Meg and Greg

  • Features of the Meg and Greg Books

    Orca Two Read Books have many special features to help all kids who are learning to read, and especially kids who have the added challenge of dyslexia or who are learning English as an additional language:

     

    • Appealing text and graphics for 6-9 year olds
    • Text at a beginner reading level
    • Multiple levels of text
    • Phonics based
    • Stories with short chapters
    • Each story introduces one new phonogram
    • Each story builds on the previous one (cumulative)
  • The big idea behind Orca Two Read Books

    Most children learn to speak by being surrounded by language, but when it comes to learning to read, it isn’t enough to simply be surrounded by books and words. Although a few kids seem to pick up reading easily, most kids need and greatly benefit from learning to read with a more structured literacy approach. Some kids also have the extra challenge of dyslexia or another language-learning difficulty, so a structured literacy approach is essential.

    A structured literacy approach means incrementally introducing a child to reading and spelling concepts with explicit instruction, but without spelling exceptions or advanced spellings thrown into the mix. Ideally, kids learn one phonogram or concept at a time and practise decoding example words until they have a solid grasp of that phonogram or concept. The amount of practice needed varies from child to child. Some grasp a new phonogram or concept—say, using ck to make a /k/ sound after a short vowel—after encountering it only a handful of times, while others need hundreds of exposures to it. This is why some children learn to read fairly quickly and many others take longer to solidify these concepts.

    Where can you find engaging stories that use a structured literacy approach for emerging young readers to practise decoding words?

    In the Meg and Greg series! The stories in these books are designed with a structured literacy approach to introducing phonograms and spelling concepts. The series begins for a child who has a solid grasp of the sounds made by all the individual consonants and by all the short vowels. Each story focuses on using words with one phonogram or concept, and these words are repeated throughout the story. Spelling exceptions and advanced words are left out.

    The Meg and Greg stories will help any child who’s learning to read—one of the most important things a child learns to do.

    The rules used to ensure each layer of text is decodable for the reader

    Each story includes adult or buddy reader’s text, kid’s text and illustration labels. Read a full explanation of how the different layers work.

     

    More Meg and Greg

    • You could see how proud she was of herself and how the book encouraged her to read because she was actually doing it on her own.

      Chantale F., parent of a 9 year old