Zoo-phonics?

No, but if you are looking for a great program for little kids, might
look into Jolly Phonics. They are out of uk, but they have a US based web site to buy stuff from, I believe.

—des

Somebody posted here last year about Zoophonics, the usual, greatest thing since sliced bread, the cat’s pyjamas, etc; then we heard no more about it, so I assumed it was another cute program with most likely not enough depth and carry-over— I’m just assuming here, but that is the general run of popular commercial programs.

Jolly Phonics is (or at least used to be) available through scholarschoice.ca — note that’s .ca, not com. Very reasonable prices and immediate delivery throughout North America.

Either of these programs is suitable for kindergarten or age 5; when you get over age 6 you need something that goes a lot farther. Please don;t follow the lead of one school I subbed in where they attained “success” by giving materials designed for British four-year-olds to a full class of seven-year-olds.

Well Zoo-Phonics looks a little “cute”, but fair. Imo, wastes a lot of time with cute little animal figures (I’m sure the kids like them, but is that exactly the point). That would also jack up the price, imo. Imo, you want to teach the code— not get all caught up in some cute little animals, and so on, that would be distracting. Kids love to learn anyway.

I’m not sure the age level, but I would guess that Jolly Phonics is about K-1 or 2?

IMO, you could also do the Reading Reflex or one of the off shoots as well.

BTW, prices are K set of Zoo-Phonics $500
Price for complete set for Jolly Phonics set $193 (you can also get separate workbooks, etc.

Reading Reflex is $16— very helpful supplemental materials are $150.

You do the math.

—des

I think Jolly Phonics is designed for classroom use. Many aspects of Reading Reflex were derived from Jolly Phonics, and RR is probably much easier to teach one-on-one. Also, RR is written so that a parent can pick up the book and use the system. Don’t know if JP is the same way. RR has the advantage of being inexpensive, in that the book costs under $20 at bookstores. Most people, though, benefit from purchasing the company’s “parent support guide for advanced code” once they get to that point in the book, and switching to that as their spine.

From the standpoint of RR, programs such as Zoo-Phonics simply delay acquisition of reading skills because of the distracting animal figures, learning things that are not directly related to reading, etc.

Nancy

I love zoo phonics and have been using it for 3 years. I have used it with autistic kids and those with LD. It teaches the lower case letters which are the ones you see most in print. The shape of the animals match the letters and the animals name starts with the letter sound. I have found the students remember the hand sign and the animals name very quickly. Knowing the name they can get the sound - Sammy Snake - and the letter s are easy to remember. It has also helped the students remember how to write the letters. If they can’t remember how to make the letter I remind them of the letters name - DeeDee Deer - and they can remember the letter because it looks like a deer. I use it in 3 reading classes now.

ZooPhonics is effective at teaching virtually all children letter sounds. It is a good program for K or early first grade, leading into a more comprehensive decoding program. It is multi-sensory. Every kiddo who came to my resource room from our K program knew “their sounds.”

Does it teach the entire code? oy/oi, ng, ir/er/ur, etc?

No, it is a great K level program. Each letter sound is linked to an animal. Students are involved multi-sensorily, particularly kinesthetically. This is especially effective with young learners who need activity and whole body reinforcement.

What Anitya says reinforces my previous statement. As my grandma said, there’s a time and a place for everything.
Zoo-phonics is apparently a good general kindergarten level program, and the cost would presumably work out if it is used for several years in a classroom setting.
But it MUST be followed up by something with more detail and depth in Grades 1 and 2. And it probably isn’t appropriate for older kids needing to catch up.