The Fruit of Her Hands: The Reading Game-Review

The Reading Game is a memory card game and includes a series of 6 black and white storybooks that correspond with each deck. There are 6 decks of cards and each deck builds on the previous one. The decks are divided into 6 groups of words. The children progress through the 6 levels learning new words as they go. (So there are 6 decks with 6 levels each...I'm not sure that was clear. :)

Once all 30 words are learned in the first deck the child can read the first book. The Skunk story book is the first book in the series and the entire story is written with only the words in the first deck.

From the website:

After completing Skunk, Game 1, the student has learned five words (can, cat is, me, not). Playing Game 2 adds an additional five words (sad, she, stay, this, with). The student is then tested by being required to read a couple of test sentences:

“This cat is not a sad cat. Can she stay with me?” Similar test sentences are provided after each even numbered game thereafter. It’s important that the tutor move on only after the student has demonstrated proficiency in the words already covered. Some students will take a little longer; a few may take a lot longer; but ANYONE CAN LEARN TO READ. It’s not hard to persevere when the learning process is fun!

Jenna makes a match

Ellie (4) loves to play.
She can't read the words yet but usually she can tell when she has a match.
It's only a matter of time before she knows these words.

Connor, Ellie and Jenna really like this game.
I'm so happy to have this game for them to play.

What the decks look like in the box (minus the one we were playing with)

Jenna reading her first book!

Each deck of cards in the series adds thirty more words for a reading vocabulary of 180 words by the time the complete series is finished. Of the twenty-five most commonly used English words, twenty-two are on that list; of the forty most commonly used English words –thirty. The multi-sensory teaching approach – through the card game play and the storybooks - works well for retention and student enjoyment.

The Reading Game is designed to be a supplement to your current reading curriculum and this is exactly how we are using it. It also meets the Common Core Standards for Language Arts and Reading and Foundational Skills for both kindergarten and first grade.

On the Reading Game website you will find a free Pre/Post Assessment worksheet you can use to evaluate progress. The Test Sentences worksheet is used after play but before reading each book as a tool for seeing if the child is ready to read the book. The test sentences are also included in the parent guide that comes with the game.

About the words used in the games:

• Dolch Word List of “service words” (pronouns, adjectives, adverbs, prepositions, conjunctions, and verbs) that cannot be learned through the use of pictures. 60% of the words in “The Reading Game” are on the Dolch Word List for pre-k and k and makes up 54% of dolch words for Pre-K, K and 1st Grade.

• Of the first 100 most commonly used English words (source The Reading Teachers Book of Lists, Third Edition by Fry, et al) “The Reading Game” incorporates 88% of the most common twenty-five words and 63% of the first 100.

Watch this video to see how to play and to see what the cards look like.

We just really love The Reading Game and think it would be a great addition to any phonics program. The cards are a little thinner than I'd like to see, otherwise no complaints.

The Reading Game is from the author of Wordly Wise, Ken Hodkinson. Read more about Ken Hodkinson and how The Reading Game came to be here.