the WRITE Balance: The Magic Stories: A Reading Program Review

The Magic Stories {Allsaid & Dunn, LLC. Reviews}

One time someone asked me if being a member of the Review Crew and my kids starting various educational programs, but not necessarily finishing them was detrimental to their learning. Honestly, I had never thought about it that way, but I've after having thought about it I'm sure the answer is no. For one thing, sometimes we do either finish a program in the review period or continue using it afterwards. Still, even in the cases where we might not, the educational exposure is more opportunities to learn and exercise mentally. Our latest review is a good example of this. The Magic Stories from Allsaid & Dunn, LLC, publishers of The Reading Game and authors of the Wordly Wise series was completely unfamiliar to me and something we started on in the middle of other curriculum already in progress. And yet, for the first time ever, I walked by J as he was reading The Magic Hole and he was laughing. He loves reading, don't get me wrong, but I don't think I've ever caught him laughing at something he's read unless it was Calvin & Hobbes! Needless to say, new venues for learning are always welcome here.

The latest venue, The Magic Stories is a digital product intended for 2nd and 3rd graders that includes 6 stories approximately 20 pages long, corresponding vocabulary cards and exercises for each story, and pre and post sight word assessment worksheets for each story. The student is expected to take a pre-assessment, read the story, work through the exercises and then take the post-assessment. Hopefully, the student will have improved. The vocabulary in each story increases in difficulty so reading them in order is recommended, but the assessment worksheets are great for determining your child's level of readiness for the individual stories. The exercises and worksheets are designed to be used with the stories, of course, but the vocabulary cards can be used long after you've finished with The Magic Stories program for review and refreshing.

While my avid reader loves to consume just about anything, he is definitely ready to work on comprehension. The Exercises included with each story are great for digging into content. Each story includes The Maze, Finish the Sentence, Imagine, and Finish the Story. My favorite is the Maze. It presents true or false statements that, if answered correctly, will lead you successfully to the finish. I thought it was a really fun take on the maze concept! J loves reading, but slowing down to comprehend isn't always his favorite thing to do. Having different kinds of exercises available covering the same content really does make it more palatable for him.

There are also some helpful free resources on the website like instructions, the assessment worksheets I already mentioned, Running Record Sheets that assess reading fluency and a running record sheet for a classroom or group of students. If this sounds like something your reader could use, my readers will receive 25% off by using the coupon code raisingreaders at checkout. For the amount of content and exercises you receive, $16.95 is a great price! Getting 25% off makes it even better.

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