Fast Phonics is for K–2 and is designed for emergent and early readers and older children with gaps in their core reading knowledge. The program is also highly beneficial for English Language Learners (ELL and ESL).
Fast Phonics has 20 levels and each level is presented as a mountain peak. A peak covers one set of letters thoroughly with more than 20 activities.
Each Fast Phonics peak is organised into parts called stones. A stone is a video or interactive learning activity. There are also books to read which come with their own quizzes and each peak concludes with an end-of peak quiz. Children complete stones at their own pace.
ABC Reading Eggs teaches children to learn to read using the five essential elements of reading instruction: phonemic awareness, phonics instruction, vocabulary, fluency and comprehension. Fast Phonics takes the phonemic awareness and phonics components found in ABC Reading Eggs and goes even deeper. It offers sequenced lessons focused specifically on synthetic phonics. Teachers whose reading instruction is focused on phonics will find Fast Phonics a good match for their students. Fast Phonics can also be used alongside ABC Reading Eggs to ensure students have a thorough and deep understanding of the phonics needed to help them become lifelong learners.
Beginning readers and older children with gaps in their core knowledge need lots of regular practise identifying phonemes (sounds) and learning to blend these sounds together to read words. This key skill is introduced in Peak 1 and progress in Fast Phonics is fast paced. We recommend that learners start at Peak 1 so that these key skills are reinforced and mastered with each set of new phonemes.
The ability to move your child/students progress will be available in August 2020.
Fast Phonics was first released in July 2020 and includes:
Student Experience
Teachers
Parents
Students earn Yeti coins and gems for the letter sounds and words they learn.
In the Progress Area, students can see the letter sounds and words in each peak they have mastered and the average score in each end of Peak Test.
Teachers can print out certificates in colour or b&w for students.
In each peak, 2 treasure chests are unlocked which give students upgrades to their Yeti home.
Delightful child friendly learning environment, with Yeti character accompanied by ‘furballs.’ Elements of humour and surprise throughout. Calm music to aid focus.
Feeling of achievement – shown in My Progress area and with constant positive feedback. Memorable videos to support learning letter sounds and other key concepts.
Beautifully illustrated books, which students will discover they ‘can’ read. Many featuring pets and themes that young learners will enjoy.
Alignment to Letters and Sounds (UK).
Assess to student version for demo in class.
Wealth of printables to support offline learning.
Idea for students to use at home to secure phonics knowledge and apply to reading phonetically decodable books.
Support parents, enabling them to support their child in learning to read, using the strategy followed in school.
An alignment document in Quick Links – User guides outlines the correlation between these books and Letters & Sounds.
Teachers can assign the books – through ABC Reading Eggspress Assignments to pupils.
Parents need to be aware that the books will show as an assignment in REX, allowing the student to continue to work independently in Fast Phonics, and work through the book with an adult.
Parents can visit the library with their child and can explore the Phonics readers with their child.
Teachers can choose to use the four areas of their class’s ABC Reading Eggs subscription flexibly, in ways which work best for their learners. For ABC Reding Eggs and ABC Reading Eggspress, a Placement test will place students at the correct starting point within the program.
Suggested journey through the programs:
ABC Reading Eggs – our core program for students learning to read using the 5 pillars of Reading: phonemic awareness, phonics, vocabulary, fluency and comprehension skills.
Fast Phonics – our Systematic Synthetic Phonics program, aligned to Letters and Sounds with fully decodable books. Fast Phonics reinforces and extends students’ phonics skills beyond what is taught in ABC Reading Eggs.
ABC Reading Eggspress – for students in Years/grades 2-6, this sequenced program focuses on reading comprehension skills as well as building vocabulary, spelling and reading fluency.
Library – over 4,000 books for all reading levels where children can search for books of their choice by fiction, nonfiction, topic, genre, and author. All books include quizzes and can be assigned to students.