1. Decide which series to start with using our diagnostic assessment
2. Explicitly teach the new letters and sounds to your pupil
3. Use the relevant decodable book to practise and to consolidate the phonics skill taught
4. Develop your pupil’s reading fluency and confidence using the activities from the fully reproducible activity books which are linked to the story in the accompanying readers

• Dandelion Launchers is fiction series which introduces words at a CVC-level, consonant digraphs, tch, le, ve and suffixes -ed and -ing. The books have one to two lines of text per page and all the books have cumulative progression so that the phonics skills taught in the first book are practised in the second and so forth. 
• Dandelion World follows the same scope and sequence as the Dandelion Launchers series. This non-fiction series covers special interest topics so it helps pupils to develop their world knowledge while simultaneously building literacy. Each book has a knowledge builder which introduces more information and vocabulary on the subject. 
• Dandelion Readers offers multiple sets which cover the initial phonics code including the sounds of the alphabet, adjacent consonants, consonant digraphs and simple two-syllable words for beginner readers. The Dandelion Readers Vowel Spellings series covers different spellings for vowel sounds and more text is included on each page to build reading stamina.
• There are accompanying workbooks for each reader set which link to the stories in the reader. The workbooks are fully reproducible, and they have activities to build reading fluency, spelling and writing.

Top tips to ensure success

1. Make sure that the pupil has been taught the target phonemes and spellings in the book before starting to read the decodable book. Some activities in the accompanying activity book will help with this.
2. Encourage the pupil to read new words by blending sounds together rather than by guessing.
3. If the pupil does not know a spelling (grapheme), you can fill in the missing knowledge by telling them what it is. Then, ask them to blend all the sounds into the word.
4. High-frequency words can be treated like any other new word. Help the reader with the part they do not know. Ask them to blend the sounds into the word.
5. With beginner readers, re-read the sentence after the pupil has read it to help comprehension.
6. Discuss new vocabulary, characters, plot and illustrations to develop language and engagement.
7. Read in short bursts with beginner or struggling readers as decoding can be very tiring initially. Take turns to read pages or paragraphs.
8. Build up the amount of time you read for, slowly increasing it as the pupil's reading progresses.
9. Repeated reading will help with fluency so ask the pupil to read the same text to different people or to read it a second time with expression and intonation etc.
10. Be patient! Give the pupil plenty of time to work out new words. Reading is hard work and demands concentration and application.
11. Make sessions as multi-sensory as possible. Children take on board new learning much more easily when they are having fun and using many senses. Use activities which involve them looking, hearing, moving and speaking about things. 
12.  Use lots of praise and encouragement.