Literacy support for struggling readers
The ultimate literacy support. Story Seekers are chapter books that engage struggling readers and fill in the gaps in their literacy knowledge.
Captivate and intrigue your students with compelling plots, high-interest non-fiction topics and appealing images, while taking an integrated approach to literacy support. Our Story Seekers books support struggling and reluctant readers by developing both their decoding and their comprehension skills.
These multi-use literacy learning resources can be used for:
- guided reading
- independent reading
- to support students learning English as an additional language.
Addressing the complexity of reading
Reading is a complex task and the literacy research is clear – accurate reading comprehension cannot happen unless both decoding skills and linguistic comprehension are strong in students (Gough and Tunmer 1986).
The difficulties for students struggling by Year 4 and above are often in both areas. Not only do many struggling students have problems decoding and working out the words. But often, the same students also have difficulty with linguistic comprehension: understanding the vocabulary and sentences.
Story Seekers addresses both issues for literacy support. These chapter books:
- strengthen students’ decoding, improving phonemic and phonological awareness
- build strong linguistic comprehension.
The challenges of decoding
Decoding = applying knowledge of letter-sound relationships, including knowledge of letter patterns, to correctly sound out words.
To increase reading accuracy, students require a good understanding of the English alphabetic code. Many develop this through direct instruction and self-made connections in their early years of learning to read. But for some, making these connections is difficult, unless direct intervention makes the alphabetic code explicit.
The importance of linguistic comprehension
Linguistic comprehension = making meaning which includes receptive vocabulary, grammatical understanding, and discourse comprehension.
A student can have strong linguistic comprehension and perceive meaning in what they hear, but still be a struggling reader due to weak decoding skills. Comprehension comes from a combination of content knowledge of a topic and higher-order thinking skills like reasoning, imagining and synthesising. These enable students to make meaning from words, sentences and ideas.
“I use Story Seekers with my Years 4–8 for reading and comprehension. They love it!”
Primary teacher – New Zealand
What makes Story Seekers different?
Two years of research and development is behind Story Seekers. The books reinforce the alphabetic code as an integral part of improving the comprehension skills of struggling readers. They are the ultimate literacy support.
The books features:
- a wide phonemic and phonological scope and sequence
- a phonics focus, reinforced by questions throughout the text and a language task at the end to build higher-order thinking and vocabulary.
Student comprehension is addressed in multiple ways:
- High-interest text – each book connects to a recognised area of interest in students aged 8 to 12, so students can begin reading with knowledge of, and interest in, the text.
- Level-specific vocabulary – language is selected for a 7 to 8-year-old reading level to promote comprehension, while topics are selected for ages 8 to 12 to promote interest.
- Integrated literacy approach – the books focus on phonemic and phonological awareness and strong linguistic comprehension.
- Visual cues – illustrations, photographs, diagrams and maps provide cues for interpreting text.
- Independent literacy activity – each book includes an independent, low-level literacy activity to establish students’ level of basic understanding of the text.
- Activity book – teachers are able to extend literacy skills and make the most of each student chapter book, and reduce preparation time.
The three approaches of literacy support in Story Seekers
Engage
A collection designed to encourage reluctant readers to want to read!
Shorter length builds confidence
At 32 pages, each Story Seekers book is shorter than a normal chapter book, which contributes to a positive reading experience and boosts reader confidence.
High-interest fiction and non-fiction titles
- Compelling characters.
- High-interest storylines and topics with strong appeal for 8 to 12-year-olds.
- Image variety – photographs, maps, graphs, diagrams and infographics – engage and support visual comprehension.
Empower
A collection which develops student skills and empowers reading. The books use:
- a broad range of text structures to familiarise students with different types of text
- design to promote reading speed and accuracy. Dark text on a light, single-coloured background contributes to readability
- dyslexia-friendly layout
- sequential illustrations and engaging images to offer multiple opportunities to make meaning from the text
- carefully selected vocabulary to match the text level
- repetition of less familiar vocabulary or phrases to reinforce comprehension.
Reinforce
Each text provides a selection of end-of-book literacy activities to reinforce learning:
- Say it – an oral language activity for developing literacy skills
- Create it – a writing activity which helps students to ‘write like a reader’
- Get it – a comprehension activity aimed at developing skills and vocabulary
- Nail it! – a decoding activity to build phonics skills.
Activity books for literacy support
A teacher Activity Book is available for each series:
- features teaching ideas that build on concepts in the student books
- supports teachers to extend student learning while reducing preparation time
- includes phonemic and phonological knowledge reinforcement, supplementary comprehension tasks, and text structure activities
- supports students to ‘read like a writer’ and ‘write like a reader’.
“I like how every book [Series 2] includes a specific phonics focus, based on a programme-wide scope and sequence!”
Literacy teacher – New Zealand
(reading level 7.5 to 8 years)
(reading level 7 to 7.5 years)
(reading level 7 to 8 years)
(reading level 7.5 to 8 years)
Written specifically for students aged 9 to 12 years with a reading level of 7.5 to 8 years, this series includes:
- 8 high-interest non-fiction and 6 engaging fiction chapter books
- language activities at the back of each chapter book improve comprehension and reading skills
- an activity book with teaching ideas and activities to extend the learning experience.
CLICK ANY OF THESE COVERS TO VIEW SAMPLE PAGES
(reading level 7 to 7.5 years)
Written specifically for students aged 8 to 11 years with a reading level of 7 to 7.5 years, this collection includes:
- student chapter books
- corresponding teacher edition for each student title
- an activity book for teachers.
To support guided reading sessions, teacher editions of the student chapter books are available. The teacher books feature:
- a 10–15-minute phonics lesson plan
- text-based, HOT comprehension questions
- vocabulary questions to reinforce morphological links
- decoding questions to apply phonological knowledge in context.
CLICK ANY OF THESE COVERS TO VIEW SAMPLE PAGES
(reading level 7 to 8 years)
Written specifically for readers aged 8 to 12 years with a reading level of 7 to 8 years, this collection includes:
- student chapter books
- an activity book for teachers.
CLICK ANY OF THESE COVERS TO VIEW SAMPLE PAGES
Story Seekers pricing
Student books: $13.50 each or $12.50 each for 6 or more
Teacher books: $13.50 each
Activity books: $49.95 each
Series 2 title set: 6 copies of a student book + 1 copy of the corresponding teacher edition: $87.50
Series 3 title set: 6 student copies of the same title: $75.00
CLASS SET SPECIAL OFFER: Series 3 (reading level 7.5 to 8 years)
6 copies of each of the 14 student books + 1 copy of the Activity Book: $966.00 (RRP $1183.95)
CLASS SET SPECIAL OFFER: Series 2 (reading level 7 to 7.5 years)
6 copies of each of the 14 student books + 1 copy of each of the 14 teacher books + 1 copy of the Activity Book: $1127.00 (RRP $1367.95)
CLASS SET SPECIAL OFFER: Series 1 (reading level 7 to 8 years)
6 copies of each of the 12 student books + 1 copy of the Activity Book: $900.00 (RRP $1016.95)
