Carla F.
Teacher of 30 years
The further I move through the chapters the less I like the program. It is gimmicky. The lessons take longer than the manual states. The 62% of students that do not need this approach to be strong readers and writers are able to follow and understand the more complicated lessons, however the 38% of students that struggle continue to struggle, even with Reading Horizons. If I have to read and reread and reread a lesson to understand it, I doubt 7 and 8 year olds are going to follow it. My students might be able to mark 1 guardian star or two in the isolated lesson, but in “real life” writing or reading they are not applying it. As a veteran primary grade teacher I have seen many trends come and go. It will be no different with reading horizons. They say “but it’s researched based”, well you can find research to lean in whichever way you want. I wish my district wouldn’t waste the money on it. But it’s what’s trendy in education at the moment.