Michelle is the literacy lead and reading specialist for a school in Ontario, as well as being Orton-Gillingham trained. In her role as reading specialist, she works directly with pupils who have been diagnosed with reading disabilities such as dyslexia and other language disorders. As a literacy lead, Michelle mentors the general education teachers and oversees the implementation of UFLI Foundations which they have been using since 2024. 

In 2023, Ontario changed their language curriculum based on the Human Rights decision that all children have the right to learn how to read. A lot of teachers were surprised by this new way of teaching, and felt that teacher college did not adequately prepare them for the complicated process of teaching children how to read. Michelle’s job involves giving teachers the background knowledge and skills to support their pupils and implement a phonics-based programme in the classroom. 

 

Phonic Books has brought a lot of enrichment to our base phonics programme. It really builds confidence and excitement for reading in our pupils...

Michelle first discovered Phonic Books when she was the director of a Montessori programme. She ordered a set of Phonic Books to trial, and her pupils “loved the colour and pictures, and they loved that they were able to finish a book in a short amount of time which felt like a huge accomplishment. It was an easier way for them to build that confidence in their reading that they were able to read a book in one sitting.”

Michelle also liked the scope and sequence of the books, especially when she was teaching the vowel teams and long vowel sounds. The way they taught children in Montessori was that they gave them a key grapheme, so the key grapheme for the /ae/ sound was ‘ai’. Once the pupils learned that, they showed them all the other graphemes for /ae/ as well. The Phonic Books scope and sequence matched this, so Michelle was able to give her pupils books that would practice all the graphemes. 

Michelle’s school has just received funding to put Phonic Books in each classroom from Senior Kindergarten to Grade 3. “We use the Dandelion Launchers and Dandelion Readers for the younger pupils. The teachers really love them and the children love the stories, they’re really great books.”

Michelle discovered the catch-up range for older readers when her son was diagnosed with dyslexia. When she started in her current role, she fundraised to get a full set of the Phonic Books catch-up range in the school and now they have every series! “Our pupils love the stories, I have one pupil who isn’t quite ready for the last book in the Alba series and she asks every lesson if we can read the last book yet.

“The Talisman series is really popular with the boys, and girls love the Alba and Magic Belt series. The young pupils like That Dog! and the Moon Dogs series… They’re all really good!”

Michelle’s school uses UFLI as a basis for their intervention and she finds it a clear and easy way to implement a structured literacy approach, especially for teachers who are new to phonics. The same scope and sequence is followed in both mainstream classrooms and with intervention classes which is really important.

Michelle uses the catch-up readers for small group instruction. She will teach the explicit lesson in the skillset the pupil is lacking and then use the catch-up range to follow-up after the lesson. This means the pupils get to read a whole book rather than just a decodable passage. 

“The books are just more interesting to them as older pupils– we’re talking about Grade 3, 4, and 5 pupils who are reading at a Grade 1, maybe beginning of Grade 2, level. So to be able to give them books that are actually interesting to them, it really builds their confidence and their love of reading. They are interested and they want to go to the next book, so it’s an incentive to keep reading for them as well.

“I want my pupils to reach uncontrolled text as soon as possible but when they’re still learning, they need controlled texts. And they’re not boring, they’re not baby-ish, the catch-up range is an amazing resource.”

Michelle finds it really helpful to have a choice among the series as well. There are multiple sets which cover the same scope and sequence but with different storylines and characters. For a pupil that needs extra practice, she works through a different series so they aren’t reading the same books again or scrambling for other resources. Sometimes, Michelle and her pupil will go back and forth between series at the same time, if she feels they need more practice on a specific phonics skill. “I love that they’re interesting for older readers.” 

“I love the activity books. Especially the comprehension work, I’m trying to build reading fluency in older pupils so it’s really important to use those exercises from the activity books.” 

Phonic Books has brought a lot of enrichment to our base phonics programme. It really builds confidence and excitement for reading in our pupils, and for our intervention pupils it has helped to rebuild that confidence in themselves as readers so it has had a huge impact.