Breaking the Code

Reading age 5+ years. Interest level 6 to 11 years.

Meet Desmond the Detective! Discover the mystery behind the words and the secret messages!
Children who are learning to blend c-v-c words (book 1), simple words containing blends and digraphs (books 2 & 3), or four letter words with magic 'e' (book 3) will benefit from working along with these enjoyable cassettes and helping Desmond in his detective work. The clear layout of the photocopy master worksheets, together with precise oral instructions, enable pupils to work independently with the teacher acting as overseer at the end of sections of work.

Each kit contains a book of photocopiable worksheets, 2 cassettes & 2 packs of plastic letters. Extra sets of plastic letters are available.

New Phonic Blending

Synthetic phonics. Reading age 5.5 to 8 years. Interest level 6 to 16 years
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A tightly structured, multi-sensory approach to phonics, encouraging pupils to look, listen and write.
In each lesson, pupils build simple words, focussing on one specific sound. An exercise in sound discrimination completes the lesson, adding variety to the programme for pupils and providing useful diagnostic tools for teachers. The problems of some variation of pronunciation have been addressed. The difference between the northern and southern pronunciation of 'u' in particular is mentioned where this sound occurs.
The lessons are self-contained and teachers are free to choose those lessons which are appropriate to their pupils' needs. There are six kits available each at a different level. Each kit comprises a photocopy master book and either 2 cassettes or an audio CD.

Kit 1: c-v-c words with initial sounds b-r
Kit 2: c-v-c words with initial sounds s-w plus lessons based on frequently confused initial sounds, such as b & d.
Kit 3: initials, blends and digraphs and final blends and digraphs. Magic 'e'.
Kit 4: Medial digraphs.
Kit 5: Two syllable words-prefixes and suffixes.
Kit 6: Three syllable words-prefixes and suffixes.

Phonic Lotto Games

Reading age 5+ years. Interest level 5 to 9 years.

Boxes of colourful lotto games on laminated card covering four different groups of sounds. Each box contains two games for up to six players. The caller's cards have coloured pictures on one side illustrating the sounds printed on the reverse side.
Phonic Lotto Games 1 & 2
Game 1 covers the sounds: a (cat), e (bed), i (bib), o (dog), u (cup), ai (rain), ea (leaf), er (fern), oo (moon), ow (cow), ar (car).
Game 2 covers the sounds: ee (bee), ea (head), oo (foot), ou (mouth), ay (pay), or (fork), ur (fur), aw (saw), ew (newt).
Phonic Lotto Games 3 & 4
Game 3 covers the sounds: bl (black), dr (drum), gr (grin), fl (flag), pl (plug), br (brush), sw (swim), tr (train), cl (clock), st (stop), sm (smoke).
Game 4 covers the sounds: cr (crab), fr (frog), pr (pram), sl (slide), tw (twig), sk (skip), ch (chops), sh (ship), th (thimble), ir (bird).

New Reading and Thinking

Reading age 7-9 years - Interest level 8-16 years

This series of books is designed to replace the original Reading and Thinking series. The essence of the original ie comprehension, inference and common sense has been retained, but the presentation and story lines have been brought up to date. The books in the series are incremental in difficulty.

Looking and Thinking Books 1 - 5

Reading age 7.5 to 9 years. Interest level 7 to 16 years.

A series of 5 books primarily concerned with helping pupils develop reasoning skills. The illustrations hold clues which help answer questions posed at two different levels.
For pupils experiencing problems with writing, the multi-choice A questions will probably prove more acceptable, while more able pupils will find the B questions, which require a higher degree of writing skills, more challenging. Superb for discussion work. All the books are at the same level as the differentiation is provided by the A and the B pages.

Listening and Thinking

Reading age 6-9 years - Interest level 7-13 years

A series developed to promote listening skills and comprehension. Pupils are required to listen to recorded passages and to follow instructions, using the appropriate photocopiable worksheets.
The series will be useful in helping KS 2 and 3 pupils who find concentrated listening difficult and who need to improve short term memory. Each kit contains a book of photocopiable worksheets and either a cassette or a CD.

Kit 1: Short spoken passages or sounds followed by simple multiple-choice questions.

Kit 2: Short spoken passages on a theme, followed by questions requiring a brief written answer.

Kit 3: A complete story split into sections with questions for each section, which are spoken on the tape and also written on the worksheet. The questions require written answers but this work could be done orally if appropriate.