Awsome!, 06 Nov 2008
I loved letterland and so did my daughter and I taught her the letters using their reading cards and CD (both of which I highly recommed). However, now that my daughter has started Reception I was looking for something else to stimulate her writing as well as her reading, which is coming along very nicely. After reading such positive comments on this Jolly Phonics product, I bought it and it just so happens that it is the same method they are using at her school to teach them the letter. She loves it as she recognises it all. A good way to complement at home, what she's learning at school. Also, it's a great way to get her to practice her writing and do it in short periods of time, broken up by the colouring, which she also enjoys. I also love the way they aid you into what to teach your children when, to gradually build up their reading more and more. A great buy!

Great addition to help at home, 01 Nov 2008
I bought these for my son to do as and when he wished. He struggles with his phonics and these have been a gem. He can pick them up and put them down when he feels yet he still knows where he was at and what he was doing, which is great.

They are simple enough for them to do independently which give them a bigger sense of achievement.

Brilliant!, 28 Oct 2008
My son isn't 4 yet and is already on book 4. He has started to read 3 letter words and loves learning with these books. It's good for me to refresh my own phonics! He loves it and loves doing the actions.

Both my girls love this product!, 26 Mar 2008
Although I bought this with my four yeat old in mind,My almost three year old has enjoyed the work books just as much ,and thanks to her older sister is already pointing out letter sounds in her everyday activity's. This prouduct, has I feel given my children a head start on the road to learning!

Excellent!, 22 Jan 2008
We have used these for our son, who has just turned 4, alongside the teachers handbook. These books allow him to practice writing the letters we have learnt. Most importantly he has a real motivation to do them and always wants to learn the next letter.
Hopefully he will be a bit ahead when he starts school in September!

Awsome!, 06 Nov 2008
I loved letterland and so did my daughter and I taught her the letters using their reading cards and CD (both of which I highly recommed). However, now that my daughter has started Reception I was looking for something else to stimulate her writing as well as her reading, which is coming along very nicely. After reading such positive comments on this Jolly Phonics product, I bought it and it just so happens that it is the same method they are using at her school to teach them the letter. She loves it as she recognises it all. A good way to complement at home, what she's learning at school. Also, it's a great way to get her to practice her writing and do it in short periods of time, broken up by the colouring, which she also enjoys. I also love the way they aid you into what to teach your children when, to gradually build up their reading more and more. A great buy!

Great addition to help at home, 01 Nov 2008
I bought these for my son to do as and when he wished. He struggles with his phonics and these have been a gem. He can pick them up and put them down when he feels yet he still knows where he was at and what he was doing, which is great.

They are simple enough for them to do independently which give them a bigger sense of achievement.

Brilliant!, 28 Oct 2008
My son isn't 4 yet and is already on book 4. He has started to read 3 letter words and loves learning with these books. It's good for me to refresh my own phonics! He loves it and loves doing the actions.

Both my girls love this product!, 26 Mar 2008
Although I bought this with my four yeat old in mind,My almost three year old has enjoyed the work books just as much ,and thanks to her older sister is already pointing out letter sounds in her everyday activity's. This prouduct, has I feel given my children a head start on the road to learning!

Excellent!, 22 Jan 2008
We have used these for our son, who has just turned 4, alongside the teachers handbook. These books allow him to practice writing the letters we have learnt. Most importantly he has a real motivation to do them and always wants to learn the next letter.
Hopefully he will be a bit ahead when he starts school in September!

I need help!, 12 Nov 2008
HI! I knew this method last year working at a school, but now I need the lyrics of the songs (although they're really easy) and I'm not sure if I can find them in this book.
Thanks in advance!

Entertaining and educational, 11 Nov 2008
I'm not a special advocate of 'teaching small children to read' but if they enjoy it you had better use same system they will meet in school later. My 3year and 5 month old loves this CD and book. She puts it on then sits with the book in front of her and reads the phonic sound in advance of each song and sings along with the song. Yes, the songs are short but that actually seems to be what is needed.

There are surprisingly few materials available that use the phonics systen that the children will meet in primary school, but this is one of them. The Mr. Men Alphabet Hunt is also good although the phonetic sounds are slightly different. Beware of CDs that say they use phonics but actually use the letter names (BEE CEE DEE) not the phonetic sound.

Great C.D. to accompany Jolly Phonics , 10 Nov 2008
This is a great resource to accompany the Jolly Phonics programme. The children enjoy learning a new song a day to compliment the new sound they have learned. The songs help to reinforce the sounds taught. I am a teacher and I use this C.D. in my teaching each day but I think it would be a good investment for parents of children who are learning Jolly Phonics at school.

A jolly good resource - but needs lots of repetition!, 04 Nov 2008
This collection of songs designed to accompany the 'Jolly Phonics' synthetic phonics scheme is a useful resource for teachers, classroom assistants and parents alike. The songs feature (largely) familiar tunes with a simple new lyric designed for each letter sound (as well as for combination sounds and a couple of 'revision' songs at the end of the collection). The collection is handy for adding another item to a teacher's resources supporting phonics-based learning and the accompanying CD gives clear examples of the target sounds being accurately used. The latter is invaluable for those wanting to support children's learning, but worried about 'getting it wrong'.

Although the CD gives clear examples of the songs in performance, this is perhaps best used for adults to accustom themselves to the songs or as a revision tool (unless you're prepared to make heavy use of the 'repeat' button on your CD player). The songs themselves are short - each one only seconds long. This isn't all bad, since they're easy for children to pick up, but does mean that the support for the 'next' letter-sound comes far too rapidly if you simply put the disc on to play.

Excellent for children in foundation learning, 03 Nov 2008
I have two children one is aged 18 months and one aged 4 1/2 and they both love the jolly phonics songs. Other people have posted that they are short but this is the beauty of it. You can play them in the car on repeat and they pick them up so quickly. Also the book that accompanies the CD helps parents to teach children the actions so that they remember the sounds. My son is about to start Jolly Phonics in school and this is the perfect tool for me to be able to aid that learning!!!!

Awsome!, 06 Nov 2008
I loved letterland and so did my daughter and I taught her the letters using their reading cards and CD (both of which I highly recommed). However, now that my daughter has started Reception I was looking for something else to stimulate her writing as well as her reading, which is coming along very nicely. After reading such positive comments on this Jolly Phonics product, I bought it and it just so happens that it is the same method they are using at her school to teach them the letter. She loves it as she recognises it all. A good way to complement at home, what she's learning at school. Also, it's a great way to get her to practice her writing and do it in short periods of time, broken up by the colouring, which she also enjoys. I also love the way they aid you into what to teach your children when, to gradually build up their reading more and more. A great buy!

Great addition to help at home, 01 Nov 2008
I bought these for my son to do as and when he wished. He struggles with his phonics and these have been a gem. He can pick them up and put them down when he feels yet he still knows where he was at and what he was doing, which is great.

They are simple enough for them to do independently which give them a bigger sense of achievement.

Brilliant!, 28 Oct 2008
My son isn't 4 yet and is already on book 4. He has started to read 3 letter words and loves learning with these books. It's good for me to refresh my own phonics! He loves it and loves doing the actions.

Both my girls love this product!, 26 Mar 2008
Although I bought this with my four yeat old in mind,My almost three year old has enjoyed the work books just as much ,and thanks to her older sister is already pointing out letter sounds in her everyday activity's. This prouduct, has I feel given my children a head start on the road to learning!

Excellent!, 22 Jan 2008
We have used these for our son, who has just turned 4, alongside the teachers handbook. These books allow him to practice writing the letters we have learnt. Most importantly he has a real motivation to do them and always wants to learn the next letter.
Hopefully he will be a bit ahead when he starts school in September!

I need help!, 12 Nov 2008
HI! I knew this method last year working at a school, but now I need the lyrics of the songs (although they're really easy) and I'm not sure if I can find them in this book.
Thanks in advance!

Entertaining and educational, 11 Nov 2008
I'm not a special advocate of 'teaching small children to read' but if they enjoy it you had better use same system they will meet in school later. My 3year and 5 month old loves this CD and book. She puts it on then sits with the book in front of her and reads the phonic sound in advance of each song and sings along with the song. Yes, the songs are short but that actually seems to be what is needed.

There are surprisingly few materials available that use the phonics systen that the children will meet in primary school, but this is one of them. The Mr. Men Alphabet Hunt is also good although the phonetic sounds are slightly different. Beware of CDs that say they use phonics but actually use the letter names (BEE CEE DEE) not the phonetic sound.

Great C.D. to accompany Jolly Phonics , 10 Nov 2008
This is a great resource to accompany the Jolly Phonics programme. The children enjoy learning a new song a day to compliment the new sound they have learned. The songs help to reinforce the sounds taught. I am a teacher and I use this C.D. in my teaching each day but I think it would be a good investment for parents of children who are learning Jolly Phonics at school.

A jolly good resource - but needs lots of repetition!, 04 Nov 2008
This collection of songs designed to accompany the 'Jolly Phonics' synthetic phonics scheme is a useful resource for teachers, classroom assistants and parents alike. The songs feature (largely) familiar tunes with a simple new lyric designed for each letter sound (as well as for combination sounds and a couple of 'revision' songs at the end of the collection). The collection is handy for adding another item to a teacher's resources supporting phonics-based learning and the accompanying CD gives clear examples of the target sounds being accurately used. The latter is invaluable for those wanting to support children's learning, but worried about 'getting it wrong'.

Although the CD gives clear examples of the songs in performance, this is perhaps best used for adults to accustom themselves to the songs or as a revision tool (unless you're prepared to make heavy use of the 'repeat' button on your CD player). The songs themselves are short - each one only seconds long. This isn't all bad, since they're easy for children to pick up, but does mean that the support for the 'next' letter-sound comes far too rapidly if you simply put the disc on to play.

Excellent for children in foundation learning, 03 Nov 2008
I have two children one is aged 18 months and one aged 4 1/2 and they both love the jolly phonics songs. Other people have posted that they are short but this is the beauty of it. You can play them in the car on repeat and they pick them up so quickly. Also the book that accompanies the CD helps parents to teach children the actions so that they remember the sounds. My son is about to start Jolly Phonics in school and this is the perfect tool for me to be able to aid that learning!!!!


A very good purchase!, 29 Nov 2007
I have been very keen to teach my son the letters of the alphabet but wanted to do it the right way. Having visited his school he will be attending next year, they do follow the Jolly phonics scheme and therefore these books have been great along with the work books. It's given me the confidence to teach and he has enjoyed the colourful pictures and tracing with his finger the letters. We are now moving on to book three after he has managed to read and write the letters in books one and two. Being a working parent and mum to a one year old aswell we are only able to do learning for an hour on a friday so these short to the point books are great. My husband also helps by going over a book for 5 mins at bedtime before reading a short story. It certainly has been a fun way to learn.

Very Useful, 04 Jul 2005
A very useful book. It shows parents which sounds and blends of words children learn from Reception and in which order to progress. Also helpful for spelling tests. If you are keen on helping your child with literacy at home this is a must even if you are not using the Jolly Phonics scheme.

jolly phonic workbooks, 22 Nov 2004
Brilliant help for my little boy who uses jolly phonics at school and was struggling a little. Im sure u would agree that help at home goes a long way and these books do just the trick.

Awsome!, 06 Nov 2008
I loved letterland and so did my daughter and I taught her the letters using their reading cards and CD (both of which I highly recommed). However, now that my daughter has started Reception I was looking for something else to stimulate her writing as well as her reading, which is coming along very nicely. After reading such positive comments on this Jolly Phonics product, I bought it and it just so happens that it is the same method they are using at her school to teach them the letter. She loves it as she recognises it all. A good way to complement at home, what she's learning at school. Also, it's a great way to get her to practice her writing and do it in short periods of time, broken up by the colouring, which she also enjoys. I also love the way they aid you into what to teach your children when, to gradually build up their reading more and more. A great buy!

Great addition to help at home, 01 Nov 2008
I bought these for my son to do as and when he wished. He struggles with his phonics and these have been a gem. He can pick them up and put them down when he feels yet he still knows where he was at and what he was doing, which is great.

They are simple enough for them to do independently which give them a bigger sense of achievement.

Brilliant!, 28 Oct 2008
My son isn't 4 yet and is already on book 4. He has started to read 3 letter words and loves learning with these books. It's good for me to refresh my own phonics! He loves it and loves doing the actions.

Both my girls love this product!, 26 Mar 2008
Although I bought this with my four yeat old in mind,My almost three year old has enjoyed the work books just as much ,and thanks to her older sister is already pointing out letter sounds in her everyday activity's. This prouduct, has I feel given my children a head start on the road to learning!

Excellent!, 22 Jan 2008
We have used these for our son, who has just turned 4, alongside the teachers handbook. These books allow him to practice writing the letters we have learnt. Most importantly he has a real motivation to do them and always wants to learn the next letter.
Hopefully he will be a bit ahead when he starts school in September!

I need help!, 12 Nov 2008
HI! I knew this method last year working at a school, but now I need the lyrics of the songs (although they're really easy) and I'm not sure if I can find them in this book.
Thanks in advance!

Entertaining and educational, 11 Nov 2008
I'm not a special advocate of 'teaching small children to read' but if they enjoy it you had better use same system they will meet in school later. My 3year and 5 month old loves this CD and book. She puts it on then sits with the book in front of her and reads the phonic sound in advance of each song and sings along with the song. Yes, the songs are short but that actually seems to be what is needed.

There are surprisingly few materials available that use the phonics systen that the children will meet in primary school, but this is one of them. The Mr. Men Alphabet Hunt is also good although the phonetic sounds are slightly different. Beware of CDs that say they use phonics but actually use the letter names (BEE CEE DEE) not the phonetic sound.

Great C.D. to accompany Jolly Phonics , 10 Nov 2008
This is a great resource to accompany the Jolly Phonics programme. The children enjoy learning a new song a day to compliment the new sound they have learned. The songs help to reinforce the sounds taught. I am a teacher and I use this C.D. in my teaching each day but I think it would be a good investment for parents of children who are learning Jolly Phonics at school.

A jolly good resource - but needs lots of repetition!, 04 Nov 2008
This collection of songs designed to accompany the 'Jolly Phonics' synthetic phonics scheme is a useful resource for teachers, classroom assistants and parents alike. The songs feature (largely) familiar tunes with a simple new lyric designed for each letter sound (as well as for combination sounds and a couple of 'revision' songs at the end of the collection). The collection is handy for adding another item to a teacher's resources supporting phonics-based learning and the accompanying CD gives clear examples of the target sounds being accurately used. The latter is invaluable for those wanting to support children's learning, but worried about 'getting it wrong'.

Although the CD gives clear examples of the songs in performance, this is perhaps best used for adults to accustom themselves to the songs or as a revision tool (unless you're prepared to make heavy use of the 'repeat' button on your CD player). The songs themselves are short - each one only seconds long. This isn't all bad, since they're easy for children to pick up, but does mean that the support for the 'next' letter-sound comes far too rapidly if you simply put the disc on to play.

Excellent for children in foundation learning, 03 Nov 2008
I have two children one is aged 18 months and one aged 4 1/2 and they both love the jolly phonics songs. Other people have posted that they are short but this is the beauty of it. You can play them in the car on repeat and they pick them up so quickly. Also the book that accompanies the CD helps parents to teach children the actions so that they remember the sounds. My son is about to start Jolly Phonics in school and this is the perfect tool for me to be able to aid that learning!!!!


A very good purchase!, 29 Nov 2007
I have been very keen to teach my son the letters of the alphabet but wanted to do it the right way. Having visited his school he will be attending next year, they do follow the Jolly phonics scheme and therefore these books have been great along with the work books. It's given me the confidence to teach and he has enjoyed the colourful pictures and tracing with his finger the letters. We are now moving on to book three after he has managed to read and write the letters in books one and two. Being a working parent and mum to a one year old aswell we are only able to do learning for an hour on a friday so these short to the point books are great. My husband also helps by going over a book for 5 mins at bedtime before reading a short story. It certainly has been a fun way to learn.

Very Useful, 04 Jul 2005
A very useful book. It shows parents which sounds and blends of words children learn from Reception and in which order to progress. Also helpful for spelling tests. If you are keen on helping your child with literacy at home this is a must even if you are not using the Jolly Phonics scheme.

jolly phonic workbooks, 22 Nov 2004
Brilliant help for my little boy who uses jolly phonics at school and was struggling a little. Im sure u would agree that help at home goes a long way and these books do just the trick.

A must have book, 30 Aug 2007
I love it! The children in my class love it!

It is full of literacy starters and games to get children thinking. It fits really well with the Ros Wilson 2020 / Big Writing and the Literacy Hour.

I wouldn't be without it.

A must for any teacher!, 23 Jun 2007
I have Jumpstart for over 3 years now and it has been invaluable in my Literacy planning. The games are split into sections, some are quick, others need more time - but all of the games are wonderful. My class has several firm favourites, and I have been particularly happy with the spelling games, of which many are now being played at the children's home whilst learning their spellings for the week. Jumpstart games can be applied to any year group and I would recommend it to any Teacher.

A good starting point, 03 Apr 2007
I've used a few of the activities in this book 'as they stand' and they have worked very well with my Y7-Y8 classes who are about Level 2 - Level 4.

I don't feel it is something you could refer to as an emergency 10 minutes before the lesson starts. I have to either incorporate the activities into schemes of work or refer to it the night before/morning.

Covers all range of literacy activities and is an excellent resource in that respect.

Handy for the classroom, 28 Nov 2006
This has been a great classroom tool. It is easy read and has some great ideas. Some of them you may have already thought of, but on those rainy days when your brain just isn't working, it's great to be able to flip through the pages and find an inspiring starter. Or, in some cases the inspiration for a greta lessons; there are some lovely writing workshop ideas included. Great for 7-14's. A must have for every teachers tool box.

Thoroughly Useful!, 22 Feb 2005
Suitable for upper KS2 and secondary level, this is a great collection of literacy starters and warm-up activites. Many of the activities and games could be adapted for KS1 and lower junior. Corbett covers virtually every aspect of sentence structure and language use in this gem. He is an inspiring writer and his ideas have really livened up the start of literacy lessons in my year 5 class.
Highly recommended!

Awsome!, 06 Nov 2008
I loved letterland and so did my daughter and I taught her the letters using their reading cards and CD (both of which I highly recommed). However, now that my daughter has started Reception I was looking for something else to stimulate her writing as well as her reading, which is coming along very nicely. After reading such positive comments on this Jolly Phonics product, I bought it and it just so happens that it is the same method they are using at her school to teach them the letter. She loves it as she recognises it all. A good way to complement at home, what she's learning at school. Also, it's a great way to get her to practice her writing and do it in short periods of time, broken up by the colouring, which she also enjoys. I also love the way they aid you into what to teach your children when, to gradually build up their reading more and more. A great buy!

Great addition to help at home, 01 Nov 2008
I bought these for my son to do as and when he wished. He struggles with his phonics and these have been a gem. He can pick them up and put them down when he feels yet he still knows where he was at and what he was doing, which is great.

They are simple enough for them to do independently which give them a bigger sense of achievement.

Brilliant!, 28 Oct 2008
My son isn't 4 yet and is already on book 4. He has started to read 3 letter words and loves learning with these books. It's good for me to refresh my own phonics! He loves it and loves doing the actions.

Both my girls love this product!, 26 Mar 2008
Although I bought this with my four yeat old in mind,My almost three year old has enjoyed the work books just as much ,and thanks to her older sister is already pointing out letter sounds in her everyday activity's. This prouduct, has I feel given my children a head start on the road to learning!

Excellent!, 22 Jan 2008
We have used these for our son, who has just turned 4, alongside the teachers handbook. These books allow him to practice writing the letters we have learnt. Most importantly he has a real motivation to do them and always wants to learn the next letter.
Hopefully he will be a bit ahead when he starts school in September!

I need help!, 12 Nov 2008
HI! I knew this method last year working at a school, but now I need the lyrics of the songs (although they're really easy) and I'm not sure if I can find them in this book.
Thanks in advance!

Entertaining and educational, 11 Nov 2008
I'm not a special advocate of 'teaching small children to read' but if they enjoy it you had better use same system they will meet in school later. My 3year and 5 month old loves this CD and book. She puts it on then sits with the book in front of her and reads the phonic sound in advance of each song and sings along with the song. Yes, the songs are short but that actually seems to be what is needed.

There are surprisingly few materials available that use the phonics systen that the children will meet in primary school, but this is one of them. The Mr. Men Alphabet Hunt is also good although the phonetic sounds are slightly different. Beware of CDs that say they use phonics but actually use the letter names (BEE CEE DEE) not the phonetic sound.

Great C.D. to accompany Jolly Phonics , 10 Nov 2008
This is a great resource to accompany the Jolly Phonics programme. The children enjoy learning a new song a day to compliment the new sound they have learned. The songs help to reinforce the sounds taught. I am a teacher and I use this C.D. in my teaching each day but I think it would be a good investment for parents of children who are learning Jolly Phonics at school.

A jolly good resource - but needs lots of repetition!, 04 Nov 2008
This collection of songs designed to accompany the 'Jolly Phonics' synthetic phonics scheme is a useful resource for teachers, classroom assistants and parents alike. The songs feature (largely) familiar tunes with a simple new lyric designed for each letter sound (as well as for combination sounds and a couple of 'revision' songs at the end of the collection). The collection is handy for adding another item to a teacher's resources supporting phonics-based learning and the accompanying CD gives clear examples of the target sounds being accurately used. The latter is invaluable for those wanting to support children's learning, but worried about 'getting it wrong'.

Although the CD gives clear examples of the songs in performance, this is perhaps best used for adults to accustom themselves to the songs or as a revision tool (unless you're prepared to make heavy use of the 'repeat' button on your CD player). The songs themselves are short - each one only seconds long. This isn't all bad, since they're easy for children to pick up, but does mean that the support for the 'next' letter-sound comes far too rapidly if you simply put the disc on to play.

Excellent for children in foundation learning, 03 Nov 2008
I have two children one is aged 18 months and one aged 4 1/2 and they both love the jolly phonics songs. Other people have posted that they are short but this is the beauty of it. You can play them in the car on repeat and they pick them up so quickly. Also the book that accompanies the CD helps parents to teach children the actions so that they remember the sounds. My son is about to start Jolly Phonics in school and this is the perfect tool for me to be able to aid that learning!!!!


A very good purchase!, 29 Nov 2007
I have been very keen to teach my son the letters of the alphabet but wanted to do it the right way. Having visited his school he will be attending next year, they do follow the Jolly phonics scheme and therefore these books have been great along with the work books. It's given me the confidence to teach and he has enjoyed the colourful pictures and tracing with his finger the letters. We are now moving on to book three after he has managed to read and write the letters in books one and two. Being a working parent and mum to a one year old aswell we are only able to do learning for an hour on a friday so these short to the point books are great. My husband also helps by going over a book for 5 mins at bedtime before reading a short story. It certainly has been a fun way to learn.

Very Useful, 04 Jul 2005
A very useful book. It shows parents which sounds and blends of words children learn from Reception and in which order to progress. Also helpful for spelling tests. If you are keen on helping your child with literacy at home this is a must even if you are not using the Jolly Phonics scheme.

jolly phonic workbooks, 22 Nov 2004
Brilliant help for my little boy who uses jolly phonics at school and was struggling a little. Im sure u would agree that help at home goes a long way and these books do just the trick.

A must have book, 30 Aug 2007
I love it! The children in my class love it!

It is full of literacy starters and games to get children thinking. It fits really well with the Ros Wilson 2020 / Big Writing and the Literacy Hour.

I wouldn't be without it.

A must for any teacher!, 23 Jun 2007
I have Jumpstart for over 3 years now and it has been invaluable in my Literacy planning. The games are split into sections, some are quick, others need more time - but all of the games are wonderful. My class has several firm favourites, and I have been particularly happy with the spelling games, of which many are now being played at the children's home whilst learning their spellings for the week. Jumpstart games can be applied to any year group and I would recommend it to any Teacher.

A good starting point, 03 Apr 2007
I've used a few of the activities in this book 'as they stand' and they have worked very well with my Y7-Y8 classes who are about Level 2 - Level 4.

I don't feel it is something you could refer to as an emergency 10 minutes before the lesson starts. I have to either incorporate the activities into schemes of work or refer to it the night before/morning.

Covers all range of literacy activities and is an excellent resource in that respect.

Handy for the classroom, 28 Nov 2006
This has been a great classroom tool. It is easy read and has some great ideas. Some of them you may have already thought of, but on those rainy days when your brain just isn't working, it's great to be able to flip through the pages and find an inspiring starter. Or, in some cases the inspiration for a greta lessons; there are some lovely writing workshop ideas included. Great for 7-14's. A must have for every teachers tool box.

Thoroughly Useful!, 22 Feb 2005
Suitable for upper KS2 and secondary level, this is a great collection of literacy starters and warm-up activites. Many of the activities and games could be adapted for KS1 and lower junior. Corbett covers virtually every aspect of sentence structure and language use in this gem. He is an inspiring writer and his ideas have really livened up the start of literacy lessons in my year 5 class.
Highly recommended!

An entertaining explanation of the reading process, 28 Jun 2008
In Proust and the Squid: The Story and Science of the Reading Brain, Maryanne Wolf, an expert on the reading brain, describes how our brains manage to read. Reading is not an innate activity, but it is an invention, and only a few thousand years old at that. It does not come naturally to humans in the way that walking or eating does and on the first page of this book, we learn that it is only because of the remarkable "plasticity" of our brains that we are able to achieve an understanding of the written word.

The book is divided into three parts. Firstly the history of how humans learned to read, secondly how reading is learned and how it develops, and thirdly what happens when in cases like dyslexia, something goes wrong in the "learning to read" process.

The reference to Proust in the title refers to passages from Proust's writings in which he describes the pleasure of reading, the memories that are evoked by thinking back to special books from childhood (how Proustian!), and the "reading sanctuary", that place of escape, a refuge from the world and its troubles. If Proust is a metaphor for a particular approach to reading, so the squid in the title refers to early neruo-scientific investigations of that creature which found how neurons fire and transmit to each other, adapting when things go wrong, repairing and compensating along the way. The squid analogy refers to the way reading required something new from existing structure of the brain, only possible because of the "plasticity" referred to earlier.

Wolf describes how reading actually changes us. We interact with books, both making them our own (everyone reads a text in their own way), but we are also permanently changed by them. "We bring our life experiences to the text, and the text changes our experience of life". Whenever we read, our original boundaries are challenged, teased and gradually placed somewhere new. An expanding sense of "other" changes who we are.

The section on the development of alphabets and reading systems is fascinating. Different types of brain activity are needed to read say Mandarin Chinese than are required for the Western alphabet. The style of writing shapes the culture to a degree, and certainly changes the reading experience. "Learning to read changes the visual cortex of the brain. The expert readers visual areas are now populated with cell networks responsible for visual images of letters, letter patterns and words". The eye moves ahead with a Western text, but moves leftward with a Hebrew text, gathering advance information about the text before it even reaches it.

The section on dyslexia was less interesting to me, but no doubt with be of great interest to educators and parents of dyslexic children. I am sure however that these chapters fit well into the book as a whole because they do actually illustrate what happens when for most of us, reading works flawlessly.

For those, like me, who are interested in "books about books", and the reading process Proust and the Squid would be an excellent addition to their library, a book to refer back to and to re-read. It is a little difficult to take in all the scientific material about brain processes, but there is much of immediate interest, the more complex neuro-science being available for study at a later time.

The mystery behind being able to read (or not) explained., 18 Apr 2008
Maryanne Wolf provides a fascinating insight into how we learn to read and the amazing things our brain does to make it happen. She also gives a comprehensive explanation of all the things that can go wrong. We expect our children to master in a couple of thousand days (from scratch as our brains aren't wired for reading at birth) what it took humanity several thousand years to develop. An important book for parents, teachers and anyone interested in one of humanities main achievements.

Literary, Historical, Biological, Cognitive, and Futurist Insights into Reading, Creativity, and Brain Development, 05 Oct 2007
I was attracted to this book by the title: What could Proust and a Squid have in common? As it turned out, squids make only two cameo appearances in the book on pages 5-6 and 226 (probably to justify the title in references to the early use of squids in neuroscience studies and for conjecture about passing along genetic traits that make survival more difficult), but Proust in pretty mainstream throughout the book as a resource and reference for describing the richness that reading can bring to individual experience.

Professor Wolf has written a multidisciplinary book that is mind-boggling in its breadth. You'll learn everything from how writing and alphabets developed to why Socrates disfavored reading to how mental processes vary among dyslexics who are reading different languages to the best ways for diagnosing and overcoming reading difficulties.

Yet unlike most multidisciplinary books, this one is very brief and compact. But that compactness is misleading; Proust and the Squid is a challenging book to read and contemplate. Only good readers with a lot of background in literature and neuroscience can probably grasp this book. What's more, there are vast numbers of references that you can pursue if you want to know more.

The writing style makes the book denser than it needed to be. Professor Wolf makes matters worse for lay readers by insisting on the correct scientific names throughout, when the ordinary names would have made the material easier to grasp. As a result, at times you'll feel like you are taking a course in disciplinary vocabulary. At other times, Professor Wolf engages in a penchant for long, abstract sentences: "What is historically humbling about Sumerian writing and pedagogy is not their understanding of morphological principles, but their realization that the teaching of reading must begin with explicit attention to the principles characteristics of oral language." This sentence could be rewritten as "Most impressively, Sumerians developed a written language that made reading easier to learn by visually reproducing what was spoken." Obviously, her rendition is more creative . . . but I like mine better.

Here is what was new to me: Reading involves complex mental processes that are not natural to the brain's earliest functions. As a result, new neural connections need to be developed in the right order if someone is to be a good reader. Various brain scan tests have illuminated this finding and those neural pathways are well illustrated and described in this book. But there are different ways that those neural connections can be made, some of which will make reading difficult.

The book's strength is in providing you with a sense of how humans learned how to develop written language and read it rapidly . . . and gain greatly from reading. The book also is good in the area of making the case for those who can't read aren't deficient, rather than are different in ways that offer other potential advantages such as creativity. If someone in your family doesn't read well, you'll love that part of the message.

Where I thought the book was weakest was in worrying about the implications of highly condensed (and possibly inaccurate) online information substituting for traditional reading of books and articles. To me, it seemed like much ado about nothing. Human curiosity will always drive forward learning, something that Professor Wolf doesn't address. Provide that curiosity with more tools and resources, and more learning will take place. Here's an example. Today I was finishing my proofreading of my latest book. In the past, I had researchers diligently check each quotation for accuracy and source. Inevitably, there would be mistakes that weren't caught and made it into my books. By using the internet to crosscheck the sources this time, I was able to do the task much better and in less time . . . correcting many mistakes in the reference sources in my library. Having had this experience, I'll probably do more seeking of quotations directly from the internet in the future . . . and that will probably improve the quality of my quotations.

Bravo, Professor Wolf!

Awsome!, 06 Nov 2008
I loved letterland and so did my daughter and I taught her the letters using their reading cards and CD (both of which I highly recommed). However, now that my daughter has started Reception I was looking for something else to stimulate her writing as well as her reading, which is coming along very nicely. After reading such positive comments on this Jolly Phonics product, I bought it and it just so happens that it is the same method they are using at her school to teach them the letter. She loves it as she recognises it all. A good way to complement at home, what she's learning at school. Also, it's a great way to get her to practice her writing and do it in short periods of time, broken up by the colouring, which she also enjoys. I also love the way they aid you into what to teach your children when, to gradually build up their reading more and more. A great buy!

Great addition to help at home, 01 Nov 2008
I bought these for my son to do as and when he wished. He struggles with his phonics and these have been a gem. He can pick them up and put them down when he feels yet he still knows where he was at and what he was doing, which is great.

They are simple enough for them to do independently which give them a bigger sense of achievement.

Brilliant!, 28 Oct 2008
My son isn't 4 yet and is already on book 4. He has started to read 3 letter words and loves learning with these books. It's good for me to refresh my own phonics! He loves it and loves doing the actions.

Both my girls love this product!, 26 Mar 2008
Although I bought this with my four yeat old in mind,My almost three year old has enjoyed the work books just as much ,and thanks to her older sister is already pointing out letter sounds in her everyday activity's. This prouduct, has I feel given my children a head start on the road to learning!

Excellent!, 22 Jan 2008
We have used these for our son, who has just turned 4, alongside the teachers handbook. These books allow him to practice writing the letters we have learnt. Most importantly he has a real motivation to do them and always wants to learn the next letter.
Hopefully he will be a bit ahead when he starts school in September!

I need help!, 12 Nov 2008
HI! I knew this method last year working at a school, but now I need the lyrics of the songs (although they're really easy) and I'm not sure if I can find them in this book.
Thanks in advance!

Entertaining and educational, 11 Nov 2008
I'm not a special advocate of 'teaching small children to read' but if they enjoy it you had better use same system they will meet in school later. My 3year and 5 month old loves this CD and book. She puts it on then sits with the book in front of her and reads the phonic sound in advance of each song and sings along with the song. Yes, the songs are short but that actually seems to be what is needed.

There are surprisingly few materials available that use the phonics systen that the children will meet in primary school, but this is one of them. The Mr. Men Alphabet Hunt is also good although the phonetic sounds are slightly different. Beware of CDs that say they use phonics but actually use the letter names (BEE CEE DEE) not the phonetic sound.

Great C.D. to accompany Jolly Phonics , 10 Nov 2008
This is a great resource to accompany the Jolly Phonics programme. The children enjoy learning a new song a day to compliment the new sound they have learned. The songs help to reinforce the sounds taught. I am a teacher and I use this C.D. in my teaching each day but I think it would be a good investment for parents of children who are learning Jolly Phonics at school.

A jolly good resource - but needs lots of repetition!, 04 Nov 2008
This collection of songs designed to accompany the 'Jolly Phonics' synthetic phonics scheme is a useful resource for teachers, classroom assistants and parents alike. The songs feature (largely) familiar tunes with a simple new lyric designed for each letter sound (as well as for combination sounds and a couple of 'revision' songs at the end of the collection). The collection is handy for adding another item to a teacher's resources supporting phonics-based learning and the accompanying CD gives clear examples of the target sounds being accurately used. The latter is invaluable for those wanting to support children's learning, but worried about 'getting it wrong'.

Although the CD gives clear examples of the songs in performance, this is perhaps best used for adults to accustom themselves to the songs or as a revision tool (unless you're prepared to make heavy use of the 'repeat' button on your CD player). The songs themselves are short - each one only seconds long. This isn't all bad, since they're easy for children to pick up, but does mean that the support for the 'next' letter-sound comes far too rapidly if you simply put the disc on to play.

Excellent for children in foundation learning, 03 Nov 2008
I have two children one is aged 18 months and one aged 4 1/2 and they both love the jolly phonics songs. Other people have posted that they are short but this is the beauty of it. You can play them in the car on repeat and they pick them up so quickly. Also the book that accompanies the CD helps parents to teach children the actions so that they remember the sounds. My son is about to start Jolly Phonics in school and this is the perfect tool for me to be able to aid that learning!!!!


A very good purchase!, 29 Nov 2007
I have been very keen to teach my son the letters of the alphabet but wanted to do it the right way. Having visited his school he will be attending next year, they do follow the Jolly phonics scheme and therefore these books have been great along with the work books. It's given me the confidence to teach and he has enjoyed the colourful pictures and tracing with his finger the letters. We are now moving on to book three after he has managed to read and write the letters in books one and two. Being a working parent and mum to a one year old aswell we are only able to do learning for an hour on a friday so these short to the point books are great. My husband also helps by going over a book for 5 mins at bedtime before reading a short story. It certainly has been a fun way to learn.

Very Useful, 04 Jul 2005
A very useful book. It shows parents which sounds and blends of words children learn from Reception and in which order to progress. Also helpful for spelling tests. If you are keen on helping your child with literacy at home this is a must even if you are not using the Jolly Phonics scheme.

jolly phonic workbooks, 22 Nov 2004
Brilliant help for my little boy who uses jolly phonics at school and was struggling a little. Im sure u would agree that help at home goes a long way and these books do just the trick.

A must have book, 30 Aug 2007
I love it! The children in my class love it!

It is full of literacy starters and games to get children thinking. It fits really well with the Ros Wilson 2020 / Big Writing and the Literacy Hour.

I wouldn't be without it.

A must for any teacher!, 23 Jun 2007
I have Jumpstart for over 3 years now and it has been invaluable in my Literacy planning. The games are split into sections, some are quick, others need more time - but all of the games are wonderful. My class has several firm favourites, and I have been particularly happy with the spelling games, of which many are now being played at the children's home whilst learning their spellings for the week. Jumpstart games can be applied to any year group and I would recommend it to any Teacher.

A good starting point, 03 Apr 2007
I've used a few of the activities in this book 'as they stand' and they have worked very well with my Y7-Y8 classes who are about Level 2 - Level 4.

I don't feel it is something you could refer to as an emergency 10 minutes before the lesson starts. I have to either incorporate the activities into schemes of work or refer to it the night before/morning.

Covers all range of literacy activities and is an excellent resource in that respect.

Handy for the classroom, 28 Nov 2006
This has been a great classroom tool. It is easy read and has some great ideas. Some of them you may have already thought of, but on those rainy days when your brain just isn't working, it's great to be able to flip through the pages and find an inspiring starter. Or, in some cases the inspiration for a greta lessons; there are some lovely writing workshop ideas included. Great for 7-14's. A must have for every teachers tool box.

Thoroughly Useful!, 22 Feb 2005
Suitable for upper KS2 and secondary level, this is a great collection of literacy starters and warm-up activites. Many of the activities and games could be adapted for KS1 and lower junior. Corbett covers virtually every aspect of sentence structure and language use in this gem. He is an inspiring writer and his ideas have really livened up the start of literacy lessons in my year 5 class.
Highly recommended!

An entertaining explanation of the reading process, 28 Jun 2008
In Proust and the Squid: The Story and Science of the Reading Brain, Maryanne Wolf, an expert on the reading brain, describes how our brains manage to read. Reading is not an innate activity, but it is an invention, and only a few thousand years old at that. It does not come naturally to humans in the way that walking or eating does and on the first page of this book, we learn that it is only because of the remarkable "plasticity" of our brains that we are able to achieve an understanding of the written word.

The book is divided into three parts. Firstly the history of how humans learned to read, secondly how reading is learned and how it develops, and thirdly what happens when in cases like dyslexia, something goes wrong in the "learning to read" process.

The reference to Proust in the title refers to passages from Proust's writings in which he describes the pleasure of reading, the memories that are evoked by thinking back to special books from childhood (how Proustian!), and the "reading sanctuary", that place of escape, a refuge from the world and its troubles. If Proust is a metaphor for a particular approach to reading, so the squid in the title refers to early neruo-scientific investigations of that creature which found how neurons fire and transmit to each other, adapting when things go wrong, repairing and compensating along the way. The squid analogy refers to the way reading required something new from existing structure of the brain, only possible because of the "plasticity" referred to earlier.

Wolf describes how reading actually changes us. We interact with books, both making them our own (everyone reads a text in their own way), but we are also permanently changed by them. "We bring our life experiences to the text, and the text changes our experience of life". Whenever we read, our original boundaries are challenged, teased and gradually placed somewhere new. An expanding sense of "other" changes who we are.

The section on the development of alphabets and reading systems is fascinating. Different types of brain activity are needed to read say Mandarin Chinese than are required for the Western alphabet. The style of writing shapes the culture to a degree, and certainly changes the reading experience. "Learning to read changes the visual cortex of the brain. The expert readers visual areas are now populated with cell networks responsible for visual images of letters, letter patterns and words". The eye moves ahead with a Western text, but moves leftward with a Hebrew text, gathering advance information about the text before it even reaches it.

The section on dyslexia was less interesting to me, but no doubt with be of great interest to educators and parents of dyslexic children. I am sure however that these chapters fit well into the book as a whole because they do actually illustrate what happens when for most of us, reading works flawlessly.

For those, like me, who are interested in "books about books", and the reading process Proust and the Squid would be an excellent addition to their library, a book to refer back to and to re-read. It is a little difficult to take in all the scientific material about brain processes, but there is much of immediate interest, the more complex neuro-science being available for study at a later time.

The mystery behind being able to read (or not) explained., 18 Apr 2008
Maryanne Wolf provides a fascinating insight into how we learn to read and the amazing things our brain does to make it happen. She also gives a comprehensive explanation of all the things that can go wrong. We expect our children to master in a couple of thousand days (from scratch as our brains aren't wired for reading at birth) what it took humanity several thousand years to develop. An important book for parents, teachers and anyone interested in one of humanities main achievements.

Literary, Historical, Biological, Cognitive, and Futurist Insights into Reading, Creativity, and Brain Development, 05 Oct 2007
I was attracted to this book by the title: What could Proust and a Squid have in common? As it turned out, squids make only two cameo appearances in the book on pages 5-6 and 226 (probably to justify the title in references to the early use of squids in neuroscience studies and for conjecture about passing along genetic traits that make survival more difficult), but Proust in pretty mainstream throughout the book as a resource and reference for describing the richness that reading can bring to individual experience.

Professor Wolf has written a multidisciplinary book that is mind-boggling in its breadth. You'll learn everything from how writing and alphabets developed to why Socrates disfavored reading to how mental processes vary among dyslexics who are reading different languages to the best ways for diagnosing and overcoming reading difficulties.

Yet unlike most multidisciplinary books, this one is very brief and compact. But that compactness is misleading; Proust and the Squid is a challenging book to read and contemplate. Only good readers with a lot of background in literature and neuroscience can probably grasp this book. What's more, there are vast numbers of references that you can pursue if you want to know more.

The writing style makes the book denser than it needed to be. Professor Wolf makes matters worse for lay readers by insisting on the correct scientific names throughout, when the ordinary names would have made the material easier to grasp. As a result, at times you'll feel like you are taking a course in disciplinary vocabulary. At other times, Professor Wolf engages in a penchant for long, abstract sentences: "What is historically humbling about Sumerian writing and pedagogy is not their understanding of morphological principles, but their realization that the teaching of reading must begin with explicit attention to the principles characteristics of oral language." This sentence could be rewritten as "Most impressively, Sumerians developed a written language that made reading easier to learn by visually reproducing what was spoken." Obviously, her rendition is more creative . . . but I like mine better.

Here is what was new to me: Reading involves complex mental processes that are not natural to the brain's earliest functions. As a result, new neural connections need to be developed in the right order if someone is to be a good reader. Various brain scan tests have illuminated this finding and those neural pathways are well illustrated and described in this book. But there are different ways that those neural connections can be made, some of which will make reading difficult.

The book's strength is in providing you with a sense of how humans learned how to develop written language and read it rapidly . . . and gain greatly from reading. The book also is good in the area of making the case for those who can't read aren't deficient, rather than are different in ways that offer other potential advantages such as creativity. If someone in your family doesn't read well, you'll love that part of the message.

Where I thought the book was weakest was in worrying about the implications of highly condensed (and possibly inaccurate) online information substituting for traditional reading of books and articles. To me, it seemed like much ado about nothing. Human curiosity will always drive forward learning, something that Professor Wolf doesn't address. Provide that curiosity with more tools and resources, and more learning will take place. Here's an example. Today I was finishing my proofreading of my latest book. In the past, I had researchers diligently check each quotation for accuracy and source. Inevitably, there would be mistakes that weren't caught and made it into my books. By using the internet to crosscheck the sources this time, I was able to do the task much better and in less time . . . correcting many mistakes in the reference sources in my library. Having had this experience, I'll probably do more seeking of quotations directly from the internet in the future . . . and that will probably improve the quality of my quotations.

Bravo, Professor Wolf!

Excellent to help you child develop, 01 Nov 2008
I bought this book to help my struggling son with his phonics. He is in an independant learning group for support, so this was for me to help him at home and I'm glad I spent the money on it as it has helped no end.

There are lots of pages at the back for you to copy and give your child to do. There are lots of helpful hints and tips to encourage and help your child.



great for home education, 19 May 2008
I bought this book for my son who was very interested in letters and reading but was not really learning to read in nursery - i must say it's really really good. Great advice about how to approach teaching, lots of printables, colouring pages, things to stick in workbooks, tricky words - we had great fun, and very straight forward for people who're not professional teachers. This book has more than enough material that you won't need to buy anything else, but we liked it so much we bought the workbooks too.

I now use it with my second child and i'm looking to move up to the grammer handbook for my eldest.

Excellent, 22 Jan 2008
My son has just turned 4 and loves learning his letters now! This is a really easy way to teach the letter sounds with actions and then how to blend them together. I am proud to say he made the word SPIT from the first six letters he has learnt so far!

Fantastic book, 10 Oct 2007
My son is now in year 2 and honestly everything is only just falling into place. I bought this book earlier this year to help him with blended sounds and a few letters that he was still getting muddled with. There are so many activities and wonderful sheets in this book to use that he was unusually motivated. I have started right from the start with my other son who has just turned 3. He is already great with 's' and 'a' and I hope to very slowly go through the letter sounds part of the book in the 2 years before he goes to school.

Review for The Phonics Handbook, 28 May 2006
I started using this book at home with my daughter when she was about 3 years old. We both loved working our way through it although it didn't seem like work, it was fun! She is now five years old and is a very confident and fluent reader. When she comes across words she has not seen before is able to sound them out phonically thanks to the techniques in this book. This book is excellent and very simple for parents and children to work through together with games and exercises. Worth every penny!! You can use it at your own speed when you are working with your own children at home and the younger they are the easier it is. Together with lots and lots of story reading at home you can't fail. I can't recommend this highly enough!

Awsome!, 06 Nov 2008
I loved letterland and so did my daughter and I taught her the letters using their reading cards and CD (both of which I highly recommed). However, now that my daughter has started Reception I was looking for something else to stimulate her writing as well as her reading, which is coming along very nicely. After reading such positive comments on this Jolly Phonics product, I bought it and it just so happens that it is the same method they are using at her school to teach them the letter. She loves it as she recognises it all. A good way to complement at home, what she's learning at school. Also, it's a great way to get her to practice her writing and do it in short periods of time, broken up by the colouring, which she also enjoys. I also love the way they aid you into what to teach your children when, to gradually build up their reading more and more. A great buy!

Great addition to help at home, 01 Nov 2008
I bought these for my son to do as and when he wished. He struggles with his phonics and these have been a gem. He can pick them up and put them down when he feels yet he still knows where he was at and what he was doing, which is great.

They are simple enough for them to do independently which give them a bigger sense of achievement.

Brilliant!, 28 Oct 2008
My son isn't 4 yet and is already on book 4. He has started to read 3 letter words and loves learning with these books. It's good for me to refresh my own phonics! He loves it and loves doing the actions.

Both my girls love this product!, 26 Mar 2008
Although I bought this with my four yeat old in mind,My almost three year old has enjoyed the work books just as much ,and thanks to her older sister is already pointing out letter sounds in her everyday activity's. This prouduct, has I feel given my children a head start on the road to learning!

Excellent!, 22 Jan 2008
We have used these for our son, who has just turned 4, alongside the teachers handbook. These books allow him to practice writing the letters we have learnt. Most importantly he has a real motivation to do them and always wants to learn the next letter.
Hopefully he will be a bit ahead when he starts school in September!

I need help!, 12 Nov 2008
HI! I knew this method last year working at a school, but now I need the lyrics of the songs (although they're really easy) and I'm not sure if I can find them in this book.
Thanks in advance!

Entertaining and educational, 11 Nov 2008
I'm not a special advocate of 'teaching small children to read' but if they enjoy it you had better use same system they will meet in school later. My 3year and 5 month old loves this CD and book. She puts it on then sits with the book in front of her and reads the phonic sound in advance of each song and sings along with the song. Yes, the songs are short but that actually seems to be what is needed.

There are surprisingly few materials available that use the phonics systen that the children will meet in primary school, but this is one of them. The Mr. Men Alphabet Hunt is also good although the phonetic sounds are slightly different. Beware of CDs that say they use phonics but actually use the letter names (BEE CEE DEE) not the phonetic sound.

Great C.D. to accompany Jolly Phonics , 10 Nov 2008
This is a great resource to accompany the Jolly Phonics programme. The children enjoy learning a new song a day to compliment the new sound they have learned. The songs help to reinforce the sounds taught. I am a teacher and I use this C.D. in my teaching each day but I think it would be a good investment for parents of children who are learning Jolly Phonics at school.

A jolly good resource - but needs lots of repetition!, 04 Nov 2008
This collection of songs designed to accompany the 'Jolly Phonics' synthetic phonics scheme is a useful resource for teachers, classroom assistants and parents alike. The songs feature (largely) familiar tunes with a simple new lyric designed for each letter sound (as well as for combination sounds and a couple of 'revision' songs at the end of the collection). The collection is handy for adding another item to a teacher's resources supporting phonics-based learning and the accompanying CD gives clear examples of the target sounds being accurately used. The latter is invaluable for those wanting to support children's learning, but worried about 'getting it wrong'.

Although the CD gives clear examples of the songs in performance, this is perhaps best used for adults to accustom themselves to the songs or as a revision tool (unless you're prepared to make heavy use of the 'repeat' button on your CD player). The songs themselves are short - each one only seconds long. This isn't all bad, since they're easy for children to pick up, but does mean that the support for the 'next' letter-sound comes far too rapidly if you simply put the disc on to play.

Excellent for children in foundation learning, 03 Nov 2008
I have two children one is aged 18 months and one aged 4 1/2 and they both love the jolly phonics songs. Other people have posted that they are short but this is the beauty of it. You can play them in the car on repeat and they pick them up so quickly. Also the book that accompanies the CD helps parents to teach children the actions so that they remember the sounds. My son is about to start Jolly Phonics in school and this is the perfect tool for me to be able to aid that learning!!!!


A very good purchase!, 29 Nov 2007
I have been very keen to teach my son the letters of the alphabet but wanted to do it the right way. Having visited his school he will be attending next year, they do follow the Jolly phonics scheme and therefore these books have been great along with the work books. It's given me the confidence to teach and he has enjoyed the colourful pictures and tracing with his finger the letters. We are now moving on to book three after he has managed to read and write the letters in books one and two. Being a working parent and mum to a one year old aswell we are only able to do learning for an hour on a friday so these short to the point books are great. My husband also helps by going over a book for 5 mins at bedtime before reading a short story. It certainly has been a fun way to learn.

Very Useful, 04 Jul 2005
A very useful book. It shows parents which sounds and blends of words children learn from Reception and in which order to progress. Also helpful for spelling tests. If you are keen on helping your child with literacy at home this is a must even if you are not using the Jolly Phonics scheme.

jolly phonic workbooks, 22 Nov 2004
Brilliant help for my little boy who uses jolly phonics at school and was struggling a little. Im sure u would agree that help at home goes a long way and these books do just the trick.

A must have book, 30 Aug 2007
I love it! The children in my class love it!

It is full of literacy starters and games to get children thinking. It fits really well with the Ros Wilson 2020 / Big Writing and the Literacy Hour.

I wouldn't be without it.

A must for any teacher!, 23 Jun 2007
I have Jumpstart for over 3 years now and it has been invaluable in my Literacy planning. The games are split into sections, some are quick, others need more time - but all of the games are wonderful. My class has several firm favourites, and I have been particularly happy with the spelling games, of which many are now being played at the children's home whilst learning their spellings for the week. Jumpstart games can be applied to any year group and I would recommend it to any Teacher.

A good starting point, 03 Apr 2007
I've used a few of the activities in this book 'as they stand' and they have worked very well with my Y7-Y8 classes who are about Level 2 - Level 4.

I don't feel it is something you could refer to as an emergency 10 minutes before the lesson starts. I have to either incorporate the activities into schemes of work or refer to it the night before/morning.

Covers all range of literacy activities and is an excellent resource in that respect.

Handy for the classroom, 28 Nov 2006
This has been a great classroom tool. It is easy read and has some great ideas. Some of them you may have already thought of, but on those rainy days when your brain just isn't working, it's great to be able to flip through the pages and find an inspiring starter. Or, in some cases the inspiration for a greta lessons; there are some lovely writing workshop ideas included. Great for 7-14's. A must have for every teachers tool box.

Thoroughly Useful!, 22 Feb 2005
Suitable for upper KS2 and secondary level, this is a great collection of literacy starters and warm-up activites. Many of the activities and games could be adapted for KS1 and lower junior. Corbett covers virtually every aspect of sentence structure and language use in this gem. He is an inspiring writer and his ideas have really livened up the start of literacy lessons in my year 5 class.
Highly recommended!

An entertaining explanation of the reading process, 28 Jun 2008
In Proust and the Squid: The Story and Science of the Reading Brain, Maryanne Wolf, an expert on the reading brain, describes how our brains manage to read. Reading is not an innate activity, but it is an invention, and only a few thousand years old at that. It does not come naturally to humans in the way that walking or eating does and on the first page of this book, we learn that it is only because of the remarkable "plasticity" of our brains that we are able to achieve an understanding of the written word.

The book is divided into three parts. Firstly the history of how humans learned to read, secondly how reading is learned and how it develops, and thirdly what happens when in cases like dyslexia, something goes wrong in the "learning to read" process.

The reference to Proust in the title refers to passages from Proust's writings in which he describes the pleasure of reading, the memories that are evoked by thinking back to special books from childhood (how Proustian!), and the "reading sanctuary", that place of escape, a refuge from the world and its troubles. If Proust is a metaphor for a particular approach to reading, so the squid in the title refers to early neruo-scientific investigations of that creature which found how neurons fire and transmit to each other, adapting when things go wrong, repairing and compensating along the way. The squid analogy refers to the way reading required something new from existing structure of the brain, only possible because of the "plasticity" referred to earlier.

Wolf describes how reading actually changes us. We interact with books, both making them our own (everyone reads a text in their own way), but we are also permanently changed by them. "We bring our life experiences to the text, and the text changes our experience of life". Whenever we read, our original boundaries are challenged, teased and gradually placed somewhere new. An expanding sense of "other" changes who we are.

The section on the development of alphabets and reading systems is fascinating. Different types of brain activity are needed to read say Mandarin Chinese than are required for the Western alphabet. The style of writing shapes the culture to a degree, and certainly changes the reading experience. "Learning to read changes the visual cortex of the brain. The expert readers visual areas are now populated with cell networks responsible for visual images of letters, letter patterns and words". The eye moves ahead with a Western text, but moves leftward with a Hebrew text, gathering advance information about the text before it even reaches it.

The section on dyslexia was less interesting to me, but no doubt with be of great interest to educators and parents of dyslexic children. I am sure however that these chapters fit well into the book as a whole because they do actually illustrate what happens when for most of us, reading works flawlessly.

For those, like me, who are interested in "books about books", and the reading process Proust and the Squid would be an excellent addition to their library, a book to refer back to and to re-read. It is a little difficult to take in all the scientific material about brain processes, but there is much of immediate interest, the more complex neuro-science being available for study at a later time.

The mystery behind being able to read (or not) explained., 18 Apr 2008
Maryanne Wolf provides a fascinating insight into how we learn to read and the amazing things our brain does to make it happen. She also gives a comprehensive explanation of all the things that can go wrong. We expect our children to master in a couple of thousand days (from scratch as our brains aren't wired for reading at birth) what it took humanity several thousand years to develop. An important book for parents, teachers and anyone interested in one of humanities main achievements.

Literary, Historical, Biological, Cognitive, and Futurist Insights into Reading, Creativity, and Brain Development, 05 Oct 2007
I was attracted to this book by the title: What could Proust and a Squid have in common? As it turned out, squids make only two cameo appearances in the book on pages 5-6 and 226 (probably to justify the title in references to the early use of squids in neuroscience studies and for conjecture about passing along genetic traits that make survival more difficult), but Proust in pretty mainstream throughout the book as a resource and reference for describing the richness that reading can bring to individual experience.

Professor Wolf has written a multidisciplinary book that is mind-boggling in its breadth. You'll learn everything from how writing and alphabets developed to why Socrates disfavored reading to how mental processes vary among dyslexics who are reading different languages to the best ways for diagnosing and overcoming reading difficulties.

Yet unlike most multidisciplinary books, this one is very brief and compact. But that compactness is misleading; Proust and the Squid is a challenging book to read and contemplate. Only good readers with a lot of background in literature and neuroscience can probably grasp this book. What's more, there are vast numbers of references that you can pursue if you want to know more.

The writing style makes the book denser than it needed to be. Professor Wolf makes matters worse for lay readers by insisting on the correct scientific names throughout, when the ordinary names would have made the material easier to grasp. As a result, at times you'll feel like you are taking a course in disciplinary vocabulary. At other times, Professor Wolf engages in a penchant for long, abstract sentences: "What is historically humbling about Sumerian writing and pedagogy is not their understanding of morphological principles, but their realization that the teaching of reading must begin with explicit attention to the principles characteristics of oral language." This sentence could be rewritten as "Most impressively, Sumerians developed a written language that made reading easier to learn by visually reproducing what was spoken." Obviously, her rendition is more creative . . . but I like mine better.

Here is what was new to me: Reading involves complex mental processes that are not natural to the brain's earliest functions. As a result, new neural connections need to be developed in the right order if someone is to be a good reader. Various brain scan tests have illuminated this finding and those neural pathways are well illustrated and described in this book. But there are different ways that those neural connections can be made, some of which will make reading difficult.

The book's strength is in providing you with a sense of how humans learned how to develop written language and read it rapidly . . . and gain greatly from reading. The book also is good in the area of making the case for those who can't read aren't deficient, rather than are different in ways that offer other potential advantages such as creativity. If someone in your family doesn't read well, you'll love that part of the message.

Where I thought the book was weakest was in worrying about the implications of highly condensed (and possibly inaccurate) online information substituting for traditional reading of books and articles. To me, it seemed like much ado about nothing. Human curiosity will always drive forward learning, something that Professor Wolf doesn't address. Provide that curiosity with more tools and resources, and more learning will take place. Here's an example. Today I was finishing my proofreading of my latest book. In the past, I had researchers diligently check each quotation for accuracy and source. Inevitably, there would be mistakes that weren't caught and made it into my books. By using the internet to crosscheck the sources this time, I was able to do the task much better and in less time . . . correcting many mistakes in the reference sources in my library. Having had this experience, I'll probably do more seeking of quotations directly from the internet in the future . . . and that will probably improve the quality of my quotations.

Bravo, Professor Wolf!

Excellent to help you child develop, 01 Nov 2008
I bought this book to help my struggling son with his phonics. He is in an independant learning group for support, so this was for me to help him at home and I'm glad I spent the money on it as it has helped no end.

There are lots of pages at the back for you to copy and give your child to do. There are lots of helpful hints and tips to encourage and help your child.



great for home education, 19 May 2008
I bought this book for my son who was very interested in letters and reading but was not really learning to read in nursery - i must say it's really really good. Great advice about how to approach teaching, lots of printables, colouring pages, things to stick in workbooks, tricky words - we had great fun, and very straight forward for people who're not professional teachers. This book has more than enough material that you won't need to buy anything else, but we liked it so much we bought the workbooks too.

I now use it with my second child and i'm looking to move up to the grammer handbook for my eldest.

Excellent, 22 Jan 2008
My son has just turned 4 and loves learning his letters now! This is a really easy way to teach the letter sounds with actions and then how to blend them together. I am proud to say he made the word SPIT from the first six letters he has learnt so far!

Fantastic book, 10 Oct 2007
My son is now in year 2 and honestly everything is only just falling into place. I bought this book earlier this year to help him with blended sounds and a few letters that he was still getting muddled with. There are so many activities and wonderful sheets in this book to use that he was unusually motivated. I have started right from the start with my other son who has just turned 3. He is already great with 's' and 'a' and I hope to very slowly go through the letter sounds part of the book in the 2 years before he goes to school.

Review for The Phonics Handbook, 28 May 2006
I started using this book at home with my daughter when she was about 3 years old. We both loved working our way through it although it didn't seem like work, it was fun! She is now five years old and is a very confident and fluent reader. When she comes across words she has not seen before is able to sound them out phonically thanks to the techniques in this book. This book is excellent and very simple for parents and children to work through together with games and exercises. Worth every penny!! You can use it at your own speed when you are working with your own children at home and the younger they are the easier it is. Together with lots and lots of story reading at home you can't fail. I can't recommend this highly enough!

Not that great!!, 06 Aug 2008
I was keen to buy a book that would help my three year to not only learn the letters of the alphabet but to also learn the sounds using phonics as well. I thought buying this book would help. Instead, I found the characters dry and the plot of each story tiresome.

Each sound has the letter written in black and white with arrows showing the way the word is to be written, which is helpful. Then in the margin, there are examples of words to match the letter sounds- but they are tiny. Hard to see let alone read. And I don't mean to be petty but the pictures look more freakish then cute.

It was really difficult trying to get my daughter to sit and read the book, because she simply was not interested in the stories or characters whatsoever!


Fantastic with the Phonics Handbook, 24 Jun 2008
I bought this along with the Phonics Handbook to help my daughter learn to read. We live in Brasil so she attends school in Portugese and at 6 was struggling with reading because she was confusing the English sounds with Portugese ones. This whole scheme is fantastic I cannot believe how quickly it has improved her reading and writing. This book is an excellent addition as it is divided into 6 seperate stories, each story introduces a different sound per page in the same order as the Phonics Handbook so you can read a page then do the photocopy sheet that matches the story exactly from the Handbook, my daughter really looks forward to seeing what will happen next in the story and what sound it will introduce. All the other things the earlier reviewers say are also 100% accurate, i.e. fantastic illustrations, sturdy quality etc, but buy it with the Handbook or if your child is doing Jolly Phonics at school and you will get so much more out of it.

Jolly Stories, 24 Feb 2008
This is a lovely book, sturdy pages, colourful and several activities on each page as well as the story relating to the letter sounds. This includes a raised letter for the child to 'trace' over with their finger. We have a Jolly phonics video and the letters in the book follow the same pattern. My 3 1/2 year old loves this book! Would recommend as an introduction to phonics

Absolutely Gorgeous Book From Jolly Phonics, 24 Nov 2007
This book is a pleasure to use and read. It is packed with so much in fabulous full colour pictures. The pages are sturdy, so young ones learning those early sounds can be left alone with it too. There are things to find in the pictures and other activities on each page. There is an excellent 'how to use this book' page in the front too. It's a treasure. Love it.

Awsome!, 06 Nov 2008
I loved letterland and so did my daughter and I taught her the letters using their reading cards and CD (both of which I highly recommed). However, now that my daughter has started Reception I was looking for something else to stimulate her writing as well as her reading, which is coming along very nicely. After reading such positive comments on this Jolly Phonics product, I bought it and it just so happens that it is the same method they are using at her school to teach them the letter. She loves it as she recognises it all. A good way to complement at home, what she's learning at school. Also, it's a great way to get her to practice her writing and do it in short periods of time, broken up by the colouring, which she also enjoys. I also love the way they aid you into what to teach your children when, to gradually build up their reading more and more. A great buy!

Great addition to help at home, 01 Nov 2008
I bought these for my son to do as and when he wished. He struggles with his phonics and these have been a gem. He can pick them up and put them down when he feels yet he still knows where he was at and what he was doing, which is great.

They are simple enough for them to do independently which give them a bigger sense of achievement.

Brilliant!, 28 Oct 2008
My son isn't 4 yet and is already on book 4. He has started to read 3 letter words and loves learning with these books. It's good for me to refresh my own phonics! He loves it and loves doing the actions.

Both my girls love this product!, 26 Mar 2008
Although I bought this with my four yeat old in mind,My almost three year old has enjoyed the work books just as much ,and thanks to her older sister is already pointing out letter sounds in her everyday activity's. This prouduct, has I feel given my children a head start on the road to learning!

Excellent!, 22 Jan 2008
We have used these for our son, who has just turned 4, alongside the teachers handbook. These books allow him to practice writing the letters we have learnt. Most importantly he has a real motivation to do them and always wants to learn the next letter.
Hopefully he will be a bit ahead when he starts school in September!

I need help!, 12 Nov 2008
HI! I knew this method last year working at a school, but now I need the lyrics of the songs (although they're really easy) and I'm not sure if I can find them in this book.
Thanks in advance!

Entertaining and educational, 11 Nov 2008
I'm not a special advocate of 'teaching small children to read' but if they enjoy it you had better use same system they will meet in school later. My 3year and 5 month old loves this CD and book. She puts it on then sits with the book in front of her and reads the phonic sound in advance of each song and sings along with the song. Yes, the songs are short but that actually seems to be what is needed.

There are surprisingly few materials available that use the phonics systen that the children will meet in primary school, but this is one of them. The Mr. Men Alphabet Hunt is also good although the phonetic sounds are slightly different. Beware of CDs that say they use phonics but actually use the letter names (BEE CEE DEE) not the phonetic sound.

Great C.D. to accompany Jolly Phonics , 10 Nov 2008
This is a great resource to accompany the Jolly Phonics programme. The children enjoy learning a new song a day to compliment the new sound they have learned. The songs help to reinforce the sounds taught. I am a teacher and I use this C.D. in my teaching each day but I think it would be a good investment for parents of children who are learning Jolly Phonics at school.

A jolly good resource - but needs lots of repetition!, 04 Nov 2008
This collection of songs designed to accompany the 'Jolly Phonics' synthetic phonics scheme is a useful resource for teachers, classroom assistants and parents alike. The songs feature (largely) familiar tunes with a simple new lyric designed for each letter sound (as well as for combination sounds and a couple of 'revision' songs at the end of the collection). The collection is handy for adding another item to a teacher's resources supporting phonics-based learning and the accompanying CD gives clear examples of the target sounds being accurately used. The latter is invaluable for those wanting to support children's learning, but worried about 'getting it wrong'.

Although the CD gives clear examples of the songs in performance, this is perhaps best used for adults to accustom themselves to the songs or as a revision tool (unless you're prepared to make heavy use of the 'repeat' button on your CD player). The songs themselves are short - each one only seconds long. This isn't all bad, since they're easy for children to pick up, but does mean that the support for the 'next' letter-sound comes far too rapidly if you simply put the disc on to play.

Excellent for children in foundation learning, 03 Nov 2008
I have two children one is aged 18 months and one aged 4 1/2 and they both love the jolly phonics songs. Other people have posted that they are short but this is the beauty of it. You can play them in the car on repeat and they pick them up so quickly. Also the book that accompanies the CD helps parents to teach children the actions so that they remember the sounds. My son is about to start Jolly Phonics in school and this is the perfect tool for me to be able to aid that learning!!!!


A very good purchase!, 29 Nov 2007
I have been very keen to teach my son the letters of the alphabet but wanted to do it the right way. Having visited his school he will be attending next year, they do follow the Jolly phonics scheme and therefore these books have been great along with the work books. It's given me the confidence to teach and he has enjoyed the colourful pictures and tracing with his finger the letters. We are now moving on to book three after he has managed to read and write the letters in books one and two. Being a working parent and mum to a one year old aswell we are only able to do learning for an hour on a friday so these short to the point books are great. My husband also helps by going over a book for 5 mins at bedtime before reading a short story. It certainly has been a fun way to learn.

Very Useful, 04 Jul 2005
A very useful book. It shows parents which sounds and blends of words children learn from Reception and in which order to progress. Also helpful for spelling tests. If you are keen on helping your child with literacy at home this is a must even if you are not using the Jolly Phonics scheme.

jolly phonic workbooks, 22 Nov 2004
Brilliant help for my little boy who uses jolly phonics at school and was struggling a little. Im sure u would agree that help at home goes a long way and these books do just the trick.

A must have book, 30 Aug 2007
I love it! The children in my class love it!

It is full of literacy starters and games to get children thinking. It fits really well with the Ros Wilson 2020 / Big Writing and the Literacy Hour.

I wouldn't be without it.

A must for any teacher!, 23 Jun 2007
I have Jumpstart for over 3 years now and it has been invaluable in my Literacy planning. The games are split into sections, some are quick, others need more time - but all of the games are wonderful. My class has several firm favourites, and I have been particularly happy with the spelling games, of which many are now being played at the children's home whilst learning their spellings for the week. Jumpstart games can be applied to any year group and I would recommend it to any Teacher.

A good starting point, 03 Apr 2007
I've used a few of the activities in this book 'as they stand' and they have worked very well with my Y7-Y8 classes who are about Level 2 - Level 4.