Reddit mentions of Read Ahead Level 1: Hybrid (Volume 1)

I just saw we were getting some Reddit traffic on our website and found a link to this thread. I'm on the faculty at Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore and one of the creators of Read Ahead and I feel your pain! There are a lot of things you need to be able to do well and effortlessly in order to sight-read.
You mentioned that it still takes you some time to identify the notes. There are apps for that such as: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/music-tutor-free-sight-reading/id514363426?mt=8
I recommend spending 5 minutes twice a day (preferably separated by 5 or 6 hours) learning to identify notes. The advantage to doing this over regular beginning sight-reading books is that you can't rely on context and just read the contour of the line (although that is a valuable technique it won't help you learn to effortlessly identify notes as quickly).
Once you can read notes in both bass and treble clefs effortlessly and you have a mastered basic simple rhythmic patterns, you are ready to start working on fluency.
We designed our program around some core principals.
In order to sight-reading fluently you have to be reading ahead of where you are playing. Better sight-readers tend to read further ahead. Reading ahead gives you a little extra processing time so you know where your hands are going next. Using our iPad app, the music will disappear on the downbeat of each measure so you are always playing from memory.
To aid in training your memory, we've created memory training exercises which require you to flash memorize a measure of music and then play it back.
I just wrote a blog post on Memory and speed which goes into this fascinating subject in more detail and has some fun videos you can use to test yourself. We're amassing a number of articles on the various sub skills that need to be mastered in order to become an expert sight-reader so check out the blog index if you are interested.
Another major aspect to successful sight-reading it not looking down at your hands. Looking down almost guarantees stopping or making mistakes. If you do need to see your hands, try to use your peripheral vision and don't move or adjust your head. You need to keep your eyes on the score and learn to feel your way around the keyboard.


https://readaheadapp.com/2017/02/01/memory-and-speed/

Having a lot of music which progresses very slowly is also vital to improving sight-reading. One you have read through a piece a second time, you are no longer sight-reading. Working on sight-reading daily or at least 3-5 times a week is important and you have to accept that progress is slow for a while. I would suggest making a recording of your sight-reading now, practicing regularly for 6-8 weeks and then making another reference recording. Being able to perceive your progress is a huge motivator. That being said, we did a 6 week test with our iPad app vs using a printed curriculum and found that students with enough experience who used the app progressed surprisingly far over the 6 weeks. We also found that students who used a printed form of the curriculum made good (but not as much) progress. Our youngest and least experienced students actually did better with the book because having to play in time with disappearing music created a cognitive overload.

So we have created a series of books you can get on Amazon which work with the hybrid phone app someone referenced in this thread.

Everybody tends to learn piano from a surprisingly small pool of compositions, so we built our curriculum on real but obscure pieces by composers from the Baroque, Classical and Romantic periods with some 20th century music as well.

https://www.amazon.com/Read-Ahead-Level-Travis-Hardaway/dp/0996812601/

Hope this helps and keep working on it, you will certainly improve by doing it.

I like using the Dozen a Day series for teaching beginners because it does a good job of incorporating all articulation markings in short daily exercises. However, there are no explanations or tutorials for how to do them. This video covers all the markings and how to do them. As far as sight reading, you need to find pieces that are easier than pieces you would really need to practice. The way to practice sight reading is:

1. Scan through the piece with your eyes. Note the time signature, key signature, rhythmic patterns, etc. Try to visualize more complex sections and how you would play them. But don't try to touch the keys while you do this.
   
   
2. Pick a comfortable tempo and start playing. If you make mistakes, it's very important not to try to stop and fix it, just try to keep going in the same tempo. You should force your eyes to be always reading ahead so that really your eyes are one measure ahead of where your fingers are playing.
   
   
3. Once you finish, try to reflect on the parts you had trouble with, and again visualize but don't play yet, and try to fix it in your head.
   
   
4. Once you have evaluated your first pass, try going through it a second time. At this point, you're technically no longer sight-reading since you've already read it, but it's good practice to try to fix problem sections without actually stopping and working it out.
   
   There are sightreading books that have pieces written especially for practicing sight-reading. I like the Bastien series. There is also a free app for called "Read Ahead" that has sight reading exercises that disappear as you play, forcing you to read ahead. The accompanying book also contains great exercises and techniques that will help you read by intervals, pattern recognition, etc--instead of reading note by note.