what was this reading THING?!?!

December 11, 2008 9:11 AM

I-can't-remember-1st grade filter: help me figure out the name of the reading/spelling/phonics system that I used in 1st- (roughly) 3rd grade....

It consisted of color-coded readings that the student did at their own pace. The readings got more difficult as you went along. I think they were kept in a cardboard box that the set of cards came in (the whole class shared a set of 50-odd reading cards). They were little stories with pictures at the top. I believe the students had a workbook to fill in answers. HELP ME REMEMBER PEOPLE! I can't remember the name, but if someone posts it and/or a picture I am positive i will be able to recognize it. This would have been in the very early 90's, but this reading system thingy could be significantly older than that (i feel like i remember it looking old).

posted by slograffiti to education (10 comments total)

Were they the SRA reading kits mentioned in this AskMe thread?
posted by amyms at 9:18 AM on December 11, 2008 [1 favorite has favorites]

It sounds like SRA to me too. This is what they looked like when I was a kid.
posted by interplanetjanet at 9:32 AM on December 11, 2008 [1 favorite has favorites]

oh my! yes! i didn't recognize it when i saw that thread because the picture wasn't what i remembered. But upon searching more pics, i realized that we used the super-duper old school ones. thank YOU!
posted by slograffiti at 9:45 AM on December 11, 2008

You're welcome. My elementary school had them in the 70s, and they looked like the ones in interplanetjanet's pic above.
posted by amyms at 9:53 AM on December 11, 2008

Man, I loved SRA. Thanks for the reminder.
posted by batmonkey at 10:26 AM on December 11, 2008

Yeah, late 60s for me. We also used ITA which kind of came and went quickly.
posted by fixedgear at 10:51 AM on December 11, 2008

I remember feeling so smart reading the hardest ones. My elementary school had this in the early 80s.
posted by pmbuko at 12:03 PM on December 11, 2008

Loved SRA also.

Personally, I found it motivating to work hard to reach the hardest books but then I came up through school when old-fashioned subjects (reading, math, etc.) where still emphasised.
posted by trinity8-director at 1:30 PM on December 11, 2008

yay for SRA. i'm glad i wasn't the only kid that was totally obsessed with it.
posted by slograffiti at 1:58 PM on December 11, 2008

oh, man. I pissed off my third-grade teacher by blitzing through the entire box of those in the first couple months of the school year.
posted by shiny blue object at 6:31 PM on December 11, 2008