New Fourth Edition
Levels 1-6, Fourth Edition
Edited by Stephen P. Quigley, Patricia L. McAnally, Susan Rose and Cynthia M. King
Reading Milestones is an alternative, language-controlled program designed to take readers to approximately a fifth grade reading level. It is a revolutionary program with syntax and vocabulary controls that targets five critical reading skills.
Reading Milestones is effective for students with hearing impairments and language delays and is also widely used with others who have special language and reading needs, including those with learning disabilities, developmental disabilities and English Language Learners. Reading materials are designed to match student language levels and progress in steps small enough to ensure continued success in reading.
Meets the Requirements of the No Child Left Behind Act and the National Reading Panel.
The following features help ensure that students from many different populations can begin their reading experiences successfully:
- adjusted language level
- controlled vocabulary
- controlled syntax
- chunking (i.e., grouping of words by sentence constituents—noun phrase, verb phrase, etc.)
The National Reading Panel Components
The Reading Milestones program incorporates the five essential components recommended by the National Reading Panel (NRP, 2000):
- phonemic awareness
This edition of Reading Milestones includes instructional and reinforcement tasks that focus on developing phonemic awareness and phonics in a language context in the Workbook activities, the Spelling program, and the Teacher’s Guide.
The NRP reported that repeated oral reading with feedback and guidance and well-developed word recognition skills lead to improvements in reading fluency. Repeated reading, although not necessarily oral, is a part of almost every lesson plan in the Teacher’s Guide. Extensive work on developing automaticity of vocabulary and sight words is presented in the Reading Milestones materials to develop fluency.
Extensive work on the development of vocabulary concepts is part of every reading unit. Experiential activities and schema-based strategies are strongly recommended for the development of concepts in young beginning readers.
Text comprehension receives major emphasis in the program with activities reinforcing research-based comprehension strategies such as prediction, question–answer relationships, monitoring, and summarizing.
Many students with hearing impairments and other special language needs experience a significant gap between their language base and the materials they are given to read. Reading Milestones was designed and constructed to minimize this gap by beginning with the simplest possible language to ensure initial success in reading and by increasing language acquisition (vocabulary, syntax, figurative language). Students work in very small steps, accompanied by constant reinforcement, to ensure continuing success.
Vocabulary, language structures, and comprehension skills are introduced in small and constantly reinforced increments. The vocabulary was drawn from several high frequency word lists (including the Dolch Basic Sight Word List). All the essential comprehension skills-literal, inferential, evaluative, and critical reading skills-are introduced and practiced in the Workbook Activities. Chunking (the separation of phrases by several spaces) is used in the first three levels to aid in processing units larger than single words. Reading Milestones begins at the most basic language level. The program introduces vocabulary, syntax, and idiomatic language in very small steps and reinforces this learning before introducing new materials.
The instructional design used in Reading Milestones provides educators with sufficient information to make the reading series a self-contained program. Detailed, step-by-step instructions for teaching each story are provided in an easy-to-use format.
What’s New in the Fourth Edition:
The core content of the program remains the same and now includes many improvements. These include:
- Reading Milestones Placement and Monitoring (RMPM) — Separately available, this informal test places students in the correct level of Reading Milestones and monitors their progress through the program.
- New Look — Many new illustrations have been added to the stories included in the Readers for all levels.
- Teacher’s Guide - The Teacher’s Guide has been revised to include extensive information on recent research and best practices in reading. Strategies for teaching have been expanded and reformatted for clarity. Several useful appendixes have been added.
- Additional Stories — Many new stories have been included with increased multicultural representation and full-color illustrations. The number of stories in each Reader was increased for a total of 6 stories per book and 60 stories for each level.
- Story Structure – Many stories were rewritten to include more definite story structure. Knowledge of story structure helps students focus on the components and aids in comprehension.
- Story Page Layout — All sentences are complete on one page or on opposing pages to aid the student in developing fluency.
- Workbook Activities — All workbook activities are now provided as reproducible worksheets that can be printed from the Reading Milestones Reproducible Materials Flash Drive, included in the kit. A boxed, printed version of black line masters is also available separately.
- Spelling — The Spelling program has been improved to develop phonological awareness skills, sound–spelling correspondence, provide additional practice in word recognition to attain automaticity, and improve accuracy in word spelling that will contribute to writing fluency. All Spelling activities are now provided as reproducible worksheets that can be printed from the Reading Milestones Reproducible Materials Flash Drive, included in the kit. A boxed, printed version of black line masters is also available separately.
- Student Achievement Record (SAR) — used to record the student’s completion of each of the stories and activities in the workbook and spelling materials across a level of the program. Space is provided for comments regarding progress and recommendations. A package of 10 SARs is included in the kit.
- Word Cards — Vocabulary words taught in the program are displayed in two formats: as reproducible PDFs on the Reading Milestones Reproducible Materials Flash Drive and as boxed, printed cards available separately. The cards are grouped and alphabetized by corresponding reader and numbered accordingly. Students can use the cards for practice in the Spelling and other lesson activities, in group games, and as flash cards in individual or group review.
- Reading Milestones Reproducible Materials Flash Drive — Included in each kit, now reproducible PDFs are available for all Workbook Activities, Spelling and Word Cards.
- Ten Readers per level, 6 stories per Reader
- Vocabulary and syntax gradually increase in complexity
- Glossaries in every Reader
- Lists of new words and syntax
- Pictures used as visual cues for words
- Story themes include fact and fiction
- Multicultural groups represented
- Urban and rural settings used in the stories
- Reading Milestones Reproducible Materials Flash Drive includes reproducible pdfs of Workbook Activities for each Reader (1-10)
- Picture/word matching exercises
- Word/sentence completion
- Story sequencing activities
- Creative writing
- Semantic mapping
- Completion is documented on the Student Achievement Record
- Reading Milestones Reproducible Materials Flash Drive includes reproducible pdfs of Spelling activities for each Reader (1-10)
- Pretest and mastery test
- Range of spelling practice activities
- Completion is documented on the Student Achievement Record
- One Teacher’s Guide per level
- Step-by-step teaching instructions for Readers, Workbook Activities, and Spelling
- Sample lesson plans
- Pre- and post reading activities
- Comprehension questions
- Supplemental activities-e.g., related books, class activities, subject-related activities
Included in the package: Teacher’s Guide, a boxed set of 10 Readers, Reproducible Materials Flash Drive containing reproducible PDFs of Workbook activities, Spelling, and Word Cards, a 10-pack of Student Achievement Records, all in a sturdy storage box.
The Teacher’s Guide provides a foundation for lesson development, focusing on concepts, vocabulary, and linguistic structures emphasized within each story. The Teacher’s Guide describes an interactive process of steps to guide students in the acquisition of information through print. The format for the guide includes instructional steps for the development of linguistic comprehension (vocabulary and syntax) and reading fluency.
For each story, the Teacher’s Guide includes the following:
- specific activities for developing and activating prior knowledge
- the presentation of new concepts and vocabulary words
- activities for establishing the purpose for reading
- comprehension questioning strategies and activities for use during reading
- post reading activities, including activities for developing an understanding of story structure, skills in phonological awareness, fluency, and story retelling
Also included are literature activities to assist the teacher in integrating classic themes and selected stories into the reading and language curriculum to present a balanced instructional perspective. Instructional guidelines for Workbook activities for each story are also included in the Teacher’s Guides, with specific activities for vocabulary practice, linguistic structures, story structures, and related skills. As the lessons progress, the guide provides the teacher with strategies for discussing Workbook activities that focus on metacognitive skills. Valuable resource and reference information for well-grounded instructional decision making and problem solving is interwoven into the lessons. The Teacher’s Guide has been revised to include extensive information on recent research and best practices in reading. Strategies for teaching have been expanded and reformatted for clarity. Several useful appendixes have been added.
Each level of the program includes 10 Readers with 6 stories per book for a total of 60 stories per level. The stories include characters that represent the population of students using the program and the types of settings in which they live. In the fourth edition, increased representation was also given to ethnic and disability groups.
- Syntax controls including sentence length, number of syllables, level of abstraction
- Vocabulary controls such as the number of new words per story, multiple meanings, and word structures
- Vocabulary sources include Dolch List, Dale-Chall list of 3,000 common words, a revised core vocabulary of Grades 1-8, and more
- Story structure is included to focus students’ attention on the components of the story and aid in comprehension.
- Comprehension skills including understanding the main idea, locating details, sequencing, drawing conclusions, and more
- Chunking of phrases or constituents of sentences in the first three levels
Reader package includes: 10 full color readers in a boxed set
In this edition, the Workbook activities, which were provided in individual, consumable workbooks in previous editions, are provided as reproducible worksheet pages that can be printed from the Reading Milestones Reproducible Materials Flash Drive or the boxed set of black line masters and reproduced as needed for your students’ use.
Workbook activities are based on schema theory and designed to emphasize the development of comprehension. Tasks are constructed to develop literal comprehension, inferential comprehension, and the solving of problems. A variety of procedures are used: semantic maps, semantic feature analyses, story maps, word maps, and word analogies. Other tasks include:
- matching print and pictures
- story structure
- phonological awareness activities
The Workbook pages provide activities that serve as reinforcement and practice for the skills the teacher has taught through direct instruction during the reading period. The tasks become progressively more sophisticated as the students advance in the levels and provide reinforcement of basic literacy and comprehension skills.
The Spelling program units coincide with each of the first five stories in the Readers. No spelling activities are provided for the sixth story in each Reader because these stories have no new words. The Spelling program activity sheets are reproducible and are found on the Reading Milestones Reproducible Materials Flash Drive, which is included with the program or in the boxed set of Spelling black line masters, which is available separately.
The phonological awareness activities in the Spelling activities have been designed to reinforce the direct instruction on development of phonological skills provided during the reading period. Several of the activities in the Spelling activities have been changed to reflect a more developmentally appropriate sequence. The emphasis on phonological awareness activities has been increased in this edition.
Spelling words are the new vocabulary words for each story. For several of the units, the teacher has the opportunity to add additional spelling words that are key words in other areas of study such as math, social studies, and science.
The Spelling program is designed to:
- develop phonological awareness skills
- develop sound–spelling correspondence
- provide additional practice in word recognition to attain automaticity
- improve accuracy in word spelling that will contribute to writing fluency
The Spelling program consists of the following components: Pretest; Word Practice; Alphabet, Visual, and Phonological/Phonics Instruction; Study Method; and Mastery Test.
Student Achievement Record (SAR)
The Reading Milestones Student Achievement Record (SAR) is a document designed to allow the teacher to record the student’s completion of each of the stories in the Readers and activities in the Workbook and Spelling materials across a level of the program. The four-page SAR includes a Spelling Chart to show visually the student’s mastery test results from all stories and books in the level. Sections for each of the 10 books are included to record:
- Date the student completed each story
- Number of Workbook and Spelling pages for each story the student completed successfully
- Space for comments regarding progress and recommendations.
Included in package: 10 Student Achievement Records
Vocabulary words taught in the Reading Milestones program are available as word cards in two formats: as reproducible PDFs on the Reading Milestones Reproducible Materials Flash Drive and as boxed, printed cards available separately. The cards are grouped and alphabetized by corresponding reader and numbered accordingly. Students can use the cards for practice in the Spelling and other lesson activities, in group games, and as flash cards in individual or group review.
Reproducible Materials Flash Drive
Available for each level of the Reading Milestones program, the Reading Milestones Reproducible Materials Flash Drive includes PDFs of:
- Workbook Activities
- Word Cards
**The new Reading Milestones Fourth Edition readers and workbook and spelling pages can be used with the now out-of-print third edition materials.