Reading Games with Ziggy the Zebra

All About Reading Pre-reading Deluxe

The All About Reading Pre-reading Deluxe set is a perfect first step toward learning how to read. Designed for young learners in preschool through kindergarten, All About Reading Pre-reading builds a solid foundation for later reading by teaching five essential skills:

• Print Awareness (understanding how books work).
• Phonological Awareness (understanding how sounds form words).
• Letter Knowledge (learning uppercase and lowercase letters).
• Listening Comprehension (understanding stories).
• Motivation to Read (developing an enthusiasm for reading).

This is accomplished through fun short stories such as "Calico cats crunch cookies and candy," letter-based art projects, and the included simple games. Even such thorough learning feels like play.

Note: Teaching more than one student at a time? Either order additional Activity Books for each student or photocopy the pages as allowed for family use in the copyright. The student pages in the Activity Book are perforated, making them convenient to tear out and use or photocopy. 

Reading Games with Ziggy the Zebra

Reading Games with Ziggy the Zebra is a supplemental product used with All About Reading Level 1. This full-color book with perforated pages features nine file-folder games that reinforce the skills taught in All About Reading Level 1. Your student will practice important concepts like blending, counting syllables, and recognizing vowels and consonants and will have ample opportunity to review the Phonogram and Word Cards from the All About Reading program.

If you have previously used All About Reading Pre-Reading, the Ziggy puppet makes an enjoyable accompaniment to this book. (If you haven't bought AAR Pre-Reading and don't own the plush Ziggy puppet, don't despair! A paper cutout of Ziggy is included in the book, and you can paste his likeness onto a file folder and prop him up to play along.)

Ziggy travels to each continent and practices his reading skills. Your child and Ziggy go to each continent and outer space, too! The book includes a map so your child can keep track of the places visited. When you are done playing, store the instructions and game pieces in the front pocket provided in the book. You can store your reading games in a file drawer, between two bookends on a bookshelf, or in a plastic storage bin. Your kids will want to take them out again and again!

All About Reading

All About Reading (AAR) is the multisensory, mastery-based program you've heard about. Suitable for all ages and with activities that benefit all learning styles, AAR teaches phonics, decoding, fluency, and comprehension in a fun and engaging way. 

Moving at a gentler pace than other more intense reading programs, with AAR, only one new concept is taught at a time. Their precept-upon-precept program works with all kids, and AAR's built-in review system helps the learning stick. 

Based on the Orton-Gillingham Approach, 97% of English words can be learned according to phonetic rules, leaving only 3% as sight words. The progressive introduction of letters introduces vowels with consonants in a way that will allow your child to begin reading almost immediately. We particularly like how AAR integrates phonics instruction and phonics readers into a single comprehensive program, so they correlate directly with each other. 

And you will be thrilled to know that no prior training is needed. AAR has lightly scripted and illustrated "open and go" lessons that make your job easy and stress-free. 

Lessons are taught in short, manageable chunks. The author recommends students spend no more than 20 minutes a day learning to read, plus another 20 listening to a read-aloud. 

The student activity books add variety to the lessons and provide additional support. The phonetic readers are the best we have ever seen – beautifully illustrated hardcover books with finely detailed full-color drawings. The complete AAR program consists of five levels, from PreK through third grade.

Note: If you are teaching more than one student at a time, you will want to either order additional Activity Books for each student, or photocopy each page as allowed for family use in the copyright. The student pages in the Activity Book are perforated, making them convenient to tear out and use or photocopy. If you are reusing the package with future students, you will also want the consumable progress chart and certificate of achievement, which are available as free downloads.