Learn to Read

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This page is just the reading portion of the Getting Ready pages and has three parts: The McGuffey Primer, The McGuffey First Reader, and phonics lessons. Before beginning this page, your child should be able to recognize all of the letters of the alphabet, as well as know their names and their basic sounds. This was created for children needing it who were already beyond kindergarten.

There are 230 lessons. Students start with sight reading, which enables them to read faster and more fluently. Then they will complete a phonics program, and emerge as  excellent readers. You can move through these one a day, or you can do as many as your child can do successfully and cheerfully.

If your child isn’t getting the sight reading and is at least five years old, consider trying the phonics section, which begins on Day 60 in Getting Ready 2; a dyslexic child will do better with phonics than with the sight reading. My dyslexic boys struggled with sight reading, so we moved on to phonics. Then we went back and went through the McGuffey parts of the Learn to Read with EP book. They both enjoy reading now. I’m using the phonics section of the book to work on spelling, having them read a section of words, write them, read what they wrote, and then check it against the book.

Learn to Read with EP This course in book form.

Lesson 1
  • Note: This is the reading portion of The McGuffey Primer and Getting Ready 2. There is no need to take this course along with those courses. This course is intended for older children who need to work on learning to read. 
  • Now we are going to start reading our first book! You will need to have your child go over the day’s words three times a day–maybe after breakfast, after lunch and after dinner. It will only take two minutes. After the third time, your child will read the page for that day. You can print these words out if you would rather not use the computer.
  • We have an app for that! These word practices and stories are on our EP McGuffey Primer App, available at the Google Play Store.

EP McGuffey Primer - EPMP with Full Logo and Tagline on Green

  1. If you didn’t get here through My EP Assignments, I suggest you go there and create an account. There is an offline version of this course. Scroll up for the link.
  2. Look at your words. The program will show your child each word once and then show them randomly. That means a word may repeat. It changes its appearance slightly to show that you can click it again. This is for practicing. After several times a check mark will appear. That’s how you end the lesson. Feel free to end this first lesson before they know all the words perfectly.
  3. Look at your words.
  4. Look at your words and read lesson I. Your child should be able to recognize the words before reading the lesson. You or an older sibling needs to listen to your child read the lesson out loud from the online book each day.
  5. Congratulations on reading your first story!
  6. Your child is learning to read by sight. You are not teaching your child phonics. You don’t have to teach your child to sound out the words. (That can cause confusion at this point.) Your child is to learn to identify a word by looking at it. That’s how you are reading this right now. You don’t sound it out. You just know what it says. Your child will learn phonics. It’s coming. Doing it this way will give your child more speed and fluency.

Lesson 2

  1. Look at your words.
  2. Look at your words.
  3. Put the starting sound on the word. Even though we aren’t learning phonics right now, your child did learn the phonetic sounds of the alphabet. If your child is stuck on a word, the first thing to try is to ask your child what letter does the word start with and what sound does it make. Maybe making that sound will trigger the memory of what the word is.
  4. Look at your words and read lesson II.

Lesson 3

  1. Look at your words.
  2. Look at your words.
  3. Look at your words and read lesson III.
    .
Lesson 4
  • Remember that 1, 2 and 3 need to take place at three different times during the day. If your child ever feels like the words are switching too fast, you can always teach your child to pause it between words.
  1. Look at your words.
  2. Look at your words.
  3. Put the starting sound on the word.
  4. Look at your words and read lesson IV.
  5. You are learning to read! That’s wonderful!
Lesson 5
  1. Today is review, lesson V. Don’t worry about the cursive. Just skip over it.
Lesson 6
  1. Look at your words.
  2. Look at your words.
  3. Look at your words and read lesson VI. If your child is stuck on a word, another way to help is to remind your child that the story matches the picture. Maybe the picture has a clue as to what the word is. (This isn’t cheating. It’s teaching them skills to problem solve when they come across new words in the future. One way to figure out a word is to use context clues. Pictures are part of the context of these stories.)
Lesson 7
  1. Look at your words.
  2. Look at your words.
  3. Put the starting sound on the word.
  4. Look at your words and read lesson VII.
Lesson 8
  1. Look at your words.
  2. Look at your words.
  3. Look at your words and read lesson VIII. Another help in reading the right word is to ask your child if what he just read makes sense. If he said a word that doesn’t make sense, then that can’t be the right word. What would make sense?
Lesson 9
  1. Look at your words.
  2. Look at your words.
  3. Look at your words and read lesson IX.
    .
Lesson 10
  1. Read lesson X. Choose one sentence to read again fast!
Lesson 11
  1. Look at your words.
  2. Look at your words.
  3. Look at your words and read lesson XI.
Lesson 12
  1. Look at your words.
  2. Look at your words.
  3. Look at your words and read lesson XII.
Lesson 13
  1. Look at your words.
  2. Look at your words.
  3. Look at your words and read lesson XIII.
Lesson 14
  1. Look at your words.
  2. Look at your words.
  3. Look at your words and read lesson XIV.
Lesson 15
  1. Read lesson XV. Choose one sentence to read again fast!
Lesson 16
  1. Look at your words.
  2. Look at your words.
  3. Put the starting sound on the word.
  4. Look at your words and read lesson XVI.
Lesson 17
  1. Look at your words.
  2. Look at your words.
  3. Look at your words and read lesson XVII.

Lesson 18

  1. Look at your words.
  2. Look at your words.
  3. Look at your words and read lesson XVIII.
    .

Lesson 19

  1. Look at your words.
  2. Look at your words.
  3. Look at your words and read lesson XIX.
Lesson 20
  1. Read lesson XX. Choose one sentence to read again fast! (Parent: If you are having to tell your child words, please consider stopping and going back to the last lesson he can read perfectly and start from there. It’s fine to have to point out a wrong word or to have to remind them by asking, “What letter does it start with?” as long as they can figure it out eventually. You can also encourage your child to use the picture for clues.)

Lesson 21

  1. Look at your words.
  2. Look at your words.
  3. Put the starting sound on the word.
  4. Look at your words and read lesson XXI.
Lesson 22
  1. Look at your words.
  2. Look at your words.
  3. Put the starting sound on the word.
  4. Look at your words and read lesson XXII.
Lesson 23
  1. Look at your words.
  2. Look at your words.
  3. Look at your words and read lesson XXIII.

Lesson 24

  1. Look at your words.
  2. Look at your words.
  3. Look at your words and read lesson XXIV.

Lesson 25

  1. Read lesson XXV. Choose one sentence to read again fast!

Lesson 26

  1. Look at your words.
  2. Look at your words.
  3. Look at your words and read lesson XXVI.

Lesson 27

  1. Look at your words.
  2. Look at your words.
  3. Look at your words and read lesson XXVII.

Lesson 28

  1. Look at your words.
  2. Look at your words.
  3. Look at your words and read lesson XXVIII.

Lesson 29

  1. Look at your words.
  2. Look at your words.
  3. Look at your words and read lesson XXIX.
Lesson 30
  1. Read lesson XXX. Choose one sentence to read again fast! (Parent: If you are having to tell your child words, please consider stopping and going back to the last lesson he can read perfectly and start from there. It’s fine to have to point out a wrong word or to have to remind them by asking, “What letter does it start with?” as long as they can figure it out eventually. You can also encourage your child to use the picture for clues.)

Lesson 31

  1. Look at your words.
  2. Look at your words.
  3. Look at your words and read lesson XXXI.

Lesson 32

  1. Look at your words.
  2. Look at your words.
  3. Look at your words and read lesson XXXII.

Lesson 33

  1. Look at your words.
  2. Look at your words.
  3. Look at your words and read lesson XXXIII.

Lesson 34

  1. Look at your words.
  2. Look at your words.
  3. Look at your words and read lesson XXXIV.

Lesson 35

  1. Read lesson XXXV. Choose one sentence to read again fast!

Lesson 36

  1. Look at your words.
  2. Look at your words.
  3. Look at your words and read lesson XXXVI.

Lesson 37

  1. Look at your words.
  2. Look at your words.
  3. Look at your words and read lesson XXXVII.

Lesson 38

  1. Look at your words.
  2. Look at your words.
  3. Look at your words and read lesson XXXVIII.
  4. Watch the lonely vowel video.

Lesson 39

  1. Look at your words.
  2. Look at your words.
  3. Look at your words and read lesson XXXIX.
    .

Lesson 40

  1. Read lesson XL. Choose a sentence to read again fast! (Parent: If you are having to tell your child words, please consider stopping and going back to the last lesson he can read perfectly and start from there. It’s fine to have to point out a wrong word or to have to remind them by asking, “What letter does it start with?” as long as they can figure it out eventually. You can also encourage your child to use the picture for clues.)

Lesson 41

  1. Look at your words.
  2. Look at your words.
  3. Look at your words and read lesson XLI.

Lesson 42

  1. Look at your words.
  2. Look at your words.
  3. Look at your words and read lesson XLII.

Lesson 43

  1. Look at your words.
  2. Look at your words.
  3. Look at your words and read lesson XLIII.
Lesson 44
  1. Look at your words.
  2. Look at your words.
  3. Look at your words and read lesson XLIV.
    .

Lesson 45

  1. Read lesson XVLV

Lesson 46

  1. Look at your words.
  2. Look at your words.
  3. Look at your words and read lesson XLVI.

Lesson 47

  1. Look at your words.
  2. Look at your words.
  3. Look at your words and read lesson XLVII.

Lesson 48

  1. Look at your words.
  2. Look at your words.
  3. Look at your words and read lesson XLVIII.
Lesson 49
  1. Look at your words.
  2. Look at your words.
  3. Look at your words and read lesson XLIX.
Lesson 50
  1. Look at your words.
  2. Look at your words.
  3. Look at your words and read lesson L.
Lesson 51
  1. Look at your words.
  2. Look at your words.
  3. Look at your words and read lesson LI.

Lesson 52

  1. Look at your words.
  2. Look at your words.
  3. Look at your words (mute the audio and read it to the child) and read lesson LII.
  4. Listen to a rhyme.
  5. Congratulations! You read a whole book!

Lesson 53

  1. Read lesson 1 in your new book! A parent or older sibling needs to read the new words (in the box) to the child before he begins reading the lesson. Show the child the word (point to it with the mouse) and read it to him. Have him read the word to you. You can ignore the list of letters. You can also zoom in at any time. After you read through the words, have the child read the lesson story to you. It’s very short today!
  2. Also, parents, if sight reading was hard for your child, you could skip to phonics (Lesson 112) and then come back here. (A dyslexic child will do better with phonics than with sight reading, )

Lesson 54

  1. Read lesson 2 in your reader.

Lesson 55

  1. Read lesson 3 in your reader.

Lesson 56

  1. Read lesson 4 in your reader.

Lesson 57

  1. Read lesson 5 in your reader.

Lesson 58

  1. Read lesson 6 in your reader.

Lesson 59

  1. Read lesson 7 in your reader.

Lesson 60

  1. Read lesson 8 in your reader.

Lesson 61

  1. Read lesson 9 in your reader.

Lesson 62

  1. Read lesson 10 in your reader.

Lesson 63

  1. Read lesson 11 in your reader.

Lesson 64

  1. Read lesson 12 in your reader.

Lesson 65

  1. Read lesson 13 in your reader.

Lesson 66

  1. Read lesson 14 in your reader.

Lesson 67

  1. Read lesson 15 in your reader.

Lesson 68

  1. Read lesson 16 in your reader.

Lesson 69

  1. Read lesson 19 in your reader.

Lesson 70

  1. Read lesson 20 in your reader.

Lesson 71

  1. Read lesson 21 in your reader.

Lesson 72

  1. Read lesson 22 in your reader.

Lesson 73

  1. Read lesson 23 in your reader.

Lesson 74

  1. Read lesson 24 in your reader.

Lesson 75

  1. Read lesson 25 in your reader.

Lesson 76

  1. Read lesson 26 in your reader.

Lesson 77

  1. Read lesson 27 in your reader. (review)

Lesson 78

  1. Read lesson 28 in your reader.

Lesson 79

  1. Read lesson 29 in your reader.

Lesson 80

  1. Read lesson 30 in your reader.

Lesson 81

  1. Read lesson 31 in your reader.

Lesson 82

  1. Read lesson 32 in your reader.

Lesson 83

  1. Read lesson 33 in your reader. (review)

Lesson 84

  1. Read lesson 34 in your reader.

Lesson 85

  1. Read lesson 35 in your reader. Have someone show you the words and then read you the story.

Lesson 86

  1. Read lesson 36 in your reader.

Lesson 87

  1. Read lesson 37 in your reader.

Lesson 88

  1. Read lesson 38 in your reader.

Lesson 89

  1. Read lesson 39 in your reader.

Lesson 90

  1. Read lesson 40 in your reader.

Lesson 91

  1. Read lesson 41 in your reader.

Lesson 92

  1. Read lesson 42 in your reader.

Lesson 93

  1. Read lesson 43 in your reader.

Lesson 94

  1. Read lesson 44 in your reader.

Lesson 95

  1. Read lesson 45 in your reader.

Lesson 96

  1. Read lesson 46 in your reader. (review)

Lesson 97

  1. Read lesson 47 in your reader.

Lesson 98

  1. Read lesson 48 in your reader.

Lesson 99

  1. Read lesson 50 in your reader.

Lesson 100

  1. Read lesson 51 in your reader.

Lesson 101

  1. Read lesson 52 in your reader.

Lesson 102

  1. Read lesson 53 in your reader.

Lesson 103

  1. Read lesson 54 in your reader.

Lesson 104

  1. Read lesson 55 in your reader.

Lesson 105

  1. Read lesson 56 in your reader.

Lesson 106

  1. Read lesson 57 in your reader.

Lesson 107

  1. Read lesson 59 in your reader.

Lesson 108

  1. Read lesson 60 in your reader.

Lesson 109

  1. Read lesson 61 in your reader.

Lesson 110

  1. Read lesson 62 in your reader.

Lesson 111

  1. Read lesson 63 in your reader.

Lesson 112

  1. Congratulations on finishing your book! Now you are going to start to learn phonics. That is how to read big words, really, really long words. It will be easy for you. You will learn how to put the sounds of words together. You’ll have to think about how letters usually sound.
  2. Read this first page (1 vowels). It is all vowels. Do you remember their usual sounds?
  3. If you need practice remembering their sounds, you can play at Starfall. The last row has all of the vowel sounds you will be practicing.

Lesson 113

  1. Read this next page (2 b) by putting each vowel with the letter B.
Lesson 114
  1. Read the next page (3 d) in your phonics lessons.
Lesson 115
  1. Read the next page (4 f) in your phonics lessons.
Lesson 116
  1. Read the next page (5 g) in your phonics lessons.
Lesson 117
  1. Read the next page (6 h) in your phonics lessons.
Lesson 118
  1. Read the next page (7 j) in your phonics lessons.
Lesson 119
  1. Read the next page (8 k) in your phonics lessons.
Lesson 120
  1. Read the next page (9 l) in your phonics lessons.
Lesson 121
  1. Read the next page (10 m) in your phonics lessons.
Lesson 122
  1. Read the next page (11 n) in your phonics lessons.
Lesson 123
  1. Read the next page (12 p) in your phonics lessons.
Lesson 124
  1. Read the next page (13 r) in your phonics lessons.
Lesson 125
  1. Read the next page (14 s) in your phonics lessons.

Lesson 126

  1. Read the next page (15 t) in your phonics lessons.
Lesson 127
  1. Read the next page (16 v) in your phonics lessons.
Lesson 128
  1. Read the next page (17 w) in your phonics lessons.
Lesson 129
  1. Read the next page (18 y) in your phonics lessons.
Lesson 130
  1. Read the next page (19 z) in your phonics lessons.
Lesson 131
  1. Read the next page (20 b d) in your phonics lessons.
Lesson 132
  1. Read the next page (21 f g) in your phonics lessons.
Lesson 133
  1. Read the next page (22 h l three) in your phonics lessons.
Lesson 134
  1. Read the next page (23 m n three) in your phonics lessons.
Lesson 135
  1. Read the next page (24 p r three) in your phonics lessons.
Lesson 136
  1. Read the next page (25 s t three) in your phonics lessons.
Lesson 137
  1. Read the next page (26 v w x y z three) in your phonics lessons.
Lesson 138
  1. Read the next page (27 three review) in your phonics lessons.
Lesson 139
  1. Read the next page (28 three again) in your phonics lessons.
Lesson 140
  1. Read the next page (29 three once more) in your phonics lessons.
Lesson 141
  1. Read the next page (30 c, k) in your phonics lessons.
Lesson 142
  1. Read the next page (31 ck) in your phonics lessons.
Lesson 143
  1. Read the next page (32 nd) in your phonics lessons.
Lesson 144
  1. Read the next page (33 st) in your phonics lessons.
Lesson 145
  1. Read the next page (34 ft) in your phonics lessons.
Lesson 146
  1. Read the next page (35 nt) in your phonics lessons.
Lesson 147
  1. Read the next page (36 lk) in your phonics lessons.
Lesson 148
  1. Read the next page (37 lf) in your phonics lessons.
Lesson 149
  1. Read the next page (38 sk) in your phonics lessons.
Lesson 150
  1. Read the next page (39 four rhyme) in your phonics lessons.
Lesson 151
  1. Read the next page (40 y) in your phonics lessons.
Lesson 152
  1. Read the next page (41 y groups) in your phonics lessons.
Lesson 153
  1. Read the next page (42 doubles) in your phonics lessons.
Lesson 154
  1. Read the next page (43 sh) in your phonics lessons.
Lesson 155
  1. Read the next page (44 th) in your phonics lessons.
Lesson 156
  1. Read the next page (45 ch) in your phonics lessons.

Lesson 157

  1. Read the next page (46 review) in your phonics lessons.

Lesson 158

  1. Read the next page (47 ing) in your phonics lessons.

Lesson 159

  1. Read the next page (48 ung) in your phonics lessons.

Lesson 160

  1. Read the next page (49 verb ing) in your phonics lessons.

Lesson 161

  1. Read the next page (50 ink) in your phonics lessons.

Lesson 162

  1. Read the next page (51 unk) in your phonics lessons.
Lesson 163
  1. Read the next page (52 a) in your phonics lessons.
Lesson 164
  1. Read the next page (53 i) in your phonics lessons.
Lesson 165
  1. Read the next page (54 o) in your phonics lessons.
Lesson 166
  1. Read the next page (55 u) in your phonics lessons.
Lesson 167
  1. Read the next page (56 e) in your phonics lessons.
Lesson 168
  1. Read the next page (57 e) in your phonics lessons.
Lesson 169
  1. Read the next page (58 old) in your phonics lessons.

Lesson 170

  1. Read the next page (59 ind) in your phonics lessons.
Lesson 171
  1. Read the next page (60 long) in your phonics lessons.
Lesson 172
  1. Read the next page (61 ing) in your phonics lessons.
Lesson 173
  1. Read the next page (62 ed) in your phonics lessons.
Lesson 174
  1. Read the next page (63 er) in your phonics lessons.
Lesson 175
  1. Read the next page (64 long er) in your phonics lessons.
Lesson 176
  1. Read the next page (65 long and short) in your phonics lessons.
Lesson 177
  1. Play Chunk that Word!
  2. Read the next page (66 chunk) in your phonics lessons.
Lesson 178
  1. Read the next page (67 more) in your phonics lessons.
Lesson 179
  1. Read the next page (68 x) in your phonics lessons.
Lesson 180
  1. Read the next page (69 sh) in your phonics lessons.
Lesson 181
  1. Read the next page (70 sh) in your phonics lessons.
Lesson 182
  1. Read the next page (71 ch) in your phonics lessons.
Lesson 183
  1. Read the next page (72 ch) in your phonics lessons.
Lesson 184
  1. Read the next page (73 wh) in your phonics lessons.
Lesson 185
  1. Read the next page (74 th) in your phonics lessons.
Lesson 186
  1. Read the next page (75 qu) in your phonics lessons.
Lesson 187
  1. Read the next page (76 review) in your phonics lessons.
Lesson 188
  1. Read the next page (77 L blends) in your phonics lessons.
Lesson 189
  1. Read the next page (78 L blends cont.) in your phonics lessons.
Lesson 190
  1. Read the next page (79 L review) in your phonics lessons.
Lesson 191
  1. Read the next page (80 sm) in your phonics lessons.
Lesson 192
  1. Read the next page (81 st) in your phonics lessons.
Lesson 193
  1. Read the next page (82 sc) in your phonics lessons.
Lesson 194
  1. Read the next page (83 s blends) in your phonics lessons.
Lesson 195
  1. Read the next page (84 r) in your phonics lessons.
Lesson 196
  1. Read the next page (85 r blends) in your phonics lessons.
Lesson 197
  1. Read the next page (86 beginning blends) in your phonics lessons.
Lesson 198
  1. Read the next page (87 ar) in your phonics lessons.
Lesson 199
  1. Read the next page (88 or) in your phonics lessons.
Lesson 200
  1. Read the next page (89 more) in your phonics lessons.
Lesson 201
  1. Read the next page (90 ir) in your phonics lessons.
Lesson 202
  1. Read the next page (91 ur) in your phonics lessons.
Lesson 203
  1. Read the next page (92 ai) in your phonics lessons.
Lesson 204
  1. Read the next page (93 ay) in your phonics lessons.
Lesson 205
  1. Read the next page (94 long o) in your phonics lessons.
Lesson 206
  1. Read the next page (95 a o) in your phonics lessons.
Lesson 207
  1. Read the next page (96 long u) in your phonics lessons.
Lesson 208
  1. Read the next page (97 ie e) in your phonics lessons.
Lesson 209
  1. Read the next page (98 ie i) in your phonics lessons.
Lesson 210
  1. Read the next page (99 i) in your phonics lessons.
Lesson 211
  1. Read the next page (100 review) in your phonics lessons.
Lesson 212
  1. Read the next page (101 ce) in your phonics lessons.
Lesson 213
  1. Read the next page (102 CI) in your phonics lessons.
Lesson 214
  1. Read a story.
Lesson 215
  1. Read a story.
Lesson 216
  1. Read a story.
Lesson 217
  1. Read a story. Or, read a longer story.
Lesson 218
  1. Listen to Harry the Dirty Dog. If you want to read along, click on the “cc” at the bottom of the YouTube screen. It will turn on the words.
Lesson 219
  1. Read a book! Nuts for Mike
  2. Write the name of the story.
Lesson 220
  1. Read a book! Where I Live
  2. Where did the animals live?
Lesson 221
  1. Listen to the story and read along with “Treasure Pie.”
  2. What was in the pie?
Lesson 222
  1. Read a book! Mike Plays Sports
  2. What sports did he play?
Lesson 223
  1. Listen to Guji, Guji and read along if you like by turning on the captions (click on cc.)
  2. What kind of animal was Guji?
  3. Who did he live with?
Lesson 224
  1. Listen to Tale of Peter Rabbit and read along if you like by turning on the captions (click on “cc”).
  2. What kind of animal was Peter?
  3. Who did he live with?
Lesson 225
  1. Read a book.
  2. Write the names of three animals in the book.
Lesson 226
  1. Listen to Chester’s Way.
Lesson 227
  1. Listen to Library Lion and read along if you like.
  2. What’s the new rule at the library?
Lesson 228
  1. Read a book.
Lesson 229
  1. Read a book! Mike Flies Over Animals
  2. What animals did he fly over?
Lesson 230
  1. Listen to the story, “The Tale of Mrs. Tittle-Mouse,” and read along.
  2. This is a longer story.
Lesson 231
  1. Listen to Sebastian’s Roller Skates and read along if you like.
  2. Congratulations You are finished! Way to go!

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