The Principle: When provided with the appropriate tools, children will develop a sense of ownership and control over their own learning. To this end, we invite you to print these mini-books your child can read and illustrate – independent of adult assistance.
During the last two decades, TRAILS – The Read-Along Independent Literacy Series – was a standard in the academic community, its primary mission being family literacy.
For our online community, we have maintained the program principles by creating six mini-books using simple text, which are available below. The purpose of this version of TRAILS is to provide children with printable mini-books they can read and illustrate, independent of adult assistance. (see The Imagination Station for an explanation of the value of illustrating.)
When provided with the appropriate tools, children will develop a sense of ownership and control over their own learning. Therefore, we have written the text in this series using high-frequency words (see I Can Read). We have also designed the books in a simple, easy to construct format.
Directions: Print each mini-book below, encouraging your child to cut out the 4 mini-pages, draw the illustrations, sign his/her name, and staple the book together.
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How Young Children Learn 