Did you know that a "rime" is different than a "rhyme"? A rhyme is two words that sound the same while rimes are words that have the same spelling pattern, like rat and cat.

For children first learning how to read, it is important for them to identify rimes in order to learn new words.

It is also important to not just master a set of rimes, but to also integrate new ones while reviewing the ones already learned. Dr. Seuss books are a great example of rime books "Hop on Pop" and "Green Eggs and Ham" are books a lot of us read from when we were first learning, and they are still used today. Unfortunately not all of our children have the same attention span, and those books are quite lengthy.

Sara Hines and Lynn Klaiman have engineered a unique program for our children using rimes called Rime to Read. There are 20 books in the series, each with about 12 pages. Perfect for teaching children who can't or won't sit for longer periods of time. Each book introduces a set of rimes, repeating them frequently for maximum retention. Subsequent books recall previous rimes and build upon them. A number of site words (the, where, see etc.) are shown in boxes in the corners of the pages the first few times they are new.

The thing that is most unique about this reading program is that it is virtual! All of the books are accessible through your online account and can be read at your computer. Each of the rime words are color coded, and can be clicked upon in order to hear the word said to your child. At the end of each book all of the previous pattern words are written in grid form as well as a list of sight words for review.

I never actually taught my daughter how to read. She had excellent teachers in her primary years they accomplished that task. I never actually used the Rime to Read program with a beginning reader or a struggling reader.

There are some things that I would like to point out though. The virtual books are nice, with the sound and color coded words they are very visual. There are some things I noticed with the books though, many times the pattern words aren't color coded in future books. Some of the coding on the website has problems and it is reflected in the type and words of the books. Since those are website problems my hope is that they will be fixed in the near future.

You can download the books, but you can only download them one time. So make sure you back them up if you would like to be able to print them more than once. I found some of the books used too many of the characters names in them. I think the children and pets with the pattern being used in a name is great and helpful. However, in a 12- 15 page book, when you have 4 character names being used, often all on the same page, I feel that is too much.

All that being said; using rimes to read is a proven way to teach children, and a great base for learning later reading skills. The first book can be tried for free, and the books are also sold in sets of 5 for less than $10.00. The whole set of 20 books is available for $49.95. If you have tried unsuccessfully with other methods to teach a new or struggling reader, you may want to try them.