Put your child at the top of the class on the first day of first grade!

For the past two years we've offered a special three-semester program for non-readers who are entering kindergarten. Here's how it works:

1. The first semester runs mid September through mid December. Children start this class at the same time they enter kindergarten. During this semester, our students  learn the most basic sounds of the language, along with the letters that represent those sounds. At the end of this class in December they can read simple entry-level first-grade texts. During this first semester we keep things very simple to avoid confusion:
   
   
   • Children are taught the sounds but not the names of the letters.
     
     
   • Only lower case letters are used.
     
     
   • A special typeface helps children distinguish mirror-image letters (such as 'd' and 'b').
     
     
   • That same typeface contains special marks to help children distinguish long and short vowels.
     
     
   • The typeface also helps children understand silent letters.
     
   
   
2. The second semester runs from mid January through mid April. Here your child learns more complex vowel sounds and blends, vastly expanding his or her ability to recognize unfamiliar printed words. Students are introduced to capital letters and begin learning some of the simple rules governing the use of short and long vowels. Reading advances from simple sentences to more complex paragraphs containing a much wider vocabulary.
   
   
3. The third semester runs from mid April through mid July (in Oak Brook it's from mid June through early August). By now children implicitly understand the rules governing long and short vowels and silent letters, so the special typeface is dropped and children read ordinary Roman-font text. Students learn more advanced rules governing vowel pronunciation, and they practice with increasingly advanced texts. Reading moves from paragraph-length exercises to complete stories.

At the end of this program, our typical students enter first grade with entry-level third-grade reading skills. Our most advanced students enter first grade with entry-level fifth grade reading skills. All of this is with full comprehension*.

Will your child enter first grade with this kind of reading advantage? We'll make it possible by offering this same program again in Fall 2002. If your child is entering kindergarten in that semester, we can virtually guarantee that he or she will enter first grade in Fall 2003 at the very top of the class.

We produce spectacular results consistently by using the world’s most effective reading curriculum, proven superior in more credible, large scale research than any other curriculum or method ever tested. And we train our teachers extensively in its use. 

This is the most valuable investment you’ll ever make in your child’s education. Your child could enter first grade with extraordinary reading skills. We can’t think of a better way to move up to the top of the class! Why leave your child’s reading skills to chance? Please call:

* To determine these reading levels, we hire an independent tester who is not a member of our staff to test all children at the end of the three semesters. The tester administers Johns IRI, a test used widely by Illinois school districts to determine whether children are reading at grade level. Fifty percent of the Johns IRI grade-level score is based on a test of decoding skills, and the other fifty percent is based on a test of comprehension skills.