Using Grade Level Reading To Do Schoolwork

Ziya loves to read, but not her textbooks. The main reason I started working with Ziya is because if she doesn’t read at grade level by third grade she has a 50% unemployment rate for the rest of their life. Rocket Phonics brought her to 4th grade level from Kindergarten in 6 months. (Ziya’s a 3rd grader. Yes, she’s above grade level now!) Grade level reading opens the doors of education to every student. She even won a statewide award for most improved. So she can read her third grade textbook, but they are boring.  

In a weird turnaround Ziya now has to hurry to do 2 pages of schoolwork before I let her read Junie B Jones to me. (I put her on a 30 minute timer when she finishes 2 pages of schoolwork she gets to read what she wants.) I am flattered that reading is now so much fun for her it can be used as a reward.

In fact, the reason Rocket Phonics uses games is to create this love of reading. It has worked extraordinarily well in the scholarship school Ziya attends. (A scholarship school is a school where every student has a state funded scholarship. It serves the low income children in Florida. All the children at Ziya’s school are on scholarships.) Ziya knows she’s reading above grade level and initially she thought she was done with reading. And the truth is that she doesn’t have to finish the Rocket Phonics program. She will maintain her reading edge by reading books she enjoys.

Twenty years ago our first student, Allie, had failed Kindergarten and within two months over the summer Allie gained two years. She never finished the Rocket Phonics program. Yet, she remained one of the best readers in her class all the way to college. The advantage of grade level reading the Rocket Phonics way is that it stays with you your entire life.