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FAQ
General
Lessons
- Anima Phonics combines stimulating online lessons, vibrant illustrations and engaging classroom materials to provide a simultaneous visual, auditory and kinaesthetic approach to the development of early reading.
- The programme provides a well-balanced combination of teacher-led carpet sessions, interactive resources and printable activities.
- Our multi-media delivery allows children to physically engage with the lesson content. Where computer-based resources are used, these are designed to supplement direct teaching by a trained practitioner.
- Each new sound is introduced through a song or poem, with a corresponding mnemonic action.
- Engaging illustrations on the classroom wall frieze and flashcards provide an instant trigger for the sound and action, allowing for speedy recall when reading and writing.
- In later units, as new elements of the alphabetic code are introduced, additional learning aids (frieze, flashcards, etc) are updated to ensure that resources used in the classroom always match the GPCs and progression of the programme.
- Fully decodable texts are provided at every stage of the programme, ensuring children have opportunities for daily reading practice using the GPCs they have been taught.
- Letter formation is taught alongside learning the new sound. Children must use different body parts for large scale ‘air-writing’, following Bee as she flies through the sky.
- Our handwriting resources demonstrate correct letter formation, whilst daily writing activities throughout Reception and Key Stage 1 allow children to put their new skills into practice.
- By its nature, the Anima Phonics e-learning platform makes it easy to adapt lessons for online delivery.
- We provide guidance and offer training sessions focussed on how to deliver live or recorded lessons using commercial screen-sharing software.
Anima Phonics is designed for whole class teaching. We believe that every child has the ability to keep pace with the progression of the programme. Children who are at risk of falling behind, including the lowest attaining 20% of children, should receive extra practice to consolidate and master the content of Anima Phonics. We provide practitioners with guidance on how to identify and support these children so that they maintain pace with the progression of their peers.
Every phoneme has its own memorable animal mascot and corresponding action. Each action is introduced with a poem. We have started to release songs for each GPC too! We will continue to release new songs throughout 2022. Click the play button beneath each frieze image to hear a preview.
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Yes! These all correspond with our animal mascots and actions, so reading and writing are intrinsically linked. You can preview some of these by clicking the images below.
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We use some simple colour-coding at the beginning of our programme to help children identify GPCs within words. As children move into Year 1, only the focus GPC for that week is colour-coded. In Year 2, the colour-coding is removed. This gradual removal of the extra support prepares children for reading environmental print and for taking their own books home to read.
We think our interactive lessons really help to bring phonics to life. Anima Phonics therefore works best if you have an interactive classroom display. Our lessons also work well on laptops or tablets. If you do not have access to these, we provide printable versions of most of our lessons.
Hear each new phoneme at the click of a button! Throughout Phase 2 and Phase 3, you can click on the grapheme to hear the corresponding phoneme. We also have an interactive Sound Board to share with parents. This works on computers, tablets or smartphones, enabling parents to hear how each phoneme sounds and to support their children at home.
There are some common words that must be taught before all GPCs have been introduced. In Anima Phonics, these are known as Rainbow Words. Rainbow Words are introduced systematically throughout the programme, beginning midway through Phase 2.
Children’s attention is drawn to the ‘tricky’ part of the word that does not fit in with what has been taught so far. This enables them to easily identify the grapheme(s) that make the word an exception word, and to consistently apply their blending skills to unknown words.
As children’s knowledge of the alphabetic code increases, many of these high frequency words will become fully decodable.
Children’s attention is drawn to the ‘tricky’ part of the word that does not fit in with what has been taught so far. This enables them to easily identify the grapheme(s) that make the word an exception word, and to consistently apply their blending skills to unknown words.
As children’s knowledge of the alphabetic code increases, many of these high frequency words will become fully decodable.
Of course! Sign up for a two-week free trial and you can try some lessons and activities with your children.
We do not provide a set structure for nurseries and pre-schools. We know that not every child attends on the same days and some may join mid-year or only attend mornings or afternoons. For this reason, we provide a selection of resources organised into each letter of the alphabet. This allows practitioners to select the resources that correspond with their own planning and progression.