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Pre-Level 1 (PK-K)

Level Pre-1 covers letter recognition (capitals first, then lowercase) and letter sounds (consonants and short vowels). The author has identified the Big Five Skillsâ„¢ which are foundational to the educational mission of this course. Print Awareness (text carries meaning and is related to spoken language - specific tips in lessons), Phonological Awareness (the ability to hear and identify parts of words), Letter Knowledge (recognizing the letters and knowing the letter names and sounds), Listening Comprehension (precursor to reading comprehension), and Motivation to Read (no parenthetical clarification needed). We're obviously talking more than simple ABCs here, aren't we? And Ziggy is eager to illustrate the difference. Ziggy is a personable, strokeable, fun-loving young zebra (puppet) with a tendency to say the wrong word, drop sounds from words, and distract your child away with game-playing (wink-wink). Lessons are written around Ziggy's participation. I suppose you could do "work arounds"� and cover the same material, but Ziggy will win your child's heart and you'll be off and learning before you even know it. In addition to Ziggy's games and antics, lessons include an introduction to the letter or sound, poem-reading from either the Zigzag Zebra or the Lizard Lou book, completion of a craft sheet, additional activities (chosen from a list in the appendix), games, and the read aloud time. The two hardbound books - Zigzag Zebra and Lizard Lou (each a collection of poems for letters or letter sounds; also available as optional audio-books) - are used daily (one or the other) to introduce or reinforce sounds.

The Level Pre-1 Activity Book (My Book of Letters) contains the craft sheets for the lessons; each of which have supplies needed and instructions on the back. These perforated activity sheets include coloring, dot-to-dots, mini craft projects involving adding construction or tissue paper accents or various types of sparkleees, games like "Circle the Letter t"�, sound match-ups, and hidden pictures. Common craft materials needed include crayons, markers, scissors, glue, tape, and a miscellaneous assortment of optional craft materials.

Level 1 (K-1)

Level 1 starts out with a review of letter sounds from Level Pre-1 - but with a difference. From the beginning (letters m, s, p, and a) the letters become words and the student is off and reading. After all letters and short vowels have been re-introduced, lessons cover consonant teams (th, ch; and then later, ck, ng, nk), final and initial blends, double consonants, a few sight words, compound words, and plural words. The level ends with six lessons (#44 - #49) covering the additional sounds of several letters (a, i, c, o, g, e, u y, and ch) and open/closed syllables. Lessons follow a typical pattern and are multi-sensory. Here is where the resemblance to its "sister,"� All About Spelling, becomes apparent. Here we find phonogram cards and word cards (either introduced or reviewed each lesson), use of the letter tiles for building words, and our "friend"� - Read Aloud Time. Lessons start with a preview of the letter sounds (for the teacher) and review (for the student). New Teaching segments are easy to follow and illustrated. [The general "role"� of the Teacher's Manual is to provide the teacher with all background information, procedures ("Hold up the Phonogram Card and say the sound"�), plan (what to do, when), and methodologies (use of letter tiles).] New Teaching also includes Activity Sheets, reading practice (using word cards), fluency practice (sheets provided in the Activity Book). Helpful Teacher Tips are provided at all relevant points. Each lessons ends with a designated Read-Aloud Time (with suggestions) and a reminder to Track Your Progress (stickers onto progress chart). Every other lesson (typically) is centered on the child reading a story from one of the three readers. Since all words in the story have been previously introduced, the focus of the lesson is on vocabulary development and reading comprehension. It's almost impossible to point to any one element of this program as more useful than another but I will confess to a strong appreciation for the teaching tips associated with the Practice Fluency part of the lessons. It seems to me that this is where many programs falter - not giving the teacher enough help in how to build fluency in their emerging readers. These tips provide just the amount of information you need exactly when it is most useful - in small doses rather than inundating the bewildered teacher all at once in the introductory information to the program.

The Level 1 Activity Book (Blast off to Reading) is packed with reinforcement activities as well as the Reading Fluency sheets. Activities include games (cut apart fruits and vegetables labeled with compound words), Word Flippersâ„¢, and matching - i.e. connect the bananas (each with a three-letter word) with its word family monkey. Fluency Practice sheets (3-4 pages each) include new words, mixed review, and phrases and sentences. Readers for this level are Run, Bug, Run!, The Runt Pig, and Cobweb the Cat.