My First Phonics Activity Book

Age 3+

Shapes

Sounds

Learn alphabet shapes and sounds

Shapes and Sounds

TE99_Text.indd 1

24/10/2013 14:25

About Letterland Letterland is an imaginary place where letters come to life! The friendly Letterland characters help children to easily understand the sound and shape of letters – one of the key skills needed when learning to read and write.

Simple stories about the Letterland characters explain letter sounds and shapes, so that confusion over similar looking letters is avoided and children are motivated to listen, think and learn.

One of Letterland’s keys to success is its ‘Sound Trick’. By just starting to pronounce a character’s name, such as ‘a…’ (Annie Apple), ‘b...’ (Bouncy Ben), ‘c...’ (Clever Cat), a child automatically says the correct letter sound. It’s that simple! The combination of memorable characters and proven educational principles makes Letterland the ideal way to introduce your child to the alphabet.

Annie Apple

Bouncy Ben

Kicking King

Lucy Lamp Light

Uppy Umbrella

TE99_Text.indd 2

Vicky Violet

Clever Cat

Munching Mike

Walter Walrus

Dippy Duck

Noisy Nick

Fix-it Max

Eddy Elephant

Oscar Orange

Yellow Yo-yo Man

Firefighter Fred

Peter Puppy

Golden Girl

Quarrelsome Queen

Harry Hat Man

Red Robot

Impy Ink

Sammy Snake

Jumping Jim

Talking Tess

For more information, including a pronunciation guide for all the letter sounds, see: www.letterland.com Zig Zag Zebra

24/10/2013 14:25

S

hape

Introducing letter shapes My First Phonics Activity Book is divided into 2 sections – Shape and Sound.

The first section of this book (pages 4-35) focuses on ‘shape’ and is a gentle introduction to reading and writing. When your child starts to take an interest in making marks that is the right time to introduce this book.

Children move from practising basic pencil control through to forming complete letter shapes. Activities include tracing over lines with fingers, tracing curved, straight and zigzag lines to complete the simple letter-themed scenes on a trip to the funfair!

There are also activities to encourage your child to look carefully at picture details and spot small differences, important skills your child will need to master the 56 letter shapes on the way to learning to read.

Useful tips Throughout this book there are useful notes at the bottom of the page to help you draw attention to both shapes and sounds and to get the most out of every activity.

Use the illustrations below to make sure that the correct pencil grip becomes a habit from the start. A poor grip very quickly becomes a hard habit to change.

Children learn a lot about muscle control directly through their hands, wrists and fingers, so let your child finger-trace the various activities first. Another time, provide 2 or 3 coloured pencils, and stay on hand to give encouragement as your child goes over the paths and lines with each colour. Little and often works best, so just do a few pages at a time.

Above all, have fun! Remember to give lots of praise and encouragement to your child as you do the activities together.

TE99_Text.indd 3

Left-hander

Right-hander

Finger tips 4cm from tip of pencil

Finger tips 2cm from tip of pencil

24/10/2013 14:25

S

Let’s go to the fair!

hape

4

TE99_Text.indd 4

Fing e trac r ing

Finger-trace along the path to help the Letterlanders get to the fair.

Encourage your child to trace the route with his or her finger to get used to going from left to right and top to bottom. Talk about the scene. There’s Harry Hat Man hurrying to the fair. Find Clever Cat in her car and Annie Apple in her apple tree.

24/10/2013 14:25

SS

Fairground food

hhaappee

Reading Direction

Firs sou t nds

Trace along the paths in the Reading Direction.

TE99_Text.indd 5

The Letterlanders love to eat things that start with their sounds. Emphasise the sounds as your child traces each path from left to right, e.g. Clever Cat loves candyfloss. Dippy Duck loves delicious doughnuts. What might Munching Mike like?

5

24/10/2013 14:25

S

At the fair

hape

20

TE99_Text.indd 20

Pen c con il trol

Colour the picture.

Colouring helps to practise pencil control. Which Letterlanders can your child spot? Fingertrace their letters and say their sounds.

24/10/2013 14:25

S

hape

21

TE99_Text.indd 21

24/10/2013 14:25

S

Race in space

hape

22

TE99_Text.indd 22

Pen c con il trol

Have a pencil race in space.

Help Sammy Snake reach the six blue stars.

Encourage your child to use their fingers on the maze first, then use a pencil to develop pencil control. Is there more than one way through the maze?

24/10/2013 14:25

S

hape

23

TE99_Text.indd 23

24/10/2013 14:25

S

Trace the town

hape

24

TE99_Text.indd 24

Pen c con il trol

Trace your way around the town.

Find two or more different ways for Oscar Orange to get to the docks.

Encourage your child to use their fingers on the maze first, then use a pencil to develop pencil control.

24/10/2013 14:25

S

hape

25

TE99_Text.indd 25

24/10/2013 14:25

SS

Odd one out

appee hha

TE99_Text.indd 26

You

26

r tu rn

Circle the odd one out in each line. What is missing?

Have some fun and ask your child to draw three similar pictures, two the same and one slightly different so you can try spotting the odd one out!

24/10/2013 14:25

S

Reading Direction

hape

Left to righ t

Trace the lines in the Reading Direction.

TE99_Text.indd 29

Look out for the red Reading Direction arrows in this book! They show our eyes and hands the way they need to move when we read and write. Ask your child to point out the Reading Direction when you read other books together.

29

24/10/2013 14:25

All our letters start the same way.

SS

The letter family

appee hha

Reading Direction

down down

30

TE99_Text.indd 30

Wri tin lett g ers

down

Before writing the letter, encourage your child to finger-trace over each one, starting at the top of the arrow.

Remind your child to lift the pencil off before crossing the t (in the Reading Direction) and to go back and dot the i and j.

24/10/2013 14:25

S

The

letter family All our letters start the same way.

hape

Reading Direction

around

around

Wri tin lett g ers

around

TE99_Text.indd 31

Finger-tracing in the correct sequence helps to develop good handwriting habits right from the beginning.

Remind your child to lift the pencil off the paper before crossing the f with a stroke in the Reading Direction.

31

24/10/2013 14:25

34

TE99_Text.indd 34

Wri tin lett g ers

a g m s y

b h n t z

c i o u

d j p v

e k q w

SS

Let’s write all the letter shapes

appee hha

f l r x

Encourage your child to finger-trace the letter shapes first, then use a pencil.

Remember to give lots of praise!

24/10/2013 14:25

S

hape

Reading Direction

Wri tin lett g ers

ABCD E F GH I J K L MNOPQR S T U VW X Y Z TE99_Text.indd 35

Encourage your child to finger-trace the letter shapes first, then use a pencil.

Remember to give lots of praise!

35

24/10/2013 14:25

un

S

d

Introducing letter sounds

d

S

ouon

My First Phonics Activity Book is divided into 2 sections – Shape and Sound.

The second section of this book (pages 37-95) focuses on ‘sound’ and is a gentle introduction to reading and writing.

This book will also help your child to start linking letter shapes to letter sounds - an important first skill when learning to read and spell. The trick below makes this often difficult sound/shape link easy. a...

The Letterland Sound Trick How to discover each letter sound: The first sound you make when you START to say any Letterlander’s name is exactly the sound that letter makes in most words!

Useful tips Include learning the Action Trick for each letter on pages 37 - 60 along with the letter’s sound. While the actions are fun, linking a body movement with each letter’s sound also strengthens children’s memory for the sounds they need to learn. You could also both say each letter’s sound to consolidate the shape/sound connection while your child finger traces its shape, or colours it in.

As you read each letter’s coloured sentence, and point to the words, try exaggerating the featured letter’s sound (where possible). Say the sentence again together a few times, simply as a listening activity. Your aim right now is not to teach your child to read the words, but rather to develop their listening skills by helping them to identify those frequently repeated sounds at the start of the words.

Later pages, beyond page 60, feature the important listening skill of identifying and playing with rhyming words.

TE99_Text.indd 36

24/10/2013 14:26

SS

dd

oun

Annie Apple is in an apple tree.

Tick the boxes as you find each thing in the big picture.

apple

arrow

Annie Apple’s Action Trick: bite into an imaginary apple.

TE99_Text.indd 37

ant 37

24/10/2013 14:26

SS

dd

oun

Bouncy Ben can see a big, blue butterfly.

Tick the boxes as you find each thing in the big picture.

38

TE99_Text.indd 38

butterfly

bird

ball

Bouncy Ben’s Action Trick: shoot your arms up for ears and wiggle them.

24/10/2013 14:26

SS

dd

Blue balloons

oun

Colour blue all the things that begin with Bouncy Ben’s ‘b...’ sound.

Sou nd &s hap e

Finish colouring the picture.

TE99_Text.indd 61

Emphasise Ben’s ‘b…’ sound as your child spots balloons, ball, bird and butterfly in the picture. Make a game of spotting Ben’s lowercase letter shape on products and signs when you are out together.

61

24/10/2013 14:26

S

Reading Direction

d

Peter’s picnic

oun

Join Peter Puppy to the food that begins with his ‘p’ sound.

strawberries

pizza pineapple

pear carrot

62

TE99_Text.indd 62

Lett e sha r pes

banana

pie

apple

If your child confuses the p letter shape with b or d, tell him or her to notice how all three Letterlanders face in the Reading Direction. The one big difference is Peter Puppy’s ears. They always droop down.

24/10/2013 14:26

S

d

Same sounds

oun

Circle the object that starts with the Letterlander’s sound. t...

Talking Tess lll...

Lucy Lamp Light o...

Oscar Orange e...

Lett e sou r nds

Eddy Elephant

TE99_Text.indd 63

Together make the sound at the start of the Letterlander’s name, e.g. ‘t…’, not ‘tuh’ or ‘tee’. Then say the name of each object, emphasising the first letter. For example, t…t…t, apple? No, that can’t be right, t…t…tree? Yes! Circle it.

63

24/10/2013 14:26

S

oun

d

I-spy

Tick the boxes as you find each thing in the big picture.

football

cup

hat

64

TE99_Text.indd 64

Log

ic

frog Talk about the picture. The Letterlanders always love things that start with their sounds. Emphasize the first sound of each object in the side panels. Which Letterlander makes that sound? Look for each Letterlander and his or her object in the picture.

24/10/2013 14:26

S

d

Letter sounds

oun

Trace over the first letter in each big word.

Annie Apple says ‘a…’ in the word

ant

Bouncy Ben says ‘b…’ in the word

bus

Clever Cat whispers ‘c…’ in the word

cat

66

Lett e sou r nds

Dippy Duck says ‘d…’ in the word

TE99_Text.indd 66

dog

After you have read the sentence to your child, ask him or her to point to the letter in the word on the right that is making that Letterlander’s sound (e.g. ‘a…’ as in ‘ant’). The Letterlanders still make their sounds in these plain letters.

24/10/2013 14:27

S

d

oun

Reading Direction

Eddy Elephant says ‘e…’ in the word

egg

Firefighter Fred whispers ‘fff…’ in the word

frog

Golden Girl says ‘g…’ in the word

Act it out !

Harry Hat Man whispers ‘hhh…’ in the word

TE99_Text.indd 67

green hat

Have some fun pretending to be a firefighter as you make Firefighter Fred’s ‘fff…’ sound together. Encourage your child to say, ‘fff… fff… fff…’.

67

24/10/2013 14:27

Yellow Yo-yo Man says ‘y…’ in the word

Zig Zag Zebra says ‘zzz…’ in the word

S

d

Letter sounds

oun

yak zip

Write your name on the dotted line.

is now ready to read!

72

TE99_Text.indd 72

We ll don e!

Well done!

When your child has finished this section, try going back over some of the activities he or she enjoyed most. You could also look at all the Letterlanders page 2 and say their sounds together.

24/10/2013 14:27

S

d

Build a word

oun

Finger-trace each big letter as you say its sound. c...

Clever Cat

a...

Annie Apple

t...

Talking Tess

Touch the red dot under each letter as you say each sound.

c

a

t

Blend the first two sounds together. Then add the third sound.

ca t Now say all three sounds together.

Blen d

cat TE99_Text.indd 73

Remember to only whisper Clever Cat and Talking Tess’s sounds. To blend ‘cat’ say the first two sounds together: ‘ca...’ . Say again and add t without a gap: ‘cat’.

73

24/10/2013 14:27

S

d

Rhyming words

oun

Write the first letter. Say its sound. Blend the sounds to read each word.

hat

mat

Say the rhyming words in the sentence below. Colour the picture.

74

TE99_Text.indd 74

Rhy

me

Look at that fat cat in a hat on a mat !

Explain that words that sound the same at the end are words that rhyme. Hold your child’s hand and help him or her to point to each of the red rhyming words.

24/10/2013 14:27

S

d

Find the rhyming word

oun

Si sen lly ten ces

Look at the pictures below. Find the rhyming word and draw a circle around it.

TE99_Text.indd 83

map

tap

bee

hen

pen

bed

top

jelly

mop

Make up silly sentences using the rhyming words on each line. E.g. “There’s a tap on that map”. Make up as many as you can - the sillier the better!

83

24/10/2013 14:27

S

d

Finish the rhyming pictures

oun

Complete the pictures that rhyme.

Cross out the ones that don’t.

clock

fox

84

TE99_Text.indd 84

Rhy

me

car

sock

box

cat

Follow up this activity by asking your child to think of a rhyming word for the words that they have crossed out.

24/10/2013 14:27

S

d

Match the rhyming words

oun

Draw lines between the words that rhyme.

peg

fox

box

spoon

List en

moon TE99_Text.indd 85

Explain to your child that a ryhyme doesn’t always look the same at the end, but it does always sound the same.

egg 85

24/10/2013 14:27

S

d

oun

Match the rhyming words as before. Now, point to the Letterlander (above) that starts each word.

cake

TE99_Text.indd 86

cup

snake

bat

pup

Rhy me

86

hat

See if you child can think of a word the rhymes with each of the Letterlanders at the top of this page. E.g. Ben - pen; Cat - rat...

24/10/2013 14:27

S

oun

d

S

Well done!

hape

Now you know your letter shapes and sounds!

Pra

ise

Can you write your name here?

TE99_Text.indd 95

When your child has finished this book, give him or her lots of praise. Look out for more books in the Letterland Activity Book series while your child is learning to read and write.

95

24/10/2013 14:27

Child-friendly phonics The Letterland system teaches all 44 sounds in the English language through stories rather than rules. There are resources to take children from the very ďŹ rst stages of learning to full literacy.

ABC Trilogy

Getting Started

Handwriting Practice

Sticker & Activity Books

Picture Books

Games & Puzzles

See our full range at: www.letterland.com For product advice and support: info@letterland.com

TE99_Text.indd 96

24/10/2013 14:27