FAQs
Are the books compatible with Letters and Sounds?
Are the books compatible with book bands?
Do teachers need training to use the books?
Do parents need training to use the books?
Why do you not begin with the letters 's, a, t, p, i, n'?
Why do you not use sentences in the early books?
Why do you use the verbs 'see' and 'look' in the Jelly and Bean A Series?
How do we teach the letter 'y'?
Are the books suitable for nursery schools and Montessori schools?
Q. :Are the books compatible with Letters and Sounds?
A.We are continually updating our books to bring them into line with the phonic progression of Letters and Sounds from Phase 2 to Phase 5. However, we have not yet covered all the work described in Phase 5. Our books are highly structured so that pupils at the level of Phonic Phase 2 can read a whole book from the outset. This gives them a positive experience so that they have the confidence and the motivation to learn more new skills.
Q. Are the books compatible with book bands?
A. The authors of the book 'Book Bands for Guided Reading, 4th edition' specifically exclude 'books intended for shared and independent use, and all those series designed to provide practice with the decoding of certain phoneme-grapheme correspondences.'
This means that none of our books have been put into coloured bands by the people who introduced the bands initially. The best we can do to assist teachers, is to estimate a suitable band ourselves by taking into account the number of words and sentences per page. Our estimates are on the left hand column of the reading order sheet accessed from the Teaching Guides icon. Our books take into account the nature of the vocabulary used, making sure that it progresses from very simple to more complex words gradually.
Q. Do teachers need training to use the books?
A. No. We believe that professionally qualified teachers do not need further training to use any of our resources. Our philosophy is to provide books that are simple enough for children to follow.
Q. Do parents need training to use the books?
A. Parents need to know the sight/sound correspondences for all the letters of the alphabet, as well as the common spellings of the other sounds of the English language. It is very important that parents do not call the letters 'ay, bee, see, dee, ee, ef, gee, aich, I, jay, kay, el, em, en, oh, pea, queue, are, es, tee, you, vee, double-you, eks, why, zed' in the early stages when their children are learning the sounds of the letters. These are the names of the letters, not their sounds.
You can hear the sound of each letter of the alphabet, by itself and in simple words, by clicking on the red and green apple icon on the homepage. The vowel and consonant digraphs of the English language can also be heard by clicking on the same icon and choosing the vowel digraph option.
Q. Why do you not begin with the letters 's, a, t, p, i, n'?
A. The letters 's, a, t, p, i, n' may be arranged to form the greatest number of CVC words, 'sat, pat, sap, nap, tap, tan, pip, pin, tin, nit, tit, sit, pit, sip, sin, tip, nip' as well as the two-letter words 'is, in, it, an, at, as', but none of these words are nouns which can be illustrated as a living character. For the first book in the Follifoot First Words Series the letters 'c, a, t, s, r, h, e, n' are needed to write the words 'cats, hen, rat'. Hence, 'p' and 'i' are not used until later. For the first book in the A Series the letters 'c, a, t, h, m' are needed to write the words 'cat, a, hat, on, mat'.
Q. Why do you not use sentences and capital letters in the early books?
A. Every sentence needs a capital letter at the beginning of its first word. I think it is too much for young children to have to deal with these when they are just beginning to learn the sight and sound of the small letters of the alphabet. When they have only just been introduced to 'a' (and not in this font as they never write 'a' like this) as a symbol and a sound, they do not need the extra complication of a completely different symbol, 'A', to represent the same sound at the beginning of the first word in a sentence. Similarly, the lower and upper case letters 'd, D, e, E, r, R, b, B, g, G, h, H, i, I, n, N, q, Q, t, T' can also cause confusions.
Q. Why do you use the verbs 'see' and 'look' in the Jelly and Bean A Series?
A. The use of these two words early in the A Series is due to them being on the old list of 45 high-frequency words set out in the National Literacy Strategy in 1998 for children to learn in the Reception Year. They were used as verbs to hold CVC words together in simple sentences. Both words have two identical letters in the middle, 'ee' and 'oo'. It is possible to draw a pair of eyes in each of these letters. The verbs 'see' and 'look' then genuinely do represent their own meanings. In this way, the word pictures 'see' and 'look' become very good mnemonics, i.e. ways to remember, the phonemes |ee| and |oo|.
However, these two graphemes firmly belong to Phonic Phase 3 and are not generally taught in schools until after all the letters of the alphabet and the consonant digraphs 'th, sh, ch'. The word 'play' is also introduced in the A Series for a similar reason, although it is not introduced until Phonic Phase 5 in Letters and Sounds. The word 'play' is not used in the B series or B Extra Series. However, children 'play' every day at 'playtime'. In the author's opinion it is too late to leave its introduction until Phonic Phase 5 in Year 1.
Q. How do we teach the letter 'y'?
A. The letter 'y' has at least three different roles in the English language, two of these as vowels and one as a consonant. Young children meet these three different roles in the very common words 'mummy, my, yes' well before they attend school.
Jelly and Bean books deal with the role used in 'mummy' first. Here the sound at the end of the word is |i|. Now, 'i' is a shy little letter and does not like to be at the end of a word, so big tough 'y' helps him out and takes his place. This rule is known as the 'Shy i, Toughy y Rule' and it gives children a good way to remember that we use 'y' at the ends of words like 'happy, sorry' and 'mummy'. Children need to know this rule early so that they can write birthday cards to 'mummy' and 'daddy' and do not have to wait until Phonic Phase 5 in Year 1 for its introduction.
The second role of 'y' is in words like 'my, by, sky, fly'. It is first introduced as the phonically irregular word 'my' in book 10 of the A Series, and it is treated as a phonically irregular word in Phonic Phase 3 of Letters and Sounds. Later, in Phonic Phase 5, it is introduced as an alternative spelling for the phoneme |igh|. The author thinks 'y' is a more intuitive spelling than |igh|and it is easier for children to grasp early in their reading development
The third role of 'y', as a consonant at the beginning of words, e.g. 'you, yes, yap, yell, yellow' is first introduced in book 15 of the A Extra Series.
Q. Are the books suitable for nursery schools and Montessori schools?
A. Yes. The phonic approach used in the books gives children in the Foundation stage in nursery schools and Montessori schools an easy introduction to reading and writing so that they will be successful and well motivated learners.