Phonics Made Easy

Build essential phonics skills while having fun! Lively phonics workbook is packed with colorful activities and engaging art. Perfect for home, school, summer breaks, and travel! Skills covered include beginning consonant sounds, short vowel sounds, sight word recognition, and more. Pre K and up. Full color throughout. Thick, quality paper. Pages are perforated and reproducible. Sturdy paperback binding. Workbook measures 8-1/2'' wide x 11'' high. 64 pages. Author Ruth Wolff, M.Ed., Ph.D., is a learning specialist with extensive experience teaching reading to beginning learners. She holds a master's degree in special education and a doctorate in English and American Literature. A former teacher and a former graduate school of education adjunct professor, Ruth has guided numerous young readers and writers in their journey to acquire literacy skills. Reviews: ''Phonics Made Easy is designed for children in pre-K through first grade who would benefit from getting extra practice and familiarity with phonics, the backbone of reading and writing. A parent or child care provider could work with this friendly, engaging program on the sound -symbol relationship of words. The children will get practice in identifying and writing all the letters of the alphabet in addition to reading and writing simple, phonetic words. The sequence of the program is logical and progresses from learning the sound-symbol correspondence of the letters in the alphabet, to blending the letters together to make meaningful words. The activities vary, thereby encouraging children to listen carefully to directions, an important skill in learning. Activities vary from coloring, drawing, finding the way through a maze, and connecting dots to make a picture. Children are shown the correct way to form letters, giving them practice in writing letters legibly so that they can have pride in their work. Completing the activities in Phonics Made Easy will help give young readers confidence in their ability to succeed in school.'' --Nancy Schantz, M.Ed., Reading, Teachers College, Columbia University ''As a former kindergarten teacher, I am pleased to say that Phonics Made Easy more than fulfills its mission of exploring letters and sounds with young children in an enjoyable way. Upon first viewing I was struck by how attractive are the illustrations and layout. My first thought was that any adult could easily guide the child through the book. It quickly became clear why. There is a logical progression to the activities and each one is of high-interest. The strong organization lends clarity of purpose to each page. I would highly recommend using this book with young children, as they begin their journey of becoming independent and confident readers!'' --Paula Myers, retired kindergarten and second grade teacher, Ossining, New York ''Phonics Made Easy by Ruth Wolff is a welcome addition to materials already on the market to help young children get ready to read and write. It builds on the well-established (but often disregarded) premise that children first need to realize that spoken words consist of individual speech sounds and then they can appreciate the need for specific letters to represent those sounds. Dr. Wolff seamlessly integrates basic phonemic awareness skills into each page to reinforce and strengthen earlier language analysis development. It is unusual to see this addressed so intentionally in a beginning phonics activity book. For example, she often uses alliteration in her directions, as in 'Make the moon mad,' 'Tap on the turkey,' and 'Jump in! Color this jazzy jeep.' Directions for the participating adult are written clearly and explicitly, making it easy to follow the intent of each activity. As well, the creative nature of every activity ensures that children will be attending enthusiastically (and artistically!) through this journey of written words and spoken sounds. As seen in the impressively sequenced introduction of skills, individual letters are taught before common letter combinations are explained. In addition to her flawless planning, what impresses me the most is Dr. Wolff's impeccably careful selection of illustrations, corresponding vocabulary, and prerequisite phonemic awareness skills that are woven into every activity on each and every page of this book. This is a book that will make a difference in the foundation of language skills young children bring with them to school, and the ease with which they will navigate the thousands of written words waiting to be read, comprehended, and used in their writing.'' --Hyla Rubin, Ph.D., Educational Psychologist, Learning Disability Specialist, and Speech-Language Pathologist