An Introduction to using the books.
The link at the bottom provides a link to a set of simple phonectic reading books for young children.
This set of small books is designed for use by children who have already been introduced to the basic phonetic sounds, have had practice making short phonetic words, and have had experience matching phonetic word cards to pictures.
The basic phonetic sounds are the sounds that letters represent at least 80% of the time. Initially, each letter is associated with a single sound in order to lessen confusion for the beginning reader.
The basic phonetic sounds are the short sounds represented by vowels that are usually found in simple 3 letter words, and the consonant sounds g as in the word get, c as in the word cat, r as in the word rat, and y as in the word yes. The other consonants make their expected sound. Rules for the representation of other sounds are taught later.
The phonetic set of books is designed to provide a child practice in figuring out words by sounding them out. This is not easy, and it takes a lot of practice and time for a child to master the process. If a child is ready for these books, they need to freedom to practice going through the books at their own pace without worrying about the judgement of adults. They will make mistakes. But, they will get better with practice if they view reading as an interesting challenge and are not worried about making mistakes. Therefore, the focus is on sounding out words, not on clicking words to hear them pronounced.
So, the adult's responsibility is to show the child how to use the books and then leave them alone to practice. If a child asks about a word, the adult should simply answer by pronouncing the word rather than trying to help the child work through sounding it out.
If a child doesn't want to use the books, the adult's response should accept the child's response and suggest that the child may want to read the books the next day. It is important that reading be a positive experience. Ideally, it should be something the child feels he or she can choose to do.
The books are organized into 7 sets of books plus one additional set of extra books.
The books get harder as a child goes through the sets. In each set of books, there are six books placed on a shelf. The child is welcome to select any book on a shelf to read by clicking on the book. The child does not need to read the books in any particular order. Children become more engaged if they feel a sense of being able to make a choice. So, they can choose which book they want to read, and whether or not to read another book. The books are kept short so the children will not feel overwhelmed and may decide to read another book. It is a good idea to show a child the first set of books and not mention the "Set" button at the bottom of the screen until after a child has enjoyed the first 6 books in the first set. Then, when a child is ready for more, the adult can click on the set button and open the second set of books for the child.
Using the set of phonetic books in a web browser.
These sets of books were originally designed to be used on an iPad within Apple Books. The file containing the books can be downloaded from the website and opened in Books on a Mac computer, iPhone, or iPad. However, they can also be used within a web browser such as Google Chrome, Firefox, or Safari. If used with a web browser, they will work best if the web browser is adjusted so the book pages fit the screen. Then, if using either Chrome or Firefox, the pages can be turned by using the keyboard arrow keys. In Safari, the user will have to scroll up and down through the pages. So, we recommend using Chrome or Firefox.