The First Phonics Readers were designed to build my son’s confidence as he was first learning to combine letter sounds.  It seems that all too often, the (wonderful) phonics readers out there jump into three-letter-word sentences.  I wanted to create a set of books that he could be successful reading!

What are the First Phonics Readers?

The First Phonics Readers will not overwhelm your child; there is little text and a sweet picture on each page.  These first phonics readers will give your child the confidence to begin reading. Each little page includes an exciting picture, so there is assistance for children who need a extra support. I hope these little books will boost confidence and excitement and will act as a beginning step towards success in reading.

These little books {there are 10 in all) are the perfect First Phonics Reader any child, ages 3 to 6.  Every child learns at a different pace, so it’s important to not push reading before the child is ready, able, and eager to begin reading.  These small books, with very vibrant images, will introduce letter sounds, and beginning letter blends.  Each page in our First Phonics Readers features one word, or partial word, with a vibrant image.  They each introduce only 3 or 4 letter sounds at a time, so beginning readers don’t feel overwhelmed.

For example, after being introduced to the letter Vv, your child will see a picture of a volcano and see:

Vv

vol

My son needed to start reading very, very slow.  Only one word at a time.  Sentences are too overwhelming for him.  

The First Phonics Readers move very slowly.  They are perfect for children who know their sounds, but aren’t yet ready to read a book that begin with too many words or short sentences, such as:  “The cat sat. Mat sat.”

This is too much text for beginning readers, or at least it is for my five year old son.  I am finding great success with one picture and one phoneme or word per page with him.  He is gaining confidence through our little books, and that is more than I could hope for!

You can read more about our First Phonics Readers and take a look at Book 1 here.

I own many, many phonics readers sets, and they are wonderful, but also they can be too full of words or sentences or stories.  He just needs very simple right now.  Easy and simple, to sound out phonetically, and to boost confidence in his abilities!

Each or the 10 First Phonics Reader books contain:

• each book contains 14 pages
• a beginning review page focusing on the 3-4 letter sounds from the previous book
• a list of letter sounds that are used in each of the 10 books
• vibrant illustrations to give your child a picture clue while reading
• large font to help your child focus on the text
• words that are only 1-3 letters long
• two irregular patterns are introduced in the readers: ck in “duck” and ll in “will”
• a few pages have short sentences, to build confidence, such as “Sit Dan.” and “I can.”
• only two sight words are introduced in this set: the, I

Book 7 introduces letters:

Jj

Xx

Zz

Here are some sample pages of the First Phonics Readers Book 7.  The first page is a review of vowels. The rest of the pages introduce new letters and reinforce the previous letters already learned.

Book 8 introduces letters:

Vv

Qu

Yy

Book 9 includes:

All letters are reviewed with three letter c – v – c words such as “gum” and “wet.”

Book 10 includes:

All letters with a few very simple sentences such as  “I am Jan” and “I can.”

How to create your phonics books….

1. Simply print them out, there are two book pages per sheet. (You may also choose to print out two sheets per page, so four pages can fit on one page.)
2. Then, I simply cut them and put two staples down the left hand side.  (I made the margins a bit thicker so you could fit two staples down the left side.)

You can see my first post about the set of 10 First Phonics Readers here.

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More Early Reading Suggestions:

After these books are confidently read with your child, I strongly recommend:

Learning to Read with Living Books

5 Ways to Improve Your Child’s Language Development

What is Phonological Awareness?

10 Phonics Readers for Early Reading

5 Ideas for Teaching Early Reading without Overwhelming Beginning Readers

Using the Montessori Moveable Alphabet

3 Important Skills Needed for Early Reading