The Decoding Solution: Rime Magic & Fast Success for Struggling Readers

The Decoding Solution is a miracle product! My boyfriend's eight-year old son was struggling to read and with the simple system in the Decoding Solution, he learned how to break up words easily and then he could rapidly read through a large stack of long and challenging words with ease and velocity. It was an incredible transformation to witness! Within just an evening, we saw a dramatic improvement in his ability to read words when he had previously struggled just to read a simple sentence without any longer words. His comprehension has increased because he doesn't get stuck on the longer words and attempt to just guess incorrectly at what the words might be. What was most amazing was to see how much he lit up and got excited about reading where he had previously struggled and dreaded being told to read in the evening. He went from barely being able to read even simple words to being empowered and able to read even three and four syllable words. Rime Magic is a must-buy for anyone with a child who feels like he or she is stupid because he is behind in reading and lacks speed and comprehension. You'll see that turn around within just one session. It's mind blowing and so fabulous!

This is an amazing book! I would recommend it to any parent with a struggling reader. I use the methods in this book with my 7 yr old dd and my 5 yr old ds and I have gotten great results. My 7 yr old who has verbal apraxia was relying heavily on her memory and picture clues to read text, she was not leveraging decoding strategies the way that she should. I saw this book mentioned in another review and decided to give it a try. I am so glad that I did. The book is based on chucking words by the rime, the premise being that if the kid can learn the rime then they can decode words more proficiently. They also understand that words are made up of an onset, rime and maybe a prefix or suffix. That concept really helped my dd gain the confidence she needed to use other reading strategies and attempt ( with success) decoding unfamiliar and longer words. The approach in this book gave her a roadmap to attacking words and has improved her reading and spelling tremendously in a short period of time (about 2 months). We practice a set of 6 rimes a week for 10 minutes each day rotating the different reinforcement activities.The book was an easy read without a lot of jargon and it was direct and to the point. What I liked most was the fact that it came with a DVD that shows you how to present the material and gives you an idea of how to pace the lessons. There is not a lot of material to buy just the magic rime cards ( which you can make yourself). Also the program is based on immersion rather than mastery which allow flexibility and novelty for my kids. I would match the rimes we practice that week to the phonic concept the kids are working on in school.Before magic rime, my dd would bomb the spelling pre test and do well on the actual test at the end of the week after we practice but she would not get the bonus words (not even close) now she does really well on the pre test because she can hear the rime and distinguish the onset better, she would also ace the spelling test and get the bonus words about 80% of the time.We still have a lot of work to do but with this book in our arsenal we are on our way! Thank you Sharon!

A reading teacher at the local elementary school showed me this strategy while working with the kid in the class who had the hardest time reading. He was really getting into it, and it was working. I use this in conjunction with other materials for ESL learners who never had the opportunity to attend school in their home countries.

I just finished reading Sharon Zinke's new book, The Decoding Solution; Rime Magic & Fast Success for Struggling Readers. This is a great book. Zinke presents her ideas in a concise and carefully scaffolded manner that makes it accessible to new teachers and exciting to the more experienced educator. Instead of feeling overwhelmed (which often happens on my first read of a teaching text) everything made sense. In fact, I couldn't stop reading - each chapter built on the last.I've been teaching kindergarten and 1st grade Open Court for 10 years and Zinke's approach to decoding opened my eyes to a powerful way of improving my literacy instruction.The book also includes a DVD. Like the book, it is clearly presented, incredibly accessible to teachers and actually demonstrates what Sharon Zinke's decoding methods look like in action. Read the book, watch the DVD and you will be able to use this in your class immediately! I can't think of another book/ CD designed for teachers as excellent as this.

I've bought this book more than once, I've recommended it to lots of other educators, and now I recommend it to you! It truly moves kids forward, when used with fidelity.

They should be teaching this way in every school. My 11 yr old son was on a 2nd grade reading lvl when I pulled him out of public school. He is now reading on lvl and still moving forward. Excellent way to teacher reading to any age, after just watching the video for 5 mins I found myself reading twice as fast. Great Job And Big Hand Clap to Sharon Zinke:)

This book helped my struggling reader a lot! Great Boook.

This is a great system! I tutor primarily second grade ELL learners and this method provides a very simple and engaging way to help struggling readers.

This book has changed how I teach reading in my classroom!!! I highly recommend it to teachers who work with struggling readers.