Two of the key skills required for learning to phonetically read are phoneme recognition and blending. Children who struggle with these early reading skills are likely to fall behind in literacy. There is a shortage in resources that are specifically designed to support children with diverse learning needs. To address this, WordUnited has created the \u201cLet\u2019s Read\u201d series: eight levelled books designed by teachers that cover nearly all the sounds of English and teach blending using a unique method.<\/p>\n
One of the striking features of the \u201cLet\u2019s Read\u201d series is the books burst with real-life and vivid images that help keep young learners engaged. Yet, all books adopt a refreshingly minimalist design that includes only the content required for learning. This design is intended to help easily distracted children maintain focus. Furthermore, the text is over-sized and colour-coded, and uses an easy-to-read child-friendly font. These high-quality books with glossy covers are manufactured using durable paper with high clarity. They are A5 sized with a portrait orientation, making them perfect for one-to-one and small group work. It is recommended that the books are used to supplement other learning approaches and 10 to 15 sessions are ideal to introduce a new sound or to recap learning. Teaching guidance is included.<\/p>\n
The series starts with the first title: \u201cSimple Phonics\u201d. This book introduces all the consonant sounds, including consonant digraphs, as well as the five simple vowels: a, e, i, o and u. The first half of the book lists the \u201cbouncy\u201d sounds. These are short sounds that you \u201cbounce\u201d off when you repeat saying them such as \u201cb-b-b\u201d and \u201ck-k-k\u201d. The second half lists the \u201cstretchy\u201d sounds, which are continuous sounds that can be \u201cstretched\u201d such as \u201cmmm\u201d and \u201crrr\u201d. Phonemes that have the same sound are grouped together, such as \u201cc\u201d, \u201ck\u201d and \u201cck\u201d. There are example words for each sound and each phoneme is colour-coded in bright pink in example words.<\/p>\n
Following the introduction of simple phonemes, blending is introduced in the following two books: \u201cStep-by-Step Mini Words\u201d and \u201cStep-by-Step Bigger Words\u201d. Here, blending is gently and intuitively explained using a unique method that has never been published before. Sometimes teachers cover parts of a word when introducing blending, especially for children attempting to blend for the first time, or for children struggling to blend. WordUnited has developed a simple yet innovative approach where the first page contains only the first letter and the opposite page shows a partial image. Gradually, the following pages add more letters, step-by-step, and the complete image is revealed as children read a full word. The two books that introduce blending cover all the five simple vowels. The \u201cMini Words\u201d books includes only CVC words with single-letter consonants, such as \u201ccat\u201d, while the \u201cBigger Words\u201d book includes words with consonant digraphs, such as \u201cmoth\u201d. Each phoneme has a prompt underneath it to encourage children to point at the sound and concentrate.<\/p>\n
As children master blending, more complex sounds are gradually introduced. The fourth and fifth books, \u201cDouble-Letter Phonics\u201d and \u201cMore Double-Letter Phonics\u201d, introduce vowel digraphs, such as \u201cee\u201d. Where two digraphs share the same sound, for example \u201cee\u201d and \u201cea\u201d, they are placed in hexagons having identical colour. These books include many examples to reinforce recognising the sounds and reading words containing vowel digraphs. The sixth book, \u201cAdvanced Phonics\u201d, introduces trigraphs and even more complex sounds such as \u201cigh\u201d and \u201ction\u201d. By the sixth book, children can read words as advanced as \u201cprecious\u201d and \u201cscrumptious\u201d.<\/p>\n
The seventh book, \u201cSplit Digraphs\u201d, helps children to step-by-step learn the five split digraphs: \u201ca-e\u201d,\u00a0\u201ce-e\u201d, \u201ci-e\u201d, \u201co-e\u201d and \u201cu-e\u201d. Arcs over the split digraphs prompt children to recognise their sounds in words.<\/p>\n
The eighth and final book in the \u201cLet\u2019s Read\u201d series is \u201cSilent Letters\u201d. It helps children recognise silent letters that are not pronounced in certain words, such as \u201ct\u201d in \u201clisten\u201d. For each letter, a group of words in which that letter is not pronounced is listed. The silent letters are colour-coded in grey and, unlike the other letters, they lack prompts underneath.<\/p>\n
All the words throughout this series are carefully selected so they are child-friendly, relevant, interesting and easy to sound out. The accompanied images representing the words encourage children to read while providing \u201cclues\u201d to the words. However, plenty of revision pages and practice words without pictures are included to assess learning.<\/p>\n
The \u201cLet\u2019s Read\u201d series is a \u201cone stop\u201d learning resource that covers all the English sounds taught at EYFS and KS1 and teaches blending and reading in a unique way. The books are highly recommended for easily-distracted children and for children struggling with early reading.<\/p>\n
Available to buy as single books (\u00a35.99 each) or as a complete set<\/a> (\u00a337.99) from www.wordunited.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n Let\u2019s Read \u2013 Simple Phonics<\/a>\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 ISBN: 9781911333241<\/p>\n Let\u2019s Read \u2013 Step-by-Step Mini Words<\/a>\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 ISBN: 9781911333258<\/p>\n Let\u2019s Read \u2013 Step-by-Step Bigger Words<\/a> \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 ISBN: 9781911333265<\/p>\n Let\u2019s Read \u2013 Double-Letter Phonics<\/a>\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0ISBN: 9781911333272<\/p>\n Let\u2019s Read \u2013 More Double-Letter Phonics<\/a> \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 ISBN: 9781911333289<\/p>\n Let\u2019s Read \u2013 Advanced Phonics<\/a> \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 ISBN: 9781911333296<\/p>\n