Literacy – 7 Instructional Materials for Learners
Instructional Materials for Learners
Books are available for checkout at the library. Adult literacy teams may request consumable copies of the books from the literacy desk.
Core Materials
Books are available for checkout at the library. Adult literacy teams may request consumable copies of the books from the literacy desk.
Voyager: Foundation, Intro - Level 8 with Teacher's Resource Guides for all levels
Voyager introduces the essential strategies that beginning students need to become successful readers and writers. Most popular among the adult literacy program’s tutors and learners.
Endeavor: Levels 3-7 with Teacher's Resource Guides for all levels
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- Health
- Work
- Family
- Community
- School and education
- Civics and government
- Sports and recreation
- Housing and transportation
- Food
Journey to Success: Intro - Book 8 with Teacher's Resources Guides for all levels
The introductory level introduces students to the alphabet, phonics, and word work.
Levels 1 and 2 contain lessons that feature phonics and word work as well as a variety of nonfiction and fiction reading passages, including topics such as Everyday Life, The World Around You, Taking a Stand, and Problem Solving.
Levels 3–8 contain themed units, including Work and Life Skills, Social Studies, Science, and Literature.
Challenger: Levels 1-8 with Teacher's Resources Guides for all levels
Challenger is an integrated series that develops reading, writing, and reasoning skills through high-interest fiction and
nonfiction stories relevant to today’s adults. This series is recommended for experienced tutors.
Laubach Way to Reading: Levels 1-3 with Teacher's Resources Guides for all levels
Designed to help adult learners with limited or no reading skills achieve success and become confident readers.
Laubach Focus on Phonics: Levels 1-4 with Teacher's Resources Guides for all levels
Complements Laubach Way to Reading by reinforcing sound-letter combination relationships.
Can be used alone or with any core series to help build a solid foundation in phonics skills.
Grammar
Books are available for checkout at the library. Adult literacy teams may request consumable copies of the books from the literacy desk.
Grammar Wise
This two-volume workbook series teaches basic grammar at a beginning level, introducing basic use of nouns, prepositions, verb tenses, and indefinite articles. It models correct grammatical structure and lessons are reinforced with written exercises and discussion questions that promote learning.
Grammar Workshop
Three levels Green, Orange, and Blue. This series teaches the rules of English with a goal of helping the learner speak and write so everyone understands them. It goes beyond reading and memorization by including lessons that encourage learning, practicing, and writing. Each book includes the following units: Sentences, Nouns, Verbs, Adjectives, Adverbs, Pronouns, Prepositions, Punctuation, and Spelling. Teacher’s guides include lesson plans, best practices, and ideas to support tutors.
Grammar for Writing
This two-volume workbook series teaches basic grammar at a beginning level, introducing basic use of nouns, prepositions, verb tenses, and indefinite articles. It models correct grammatical structure and lessons are reinforced with written exercises and discussion questions that promote learning.
Language Builder Workshop
The goal of this is a 4-part interactive series is to explain basic grammar and composition skills, providing the opportunity for the learner to practice those skills in focused exercises. Each workbook includes a pre-test that guides the learner to specific lessons that teach skills the learner needs to work on. The series teaches grammar and usage, sentence formation, paragraph development, punctuation, and writing conventions. The lessons introduce new concepts, provide practice opportunities and application of new skills, and check-ups that verify understanding.
Daily Warm Ups: Daily Edits
This book includes 180 quick warm-up activities to complement your grammar lessons. The activities include lessons that often challenge the learner to proof read short paragraphs, correct common grammar errors, or complete a brief writing activity.
50 Common Grammar Errors, A Practical Guide for English Learners
This book explains English grammar usage by focusing on the errors most commonly made by non-native English speakers. It addresses sentence structure with clear and simple explanations. The learner can use this book independently or with a tutor and it is designed for upper-intermediate or advanced students of English. Units are independent, learners can choose lessons that teach skills they need to work on.
Phonics
Books are available for checkout at the library. Adult literacy teams may request consumable copies of the books from the literacy desk.
Focus on Phonics
This easy-to-use workbook complements Laubach Way to Reading by reinforcing sound-symbol relationships.
- Vocabulary and structures correlated to Laubach Way to Reading levels and lessons.
- Can be used alone or with any core series to help students build a solid foundation in phonics skills.
Spelling
Books are available for checkout at the library. Adult literacy teams may request consumable copies of the books from the literacy desk.
A Sound Approach to Spelling
This workbook is for students who can spell consonant sounds and blends, but have difficulty spelling vowel patterns. It is comprised of 15 units, with each unit teaching one vowel sound.
The Spelling Toolbox
This workbook promotes a strategy-based approach to spelling. It provides an introductory lesson that describes the spelling “tools,” and 20 thematically organized units on the topics of home, community, work, health, and writing. In each unit, the student learns how to spell 15 words by using phonics, syllabication, word families, mnemonics, and a spelling rule.
Structures in Spelling
This workbook helps the learner recognize and spell word parts that then can be put together to make spelling complex words easier. Lessons include definitions of word parts to gain understanding of words.
Supplemental Instructional Materials
Books are available for checkout at the library. Adult literacy teams may request consumable copies of the books from the literacy desk.
American Lives: Level 1-3 with Teacher's guides available
Three levels of Student Books with 15 high-interest biographies in each that profile a historical figure’s life.
- Strengthens reading skills while broadening students’ understanding of U.S. history
- Each lesson offers a photo, pre-reading questions, comprehension activities, vocabulary practice, and more
A map, time line, or chart-based activity with each lesson is followed by exercises that connect the lesson’s theme to the present day
Across the U.S.:
The book is organized into eight regions in order to familiarize learners with the geography, history, products, famous people (past and present), and traditions of various parts of the United States
Easy Reader Series:
life Goes On, Intro-High Beginning with Teacher guides available for all levels.
- 15 short stories about everyday life skills are portrayed by diverse characters in familiar, often amusing, situations.
- Topics across all levels include: people, family, transportation, food, health, work, shopping, money, community, housing, communications, school, recreation, technology, and civics
- Reading comprehension and vocabulary exercises follow every story.
Activities get your students speaking with discussion starters, focused listening activities, and dialog practice.
Easy Reader Series: Novel Scenes, Intro-High Beginning
Stories that are relevant to adults at work, with family, handling money, housing, and so in. The levels include introductory, low-beginning, high-beginning, and low-intermediate. The story unfolds chapter-by-chapter with exercises at the end of each chapter to build comprehension, vocabulary, speaking, and listening. Audio file and teachers guide available.
Easy Reader Series: That's Life, Intro-High Beginning
Each workbook includes 15 short stories about diverse characters in familiar and often amusing situations encountered in everyday life. Topics include: people, family, transportation, food, health, work, shopping, money, community, housing, communications, school, recreation, technology, and civics. Reading comprehension and vocabulary exercises follow every story.
Easy Reader Series: What's Next, Intro Books 1-4 & Low Beginning 1-4
These workbooks use a multilevel phonics approach to learning English. Phonics and sight word practice is included in the exercises to help with speaking, reading comprehension, vocabulary, writing, and prediction.
Easy Stories: Easy Stories Plus
Designed for ESL learners, this workbook features 15 light-hearted and entertaining short stories. Skill-building activities include discussion starters, reading comprehension, and vocabulary exercises.
Easy Stories: Stories Plus
Designed for ESL learners,15 additional entertaining and light-hearted stories. Skill-building activities include discussion starters, reading comprehension, and vocabulary exercises.
Easy Stories: More Stories Plus
Designed for ESL learners, 15 more entertaining stories provide fun material to encourage pleasure reading. Skill-building activities include discussion starters, reading comprehension, and vocabulary exercises.
Health Stories, Introductory - High Beginning + Workbook
This series is designed to help beginning readers acquire the language they need to make healthy choices.
- Provides informative and entertaining readings focusing on relevant health topics, such as nutrition, allergies, injuries, medication, first aid, food safety, and more
Increases understanding of common health issues, strengthens their knowledge of the U.S. health care system, and gives them the language they need to handle health issues for themselves and their familie
Short Lessons in U.S. History
This is a high level book that engages learners with an overview of the essentials of U. S. History from early explorers to the year 2000. Activities available in the book include working with maps, word puzzles, and short quizzes to confirm comprehension
Vocabulary Building
Books are available for checkout at the library. Adult literacy teams may request consumable copies of the books from the literacy desk.
Daily Warm-Ups: Common English Idioms
This book presents a daily paragraph for students to read and correct. It will reinforce skills in grammar, usage, mechanics, and spelling; sharpens students writing and composition skills.
Daily Warm-Ups: Vocabulary, English Idioms, Confused Words
This book includes 180 quick warm-up activities to complement your grammar lessons. The activities include lessons that often challenge the learner to proof read short paragraphs, correct common grammar errors, or complete a brief writing activity
Meaning Matters - Vocabulary
This workbook provides instruction and activities in six areas: context clues, metaphors and similes, idioms, homophones, roots and affixes, and using the dictionary. Each unit begins by providing instruction on how to strengthen the target vocabulary skill or strategy. The final unit consists of three non-fiction passages, each followed by a set of questions that provides an overall review of the skills and strategies covered in the workbook. An answer key is included at the back of the workbook.
Picture Dictionaries
Picture dictionaries are a helpful resource for beginning and emerging readers. Definitions and illustrations for more than 4,000 English words and phrases are included, along with practice activities to reinforce word meanings and correct use.
Vocabulary Boosters (Levels 1-3)
This workbook series is designed to help adult learners develop their vocabulary through reading passages written at an appropriate level. The workbooks are organized around four themes: health, wildlife, the environment, and popular culture. Each lesson presents a non-fiction passage that relates to one of the four themes and a set of activities. Repetition is essential for vocabulary development; consequently; each lesson presents five activities that focus on the new words. Added features include crossword puzzles, word searches, a glossary, and answer key i.
Vocabulary Workshop (Levels 1-3)
This series helps adult learners build vocabulary using reading passages that provides context for the new vocabulary words, teaching strategies for decoding word meanings, and exploring the use of idioms, and metaphors.
Writing Skills
Books are available for checkout at the library. Adult literacy teams may request consumable copies of the books from the literacy desk.
Easing Into Essays - Getting Ready to Write the GED Test Essay
This advanced-level workbook offers the step-by-step process on writing essays including brainstorming, preliminary drafts, constructive editing, revision tips, proofreading, and more revision. It is a conversational style workbook that provides the tutor with clear guidance to support the learner.
Great Writing, Foundations and Levels 1-4
- Great Writing Foundations
- Great Writing 1: Great Sentences for Great Paragraphs
- Great Writing 2: Great Paragraphs
- Great Writing 3: From Great Paragraphs to Great Essays (for higher level learners)
- Great Writing 4: Great Essays
Trio Writing, Levels 1-3
Goes On, Intro-High Beginning with Teacher guides available for all levels.
- 15 short stories about everyday life skills are portrayed by diverse characters in familiar, often amusing, situations.
- Topics across all levels include: people, family, transportation, food, health, work, shopping, money, community, housing, communications, school, recreation, technology, and civics
- Reading comprehension and vocabulary exercises follow every story.
Activities get your students speaking with discussion starters, focused listening activities, and dialog practice.
Write All About It (with Teacher Guide, copyright 1986)
This intermediate-level workbook teaches techniques of clear and objective writing through the medium of newspaper stories. The focus of this workbook is to develop important techniques for newswriting that lends itself to other types of writing as well.
Writing For GED Test Books (4-book series)
This advanced-level workbook helps learners build skills is in analyzing source texts, creating well-organized arguments, citing relevant evidence, and demonstrating command of Standard English conventions. Book 1 begins with a self-test to assess the learners’ strengths and weaknesses and includes lessons to learn about sentence fragments, subject-verb agreement, wordy and awkward writing, and plurals and possessives.
Writing ME!
This is a workbook for those who want to jump right into writing practice. Writing prompts are provided and learners are encouraged to pull out paper and pencil and begin to write. It is titled “Writing Me” because learners know themselves more than any other topic. All topics are focused on ways for the learner to express who they are. After writing essays an evaluation checklist is provided.
Writing Workshop (Levels A-F)
These workbooks help improve your writing skills beginning with how to write clean and effective sentences and then move on to paragraphs, and finally how to produce many types of writing. Included in this workbook are tech tips to guide you while writing on the computer. They are offer a complete writing model at the end of each chapter to model how to write a strong essay. Practice is encouraged and writing prompt activities are provided.
Redlands Adult Literacy Program: Writing Tool Kit
Created by A.K. Smiley Library adult literacy tutors at the conclusion of the Adult Literacy Program’s ‘Year of the Writer.’ This document summarizes the strategies, tutor tips, and resources that were shared amongst tutors in workshops and round table meetings.
If you would like a printed copy of the Tool Kit, please contact the Adult Literacy Program Coordinator.
Math Skills
Books are available for checkout at the library. Adult literacy teams may request consumable copies of the books from the literacy desk.
Math Sense 1: Focus on Operations
Math Sense provides instruction and practice for the range of math skills that adults need to succeed in life, at work, and on high school equivalency tests.
This first book covers whole numbers, decimals, fractions, ratios, and measurement.
Each unit within this book series is organized around four key lesson strands that cover a variety of instructional approaches:
- Skills Pages present instruction and practice with both computation and word problems
- Tools Pages provide insight on how to use calculators, key ideas, and mathematical properties to solve math problems
- Problem Solver Pages present strategies that will help find the best way to approach different types of problems
Test Taker Pages provide math tips and strategies for high school equivalency tests
Math Sense 2: Focus on Problem Solving
This second book covers the basics of both algebra and geometry and then connects the two.
Math Sense 3: Focus on Analysis
This third book covers data analysis, probability, systems of equations, inequalities, functions, polynomials and rational expressions, and quadratic equations.
Teaching Adults: A Math Resource Book
The goal of this is a 4-part interactive series is to explain basic grammar and composition skills, providing the opportunity for the learner to practice those skills in focused exercises. Each workbook includes a pre-test that guides the learner to specific lessons that teach skills the learner needs to work on. The series teaches grammar and usage, sentence formation, paragraph development, punctuation, and writing conventions. The lessons introduce new concepts, provide practice opportunities and application of new skills, and check-ups that verify understanding.
Breakthrough to Math Level 1: Understanding Numbers
This workbook offers hundreds of practice questions and reinforces the lessons.
Control Your Money
This workbook teaches about money management in a down-to-earth, accessible way.