Wonderful phonics-based book to teach reading
936536
This is a terrific book. It starts with the ABCs, then does short vowel sounds with consonants, then long vowel sounds with consonants, then blended consonant words and multisyllabic words. Except for a few updates that are needed due to changing times and politics, I think this book is stellar for teaching children to read modern English. I really wish it would be reprinted. I only have a copy because my mother, a schoolteacher in the 1960s, let me have hers.
943544
I bought this for my child, who is currently receiving tutoring for dyslexia. It is challenging to find books that are at a "just right" reading level and hold the attention of a child with a very large speaking vocabulary. This book is cleverly written, humorous, and it's just a bonus that it's about chickens (my child loves animals and wants to be a farmer). It's our read-aloud - part of tutoring homework - and even my teenager has listened to it. Thank you so much, Kelly, for a book our whole family is enjoying.
2896782
I love this book. I can pick lessons that supplement the phonic skills of the week and roll with it.  It gives my students the practice they need to bridge the gap between making words and reading words.  I would highly recommend it.
2819429
I've used Phonics Road with 3 children, and the oldest is about to finish the last level. As a professional writer and former English major, I care A LOT about phonics and composition. But when it came to teaching my kids to read, I had no idea where to begin. This program made perfect sense to me. (In fact, in online homeschool forums, there are quite a few former English majors who love this program.)

Phonics Road uses a system called vertical phonics, which means students learn all the sounds for a letter, in order of how common the sounds are. For instance, "a" is learned as aa (as in cat), ay, ah (I'm using phonetic spelling here, but traditional phonetic notation is used in the curriculum). Many other programs use horizontal phonics - teaching short vowel sounds and consonants, and long vowels later. Phonics Road is not a program of instant gratification - there are no easy readers with 3-letter words. Instead, it teaches all alphabet sounds and then a number of vowel and consonant teams, giving students many building blocks for words before they ever attempt to read. They then progress to spelling simple words, and learning to mark them with phonetic notation so they understand why a word is spelled the way it is.

I like that there are no sight word lists in this approach - there is a reason given (often language of origin) for all the spellings that appear aberrant in English. The rule tunes are a key element of the program. They are a great tool to help kids (and me!) remember and apply the rules of the English language.

Sixteen weeks into the program, students begin reading with simple readers. These readers have no pictures to aid the student: they are intended to help the teacher get a sense for the child's reading level, and students illustrate the readers themselves. Phonics Road has helped my kids read early and spell well. I don't pressure them to pick up books and try to read early on, but they have all done that at age 5 or so. Once they have the tools to read, they're excited to try them out, with or without me.

It's true that all the parent materials are on DVD. It took me about a month to get used to this, and now I know to watch the DVDs ahead and take copious notes, so I don't have to watch them again for subsequent children. (I think I could teach Level 1 in my sleep now.)

Phonics Road is a significant part of our school day. It's comprehensive and rigorous, which is exactly what I wanted for phonics. It gives me the rails I need to stay on track during the year, and then I can introduce simple games and creative touches to make it work for my teaching style and my kids' learning styles. In fact, the program is so rigorous that we take it more slowly than it is laid out, spending 12-14 months per level. The composition element is not part of Level 1, so I won't review it here other than to say it uses the classical approach, similar to IEW and Writing with Ease, along with some excellent literature studies.

And did I mention that my 3 oldest children are boys? Who love to read? I have Phonics Road to thank for much of that!
592726
I came across this book twice before actually buying it, at first thinking it was just another "Teach Your Child to Read..." book.
One thing I like about this book is that it incorporates phonemic awareness lessons to be done before actually beginning the reading process. This surprised me, because most parents don't think to do this kind of "work" with their child. I had already done some of the suggested activities with my little ones (when I bought the book I had four 2-4yos in my daycare - two were mine.)
We started the program with the oldest three who were at or near age 4. All three had fun "playing the letter games" as they called the lessons. All three began reading very quickly. Two went off to public school, while I homeschooled my daughter. She is now 5, has started her "official" kindergarten year, and is reading at a late 2nd grade level. I have now started teaching my youngest with this program. He is a bit tougher, and doesn't beg to play, but the method is working with him, and he is beginning to understanding the "sounding-out" process!
I have to give this program 5 stars because I have seen it work...not with just my own children, but with other children, too!
Blessings!
4227752
These book are awesome. We homeschool, and I am teaching my daughters to read using a phonics based instruction rather than sight words. It is incredibly difficult to find readers that are phonics based. Forget about finding engaging phonics readers! Well, Usborne has hit it out of the park. These books are amazing! Also, they are very big in size which is nice. The storylines are interesting, the illustrations are captivating, and the books have little flaps on several of the pages that are so exciting for my kids to find. Not to mention, in the back of every book, there is a little "teacher's guide" to help you help your child with the multi-letter phonograms and tricky words. Throw out all your boring bob books and buy these! I keep coming back to Usborne and I will continue to do so!
3414175
Absolutely love these set of books. My son is in PreK and the workbook along with the corresponding primary books have been fantastic.  My daughter who is in 1st grade was having trouble with reading. I started her with these and worked our way up to workbook 4.  Her reading has improved dramatically since it builds on a foundation of phonics skills. Highly recommend these books!!!
229882
This book has many activities that are systematic and very useful in teaching phonics to 1st graders or struggling 2nd graders.  the activities are fun and easy to use!
4926749
My son was struggling with 2 other phonics programs but has really excelled now due to the amazing simplicity of this book. I love it!  I included a few pics of the pages because I think it helps to see a little before you buy.
1150325
As a veteran kindergarten and first grade teacher with a 34 year career, when I discovered Elephant and Piggie I knew I'd found a treasure.  Great combination of phonetic and sight words for tots to beginning readers to fluent readers...the grey word bubbles identify the words Gerald says and the pink bubbles identify Piggie's words.  The bolder and larger the print, the better the reading expression. I bought several of each book for my classroom and they are captivating enough to be an independent activity at a learning station all by themselves.  It's not a quiet activity, however, as the kids memorize the words quickly and the bold words expressively  LOUD!

I'm retired now but still ordering each new Elephant and Piggie for my grandchildren ranging in age from 2 to 9 years old.  The facial and body expressions (not to mention the emotions) of the characters draws children in like no books I've ever read before.  They can't wait for a new release to arrive!

Oh, and mustn't forget to mention that the Pigeon is on the back inside cover and MUST be found!
2337111
The author intends this book to be simple enough for a preschooler or kindergarten child to read independently. It reminds me of a set of phonics sight word books that I used when teaching my children to read. Each of the pages begins with the words...This monster has....The numbers one through five are introduced with each number featuring a different object. At the end the child has five monsters. The illustrations are cute but done in black and white. Repetition of the same sight words will definitely reinforce reading skills. I think that a motivated child will enjoy practicing with this book. However, the book may not appeal to children who are accustomed to large, bold illustrations with lots of color. Teachers in preschool or kindergarten might want to use it as a guided read aloud. It could also be a tool used at home as a reinforcement of a classroom lesson.
3775380
Full disclosure:  The author, Jonathan Royce, and I are related by marriage, so I purchased the book with a bit of a bias.  I am not a parent, so buying a children's book is truly an act of support.  However, I was pleasantly surprised by the book when I received my copy in the mail.  In this day and age of "anyone who wants to is publishing a book", I was glad to see that this book is not only well-written, but beautifully illustrated as well.

Detective Dwayne Drake is on the case as he solves a mystery of stolen goods with a walk through the alphabet.  Subtitled as a book of letter recognition for beginning readers, Jonathan uses alliteration and some rhyming to tell the story of Detective Drake's search for a mysterious thief.  The illustrations by Jillian Greenfelder help move the story along and should engage the attention of young readers, who are just learning their alphabet.

This book would also be good for older children who may be having some developmental difficulties with reading.  Jonathan and Jillian use the tool of highlighting the letter in question throughout the sub-story about each letter in the alphabet.  This tool would be useful for older children who may have dyslexia or other reading disabilities, as it will help them focus while reading.  Also, for children who may not have the discipline to stay focused on reading for extended periods of time, the length of the book (29 short pages) is probably just the right length to keep them engaged in the story.

I enjoyed this book, and would highly recommend it to my friends with younger children.
4223434
This is the first book in the P.I. Penguin series. It starts off with him wondering if his missing parents might be home today. We do not know what happened or how long they have been missing, perhaps we will find the answers to those questions in subsequent books. In the meantime, P.I. Penguin helps his friends when they have problems. In this story, Bella the bottlenose dolphin comes to him for help finding one of her bottles. It has disappeared from her collection. This sounds like a case of P.I.. Will he be able to solve the case and help out a friend?

This story is beautifully illustrated with full page, colourful, vibrant illlustrations. They are sure to elicit discussion and help with some of the words. The sea creatures are so well drawn to draw attention to them. I also love the rhyming way the story is written. When young children or those with reading difficulties are learning to read, rhyming words is a great way to reinforce sounds.

 you can find out more about these delightful creatures on the publisher's website. While you're there, sign up for the newsletter to receive free kids' activities and offers.

These books are especially written for students who are having difficulty reading, specifically those with dyslexia. The font, paper, and colours have be especially chosen to promote a positive reading experience. There are also tips at the front of the book for parents and teachers. I love the letter to parents about the importance or reading to and with your child. I would recommend this book to classrooms and schools as well as family libraries. It would also make a great read aloud for young children and their parents.
438467
This is an excellent program for teaching a child to read.  I used this this year with my home-schooled kindergartner and he has become a really good reader.  He now reads beginner chapter books with no problems.  This program is a very simple phonics-based program that starts simple with short "a" and builds on.  It has no bells and whistles and really I liked that.  Additional reading is important in addition to this, but this primer supplies the structure for a reading program.  I used Bob Books, Amazing Animals, and other phonics based reading books from the library and they worked great.

I did not care for the Little Companion Readers that can be purchased in addition to this.  They were overpriced (paper stapled into cardstock with a terrible print job), not very interesting, and did not start at the level of a truly beginning reader.  The other simple books (such as Bob Books) offer a great feeling of success to my child and Little Companion Readers did not.  Now at the end of the year, he could fly through those books.  I will probably not use them in the early stages of teaching my other sons when they are older.

I highly recommend Alpha-Phonics though!
1048544
My daughter loves animals, loves to read, and is in kindergarten. She really enjoyed reading this book to me.

In this story, it is Danny's birthday, and his parents are letting him choose a pet. In rhyming words, Danny's family gets him a dog, a kitten, a rat and a bird, but all Danny really wants is a turtle.

When Danny finally gets his turtle, he can't wait to bring it in for show-and-tell at school.

This book uses descriptive vocabulary, like beady, nipped, squawk, and cuddly. All good words for practicing phonics with.

The illustrations are action-oriented, birds flying, dogs running away, and a kitten in a tree. They will keep your child's attention, and help them figure out context clues for what they are reading.
2700348
This book is completely unique in that it draws kids' attention not simply to the letter names or to words that happen to start with the same letter, but to all of the actual sounds that each letter makes.  It clearly demonstrates, for example, words where S says both /s/ and /z/ (like "skip" and "music", instead of just /s/), or where O says all three of its sounds (like "stop", "go", and "do").  It gives children a wonderfully simple introduction to the Orton-Gillingham approach and helps them build a crucial foundation for learning to read (not just name the letters, which does not actually help literacy).  Plus, the text is so lyrical and illustrations are so delightful that it's just plain lots of fun to read!  This book has been a huge hit with my nearly-3-year-old, who wants to hear it over and over again (and loves to sit and "read" it to herself as well!), but also with my 7-year-old and even my 9-year-old, who think it's hysterical ("Uncle's ugly underwear" from the U page is a favorite, and it's just so much fun to tell each other things like "Who can do it? Move it! Prove it!" from the O page...).  I can't wait for the publication of the early childhood reading and writing curriculum from this company as well!
125134
Disclaimer: I am not an elementary teacher or reading teacher, but have children that are at the age of learning to read, and whom I want to grow up with a love for reading. This Rime Magic program engages the student (of any age or reading level) with the building blocks of words and sounds in the English language, to practice and master these to establish the fundamentals of reading. One of our teachers tells the kids to "chunk it" when reading a long word, and I have a pretty good feeling that this is what she means--dividing the word up into its component parts to pronounce. We've only just begun to engage our little reader with this kit, but I can tell it will be helpful and is revealing the struggle areas and sounds, as well as showing what is already mastered. As we go through the program more completely, I will update our review with further feedback and details, but as far as we've experienced so far, its a great reinforcement for their phonics, and is designed also for classroom use with a teachers guide and step by step instructions on how to implement it in teaching children to read. Great resource!