Help Me Read™ is working proactively - trying to prepare the student for what he/she is going to be needing to know rather than playing catch-up. We want you to be looking forward – preparing your students for the next level.

2) Why does the Kindergarten Kit have 2 Fall sections?

The first Fall section deals with the skills a student is to already know when entering Kindergarten. We wanted to provide the pretest and activities for this season in case a teacher finds a student who is lacking in these skills and wants some extra practice on them. The Kindergarten teacher doesn't have the previous grade level to help with these skills unless a Pre-Kindergarten or Preschool program is available at their specific school.

The second Fall section is for the 1st grade skills students are to know before entering 1st grade. Each grade level kit will have the next grade's Fall season in its kit in order to pretest and provide interventions for students.

3) Is the Help Me Read™ Student Booklet a necessity?

Yes! This is such an important tool to make the program work successfully for teachers and students. It provides a place to document scores, progress, and interventions needed. The booklet tracks the student Kindergarten through 3rd grade. What a great reading portfolio!

4) Why does the 3rd grade kit only have 2 seasons? Where are the Fall skills?

Remember – the 3rd grade Fall skills will be practiced in 2nd grade the year before the students actually enter 3rd grade. Having only the Winter and Spring skills in your kit allows you more time to practice and re-practice the skills important for 3rd graders to master.

5) What is the training for? Do we really need training when the program is supposed to be so easy to use?

Training is critical to be sure that the Help Me Read™ program is being implemented correctly. Yes, it is an easy program once it is put to use, but there are many valuable things you will learn from the training to launch it successfully.

6) What is the shipping cost?

10% of your total order

7) How long does it take to receive an order?

Once your order is received in our office, it will take 2 to 4 weeks for your order to be shipped to you – depending on the time of the year and the volume of orders at that time.

8) How do I order?

Please refer to the price lists provide on our website. Complete a purchase order through your district and either mail or fax it to our office. Be sure to include the item numbers, descriptions, and quantities you will need.

9) What if I want to order on my own? (ex. – Home school teacher, tutor, individual teacher not using district/school funds)

Print off the order form from our website. Complete form – be sure to include item numbers, descriptions, and quantities you are wanting. Include 6% tax on merchandise total. There is no tax on the shipping charge. Make checks payable to The Red Ladder, Inc.

10) What if it is not in our school's budget? How are other schools purchasing the program?

Many schools are low on funds, but there are all kinds of ways schools have found the money to purchase Help Me Read™. Some have written grants while others have held fundraisers or asked their PTA to help with the expense. Supply and textbook money has been used by others. Another idea is to ask a local business to be a sponsor for the program. The business could partner with your school and place its logo on the kits (ex. – stickers). A great way to get your community involved!

11) How long do the intervention activities last?

The activities are designed to take an average of ten minutes. The purpose is to provide practice on a specific skill, not to take the student away from classroom instruction for a long period of time.

12) Is it necessary to pretest ALL my students or just my struggling readers?

Every student, regardless of reading success, should be pretested each season. Even high readers may have a weak area, and we want to detect it so interventions can take place to ensure that the student continues to be successful.

13) How do I obtain a graduate credit for attending the Help Me Read training and using the program in my classroom?

Please refer to the training section located on our website.

14) What does it take to maintain this program?

There is no copying or major prep work to continue the use of the program. During training, we label and color code all the materials in each kit. We also cut apart any cards specific for your grade level kit. Once this is done, there is no more work for you. Just use the program year after year!