Learning Dynamics Reading Program Review

I want to share with you a fun reading program that I have been using with F, the Learning Dynamics Reading Program by Learning Dynamics.  Most of this program is reusable - the books, flash cards, music, letter rewards and lesson manual.  The only consumable is the student activity workbook and you can purchase additional copies as needed for additional students.  This is great because it will allow me to reuse this program with G when he is ready by purchasing an extra student activity workbook.

The Complete Program

This program is a good fit for children who don't know letters or sounds and for children who can read some but struggle.  This program is specifically recommended for children 4-7 years old (F is a perfect fit at 5 1/2).  Students jump right in and they will be reading their first book in this program in about 3-4 weeks on average.  Learning Dynamics aims to bridge the gap between reading readiness and actual reading.  This program is designed to be used 15 minutes a day for 3 days a week, or every other day.  It is not an independent program.  It is absolutely essential that parents do this program with their child.  The simple, easy-to-use lesson manual walks you through each lesson clearly.  This program contains 53 books that increase in difficulty spanning 4 different reading levels (each level is a different color) and present concepts that the students have just learned.

Above you can see the books, alphabet flashcards, blending flashcards, music and reward letter punchouts.

F with his student workbook.

In this program, children start with the m letter sound in lesson 1, followed by the a letter sound.  It is important to note that children will not learn the sounds in alphabetical order on purpose.  In lesson 5, children are introduced to the concept of blending.  And after learning eight letter sounds and the blending concept, they begin to read the first book in the program.  As they master reading through each book, they earn that book as they begin to build their first library.

Working on the first worksheet for lesson 1.

A peek inside F's student workbook - finished worksheet for the m sound.

All of the letter sound worksheets are fairly similar.  Students are asked to write the small (lowercase) version of the letter.  They are to identify the picture that does not start with that letter sound and cross it out.  Then color the pictures that do indeed start with the learned letter sound.

Finished worksheet for the a sound.

The Lesson Manual

 A peek inside the lesson manual at lesson 1.

Final page for lesson 1 instruction.

Along with a letter/sound worksheet, students use flashcards and songs for each lesson.  The lesson manual shows how to use the flashcards to isolate a letter and teach its specific sound.  There is a second set of flashcards that correspond to the books that help students connect the book characters to the letters that they have learned.  The songs are short, fun and really help students concentrate on the sounds that the letters make.  As they listen to the song, students are encouraged to point to the words in the song as they are being said (the lesson manual includes these pages for each lesson).  This helps them associate letters and words with their corresponding songs.  There is also an alphabet song to review each day.  Each letter also comes with a corresponding character.  These punchouts are given to the child as a reward after each lesson.

F is pointing to the words during the letter S song.

Completing the letter T worksheet.

Pointing to the words while listening to the letter T song.

Here you can see F with his workbook along with the flashcards and punchout for the letter T.

This program does not teach handwriting.  You will show your student how to form the letters if they do not already know; however, that is not a main focus of this program.  I just wanted to make that clear since the letter workbook pages have handwriting at the top.


Listening to the letter H song.

I appreciate that the student workbook sheets have consistency.  This made it super easy to use this program with F because after only a few lessons he knew exactly what was expected.

F finishing book 1 in this program.

After 3 weeks, F read the first book in this program.  I will note that it is extremely short, only four words in the entire book.  He was pretty excited about it though and I know that's the point!  The second book in this program has eight words.

The inside front cover of the books show students new words and sight words that they need to know.  I really like this feature.

Reading book 2

I feel like book 4 really ramps up as it contains 37 words.  Now your student is really reading!  Also beginning with book 4, there are questions to ask your student after reading the book inside the back cover (this is a great addition).

F's library

Above is F's book library as mentioned earlier.  As he masters each book, he receives it as part of his new library.  This is a pretty cool concept.  Students are encouraged to read and reread the books in their library.

F is really enjoying this program.  I think he really appreciates that the lessons are short and sweet.  He loves thinking of words that start with the letter and sound that he is working on throughout the day.  Reading is continuing to "come alive" for him and that is exciting to see.  I love seeing his excitement as he reads through these books.  This curriculum can be used alongside any core program that you are already using.  It compliments most programs great.  I appreciate that there is very little prep on my part.  I just have to look at the short lessons ahead of time to be prepared.

Check out the short video below that describes exactly how Learning Dynamics works.  It's a great visual for this program.



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