Zoo-Phonics Review & Giveaway

Oct 13th, 2008 | By Karin | Category: Giveaways, Reviews

** The winner is Rachel Harris of Keep the Way.

In traditional school much emphasis is spent on learning the “letter of the week” in kindergarten, but as any homeschool mother will tell you, it doesn’t take a week to learn the alphabet and you don’t have to wait until kindergarten! If you agree with this notion and you either have a preschooler or an older child ready to begin learning to read you should consider the Zoo-Phonics program.

The essence of Zoo-Phonics is:

1.) Animals are drawn in the shape of lowercase letters to help children remember the shapes of the letter. The alliterative names of the animals teach the letter sounds.

2.) Letter sounds are taught before letter names.

3.) Lowercase letters are taught before capital letters.

4.) The body movement for each animal letter appeals to kinesthetic learners and helps cement the phonemic information into memory.

5.) The alphabet is taught sequentially and as a whole—not fragmented.

6.) Short vowels are taught before long vowels.

7.) Phonemic patterns (at, bat, fat, sat, etc) are taught first rather than a random list of words (of, it, then, was, etc.)

8.) HIgh frequency words are taught phonemically, not by sight.

9.) Phonics is taught as an integrated part of the language process.

Zoo-Phonics offers Basic Kits and Zoo-Per Packages that cover preschool to First Grade. The product line is extensive and is also available ala carte. Obviously the packages offer the most savings and you may purchase larger packages on an installment plan.

Materials available in packages or ala carte include:

Zoo-Phonics Adventures in Learning Preschool Teaching Manual
Perfect for mothers who may feel overwhelmed and prefer all the lessons laid out for them. Includes:

*Lesson plans for Pre-reading/spelling/writing skills as well as Adventuresome Kids Manual on CD that integrates art, math, music, science, drama, PE, social studies, cooking/nutrition and more—-all taught phonemically!

*Extensive literature lists are also included to accompany each of the lessons as well as teacher’s resources and audio/video/music selections.

*Blackline masters and assessment tests

Zoo-Readers
Available in 3 reading levels that include short sentences or stories about each animal in the Zoo-Phonics lineup (A-Z).

Level 1: Allie Alligator has an ant as a pal
Level 2: Allie Alligator has lots and lots of pals
Level 3:Allie Alligator. A plum hits Allie Alligator. The plum is big.

Colored Mini Book Sets
Include 29 titles. Each mini book has 4 pages of colorful fun stories with simple vocabulary for beginning readers. The vocabulary is controlled using vowel-constonant (VC), Constonant-Vowel-Consonant (CVC), and short vowel signs. These books truly are fun for beginning readers with entertaining text and illustrations that my boys enjoyed…particularly in book 3.

Yancy Yak can Rap
Yancy Yak can rap. Yancy Yak can bat. But can Yak nap? Yak cannot nap yet!

A-Z Magnets
Can be used on a magnet board or with a cookie sheet.
Students can spell words or use it with the Alphabet Grid

Signal Practice Video
Although the movements are included in the Teacher’s Guide if you are a visual learner you will appreciate the 30-minute video that walks you through how to practice the signals, long vowels, diphthongs, silent letters, and soft sound signals. Also shows children from preschool through Jr. High using the program in a classroom setting.

Beginning Sound Flash Cards- Blends and Digraphs
Teaches blends and digraphs using the zoo-phonic characters. Also included is instructions, teaching tips, and pre and post tests. The front of the cards have the grapheme/phoneme to be signaled and sounded and on the backside of each card is a cue word and senance for the student to memorize.

bl= bl as in blot. Blot the black blob.

Large Animal Alphabet Cards are available in Capital and lower case letters. On the front is the animal picture letter and on the back is the merged animal/Letter. Vowels have a “hardest worker hard hat” icon.

Because the program is geared towards young children and built around fun, it also includes several games that help reinforce learning in an entertaining way. Your children will no doubt enjoy playing the games during their school time and associate reading with fun.

Zoo-Bingo
Includes a packet of 30 double-faced cards with caller’s card. Cards have animals on one side and merged animal/letter on the other side so they can be played with at any level and younger students can play along with older students using their own level side of the card.

Gordo Gorilla’s Banana party
Is a signal/sound reinforcement game for 2 to 6 players or teams. Children move around the game board to get to Gordo’s birthday. Along the way they can collect bananas to bring to the party but they have to avoid the hazards along the way too.

3 in 1 game A-Z
Using this deck of 53 Zoo-Phonics picture cards you can play Old Maid, Zoo-Fish, and Zoo-Memory.

Considerations:
This program involves a commitment on the part of the parent/instructor as the hand signals must be consistent and involve some time to learn.

Although the picture cards have been updated, some (umber umbrella bird, inny inchworm) of them may be initially confusing unless you introduce them as outlined. The program calls for you to teach SOUNDS first (using only the picture card), then the merged picture/letter cards to teach letter shapes, and then finally the letter name. Jumping around the program will lead to confusion for both you and your student.

The Zoo-Phonics 2009-2010 catalog is available online or by calling 1.800.622.8104. You may also to register to win additional prizes in Zoo-Phonics quarterly drawing (next drawing December 2008).

Zoo-Phonics has graciously donated one Kindergarten Kit (over $299 value) to a lucky Heart of the Matter homeschooling family.

Here’s how you can win the Kindergarten Kit:

Write a blog post about the giveaway that includes: why you would like to use the Zoophonics program in your homeschool, the ages of your children, and what your favorite features of the program are. Leave your link in the comment section.

This contest will be closed Friday, October 17th at 10pm EST and the winner will be announced on Sunday in our new weekly newsletter. You can sign up by entering your email address in over in the right sidebar. As always please make sure you leave your email address or that it is clearly listed on your profile or blog. If we can’t email you, you can’t win.

Karin Katherine is a proud stay-at-home mother of four who feels blessed to be the mother of 5 year old fraternal twin boys and two daughters, ages three and 4 months. As someone who never changed a diaper until she had children, Karin is surprised by the fact that she has been changing diapers for the past 5 years straight with no end in sight! As the 7th of 8 children, Karin feels blessed by her average size (in her mind anyway) family and wouldn’t mind a few more– God willing and her husband notwithstanding. Her biggest homeschooling dream is to one day homeschool across the United States in an RV. Please visit her new blogs Mommy Matters and Passport Academy.

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17 comments
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Sara October 15th, 2008 9:21 am :
This would be great for my 4 year old (and1 year old). They both love animals. Please enter me. Thanks.
Rachel @keep the way October 16th, 2008 4:42 pm :
Thank you for this awesome contest! My post is here: http://keeptheway-christianacademy.blogspot.com/2008/10/zoo-phonics-heart-of-matter-giveaway.html

Blessings!
Rachel
Chari Arecco-Tate October 16th, 2008 11:19 pm :
I love the concept! I think kids remember more if they relate a material to something they like… such as animals!
I would love to have it for my one-year old. I’m already showing him alphabet cards but the zoo-phonics alphabet cards seem much better.
Stephanie October 17th, 2008 6:08 am :
Zoophonics looks like the kind of program I have been looking for! My three year old loves reading and is very eager to learn her letters. I would love to have a program laid out to help me achieve this for her. She also loves animals (right now when she grows up she is going to be a farmer and vet LOL!) so I think zoo-phonics would make learning really fun for her. Thanks for sharing this!
Rebecca October 17th, 2008 6:41 am :
My 2 girls are 2 and 3 with birthdays right aroung the corner. We have been working on letter sounds for quite awhile now and use quite afew animal references already. (d=dog, c=cat, etc.) They just love to learn using animal sounds/references. Thank you so much for the offer and the chance to win!
Janelle October 17th, 2008 8:36 am :
I have a 3-1/2 year old daughter and a baby son. This looks like a great program for them. Count me in for anything that helps develop good reading skills early on. Posted about the contest here:
http://brimfulcuriosities.blogspot.com/2008/10/to-homeschool-or-not-to-homeschool.html
Tami October 17th, 2008 10:26 am :
I wrote about your contest on my blog:

http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/Tami/606125/

Thanks! Tami
Julia J October 17th, 2008 2:07 pm :
Please enter me in your drawing. This program looks awesome! I love the visual letters, and spelling words using both the letters and animals together. What a great idea!

Julia
Melissa M October 17th, 2008 2:43 pm :
I would love to use this program with my precocious four year old, and share with other homeschooling friends! It sounds fantastic and fun! My daughter Allie, who is sometimes called allie-gator, would LOVE to read about Allie Alligator!!! She also loves to play any kind of cards, and love to learn so this would be perfect for her! I like that it’s sutiable for various levels. Please enter me!! Thank you!!
Melissa
Jody Robertson October 17th, 2008 4:00 pm :
Greetings! I am beyond excited about this contest! I am not familiar with this line, but am very intrigued… I am a [new] homeschooler and am very excited about it. We are enjoying it already. I have a 4-year-old and another younger child who would have fun, while learning from this product! I cannot afford to buy a curriculum yet and we are actively looking for multi-sensory media to compliment our home library (mostly Usborne Books). I am an advocate/encourager for literacy… learning to read as soon as possible is vital, then keeping children reading is equally important. I did not grow up with a zeal for reading :-(. I now see the impact this has had over the years. I believe that the more senses that are involved in learning, the more successful the process will be (in most cases). This program is very appealing. In fact, my child is here now and seems very interested! I’d love the chance to try this out with my kids! I am a member of several homeschool groups that would also benefit from this. And finally, Lord-willing, I am hoping to open a leanirng lab soon (just need paint, shelves, etc.)… this would be perfect for our personal use as well as sharing with other children. In short… this woudl be the main course for the [small] side dishes we already have.
Practical Homeschooling October 17th, 2008 5:15 pm :
[...] of the Matter Online is having a GIVEAWAYfor the Zoo-Phonics [...]
Laura October 17th, 2008 5:19 pm :
This looks really awesome! (And I’m usually REALLY picky about phonics programs!) Anyhow, I appreciate you being able to offer this giveaway and my post is here:
http://practical-homeschooling.org/2008/10/zoo-phonics-giveaway/
Thanks!
peggy butler October 17th, 2008 10:06 pm :
I would love for my grandaughters, 2 and soon to be 4, to have this extraordinary tool. There mom Rachel, is a dedicated homeschooling mom and is committed to quality education. With Christmas and both their birthdays right around the corner, November and January… this would be the perfect gift.

Thanks !
Connie October 18th, 2008 8:19 am :
I am new to home schooling, I mean new within the past couple weeks! I have a developmentally delayed 5 year old boy and a 3 year old girl, a 7 year old gir. My 16 year old girl attends public school. Boy have they grown a lot since we’ve started home schooling. Others can see it too! I will always support home schooling in any way possible.

Finances at our house are extremely tight right now. We still have our old house for sale in another state and living in our new house. The old house has been for sale for over 2 years now! Therefore my curriculum is a little of this and a little of that., mostly borrowed! This would be such a wonderful addition, something that is actually ours, not borrowed. When we finish with it, I would gladly donate to someone else in need.

I’ve never heard of this program until today. How my children would grow and develop significantly using this awesome program. I love the cute animal pictures, so would they! My children love animals and would be eager to do this multi-sensory program just based on that.

I actually created my very first blog just to enter this promotion! This program is so awesome!

I will pray about this, thanks for the opportunity.

Blessings
Rachel October 18th, 2008 10:15 am :
Thanks for offering the giveaway! http://keeptheway-christianacademy.blogspot.com/2008/10/zoo-phonics-heart-of-matter-giveaway.html
kelly October 18th, 2008 10:51 am :
what a neat program…I am a Montessori teacher and I know my children would love to work with this!
Please enter me in the drawing-
Thanks! Kelly
Angie October 19th, 2008 8:10 am :
What a super program! I am new to homeschooling my almost 4 y/o and I was so worried how I would teach phonics when it was time. This looks great! Please enter me as well Thanks Angie