Introduction Letterland’s teaching methodology is based on the conviction that learning to read and spell is a process that works best when all aspects of a child’s intelligence are involved. Letterland teaching addresses each of the following key areas through which we learn: ● Verbal / linguistic ● Visual / spatial ● Musical / rhythmical ● Logical / analytical ● Bodily / kinaesthetic ● Interpersonal / intrapersonal Letterland presents children with an engaging parallel realm, which is teeming with analogies drawn from real life. The pictogram characters (the Letterlanders) bring vitality and colour to the plain black letters. An imaginative story logic transforms all the relevant phonic facts and rules into memorable similes, metaphors and fables. As their teacher, you activate every learning channel by linking letters and their sounds to all the things children already know or are drawn to naturally: intriguing illustrations, story-telling, music and song, rhythm and rhyme, art and craft, movement, play-acting and social interactions. The Early Years Handbook provided an introduction to the a-z Letterland characters and their sounds. The Primary Years Letterland Teacher’s Guide introduced word building with a-z, double consonants, ch, sh, th and 32 other essential digraphs and trigraphs. Its main emphasis was on how letters function within words. This Advanced Teacher’s Guide consolidates and extends this previous learning, introducing children to more phonemes, digraphs, suffixes, more complex spelling patterns and their exceptions. The teaching order is entirely flexible. You may even wish to select particular lessons to teach ahead of some lessons in the Primary Years Letterland Teacher’s Guide. The guide is ordered alphabetically so you can easily find the sound you wish to teach. Letterland teaching emphasizes the importance of learning the sounds of letters, blending skills, developing a sight vocabulary and of learning specific spelling patterns through the medium of stories. It helps to develop children’s questioning and concentration skills, listening and speaking, speculating, remembering, initiating and communicating ideas, and provides a stimulus for different genres of writing. Parachuted Apples, See page 30
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Introduction