’t all look the same!
• It’s Affordable. Because the program is simple, the cost is affordable. AND, you can use my coupon code for 15% off (not valid on sale prices, though). Enter the code librarianinthehouse20 at checkout.

Level 1 covers basic beginning phonics: blending, short vowels, consonants (your child technically wouldn’t need to know letter sounds before beginning the program but it might be a little more intimidating. We did love the All About Reading Prereading Program for teaching letter sounds), consonant teams sh and th, and sight words I, the, is, a, and, not, this, you, are, was, my, on, said, see, where, came, to, do, here, that.

Level 2 teaches long vowels, additional consonants, blending, additional digraphs, silent e words, and more sight words.

Level 3 teaches more advanced beginning reading (approximately late 1st grade-2nd grade reading level), building on previously taught concepts: more sight words and blending practice, and ea/oa, ai/ae/ay, aw, ow, dge/ge, ight/wh, oi/oy, tion, soft c.

Each level consists of 10 books and one parent guide. All 30 books are the same size and number of pages, with a one page lesson at the start. The number of words/sentences and complexity of the text increases with each. (My son LOVES this about them!) You can purchase the entire program with the activity packs as a bundle at additional savings (and don’t forget the coupon code on top of that librarianinthehouse20).

There’s also a handwriting book! What drew me to the program is that every word the child writes is one that has been taught in the readers! The same adorable characters are featured, and my son loves the Cam the Cat concept for learning the height of letters/descending letters. We work on one page a day.

If you’re looking for an early reader program, or just standalone early reader books that are truly phonics based, look no further! I wish I had known about these for my older son. These could be a wonderful supplement to the All About Reading program or other phonics based programs as the stories are adorable and also don’t jump around. We get endlessly frustrated by so many “step into reading”/level 1 type books at the library that truly aren’t for new readers! These ARE. And so engaging!

If I can answer any other questions for you, feel free to reach out in the comments below or send me a dm/pm on my social accounts. (instagram here, facebook here).

We still love All About Reading (you can read my thorough review of that program here) and I suspect we will loop back around to that when we graduate from Dash into Reading!

PS. Don’t forget the coupon code librarianinthehouse20 for 15% off 🙂