Zoo-phonics

Have you heard of Zoo-phonics?

An online friend has introduced me to this program that is very close to the Talking Letters program (that is no longer available) I used to teach our own children to read, except the Zoo-phonics program is much better.

There are so many good points to this program . . .

• It uses a visual, sound, and kenistetic (movement) approach.
• Makes the abstract alphabet concrete and understandable to children.
• It is appropriate for all ages, toddlers through school-agers.
• Teaches the lower case before introducing the capital letters.
• Treats the alphabet as a whole and from a-z.

This all sounded wonderful, but looking through the website I cannot afford the price of the program at this time.  But, I got lucky and another online friend made these flash cards to share:  Zoo-Phonics flash cards (Thanks Lisa & Denise!)

I printed them out and laminated them and use them with the children.  For now, they work great!  (Eventually, I will invest in the Zoo-phonics animal-letter cards).

I found this video with the actions for each letter, and play it for the children daily as I learn along with them:

Everyone is enjoying the new program.  It's still new and we don't know all the motions yet.  I'm hoping it will encourage the children to speak more, too.

Zoo-Phonics Language Arts Resource Manual: Using the Wild to Teach the Child