The Annual Newsletter of the International Reading Association's Phonics Special Interest Group

Reviews

• Books about Phonics
• Commercial Reading Programs
• Phonics Workbooks
• Instructional Materials: Manipulatives, Games, & Toys
• Decodable Readers
• Reading Methodology College Textbooks
• Videos
• Computer Software and Computer Programs

  Note: The editors welcome reader comments and suggestions for the Reviews section. Books and materials reviewed in this section are in no way advocated or endorsed by all members of the Phonics Bulletin production team, the Phonics Special Interest Group as a whole, or the International Reading Association. Opinions expressed are solely those of the reviewers. Send reviews, comments, and suggestions to: Lynn.Gordon@csun.edu and Kendra9@mindspring.com
  

  Reviewers assign stars to items according to this rating system:
  5 stars = highly recommended
  4 stars = recommended
  3 stars = recommended(some limitations)
  2 stars = needs improvement or significant limitations
  1 stars = severe limitations/not recommended
  0 = do not purchase
  

Books about Phonics

Beginning to Read: Thinking and Learning About Print
by Marilyn Jager Adams
ISBN 0-262-01112-3
Published by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1990
www.mitpress.mit.edu
Adams provides a scholarly, comprehensive, and definitive synthesis of basic and applied research on beginning reading through 1990. Topics include the history of the English alphabet, the controversies surrounding phonics instruction, issues and research in early reading instruction, basic
perceptual processes, the processes involved in identifying sounds, letters, words, and meaning, and the processes involved in learning to read. In many ways, this enlightening and enjoyable reference report is an updated version of Jeanne Chall's Learning to Read: The Great Debate. A classic reference book for every phonicator's library.
Price: $27.95.
Rating = 5 stars
(Reviewed by Lynn Gordon)

Why Johnny Can’t Read
By Rudolf Flesch
ISBN 0-06-091340-1
Published by Harper & Row in 1955
www.harpercollins.com
This enduring phonics-first treatise is still in print (as a paperback) and still, almost 50 years later, an invigorating, right-on-target masterpiece. Flesch, an early evangelist for reading reform, rails against the whole-word or “look-and-say” method of reading instruction prevalent in that era, and provides clear, straightforward instructions and exercises for teaching reading using pure phonics. Why Johnny Can’t Read makes a fascinating reading assignment in teacher education reading methodology courses, serving as both a historical document and ageless, practical guide to the nuts and bolts of basic phonics instruction. Great for parents, teachers, teaching credential candidates, tutors, and reading specialists.
Price = $13.00
Rating = 5 stars
(Reviewed by Lynn Gordon)

Teaching and Assessing Phonics: Why, What, When, How
by Jeanne S. Chall & Helen M. Popp
ISBN 0-8388-2314-9
Published by the Educators Publishing Service, Inc. in 1996
www.epsbooks.com
The late, great Jeanne Chall, famous author of The Great Debate and former founder and director of the Harvard Reading Laboratory wrote this wonderful, slim volume with her Harvard University colleague, Helen Popp. This book is an excellent reference for teachers or anyone seeking information about phonics and phonics instruction. The guide covers the why, what, when, and how of phonics, and also provides suggestions for assessing student progress and providing remedial instruction.
Price $20.95.
Rating = 5 stars
(Reviewed by Lynn Gordon)

Phonics from A to Z: A Practical Guide
by Wiley Blevins
ISBN 0-590-31510-2
Published by Scholastic Professional Books in 1998
www.scholastic.com
Blevins makes a clear and cogent argument for the role of direct phonics instruction in helping students become fluent readers. Blevins discusses ten important research findings about phonics and describes many practical, engaging activities for teaching phonemic awareness and phonics. An excellent resource for anyone who wants to learn how to teach reading through phonics. I love this book.
Price: $16.95
Rating = 5 stars
(Reviewed by Lynn Gordon)

Teaching Phonics & Word Study in the Intermediate Grades: A Complete Sourcebook
by Wiley Blevins
ISBN 0-439-16352-8
Published by Scholastic Professional Books
This book complements Blevins’s Phonics from A to Z, but this volume is designed for teachers of students in grades 3-8. Contains assessments, lessons, games, activities, fluency strategies, Greek and Latin roots, syllabication, and review of current research. A good reference for teachers of students in the upper-elementary and middle school grades.
Price: $19.95
Rating = 4 stars
(Reviewed by Lynn Gordon)

Phonics Patterns: Onset and Rhyme Word Lists, 2nd Edition
by Edward Fry in 1996
ISBN 0-87673-026-8
Published by Laguna Beach Educational Books
This is a helpful book containing phonogram word lists. I’ve used it for planning phonics lessons, word games, dictation practice, and spelling lists. All you need is a chalkboard and you’re ready for “word work” lessons.
Price: $8.99
Rating = 4 stars
(Reviewed by Lynn Gordon)

Spelling Through Phonics, 2nd Edition
by Marlene J. McCracken and Robert A. McCracken
ISBN 1-895411-86-6
Published by Peguis Publishers in 1996
www.peguis.com
This handy spiral-bound teacher’s manual offers good suggestions for creating a phonics-based spelling program in grades K-3. Also features word lists and practical advice for spelling and writing practice.
Price: $22.00
Rating = 4 stars
(Reviewed by Lynn Gordon)

Phonics Pathways
by Dolores Hiskes
ISBN 0-9620967-3-3
Published by Dorbooks
www.dorbooks.com
A simple, practical book containing lots of phonics word lists and decodable sentences. Useful for tutors, homeschool teachers, or anyone wanting to have the content of basic phonics instruction in one place.
Price: $32.95
Rating = 4 stars
(Reviewed by Lynn Gordon)

Commercial Reading Programs

Beginning to Read, Write, and Listen
ISBN 0-02-180791-4 (Teacher’s Kit)
ISBN 0-02-180791-9 (Student’s Kit)
Published by McGraw-Hill,
http://128.241.185.51/mcgrawClassInfo.html
This excellent, phonics-based beginning reading curriculum has been around for years and is perfect as a stand-alone kindergarten reading program. Students thoroughly learn the sounds of the alphabet letters, one-at-a-time (typically spending a week on each letter), and after just a few letters have been introduced begin blending these sounds together to make words. After nine letters have been introduced, students can begin reading little decodable stories that get progressively more complex as additional letters are introduced. The only drawback here is the cost. The teacher’s kit is $800.22 and each student’s kit of 24 consumable letter books (and you’ll need one for each student) costs $49.23.
Price = $800.22 (Teacher’s kit)
$49.23 (Student’s kit, each)
Rating = 4 stars
(Reviewed by Lynn Gordon)

K5 Phonics/Reading/Writing/Seatwork Curriculum
ISBN 0-262-01112-3
Published by A Beka Book
www.abeka.com
A Beka offers a traditional, non-flashy phonics program. This instructor’s manual provides daily teaching plans, detailed phonics content, scope and sequence recommendations, a manuscript writing guide, and phonics word lists. An excellent phonics resource but inappropriate for public schools due to a liberal sprinkling of Christian content. The program is very popular with many in the homeschool world. Additional
resources such as alphabet cards, phonics sounds cassettes, and phonics charts are available for purchase separately.
Price = $39.95
Rating = 3 stars (not for public schools)
(Reviewed by Lynn Gordon)

SIPPS Challenge Level Kit: Polysyllabic Decoding
ISBN: 0-439-35789-6
Co-publishers: Developmental Studies Center and Scholastic
www.devstu.org
SIPPS offers an effective "Challenge" intervention program for older students (3rd grade through adult) providing strategies for decoding polysyllabic words. The program provides a daily 15-20 minute instructional routine that leaves plenty of time for students to practice applying these strategies in their grade-level literature or content area reading. The “sight syllable” component, the “morphemic transformations” (prefixes, suffixes, and inflectional endings), and exposure to many useful polysyllabic words give the students confidence they need to get over the fear of “big” words. After three months of using the SIPPS Challenge Level, my third- and fourth-grade “intervention” students averaged
a 2-year increase in word attack skills and a 1-year increase in comprehension.
Price: $100.00
Rating = 5 stars
(Reviewed by Wanda Ryan)

PhonoGraphix
Published by Simon and Schuster
www.readamerica.net
The PhonoGraphix method teaches the alphabetic code focusing on segmenting, blending, and phoneme manipulation. It is straightforward, logically reasoned and easy to learn. The authors' book Reading Reflex lays out the entire program. However, a good initial path for teachers doing classroom or remedial work is the WordWork manual. It contains
well-constructed lessons and many reproducible pages. Students enjoy the lessons and catch on easily. The five-day training course and full kit helped me use the method more effectively. Additional components are available. This method works well with individuals, small groups or with a whole class. I highly recommend PhonoGraphix.
Prices: $12.80 (Reading Reflex)
$175.00 (Word Work kit)
$350.00 (full kit plus training)
Rating = 5 stars
(Reviewed by Diana Lytle)

Open Court
Published by SRA/McGraw
www.sra-4kids.com
Open Court has been widely adopted in California and is credited, by many, with raising elementary standardized reading achievement test scores for four years in a row. Known initially for the strength of its phonics program, Open Court has now branched out to attempt to become a comprehensive (and “teacher-proof,” some say) curriculum. The program features scripted direct instruction lesson plans and a famous spiraling curriculum where grade level skills are taught and revisited over and over again. Critics complain about inadequate content coverage in science and social studies, breakneck speed pacing plans, constraints on teachers’ academic freedom, and “one- size –fits-all” implementation policies. Impressive reading achievement test score gains keep new orders flowing to SRA/McGraw Hill, no doubt.
Price = About $2500 to $3000 to outfit one classroom with 20 students.
Rating = 4 stars
(Reviewed by Lynn Gordon)

Houghton Mifflin Reading: A Legacy of Literacy
www.schooldirect.com
The Legacy of Literacy series was adopted by more than 300 school districts in California in 2002. This program, which features a strong beginning reading phonics component, boasts impressive correlations with improved reading achievement scores. This program is somewhat less expensive than its primary market competitor (Open Court), yet offers a very similar comprehensive reading program.
Rating = 4 stars
(Reviewed by Lynn Gordon)

Frontline Phonics
www.frontlinephonics.com
This reading system was designed to teach preschool age children reading through phonics. The program combines a parent/teacher video, flashcards, a workbook, 23 beginning readers, and a 34 fun sing-a-long songs on CD. One of the big features of this program is how early the decodable books are introduced, just 9 lessons and the child is reading their first book. The readers are colorful and the stories are silly, perfect for capturing any child's attention. Not just a supplement, but a full reading system which can be used from pre-k to 3rd grade, you'll be amazed at how fast even children as young as 3 or 4 are sounding out and reading words.
Price: $299
Rating = 5 stars
(Reviewed by Leah Weinberg)

School Phonics
ISBN 1-58324-102-7
ISBN 1-58324-103-5B
ISBN 1-58324-104-3B
ISBN 1-58324-105-1B
Published by Didax
www.schoolphonics.com
I would not use this quirky phonics program with beginning readers but it might be okay for confident intermediate-level readers 1) who have already mastered the consonant and short vowel sounds, 2) who can already read consonant-vowel-consonant words and 3) who are ready for a fast-paced program. The teacher’s manual covers 55 phonics lessons. Each lesson focuses on a single sound and teaches the spelling patterns that go with that sound. For example, lesson #2 covers long o and covers four spelling patterns: long o as in “so,” long on as in “hope,” long o as in “soak,” and long o as in “snow.” A vocabulary-intense, epic, rhyming, read-aloud, story poem about a band of teeny-weeny people called “Happychaps” is woven through the lessons and is used as a theme for the wall cards. Students read from, write in, and complete exercises in their workbooks as part of the teacher-directed lessons. Program is challenging, fanciful, and different.
Prices: $55.00 (Teacher’s Guide)
$8.75 (Student Book 1)
$8.75 (Student Book 2)
$90.00 (Set of Wall Sound Cards)
Rating = 3 stars
(Reviewed by Lynn Gordon)

Hooked on Phonics: Learn to Read
Published by Gateway Learning Corp.
www.hop.com
When I taught kindergarten, which I did for many years, I had two instances of entering kindergartners who already knew how to read fluently. In one instance the child had just been read to a great deal and picked up the code intuitively, in the other instance, the parents admitted to having used Hooked on Phonics. The instructional program works, but does require adult supervision and participation along with a substantial time commitment. I know a grandmother who taught her third grade grandson, who had a learning disability, how to read with this program using it twice-a-week after school. This Learn to Read version comes with musical audiotapes, books, workbooks and is designed for ages 3 to 8. Two other Hooked on Phonics programs are also available. The Classic version is designed for older struggling readers, and the Master version teaches advanced phonics skills. Rather pricey. You might be able to find a used kit on Ebay or borrow one from the library.
Price = $299.94
Rating = 4 stars
(Reviewed by Lynn Gordon)

Saxon Phonics and Spelling
Published by Saxon Publishers
www.saxonpublishers.com
Saxon offers comprehensive, complete phonics and spelling programs for kindergarten, first, second, and third grades. Each kit set which includes a teacher’s manual, charts/cards, student worksheets and materials comes in stacking crates with materials for either 24 or 32 students. All the materials are well designed, basically straight forward, simple, and not too glitzy or visually confusing. The teacher’s manual provides lesson plans for direct instruction and engaged student learning. I love that the consumable student workbooks are designed to be a completely interactive part of the teacher’s lesson. I particularly like their carefully leveled decodable readers designed to provide that all-important practice students need as their word identification skills and confidence develops. This program is perfect as a supplementary phonics/spelling program for districts using literature-based materials or for schools seeking to jump start decoding skills in the primary grades. Saxon’s colorful alphabet handwriting strips are perfect for taping down on kids’ desks.
Price: $495/$600 for kindergarten, $650.00/$775.00 for 1st grade, $595.00/$730.00 for 2nd grade,
$295/$395.00 for 3rd grade
Rating = 5 stars
(Reviewed by Lynn Gordon)

Letterland, Early Years
Published by Collins Education (in UK)
and Letterland International Ltd
www.letterland.com
Letterland is adorable. The distinctive features of this program from England are the cute, colorful illustrated pictograms, or pictures-letters of personified animals, people, and objects who live together in Letterland. Each character is visually integrated with a letter, for example the ears on Bouncy Ben, the brown bunny, form a big lower-case b. After teaching kindergarten for many years, I can imagine young students having a lot of fun getting to know the characters, and easily remembering the letters and sounds they represent. The package includes a teacher’s guide, “picture code” cards, an ABC book, a song cassette, vocabulary cards, alphabet songs, and copymasters. Let it be noted that the letter forms in the Letterland pictographs are curvy, not classically manuscript, and this might be a poor fit for some schools where writing isn’t taught in this fashion. I didn’t like discovering that the instructor’s manual leads teachers to combine the presentation of variant vowel sounds, the r-controlled /or/ sound in orange along with the short /o/ sound in otter. This is just too confusing for some (though not all) young learners. If I were using the Letterland materials in a pre-k or kindergarten class, I would at first only teach the short vowel sounds and high-frequency consonants, and then move on to c-v-c blending before getting fancier. Letterlandia, a Spanish version, is also available.
Rating = 4 stars
(Reviewed by Lynn Gordon)

Phonics Workbooks

Modern Curriculum Press Plaid Phonics
ISBN 0765226189 (Level K, color)
ISBN 0765226197 (Level A, black & white)
ISBN 076522514X (Level A, color)
ISBN 0765226219 (Level B, black & white)
ISBN 0765226200 (Level B, color)
ISBN 0765226235 (Level C, black & white)
ISBN 0765226235 (Level C, color)
Published by Modern Curriculum Press
pearsonlearning.com/mcp/phonics.cfm
Remember those old red and blue phonics workbooks? Traditional Modern Curriculum Press workbooks are still around after more than fifty years, but are now updated and available in either black and white or color for grades kindergarten through third. (MCP now offers four workbooks, one for each grade level). These classics are sometimes purchased by schools seeking to supplement a weak-in-phonics reading series, or by tutors or parents for students who need additional phonics skill work. The series features a teacher’s manual for each grade level, well-designed/clean page layout, optional additional materials available for purchase separately. These workbooks are quite good, but let us remember that workbooks can be bad, bad, bad when they are assigned as busywork and are disconnected from meaningful instruction! The crucial lesson from history is that teachers must remember to teach interactive, engaging, and explicit phonics lessons before assigning follow-up seatwork. Given this pedagogical caveat, however, these are my favorite phonics workbooks.
Price = $10.95 per workbook
$49.95 per teacher’s manual
Rating = 4 stars
(Reviewed by Lynn Gordon)

Phonics Practice Simplified
ISBN Code: 1-57110-205-1
ISBN Code: 1-57110-206-X
ISBN Code: 1-57110-207-8
ISBN Code: 1-57110-208-6
ISBN Code: 1-57110-209-4
ISBN Code: 1-57110-210-8
Published by Essential Learning Products
www.elp-web.com
There are six phonics workbooks in this nice series, and each book has 48 pages of work. The individual workbooks are entitled: Introductions to Sounds and Words, Initial Consonants, Final & Medial Consonants, Short & Long Vowels, Vowel Combinations, Blends & Digraphs. At $5.49 each, the books are suitable for consumable homeschool or tutoring practice, but the publisher has also authorized duplication of the materials for classroom use, so teachers might like to have one of each title for their blackline master library. No teacher’s guide is offered. (Teachers, let us remember that while some well-designed worksheets can provide appropriate practice, they can be abused and are no substitute for interactive instruction! We must teach first, before assigning seatwork practice.) Page layout is fair.
Price = $5.49 for each workbook
Rating = 4 stars
(Reviewed by Lynn Gordon)

Instructional Materials: manipulatives, games toys

The Phonics Game
Published by Games2Learn.com
www.phonicsgame.com
The Phonics Game consists of 6 card games, 3 videos, a CD computer game,
a sounds & spelling audio CD, and 10 phonetic readers on CD. Children are to watch phonics videos and then play card games to practice their reading skills. (Note: the teacher on the video pronounces the sounds correctly!) The Phonics Game is appropriate as a supervised supplementary phonics practice program in schools or at home. All practice activities and assessments are interactive and oral; there are no practice sheets. It is self-contained and easy to store in its case. The colors are outstanding and illustrations are appealing. Students do seem to have fun while learning. I didn’t encounter any resistance and I felt like
I got my money’s worth.
Price = $199.95
Rating = 5 stars
(Reviewed by Patricia Mariani)

PhonicsQ: The Complete Cueing System
Published by PhonicsQ in 1998
www.phonicsq.com
PhonicsQ is a collection of wall-display cards and charts illustrated with colorful, child-friendly illustrations representing the alphabet sounds and high-frequency phonics/spelling patterns. The program could supplement any reading or spelling program and is appropriate for emerging readers, special education (K-12), ESL/ELL (K-adult), or adult learners. The boxed set includes: 116 wall cards with patterned word lists, 4 color posters (24 x 31), plus matching blackline masters, a pronunciation tape, a pre/post assessment, and an instructor’s manual. The materials cover the 26 letters of the alphabet, short vowels, consonant blends, digraphs, endings and vowel combinations, open-syllable, long vowels, vowel-consonant-e, and less common single vowel sounds.
Price: $129.00
Rating = 4 stars
(Reviewed by Kendra Wagner
and Phyllis Hertzog)

Sound Wizard:
Strategy-Building Games for Phonological Awareness
www.thinkingpublications.com
ISBN: 1-888222-63-8
You get 138 picture cards, a CD, and a 100-page book. Sound Wizard presents 18 strategy-based card games to help children learn and practice developmentally sequenced phonological awareness skills. I use them for assessment, small group games, quick "sponge" activities, and warm-ups for reading. The materials cover: rhyme recognition and production, syllable segmentation, deletion, and blending, sound identification and matching, sound blending, sound-symbol correspondence, and sound manipulation.
Price = $75.00
Rating = 4 stars
(Reviewed by Kendra Wagner)

Word Family Flip Books (and) Phonics Flip Books
Published by Lakeshore
www.lakeshorelearning.com
Students lift and turn little flaps on these heavy duty spiral-bound word books to create phonogram or word family words like cat, sat, and bat (rime-based), or shell, shoe, and shark (onset-based). The Word Family Flip Books contain easier words (and would work better with beginning readers) and the Phonics Flip Books contain harder words. These would be nice to have in your first or second grade classroom, tutoring bag, or resource room, but the sets are pricey.
Price = $49.95 (each set)
Rating = 4 stars
(Reviewed by Lynn Gordon)

Reading Rods
Published by Learning Resources
www.etacuisenaire.com
Bright and colorful and designed for kids who need concrete kinesthetic input. Reading Rods are similar to those snap-together counting cubes we use for math, but instead kids snap these cubes together to build words. They’re fairly expensive and, candidly, you could probably lead similar activities with cut up word cards. You’d want to sort your letter patterns ahead of time before embarking on any word-building activities. I would only attempt using Reading Rods in one-on-one or small-group practice situations, but perhaps I lack courage. Use on the carpet or distribute pieces of felt to be used as silencing mats on desk tops. The letters don’t line up close enough to one another to really satisfy me.
Prices= $149.95 (for the Alphabet and Phonemic Awareness group kit for 5 students); $139.95 (for the Initial Consonants and Word Families group kit for 5 students); $174.95 (for the Making Words group kit for 10 students).
Rating = 3 stars
(Reviewed by Lynn Gordon)

The Sounds Abound Program: Teaching Phonological Awareness in the Classroom
Published by LinguiSystems
www.lingusystems.com
This phonological awareness program was developed at the Stern Center for Language and Learning by Orna Lenchner and Blanche Podhajski. You get a teacher’s manual, video, and a collection of 20 games and activities sequenced by developmental levels. Students practice awareness of rhyme (7 games), syllables (4 games) and phonemes (9 games). Sounds Abound is suitable for individuals, small groups, or K-1 classrooms. 195 pictures on light cardboard are included for use with the games, although more pictures of your own, and puppets, are ideal.
Price: $109.95.
Rating = 4 stars
(Reviewed by Kendra Wagner)

Alphagram Learning Materials and IEP Resources
www.alphagram.com
Designed by a parent of a dyslexic, these topnotch supplemental materials are colorful, clear, and not too visually “busy.” I have used them one-on-one and in small groups, and often recommend them to parents. The Ready, Set, Read teacher’s guide provides 168 pages of fun, multi-sensory activities, word games, decodable text, assessment tools, and lesson ideas for the Alphagram manipulatives. Terrific flipbooks, word-making devices, and giant letter-sound cards (purchased separately for $12.95 to $49.95) allow students to actually make, read, and spell thousands of syllables and words. Alphagram materials are ideal for K-1 emergent readers, but can be used for up to grade 4 for spelling or phonics intervention.
Price = $29.95 (Teacher’s manual)
Rating = 4 stars
(Reviewed by Kendra Wagner)

Vowel Sounds Sorting & Matching Kit
Published by Lakeshore
www.lakeshorelearning.com
This is a fun little matching game or activity you would use after having taught the short or long vowels. (Always teach the short vowel sounds first!) The kit is appropriate for using one-on-one or with a small group. You get two plastic sorting trays (one for short vowels and one for long vowels) and two decks of picture cards. The student selects a card and identifies the name of the picture, “sun,” for example. Then the student is to identify the medial sound and put it in the compartment labeled with a “u.” Pretty expensive at $19.95. Crafty types could make the same thing at home with pictures cut out of old magazines, cardstock, scissors, glue, and shoeboxes.
Price: $19.95
Rating = 4 stars
(Reviewed by Lynn Gordon)

The Spel-Lang Tree: Roots
Published by the JEP Foundation
www.spellangtree.org
This reasonably priced program is easy to use and developmentally appropriate for first graders. ROOTS reinforces phonemic awareness and printing practice as children internalize phonics word patterns necessary for reading and independent writing. Included assessments work well to inform instruction or remediation. I am a first grade teacher in a low SES school and most of my students are English language learners. I am extremely pleased with the efficacy of this program. I highly recommend ROOTS.
Price = 25.00
Rating = 5 stars
(Reviewed by Kimberli Lengning)

Pocket Chart Phonics
ISBN 1-56911-793-4
ISBN 1-56911-791-8
ISBN 1-56911-790-X
ISBN 1-56911-795-0
ISBN 1-56911-794-2
ISBN 1-56911-792-6
Published by Learning Resources
www.learningresources.com
You take these teacher resource books apart and rip the pages along the perforations to get lots of little 2-1/2” x 2-1/2” laminated letter and picture cards. The titles include: Beginning Consonants, Short Vowels, Long Vowels, Blends, Advanced Consonants, and Advanced Vowels. Each book yields 192 cards and each book is sold separately ($9.95), as is the pocket chart (available for $19.95). You would use the little cards to demonstrate word-building or word analysis in front of the class, or for practice with small groups of students. Nice quality, but rather high-priced for little cards you could make yourself.
Price: $9.95 each
Rating = 3 stars
(Reviewed by Lynn Gordon)

No Glamour Reading: Vowels
No Glamour Reading: Syllables
ISBN 0-7606-0423-1
ISBN 0-7606-0402-9
Published by LinguiSystems, Inc.
www.linguisystems.com
These valuable supplemental resource materials build fundamentals of word recognition skills. Written by a veteran teacher, these books are sequentially developed to help students master all vowel sounds (short, long, r-controlled, vowel digraphs) and separation of multi-syllable words (kinds of syllables, patterns for word division, puzzle pieces, game cards, etc.) Both books present step-by-step lessons helping students become skilled at the decoding process. There are ready-made time saving activities for teacher use. These materials are excellent for remediation of word recognition skills.
Cost per book $41.95
Rating = 5 stars
(Reviewed by Mary Smith)

Decodable Readers

www.Readinga-z.com
Readinga-z.com is a nifty Internet site for teachers and homeschoolers featuring a big batch of cute decodable readers and leveled "little books" that you print-out and assemble yourself. The catch is that it's a commercial site that charges $29.95 per/six-month subscription fee. (Discounts are available for one-year subscriptions and school/group and district licenses.) Subscribers can download lesson plans, activity sheets, 58 decodable books, 37 sound/symbol books, 250 leveled books, 20 ABC read-aloud books, phonics flashcards, 10 poetry books, and 5 nursery rhyme books. They say new materials are added every month. Check out their preview section where you can download 30 little books for free.
Price: $29.95 subscription for six months
Rating = 4 stars
(Reviewed by Lynn Gordon)

Reading Methodology College Textbooks

Creating Literacy Instruction for all Children, (4th Edition)
by Thomas Gunning
ISBN 0-206-36821-2
Published by Allyn & Bacon
www.ablongman.com
If you’re looking for a comprehensive college-level reading and language arts textbook that does justice to phonics, Creating Literacy Instruction for all Children is a good choice. While some other reading methods textbook authors either denigrate phonics, skip the topic completely, or give a few pages of tepid lip service to the subject, Gunning really knows phonics and devotes a generous 71 pages to the topic in chapter 4.
Price = $68.00
Rating = 4 stars
(Reviewed by Lynn Gordon)

Phonics for the Teacher of Reading, 8th Edition
by Barbara J. Fox and Marion A. Hull
ISBN 0-13-026538-1
Published by Merrill Prentice Hall
www.prenhall.com
This soft-cover book is designed to be a supplement text in teacher education reading methods courses. Credential candidates can follow a self-paced program of instruction covering linguistic terminology and analysis of phonological awareness, phonics, onset and rime, and English syllables. Students read brief instructional passages and then must complete multiple fill-in-the-blank prompts. (Tip to the publishers: the font should probably be larger in a workbook like this.) Disciplined, self-starting adult learners who really want to know about phonemes, graphemes, diagraphs, and the like will be very happy with this book. The content is very thoroughly covered, but the tedium potential here is high.
Price: $17.33
Rating = 3 stars
(Reviewed by Lynn Gordon)

Videos

Between the Lions The Complete Collection: 35 Volume Set
ISBN 1-57807-815-6
Published by Sirius Thinking and
WGBH Boston
http://main.wgbh.org/wgbh/shop/s107_18.html
If your preschool, kindergarten, or elementary school library has some discretionary money to spend, this set of Between the Lions videotapes (from the award-winning PBS television series) might be a nice purchase. A few studies have shown that children who watch Between the Lions do better on measures of phonemic awareness and letter/sound correspondence. (Thrifty folks will keep in mind that kids can watch Between the Lions free on PBS, and that parents and teachers might be able to borrow the videos from the public library.)
Price: $349.95
Rating = 5 stars
(Reviewed by Lynn Gordon)

Rock ‘N Learn Alphabet: Songs and Games That Make Learning Fun
ISBN 1-87848-979-8
Published by Rock ‘N Learn, Inc. in 1997
In this fun 30-minute video, Alphabet Al sings a catchy alliterative pop song for each letter of the alphabet. Good for teaching auditory discrimination and sound/symbol correspondence. A final mesmerizing segment teaches proper scripting of the capital and lower-case letters. Perfect for ages 2 to 5. My twins loved this video. They’d beg, “Wanna see the ABCD guy!”
Price: $14.95
Rating = 4 stars
(Reviewed by Lynn Gordon)

Computer Software and Computer Programs

Lexia
Published by Lexia Learning
www.LexiaLearning.com
Lexia offers three wonderful, fun phonics-based reading instruction software packages for both home and school use. The “family” price for the Lexia Early Reading CD (for ages 4 to 6) is $ 96.00, the Phonics Based Reading program (for ages 5 to 8) is $119, and Reading S.O.S. (for ages 9 to 90) is $159.00. Lexia software is a bit pricey, but I highly recommend their products. Assessments and professional development are also available. Bulk discounts are offered for schools. I tried out the Lexia programs on my own kids and they loved them.
Format: Windows & Mac
Prices: $96.00, $119.00, and $159.00
Rating = 5 stars
(Reviewed by Lynn Gordon)

Read, Write & Type
Published by The Learning Company
ISBN 0-9676349-0-3
www.readwritetype.com
I really like this software and it’s fairly priced for what you’re getting: interactive phoneme segmentation and phonics practice lessons integrated with pain-free typing instruction. Marketed for ages 6 to 8, I’ve seen phonemically aware 4-year olds successfully using the program. The program talks to children and prompts them to hear the sounds in words and type what they hear. They simultaneously learn the proper keyboard finger strokes (with the help of on-screen talking hands) and progress from typing single letters, to words, phrases, sentences, and short stories. The home edition is $79.00 and comes with 18 reading books. School licenses and computer lab packs are also available. Version 3.0 comes with clickable help in Spanish, (with primary instruction and word practice in English).
Format: Windows & Mac
Price: $79.00
Rating = 5 stars
(Reviewed by Lynn Gordon)

Waterford Early Reading
Published by Pearson Digital Learning
http://pearsondigital.com
A very expensive, comprehensive, well-respected early reading curriculum (for grades K-2) which provides 225 hours of individualized, computer-based reading instruction. The program addresses phonological awareness, phonics, decoding, spelling patterns as well as fluency, vocabulary, comprehension, and motivation. Cost is over $14,000 for one classroom computer station for one year. Program includes teacher training and technical support. The Waterford Early Reading program also comes with books, videotapes, and audio cassettes, and assessments. Excellent for students needing remediation, but too expensive for most schools without special grant funding.
Price: $14,040.00 for one station
Rating = 5 stars
(Reviewed by Lynn Gordon)

Phonics Excelerator
Published by TOPICS Entertainment
ISBN 1-59150-015-X
www.Topics-Ent.com
It's not often you find $50 worth of excellent educational software for an 80% discount. Topics Entertainment has licensed two great software programs from HelpMe2Learn. Phonics Vowel Sounds and Phonics Consonant Game normally retail for $24.99 each, but are available as part of this 2CD set for only $9.99. Fun animation and interactive games help children learn the long and short vowel sounds, even tricky topics like “Y” as a vowel are covered. Children are encouraged to complete all the lessons by earning silver and gold stars in a quest to fill their Super Start Chart. One of the best phonics values around.
Format: Windows & Mac
Price: $9.99
Rating = 5 stars
(Reviewed by Leah Weinberg)

Reading Readiness Grades K-1
Published by School Zone Interactive
ISBN 0-88743-881-4
www.schoolzone.com
I find the On-Track School Zone software programs to be fun and captivating, this one included. Topics include: alphabetical order, letter recognition, rhyming words, and opposites. Fun games are offered as a reward for completing each lesson. The program is called an "electronic workbook," and the CD is packaged with a paper workbook, but the contents are almost identical to the program, useful if you want to work away from the com-puter, but not as additional reinforcement to the software. The biggest drawback is that the software has a limited useful life. Once you finish the game, you can start over again, but there is not much variation and children will quickly become bored after a few runs through. Although the program says K-1 (ages 4-6), it could easily be completed at one sitting by an advanced 4 year old, and definitely would be below a first grader level. Overall, a useful program to have on hand, but not the first I would buy on a limited budget.
Format: Windows & Mac
Price $19.99
Rating = 4 stars
Reviewed by Leah Weinberg

Phonics 1a: Vowel Sounds
Phonics 1b: Consonant Sounds
Phonics 2: Intermediate Level
Published by the Help Me 2 Learn Company in 2002.
www.helpme2learn.com
These programs are 3 out of the 4 programs in the Phonics Super Star
Reading System. They are a progressive set of award winning computer software programs based on phonemic awareness. They feature educational songs, sound and vocabulary building with picture association, interactive games and activities, spelling activities, a tracking and motivation system. These programs are highly enjoyable yet very lesson based and instructional. They are available with a user’s guide and lesson plans with blackline masters. They are appropriate as a supplement, for enrichment, for remediation instruction, for intervention, for special needs students, and for ESL. Student progress is evaluated by the Super Star data tracking and motivational system. Lab and network licenses available.
Format: Windows & Mac
Price: $24.95
Rating = 5 stars
(Reviewed by Dan Sheffield)

Note: The editors welcome reader comments and suggestions for the Reviews section. Books and materials reviewed in this section are in no way advocated or endorsed by all members of the Phonics Bulletin production team, the Phonics Special Interest Group as a whole, or the International Reading Association. Opinions expressed are solely those of the reviewers. Send reviews, comments, and suggestions to: Lynn.Gordon@csun.edu and Kendra9@mindspring.com

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