Sam Helps - (Stairway Decodables Step 2) by Leanna Koch

About the Book

Sam has a big job helping with tasks around the farm. After a full day of work, Sam is tired and dirty. With the help of his pals, he will look and feel as good as new.

Book Synopsis

Sam has a big job helping with tasks around the farm. After a full day of work, Sam is tired and dirty. With the help of his pals, he will look and feel as good as new. Stairway Decodables is a supplemental phonics resource that's perfect for supporting small group instruction, independent reading, or reading practice at home. This title provides practice in decoding words with initial and final consonant blends.

From the Back Cover

Sam the tractor and his vehicle friends all have important jobs. Follow along as Sam goes to work at the farm and comes home to his friends after a long day.

Review Quotes

The books in this set intend to support early readers, but frequently do not meet developmental and curricular benchmarks. The stories can feel disorganized, with texts that introduce too many different phonemes at once, making it difficult for young readers to focus on decoding skills. For example, in Pet Tricks, the plot is cluttered with too many characters, making it challenging to follow and distracting from the phonics practice. VERDICT This lack of controlled text and ­focus undermines the series' effectiveness as a decodable reading tool for early literacy.-- "School Library Journal"

Carefully implementing buildable phonics skills, the Stairway Decodables series gathers books into six "steps" with concepts of increasing complexity, from short vowels in Step One to diphthongs and vowel-r combinations in Step Six. Each preface includes word count, featured skills, "tricky words," and educator-guided activities emphasizing phonemic awareness and content comprehension, while back matter features reinforcement activities that encompass main-events recollection, story sequencing, and, in higher steps, writing prompts. Will and the Baby (Step 1), illuminates short vowels, spotlighting a young lizard adjusting to having a new baby sister. Sam Helps (Step 2) features a lively tractor and his vehicle friends, and the text (one short sentence per spread) emphasizes consonant blends. Pets Wash Up (Step 3) uses more words and characters while highlighting the digraph sh. Ezra Makes Magic (Step 4) is richer in story and uses more elaborate words, showcasing hard and soft consonant sounds. Consistent, engaging illustrations conveying joy and wit complement the progression of the series. The series, particularly the earlier Steps, is worth sampling in a school or public library, and some school libraries may find the full collection valuable for literacy instruction and reinforcement. A note: art has been repurposed from now-out-of-print Stone Arch Readers and Read It! Readers series, but the text has been completely rewritten to improve decodability.--Deidre Winterhalter "Booklist"