Daily Reading Practice is a reading comprehension program available for the 1st through 8th grades. I received the 4th grade student workbook and teacher guide for review. The three-hole punched student workbook begins with a short introduction that describes the curriculum and explains how to do it. Next, are Monday-through-Friday “Help Pages” which give additional information relating to the specific day’s assignment. These are for the student to refer if there are any questions or confusion about what to do.
 
The bulk of the student book is 30 pages/weeks of short reading selections at the top of the page followed by five days of questions, one set for each day of the week. The short narrative selections are mostly non-fiction science or social studies pieces, and there are also a few stories, one poem, and one letter.
 
The questions and activities for each day are usually short fill-ins or multiple-choice. There is a graphic organizer assignment on some Thursdays, and every Friday the student is asked to write a three- to four-sentence summary after identifying five or six key words in the text. Each day, the child is directed to read the passage before answering the questions.
 
The spiral-bound teacher guide begins with a well-written presentation of the philosophy behind the curriculum, how it works, and how to implement it. We’ve all heard how practicing a skill for a short time each day is more effective than cramming larger segments into a day or two. Daily Reading Practice makes use of this strategy.
 
The remainder of the book is a duplication of the student workbook (prefaced by specific teaching points for each of the five days) plus answer keys. At the back of the teacher guide is a Table of Curriculum Objectives Addressed at Each Grade Level. There are 59 objectives listed. Here are some examples: identify and use chronological order, identify key words, identify author’s purpose for writing a selection, and summarize selection content.
 
My 9-year-old daughter loves this program. She needs no prompting but pulls the workbook out every morning and gets busy. These materials are easy to use. Very little explanation is needed. The Help Pages see to that, and it takes very little time. The busiest of homeschool families would have no trouble fitting this curriculum into their schedule. My daughter was able to accomplish the daily assignments in under five minutes for the most part. Some day’s assignments may take up to ten minutes to allow time for drawing a diagram or summarizing the selection.
 
The page layout of the student workbook is clear and simple. There is nothing here to distract a focus-challenged child.
 
After her standardized test this past spring, my daughter was discouraged about the reading comprehension section. Since I knew she was a good reader, I thought it was a test-taking issue. I’m placing high bets that using this program will show big improvements for my daughter at annual exam time next year.

Daily Reading Practice is so impressive I ordered my other two children the appropriate grade level books. Reading is for life, and I’m all for excellent resources to give my children the practice they need to improve their reading comprehension skills.

Product review by Kathy Gelzer, The Old Schoolhouse® Magazine, LLC, August 2008