Right-Brained Alphabet Parent Kit

Child1st has a mission teaching reading to the children who are picture thinkers and global thinkers. These children right-brain learners, autistic, aspergers, and dyslexics often fall through the cracks of traditional phonics instruction. They find it impossible to remember the phonograms and fail to see how they work together to make sense. The creative work of Sarah Major, M.Ed., Child1st materials are colorful, easy-to-use, clever, well-constructed, and (may I say) addictivenot to mentionoffer great flexibility. What sets this program apart is the combination of phonics instruction with a stronger-than-usual emphasis on learning sight words, adding both a story element as well as a solid kinesthetic element. Letters, phonograms, and sight words each have their own "story" complete with stylized letters or words that bring the story to mind. Hand and body motions cement the learning connection. In other words, all the needed elements combine to bring about meaningful reading success for picture-thinkers and right brain learners. They get it! And, they remember it!

There are a number of products from this publisher all with the above educational mission. These products can be used in all sorts of combinations and offer a great deal of flexibility. You can use the Grade Level Kits as complete reading and language arts programs or use just one portion for a particular purpose (for instance, the SnapWords sight word program or the Illustrated Book of Sounds & Their Spelling Patterns). You could start with Alphabet Tales (to get a taste for the program) for learning the letters and their sounds. Then continue with SnapWords sets and/or the Easy-for-Me Readers. Both of these have their own teaching instructions. But if you want that next level of completeness and cohesiveness, then use the Grade Level Kits that combine all of the above elements with a teaching manual for comprehensive instructive material plus LOTS of reproducible activity sheets. The Grade Level Kits actually provide introductory language arts so they fit into the "complete language arts" category. While the materials may seem a bit pricey, they are all high-quality and well-done and the instruction is easy to follow and research-based. ~ Janice

Easy-for-Me ?Childrens Readers are a parallel program to SnapWords ? and another sequel to Alphabet Tales. These provide the phonics aspects of this approach to reading. Each book includes a two-page set of teacher instructions straight-forward, easy to follow and to do. These instructions include "before you read," "sounds/phonics," "sight words," and "follow-up activities," etc. They are designed to help you keep track of what has been learned so far. Comprehension questions are included with Set C. The set of instructions in each little book builds on the previous book and then builds set by set. These may seem a little pricey but there are 22-24 books in each set; each with pleasant, colorful artwork and solid stories. ~ Janice

Combine stories, images, and actions to get a unique way to help your visual, kinesthetic, and auditory learners remember letters and sounds! Alphabet Tales reads like a storybook. Children learn letters/sounds and the shapes of upper/lower case letters as they enjoy the stories. Visual and auditory learners will connect the stories to the letters. Illustrations are soft and colorful. Brief lesson plans using all 3 of the components listed below are found in the front of the book. Alphabet Teaching Cards have color images on one side that show the letter with physical features and an accompanying phrase emphasizing that letter. The back of each holds a writing tip ("Make a thin man, put your pencil on the belly button and make a short slide going up and away from you...") and a follow up activity (kick a ball and make a K with your body). Writing the Visual, Kinesthetic & Auditory Alphabet is a multi-sensory resource designed to help teach children their letters - hand motions for each letter (for both right and left-handed children) letter formation, extension activities, and tips for preventing letter reversals. If you have a right-brained learner, these books give some good ideas that can carry over to other subject areas. ~ Sara