PCDS ZOO-PHONICS CURRICULUM

At PCDS we use the Zoo-phonics program to teach students the alphabet and letter sounds. This unique program teaches phonemic awareness through a whole brain approach--hearing (audio), seeing (visual), speaking (oral), moving (kinesthetic), and touching (tactile). Animals are used to draw each letter of the alphabet which makes it easier for children to remember; along with the alphabet being drawn with animals, there are also body signals for each letter.

 

Our students will be introduced to this program starting in the 2's classroom! We believe this is an effective and developmentally appropriate way to teach phonemic awareness, and we are looking forward to seeing the growth our students make throughout the academic year. 

 

See or print the Zoo Phonics alphabet with the names of the animals and the movement that goes along with each letter. Review these with your child at home when they are practicing their writing or having difficulty forming or identifying a letter.

About Zoo-Phonics

The Zoo-phonics is a Multisensory Language Arts Program. It is a kinesthetic, multi-modal approach to learning all aspects of language arts, including vocabulary development and articulation, based on phonics and phonemic awareness. 

 

Zoo-phonics is a method developed to make children strong readers and spellers using a “phono” (hearing), “oral” (speaking), “visual” (seeing), “kinesthetic” (moving), and tactile (touching)—whole brain approach. Students actually learn the sounds of the alphabet and advanced phonemic concepts through an easily understood, concrete method of presentation.

 

Zoo-phonics uses animals drawn in the shapes of the letters for ease in memory. A related body movement is given for each letter. This concrete approach cements the sounds to the shapes of the letters. Lowercase letters and their sounds are taught first (needed 95% of the time in text),
capital letters and letter names are taught later.

 

Educational research repeatedly supports the focus of phonics in early reading programs, as well as the educational benefits of pictorial mnemonics and kinesthetic approaches to learning that are unique to Zoo-phonics. Currently Zoo-phonics is used throughout the United States and internationally as a highly effective language arts program. Zoo-phonics is an effective and proven methodology!

 

The Animal Alphabet helps children remember the shapes and sounds of the letters. Letter sounds are taught before letter names. Lowercase letters are taught before capital letters. The Body Movement for each Animal Letter helps “cement” the phonemic information into memory. The alphabet is taught sequentially, and as a whole entity, “a – z.” The alphabet is not fragmented.  Short vowels are taught before long vowels. Phonemic patterns (at, bat, fat, sat, etc.) are taught first, rather than random word lists (of, it, then, was, etc.)

 

Go to www.zoo-phonics.com for more information and to see videos of it in action.