Amazing resource to supplement and differentiate reading instruction
Community Review for Reading A-Z
My Take
My overall opinion about this product is that it is a great fairly inexpensive option (as compared to purchasing leveled libraries) to supplement and differentiate my reading instruction. I like that Reading A-Z offers a 14 day free trial and if you decide to purchase a license you have access to thousands of downloadable, projectable, printable teacher materials, covering all the skills necessary for effective reading instruction for up to 36 students per year for $99. With your license you also have access to books and resources that are correlated to state and Common Core Standards. You can also find books and resources correlated to published curriculum reading series from Houghton Mifflin, Harcourt, MacMillan McGraw-Hill and Scott Foresman. In addition, I am able to print books for each of the different Guided Reading levels in my class and make a copy for each student to use before, during and after Guided Reading lessons. The con to this is that it can be very time consuming and costly to print and put the books together if you do not have unlimited printing capabilities at your site or within your disposal. I print the copies in black and white and project the color version for my students to see. Some of the books you can print and have students color in the illustrations. Overall, I have found this resource to be a wonderful and worthwhile asset to aid in differentiating and meeting the diverse needs of my students.
How I Use It
I use this product to differentiate my instruction and meet the diverse reading needs of my students. At my school we (my first grade team) group our students based upon their instructional needs and each teacher teaches a different group. This year, I have the group of students who are reading above the first grade level (their current Guided Reading Levels are M-TUV) so our district adopted basal program does not currently meet their instructional needs. I use Reading A-Z to supplement my instruction. I am able to print leveled readers for each guided reading group and use the texts to support their learning. It can be time consuming to print, copy, and staple the books together but I find it well worth my time.