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Welcome to Geodes
by General
Children’s early reading experiences impact their attitude toward books and shape their reading identity. It is essential that the books a child is given to read in the early years are just the right fit—both to practice essential decoding skills and to gain a love of reading and knowledge. All too often, “decodable” books fail to provide the practice needed, while also lacking interest, complexity, beauty, and other qualities likely to compel readers of any age. Why not do something better?
Thus we set out to create a whole new experience for the youngest readers by tapping into our organizations’ core strengths—Wilson Language Training’s expertise in foundational reading skills instruction and Great Minds’ experience at building students’ knowledge. And we could not be prouder of the result.
Geodes® allow new readers to feast on rich content, gaining knowledge while practicing sound-spelling patterns. We call these books “Geodes” because these brief texts belie the deep and complex knowledge they contain. They are Readables—a unique type of text in which specific decoding strategies are coupled with content and vocabulary knowledge, resulting in wonderfully accessible books for budding readers. Geodes align both with the scope and sequence of Wilson’s Fundations® program and the module topics in Great Minds’ English language arts curriculum, Wit & Wisdom®. The result: books that build knowledge while developing a child’s skills for success and love of reading.
We have learned so much about our world while writing books for new readers: There is a windmill in Iran that has been maintained continuously for more than 1,000 years; Australia’s thorny devil lizard has a false head to throw off pursuers; and long, wind-shaped rock formations called yardangs can stretch for miles. Now, with this initial release of Geodes, our youngest readers will learn about these topics and so much more.
We want to thank our teams—especially Rachel Stack, Lorraine Griffith, Sarah Henchey, Whitney Lyle, and Sarah Turnage of Great Minds; and Cara O’Connor Collymore, Angela Penfold, Maria Baldarelli, Kimberly Gillingham, and Cristina Urquhart of Wilson Language Training—for the intelligent design and inspired execution of this library. We are indebted to the many writers and illustrators who contributed their very best work to this project. And we are grateful to the youngest members of our own families—Sophia and George Six, and Maya Collymore—for serving as both the inspiration for and testers of these beautiful books.
Lynne Munson CEO and Founder Great Minds® Washington, DC
Barbara A. Wilson President and Co-Founder Wilson Language Training® Oxford, MA
