Supplemental Tools

Except the Kumon curriculums, Kumon also uses the following supplemental tools to help students learning. Students use these tools in the center or check out books and flash cards to study at home.

Flashcards
All the flashcards can be used at home and/or at the Center. They are meant to be used throughout the early levels, but also can be used with students in levels AI and above. The flashcards (sight word, word family,rhyming) are shown to students seeing only the picture side at a rate of approximately one card per second. Thus, it takes about 30 seconds for a students to view 30 cards. Their sight word vocabulary is being built through the context cue of the picture.  Through this method, students actually may learn to read up to 50% of the words on the word side only of the cards. At home, we want parents to use only the picture side of the flashcards. In the Center, once a student has been exposed to the cards and the worksheets, the Instructor may choose to show the student some of the flashcards with the word side first. If a student does not recognize the word right away; however, the Instructor should tell the student what the word is rather than let him/her try to sound the word out. The words on these flashcards are not meant to be sounded out. Exposure to the word is the key in the Word Building Block. Doing the flashcards this way is meant to be fast and fun for the student, and it provides the Instructor, aid or parent with the opportunity for lots of praise.

Magnetic Number Board
There are 30-piece, 50-piece, and 100-piece Magnetic Number Boards in the center. They are used in conjunction with oral reading of numbers and visually inputting numbers into sequence by early level students. Math students are expected complete appropriate Magnetic Number Board with the desired time for a certain level of Math.
Benefits of the Magnetic Number Board:

• An introduction to the world of study
• Cultivation of work skills and concentration
• Mastery of number sequence
• Ability to discriminate among the numbers
• Hand-eye coordination
• Prelude to addition
• Strengthening short-term memory
• Link between test times and Number Board times

Recommended Reading Books
The reason for the creation of the Kumon Recommended Reading List is fundamental to the Kumon method. The more students read, the better their reading skills become. The list provides students and parents with a framework for choosing books that are both skill-appropriate and enriching. The books correspond the reading skill base of the level and act as indirect skill reinforcement for the level. They are selected to include Availabilit, Readability, Literary Integrity, and Subject Matter.
Availability
Availability was the first concern. The books had to be easily available and currently in print. For purposes of distribution, North American publishers were preferred over non-North American publishers. Given the nature of the publishing industry, however, and the large number of books on the list, it is impossible to guarantee that all books will remain in print and available. At the time this list was created, all books were in print and available.
Readability
It was vital to choose skill-appropriate books for each level. To do this, each book was submitted to a readability test. The test chosen was the Harris-Jacobson Wide Range Readability Test. The test utilizes data such as sentence and passage length as well as word construction and vocabulary difficult. The word base for the test is compile from a frequency analysis of vocabulary found in 118 school textbooks. The Harris-Jacobson Test uses the same conceptual framework as the Dale-Chall Test.
The test formula yields a numerical score from 1 through 12, which is compared against a rating scale. The higher the number is, the more difficult the readability of the book. The test uses standard statistical analysis techniques.
A book and its assignment to a worksheet level may not correspond to the specific grammar concept addressed in that level. That is to say, just because the student is studying regular past-tense verb conjugation in Level A, does not mean the student will read books from the list that only contain regular verbs conjugated in the past-tense. The correspondence between the Kumon worksheets level and the readability of the book must be understood in a broader context.
Literary Integrity
Books appearing on nationally and internationally recognized award lists were given special consideration as were books appearing on more than one list.
One third of the original RRL books are award-winning books. Awards include The Caldecott Award for Outstanding Illustration in Children's Literature, The Newberry Medal Award for Outstanding Children's Literature, The New York Times Award for Outstanding Illustration in a Children's Book, and The Pulitzer Prize for Outstanding Literature.
Subject Matter
A substantial effort was made to create a list of books with appeal to a wide spectrum of reader interests.
Attention was given to selecting works that would expand student's awareness beyond their immediate pool of reference knowledge. By doing so the list would create "windows of exposure" to broaden and expand student's awareness."
The list contains both fictional and non-fictional works. Selections were drawn from categories of historical fiction, poetry, and science fiction. There is roughly an even number of male and female protagonists in each level. Within each level it is hoped that there will be something of interest for everyone. It is not expected that every book will appeal to every reader.

CD/Records
(Info to come)

Alphabet Board
(Info to come)