Structured literacy 

Phonic Books unlocks the joy of reading for all children and we believe that the best way to achieve this is through systematic and structured instruction. Phonic Books products develop the five pillars of learning to read: phonemic awareness, phonics, vocabulary, fluency and comprehension. 

Introduce the phonics skill

Phonic Books follow a systematic phonics approach, introducing a few sounds and letters at a time so that the reader can experience success from the very beginning. The books complement any phonics programme already being used in the classroom and be used to support your phonics practice. 

Practice using decodable texts

Once pupils have been taught letter/sound correspondences, they can practise and consolidate the phonics skill using controlled decodable texts. This means that pupils can sound out and blend the words they can’t read yet using the phonics they have been taught. Reading helps children learn new vocabulary and, as they learn to decode more words, the books introduce new vocabulary to develop their language skills and world knowledge.

All the books have cumulative progression so that previous phonics skills continue to be practised as the reader progresses, ensuring further consolidation.

Extra Reading Practice

Learning a new skill takes a lot of practice, so our Dandelion series for beginner readers aged 4–7 include games to reinforce words learned in that particular book. All the books in the catch-up series for older readers aged 8–14+ offer a “reading practice” page to ensure success with reading the text in that book.

Photocopiable activity books

Each series has an accompanying activity book which is linked to the story in the readers and offers extra practice of the phonics skill taught. All the activity books can be used independently but it is recommended to use them alongside the readers to enhance and consolidate learnings. The activity books offer exercises to build reading fluency, spelling, writing and comprehension skills.