School Books in the 1980s

[andyboy]

This may not be the best place for this question but here goes. When I was at primary school in the 1980s, I remember we had books which were used to learn how to read. They were colour coded and you had to work your way through the colours. The idea being that as you progressed through the range, your reading improved. Can anyone remember what this system of books was called?

Thanks

[auntflo]

was it reading 360?

[natalie_1982]

I remember they went in order of the rainbow, red being "ball", "cat", "baby", etc, then orange, yellow, green, blue and when you got through the violet one I am pretty sure that I remember bronze, silver and gold books. I think, possibly, and I might be getting confused now, bronze, silver and gold were about Brer Rabbit and Brer Bear, or had something to do with a fox.

Not the answer you wanted admittedly but thought it might help!

[mandimoo]

i recall doing yellow book 1, yellow book 2, yellow book 3 followed by red 1, 2, 3, then green, blue, INDIGO (really sticks in mind for some reason), up to bronze, silver and gold. i was the second person in my class to finish all the way up to gold book 3. i still love reading, but struggle to find books i want to read.

[jackthehat]

My boy learned reading via a system of books featuring 'The Village with 3 corners' : Jennifer yellow hat, billy blue hat, etc.

[nonaguru]

Sounds like the reading scheme Ginn360 which was a very good scheme then.Once a child was reading reasonably well the books contained some wonderful stories taken from different countries around the world.

[Mairzydotes]

I'm a retired teacher, and I think the series you are looking for is 'Through the Rainbow'
It wasn't a bad series, it did have a sensible progression and it did allow children to build on what they had already learned.
But 'colour coding' did come in as a measure of any school reading book's suitability, at a later date.
The drop in success rates for children's reading ability came when such series ran out of fashion,,and they were expected .. still are.. to pick up as they go along.
The best way of teaching reading is a mix of phonic and look-say, with phonics coming AFTER a small vocabulary of look-say has been introduced.
Try using phonics to read 'the' 'here' etc. Yet they are words used constantly in any book.
Preserve us from 'EXPERTS' They know nothing!

[cole13uk]

It was called SRA, not sure what the letters stood for (standard reading assessment something like that). I can remember feeling very proud when progressing onto a "higher" colour!