The Smell That Wasn't Funny

December 1, 2024

Gr 1-3-The books in this set initially appear to focus on just one or two phonemes at a time, with some logic to how the phonemes were paired. But the problems present in some of the earlier sets in this series arise, including ill-conceived plotlines (including one about DVDs, which children are unlikely to be familiar with) and mismatched text and focus skills. For example, the title The Tale Jail should logically focus on the long /ai/ /a-e/ sound, but the front matter claims it focuses on /ea/. While the text does include words with the /ea/ phoneme, the title is misleading. The story line is one of the more engaging ones, about the "baddies" from well-known fairy tales being stuck in jail together. If the content and text were aligned with the phonics target, this could have been a winner. VERDICT Unfortunately, the titles at this level aren't cutting the mustard.

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