| |
-
Product Information
Sounds and Rhymes is a collection of phonic exercises. Starting with single sounds and culminating in the identification of rhyming words, a progression of tasks aims to develop recognition of short vowels and automatic response to sounds within words. Digital sampled speech is used throughout the program as an aid to reinforcement.
*Over 16 learning activities
*Skills taught range from vowel sounds to consonant blends
*Practise a single rule or any combination
*Simple to setup and use
*Easily track the progress of pupils
The Sounds task concentrates on the standard five vowel sounds, presenting several practice formats varied between the pupil listening to the initial sound of a word and matching it to a vowel or grouping simple three letter words by their middle letter.
The Rhymes task covers many topics - initial and final consonant, word endings, rhyming words, matching words, odd word out and others. Each of the tasks can be practiced with or without the aid of textual clues, making the task purely auditory if required.
With this latest incarnation of the program a new feature has been added. The program can now be used to help students with consonant blends as well, with the ability to choose from initial blends (frog), final blends (past) or both (sprang). |
| |
- Reviews
From the "Times Educational Supplement"
Developed by a team at Bangor University, who really understand the learning needs of children with reading difficulties and/or dyslexia, Sounds and Rhymes offers more than 20 games and activities, which build children’s awareness of basic letter sounds and how these correspond to written letters.
A bright, uncluttered interface ensures that the focus is on learning. Graphics and animation add visual interest and reinforce user actions. Sampled speech is used to introduce letter sounds and words, if desired, and teachers can select which sounds are practised in a session. Other options allow teachers to define the overall presentation of the program (sound effects, animations, graphic style).
Each exercise is delivered in short sections, since frequent, brief practice sessions are recommended. Three main areas are covered: vowel sounds, rhymes and consonant blends. Activities encourage children to match vowels to pictures, identify initial vowels and consonants, sort objects into vowel groups, select missing initial and final consonants, match or make rhyming words and identify words which don't rhyme.
Read the full review here
From "TEEM":
What does the title offer that other resources don’t?
Sounds and Rhymes focuses on pure phonics without resorting to too many gimmicks. Unlike many of its competitors, it doesn't have lots of lengthy instructions which must be listened to before embarking on each section. Nor does it offer lots of multimedia cartoon-type distractions. Instead, Sounds and Rhymes offers simple illustrations which serve only to point towards the relevant letter, sound blend or rhyme.
The program practises the patterns for a set amount of times (ranging from 4 to 8) which are predetermined by the teacher, and can be set up to reflect what is being taught. For example, it can be set to practise only 'bl' 'cl' and 'gl' initial blends or all 27 initial blends. Alternatively, you can mix initial and final blends or just practise bouncing vowels.
Like many of its contemporaries the program offers pupil reports. The advantage in this case is that it doesn't just keep a tally of wrong and right answers, but actually shows you the error. This allows you to reflect on the error later, thereby enabling you to see if there is a pattern to the errors or whether it was a simple confusion over ambigous graphics.
Read the full review here |
