The workbooks for the BASIC READING SERIES contain material with which children can practice their decoding skills independently of teacher direction. The decoding experiences thus provided increase the children's opportunities to discover sound-spelling relationships and to develop automatic word recognition. The workbooks also can be an aid to vocabulary, word-meaning, and concept development, as they lead children to associate words with appropriate visual images and challenge children to deal with the meanings of words, phrases, and sentences. Finally, the workbooks are a useful tool with which to evaluate the children's decoding progress.
The workbook for Level A has fourteen sections of exercises, which correspond (in their spelling patterns only) to the fourteen sections of the Level A reader, A Pig Can Jig. The exercises are not tied to the story content of the reader, however. Each section is identified by numbered tabs in the margins of its pages. Each section progresses from simple exercises based on single words to more complex exercises involving phrases and sentences.