Pea of Sweetness

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Can Do Cubes Review

August 26, 2016 by Emilee Evans

A couple days ago I shared my Jolly Grammar and Jolly Phonics Review. We have had also had the opportunity to review another great product from jollyliteracy.com – Can Do Cubes. This great resource from just2ducks LLC is a great companion to Jolly Phonics, and we’ve been using them well together!
Can Do Cubes Review
The Can Do Cubes are a great hands-on supplement for phonics. They work particularly well with Jolly Phonics because the letter sounds are presented in the same order. They would definitely work as a resource for any synthetic phonics program, though. They were created based on many factors including various research on reading instruction, activities which are commonly used in successful programs, and teaching experience.

What is Synthetic Phonics?

To be honest, this is the first time I’ve heard the term “synthetic phonics,” so I, for one, was curious what it means. I know now Jolly Phonics is one, but when it mentioned it can be used with any synthetic phonics program I wanted to know what that meant.
On jollyliteracy.com Synthetic Phonics teaching is defined as “a simple to complex program where learners are taught the alphabetic code.” So they first learn the basic alphabetic code (one spelling for the basic sounds) and progress to the more complex alphabetic code (multiple spelling variations for these sounds).

Can Do Cube Review

The Can Do Cubes Starter Set Includes:

  • 1 Tray of Stage 1 Cubes
  • 1 Tray of Stage 2 Cubes
  • Handbook for Stage 1
  • Handbook for Stage 2
  • DVD
  • Phonics Chart
  • Word Chart

Amazing, right? Honestly, I would have been thrilled just to have the hands-on cubes, but I was impressed with all it includes. I love all the additional, helpful resources. As we progress I plan on adding the charts to our wall.
Because Chaz started Jolly Phonics at the beginning we have been using the Stage 1 cubes. The Stage 1 cubes are further broken down into groups called Cubes. So we started with Cube 1 which included the first 6 letter sounds “s, a, t, i, p, n.”
Can Do Cubes Reviews words
Chaz has been doing well and having fun building words. What I find so fascinating is he was already familiar with many of the letter sounds, and he could sometimes read the short words but struggled putting them together himself. Since using this hands-on approach with the Can Do Cubes, he’s been putting together many different words! Plus he’s having fun doing it!
With the Can Do Cubes they will naturally progress to building longer words and working with more letter sounds at a time. The Stage 2 Cubes even include capital letters and basic punctuation.
Overall, Can Do Cubes has been a great resource for our son! In fact, our oldest son is a delayed reader due to his special needs, and I’m going to start using them for his phonics as well!

Connect with jollyliteracy.com (just2ducks LLC)

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Different members of the Schoolhouse Review Crew shared their Can Do Cubes review. Check them out by clicking on the banner below!
Can Do Cubes
 
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Jolly Phonics and Jolly Grammar Review

August 24, 2016 by Emilee Evans

Our once resistant six year old has been loving Jolly Phonics from jollyliteracy.com. He has been learning his letter sounds in a whole new way and has been making amazing progress! Plus he’s had a great time singing songs in Jolly Songs to help reinforce his learning! just2ducks LLC also sent us Jolly Grammar from their jollyliteracy.com division for our Jolly Grammar and Jolly Phonics review.
Jolly Grammar and Jolly Phonics Review

Jolly Phonics Review

Chaz has been using Jolly Phonics regularly (3-4 days per week). I started him at the very beginning because he has writing challenges due to his special needs. Although he does know many letter sounds, I thought it would be best to follow the progression as it is presented in Jolly Phonics.
The Jolly Phonics program includes three Jolly Phonics Student Books – Jolly Phonics Student Book 1, 2 and 3. It also includes the Jolly Phonics Teacher’s Book in print letters which covers all three of the Student Books.
The Teacher’s Book offers daily guidance for teaching the Jolly Phonics program. It includes a detailed introduction as well as detailed information for the concepts the child will be learning including:

  • The Letter Sounds of the English Language
  • Learning the Letter Sounds
  • Learning Letter Formation
  • Reading (Blending)
  • Identifying the Sounds in Words
  • Tricky Words

I was impressed with all the details it includes. Once it breaks down into the Daily Guidance for Teaching, it explains the best way to go about teaching the lessons. We have been using Book 1, so each lesson includes a story to read to introduce the letter sounds. Each letter sound is taught using an action to help them remember the letter sound, so the story helps to introduce this action as well.
Jolly Phonics and Jolly Grammar Review

Jolly Phonics Review – Student Book 1

Chaz has been happily working through his Jolly Phonics Student Book 1. He’s been learning individual letter sounds as well as progressing to blend those letter sounds as the new letter sounds are introduced. He has been working on writing his letters as well as identifying pictures/words that contain the letter sound.
We have been treating each letter sound as a lesson. So each one is one page long. So each lesson only takes around 15-20 minutes. His biggest struggle is writing the letters. He has been enjoying the lessons so much, though, that he is actually attempting to write the letters, which is major progress. Generally he refuses to even try. We also brought out the white board to give him more practice as well.
Jolly Phonics Review

Jolly Phonics Review – Student Books 2 & 3

We haven’t yet progressed to the Jolly Phonics Student Book 2 and Student Book 3. They are quite a bit different. In Student Book 1 we continue to progress through letter sounds and blending them together through the basic 42 letter sounds. Starting in Student Book 2 there are already full words presented right at the beginning. It presents alternative letter-sound spellings, more handwriting, tricky words and words and sentences. Capital letters are also introduced.
Jolly Phonics Student Book 3 presents more letter-sound alternative spellings, tricky words, comprehension and words and sentences. Of course, it also includes handwriting, but in this book there is free writing and dictation.

Jolly Songs Review

Jolly Songs complements what we’ve been learning in Student Book 1. It presents the letter sounds in songs written to familiar tunes. It includes a music CD you can play to sing along. I found knowing the tune alone made it possible to sing the songs without the CD. The songs also include the motions he has been learning to remember the letters.
Jolly Phonics and Jolly Grammar Review

Jolly Grammar Review

We haven’t yet progressed to Jolly Grammar. It includes the Jolly Grammar 1 Teacher’s Book in print letters and Jolly Grammar 1 Student Book. If following the recommended progression, Jolly Grammar follows the completion of all three Jolly Phonics books. It builds on what they have learned in Jolly Phonics and covers a variety of grammar concepts including: common nouns, pronouns, plurals, verbs (including conjugating verbs), adjectives, adverbs, definite and indefinite articles, sentences, questions, identifying parts of speech, improving vocabulary and using a dictionary.
I am really surprised by all it covers! The Teacher’s Book once again provides detailed information about the concept they’ll be learning as well as lesson information. Each lesson is one page long and has a corresponding page in the Teacher’s Book.
Jolly Grammar Review

Connect with jollyliteracy.com (just2ducks LLC)

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Other members of the Schoolhouse Review shared their Jolly Grammar and Jolly Phonics review as well. They have children of different ages and abilities, so be sure to check out their reviews by clicking on the banner below!
Jolly Phonics and Jolly Grammar Review
 
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Talking Shapes is Now Online {Talking Shapes Review}

August 4, 2016 by Emilee Evans

Recently, our youngest son (age 6) has been exploring a familiar phonics program in a different setting. Previously for our Talking Shapes review we reviewed this program as an app on their iPad. Now Talking Shapes: A Supplemental Curriculum for Early Literacy is available online. This phonics supplement from Talking Fingers Inc. is ideal for the Preschool to Kindergarten age range that teaches children that letters are “talking shapes” that stand for speech sounds.
Talking Shapes Review
Our previous Talking Shapes review was just over two years ago, and our youngest son wasn’t quite ready for it. Although he has started using it on the iPad, he was really excited for the opportunity to use it on the computer. We have been using it on my touchscreen laptop running Windows 10. The program is accessed online by signing into your account and clicking over to it. The progress is continually saved so you can start off where you left off. We have been using it in Google Chrome. Sometimes it does take a while to load, so I simply let it load before telling Chaz we’re ready to begin.
I personally love the concept of the letter shapes. So many times letters are associated with pictures that don’t represent the letter itself. It doesn’t simply use a picture to represent the letter. It actually creates the letter within the picture. It’s a great way to create a visual while also representing the sounds letters make!
Talking Shapes {Talking Fingers Inc. Review}
Talking Shapes tells a story of two sisters and how they “invented” the alphabet long ago. It includes seven stories total that introduce all the speech sounds and letters in the English Language. With each story new speech sounds are introduced to build upon what they have learned. The layout is great for reinforcing what they’ve learned while easing into new letter sounds as well.
In addition to learning letter sounds, Chaz has been learning to write the letters as well. Talking Shapes focuses on the capital letters, though, which contradicts most other phonics programs we have been using. Although it is designed as a supplement, I do find it can be confusing if it’s being used at the same time with another phonics program that focuses specifically on lower case letters.
Talking Shapes {Talking Fingers Inc. Review}
Talking Shapes also offers various activities including putting together 3 letter words using the sounds they’ve learned. There are reading games at the end of each story that offer the opportunity to further reinforce putting together the sounds to make words. Chaz particularly likes the games where he puts together the letter sounds into words because each time it is correct a bird lays a golden egg. If all answers are correct it will complete the puzzle and the babies hatch. If not, he can go back to fix any he missed.
Additionally, there is a game to help reinforce the learning of these words. It will read a story and create blanks one at a time. Balloons with the words fly overhead, and he has to pick the one that has the word. Unfortunately, this proved to be frustrating for him. It was challenging for him to try to read moving words, but it also took a few clicks to get the balloon to pop. I even attempted to have him point it out so I could click on it, but I had the same problem.
Talking Shapes {Talking Fingers Inc. Review}

Talking Shapes Review

Overall, it was interesting to try Talking Shapes on a computer, but Chaz and I mutually agree it’s better on the iPad. Despite having a touch screen, the only touch features that worked were clicking over to the next page. He was unable to write the letters with his finger and had to use the touchpad. Since that was too difficult he would simply “color it in” rather than writing it. To encourage writing the letters, I would have him write it with his finger first and then use the touchpad. I attempted to follow instructions for resolving these issues as they have been making updates, but they were unsuccessful at this time.
Despite some of the technical difficulties, the program as a whole loaded and ran fairly well. It was nice seeing the story on a bigger screen. I loved that it saved our place so we could simply hop on and start where we left off. Plus, Talking Shapes really does allow children to go at their own pace. Chaz liked to listen to the whole story and complete all the activities and games for that story all at once. It could definitely be broken down into multiple days, though.
I do appreciate the concept and find it’s a great phonics supplement when used at a different time than other phonics programs. I do agree with other programs that lower case letters should be taught first as they make up a majority of our words. Some children may not have a challenge with learning both at the same time. Due to our son’s special needs and developmental delays, though, it’s not ideal to use this program while he’s learning letter sounds and writing lowercase letters.

Connect with Talking Fingers

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Other members of the Schoolhouse Review Crew have been using Talking Shapes app with their children of various ages and stages as well. So be sure to see what they thought by clicking on the banner below!
Talking Shapes {Talking Fingers Inc. Review}
 
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Super Simple Songs – Animals DVD Review

May 28, 2015 by Emilee Evans

Our kids love music, and they learn so much through music! After reviewing the Super Simple Songs DVD from Super Simple Songs I was excited for the opportunity to review one of their newest DVD’s, and it’s all about animals! I knew our kids were going to love it!
Super Simple Songs Review
Disclosure: I received a complimentary product to facilitate my Super Simple Songs Review. Regardless, all opinions are my own and those of my family. This post contains affiliate links.
The Super Simple Songs – Animals DVD is one of the latest DVD’s by Super Simple Learning. They offer easy-to-teach, easy-to-learn educational resources for young learners and those who care for them. After the first DVD we reviewed I was definitely a big fan because our kids were learning so much and having so much fun, too! They still love to watch it!
Super Simple Learning has delivered again with the Super Simple Songs – Animals DVD. Again, I suspected this would be great for our preschooler, but our older two children have been right in there with him as well! Our kids are now 5, 7, and 9. What I love is they are not only having a blast singing the songs, but they are learning about various animals as well. We are big on learning about animals around here, and this DVD has been a great addition to our lineup!
Super Simple Songs Review - Animals DVD
The kids have been having fun singing along and pretending to be animals, too – from just regular dancing around to crawling on the ground and pounding their chests like gorillas! It’s so much fun for me to watch them have fun and knowing they’re learning, too!
The Super Simple Songs – Animals DVD has 12 animal songs featuring all kinds of animals from the farm to the jungle! Kids will learn about other topics such as counting, parts of the body, basic time telling, animal sounds, and action verbs – and they will have fun learning them! It is recommended for ages 3 and up.
Learn more about the Super Simple Songs – Animals DVD! The Super Simple Songs – Animals DVD can be purchased on Amazon.

For More Information:

Visit the Super Simple Learning Website
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*Giveaway!!!*

Would you like to win the Super Simple Songs – Animals DVD? This giveaway runs through 6/12 at 11pm Eastern Time is is open to US residents ages 18+. Enter the Giveaway Now!
 

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