Stephanie is an English teacher in New York and we met with her to discuss how she uses Phonic Books in her classroom. Stephanie works with children who need reading intervention with students in Kindergarten through to second grade.
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Stephanie has been using Phonic Books for over five years and Magic Belt was the first series she discovered. “I started with the Magic Belt series and my students loved it. They just loved it so, after that, whenever I got my budget for the year, I bought more [Phonic Books].”
“I used [Magic Belt] with my fifth and sixth graders mostly…and they just ate it up. I had decided we were going to spend the last day of term playing a game together but we had a few books left in the Magic Belt series and my students said, ‘No, we have to finish the series!’ So, instead of playing games, they read books to finish the series before summer vacation.”
Stephanie has between five to seven students in her class, all with the same skill deficits in phonics, so she buys multiple sets for her small group intervention.
“I love [Phonic Books] because they’re actually decodable. They follow a sequence that matches my instruction and so I’m not giving [students] books with skills that they haven’t been taught yet. I love that they’re so engaging, the students really love them. Especially when I taught older students, I never got complaints that I was giving them a baby book.”
Stephanie has also used some Phonic Books series with her younger students. “There’s not too much on a page, so it’s not overwhelming, especially for younger ones, and they get to experience being successful reading an actual book. I was reading with my first graders this year and one student said, ‘I can’t read a book, I just can’t read a book.’ I brought out Phonic Books and said, ‘Well, let’s just try.’ She was so proud when she finished it. That’s the reaction that I get a lot: give them something they’ve been taught how to decode, that they’re able to read, and they feel so successful. Their confidence just shoots straight up and then they want to read more.”
Stephanie’s district follows the Amplify CKLA curriculum and she uses Phonic Books to supplement this as she prefers variety in the stories she uses with her students. She has one and a half hours with the students each day, as part of a whole further skills block, and another half an hour of MTSS extra intervention class. “We have some other series that we use but Phonic Books are my favourite…Every time I get my budget, I see what new series I can buy.”