Who remembers the "Dick and Jane" reader books

[Tina]

Believe it or not, I think of those books EVERY TIME we have corn on the cob. You see, in one story they had a friend named Peter, who had recently lost his front tooth (or teeth, can't remember exactly!). Peter was sad because he could not eat the corn on the cob. So Dick & Jane's dad (or maybe it was their mom) took a knife and sliced the corn off of the cob, making Peter VERY happy. Isn't it sad that I remember this sort of thing?

 

[MUFFYCAT]

Yes, I remember them well, especially the pictures. My sister was just starting to read when we got our calico cat in 1965, and of course she named it Puff!

 

[nativetxn]

I remember them

 

[sjh801]

Oh yes! I, too, learned with them. I have had the Dick, Jane, Sally, Spot and Puff magnets on my refrigerator for a long time, too. As a teacher, I even have some of the books on my book cart and the first graders think they are great. I think that's because they can read them so easily. Dick, Jane and Sally worked for me along with the accompanying Think and Do workbooks.

Many things work hand in hand when teaching children to read. The real secret is- READ READ, READ!!! This goes for kids and adults, too. Never be without a book nearby.

And remember, it's time for Read Across America. Dr. Seuss' birthday is March 2nd. I hope that your local schools are celebrating reading. I am off to the mall in a little bit to help celebrate Read Across America. We do a great job on this Saturday each year! To find out more, check out Read Across America 2005 Just look for the Cat in the Hat symbol.

Sandy

 

[Carl]

I remember them, but the SRA labs came much later, as I remember.

 

[paigevz]

Is Peter the one with the twin sisters? There was always one just going missing sort of and I always wondered where the other one was! Well, that was a horrible sentence, but surely you know what I mean!

 

[MsLeFever]

I learned with these but only because my mother was a teacher and had the older books. At my elementary school we learned with "Mary, Mike and Jeff" not too much different. Their grandparents lived on a farm too. Don't know which series had the story about the goat climbing on top of their car but I can remember thinking that was hilarious!

 

[DisneyMomx7]

I learned to read using the Dick and Jane books. Now I bought them this Christmas for dd (1st grade). She loves them just as much as I did.

 

[Dan Murphy]

I recall them, sure. What are SRA's??

 

[JerseyJanice]

The main characters in my primary reading books were named Jerry and Alice. I have yet to meet anyone besides myself who ever heard of this book series. Trust me, though, Jerry had curley red hair and Alice had blonde pigtail braids. Their grandparents did live on a farm with lots of animals.

I can picture the illustrations from those books in my mind to this day--they were quite beautiful.

I wonder if all schools have done away with series of primer books. DS learned to read (preschool and kindergarten) mainly with flash cards. The reading books he's had since first grade have contained smaller books within them.

He had lots of Marc Brown, Arnold Lobel, Dr. Seuss, etc., but no series of Dick and Jane or Jerry and Alice books.

 

[Twinkies]

Where do you find the condensed books?

Thank you.

 

[stm61]

you can find the books at Walmart, Toy r Us, Barnes & Nobles, Borders, etc. I got a collection of stories in hardback and then smaller, shorter stories in paperback for my DD's who are in 5K this yr. I used the Dick and Jane series and then the SRA's. I remember the different colors like turquoise and magenta. The neighbor's kids went to Catholic school and had the same books but Dick and Jane became John and Mary. Can't remember what Sally was renamed but they still had Spot and Puff.

 

[mum4jenn]

I also remember Dick and Jane but mostly we read about Mark and Janet and their dog Big Red.

I loved SRA.
Dan... the SRAs were a set of reading cards that had something like a 4 page story that you read and then a seperate card had questions on it about the story. I think there were also answer cards that you graded yourslf on.(Back in the days when most kids were more honest!!)As the cards got harder the colors changed. I think the first color was prob. blue or something and I think gold was the hardest. It was basically teaching reading comprehension.

 

[Danvers]

 

[bigbabyblues]

My 4-yo got one for Christmas last year, I didn't know until then they were available.

 

[Geoff_M]

I read them too... My grandmother was a first grade teacher, so I got a lot of exposure to them!

As an interesting side-note, a year or so ago on Antique Roadshow the daughter of the illustrator of that series brought in a number of examples of her father's actual illustration artwork for evaluation. It brought back memories as they flipped through them.

 

[BethR]

Oh I remember them too! AND the SRA's too.

 

[NancyK]

Try this link for Dick & Jane. I'm sure you can get them almost anywhere these days. http://www.bookcloseouts.com/defaul...l&Ntt="Dick+and+Jane"&submit.x=20&submit.y=11

 

[PigletsPal]

Last Christmas I ran across these at the book store and picked one up for my great neice. I loved Dick, Jane and Spot. It brought back memories of my mom sitting with me while I read it to her. She died when I was 10.

 

[holycow]

I remember learning to read from them and in fact purchased the set for our DD who is in Kindergarten this year at Christmas time...It brings such joy to my heart to hear her laugh at the antics of the children in the books.

And I must say the books she brings home from the teacher are....awful!!!
DandJ are illustrated so well and they don't dumb the kids down like the books the teacher gives out.

Holycow