About

This all began when my son couldn’t understand any of the current systems of teaching phonics, and I just knew he needed more of a visual–sound link to teach him the shape of a letter and at the same time the sound each letter made. My son got this technique really quickly and he learnt to read! I began trying it out on other children, with and without special needs, and it was a fantastic success. And so Clever Phonics was born!  

 

There are three main types of books: Phonics Books, Decodable Books and Workbooks.

 

Phonics Books

 

Phonics Books

 

Each Phonics Book has six sounds in. Each sound has a unique visual–sound link.

 

What’s the visual–sound link?

 

For example, here you can see, for the sound ‘a’, a patient showing the dentist their teeth and saying ‘aaa’ (as in the sound you make when you say the beginning of the word ‘apple’ ) Then you see a close-up of the mouth and the person’s finger, which mimics the shape of the letter ‘a’ and creates a visual–sound link.

 

Phonics Books

 

As well as the unique visual–sound link, each sound has a song and an action.

 

Phonics Books

 

At the end of each of these books is a recap, first with a visual clue, then without. Both lower-case and upper-case letters are included.
The children can earn a sticker at each stage.

 

We highly recommend these colourful star stickers from our friends at Innoveem. Click here for more details.

Stickers for Phonics Books

 

 

Decodable Books

Decodable Books

 

Decodable Books ONLY use the letters and sounds the children have learned in the corresponding Phonics Book. Here they start to learn to blend these sounds together to start to read. Letter cards are included in every Decodable Book to help with blending. The illustrations have been designed to help with reading the story.

 

Phonics Workbooks

 

Workbooks

Phonics Workbooks

 

In each Workbooks the children will have an opportunity to:

  • learn how to hold a pencil correctly
  • practise writing their name
  • follow lines to practise their pencil skills
  • practise letter writing
  • practise beginning sounds and that will develop into middle and end sounds as the children work their way through the books.
  • join lower-case letters to capitals
  • learn new words
  • practise reading
  • play a game
  • complete a colouring-in page
  • make a bookmark
  • take part in activities
  •  

    Click here for a full list of activities in the workbooks.

 

Our unique activities in the back of the Workbooks can help to flag up any potential challenges that children may need extra help with.

 

Phonics Workbooks

 

The activities are based on:

  • speech and language therapy
  • occupational therapy
  • skills needed to learn to read and write
  • memory
  • listening skills
  • rhyming
  • communication skills
  • feelings
  • mental wellbeing
  • self esteem
  • following Instructions
  • matching games.

 

Dyslexia friendly

All the Clever Phonics books have a yellowy cream background to reduce white glare and help with contrast. The font used was originally from ‘opendyslexic’ and has been amended after extensive research to enable people with dyslexia to access our books. In this font, each letter is heavier at the bottom, so for people with dyslexia, the letters are less likely to move around.

 

Phonics Workbooks

 

 

 

Below is our cursive writing.

 

Phonics Workbooks

 

There are 82 books in the Clever Phonics series. The sounds covered are:

 

1. s•a•t•i•p•n
2. c k•e•h•r•m•d
3. g•o•u•l•f•b
4. ai•j•oa•ie•al•ur•ee•or
5. z•w•aw•ow•ir•ng•v•oo•oo•ow2
6. y•x•ay•oy•ch•sh•ew•th•th
7. qu•ou•oi•ue•air•er•ar
8. igh•ear•ure
9. ‘ed’ /d/ • ‘ed’ /t/ • ‘ae’ /ai/ • ‘ue’ /yoo/ • ‘tu’ /ch/
10. ‘a_e’ /ai/ • ‘e_e’ /ee/ • ‘i_e’ /ie/ • ‘oe’ /oa/ • ‘o_e’ /oe/• ‘u_e’ /yoo/
11. ‘-le’ /l/ • ‘ea’ /ee/ • ‘ea’ /e/ ‘ph’ /f/ • ‘wh’ /w/• ‘y’ /ee/
12. ‘y’ /ie/ • ‘y’ /i/ • ‘a’ /ai/ • ‘e’ /ee/ ‘i’ /ie/ • ‘o’ /oa/ • ‘u’ /yoo/
13. ‘c’ and ‘ce’ /s/• ‘g’, ‘ge’ and ‘dge’ /j/ • ‘ey’ /ee/ • ‘u’ /short oo/• ‘ie’ /ee/ • ‘a’ /o/
14. ‘au’ /or/ • ‘ch’ /k/ • ‘u_e’ /long oo/ ‘ch’, ‘ti’, ‘ci’ and ‘ssi’ /sh/ • ‘s’, ‘se’ and ‘ze’ /z/ ‘oar’, ‘oor’, ‘ore’ and ‘our’ /or/ • ‘se’, ‘sc’ and ‘st’ /s/
15. ‘gh’ /f/ • ‘kn’, ‘gn’ and ‘ne’ /n/ ‘o’ and ‘ou’ /u/ ‘si’, ‘s’, ‘z’ and ‘ge’ /zh/ ‘ve’ /v/ • ‘a’ and ‘al’ /ar/
16. ‘me’, ‘mb’, ‘mn’ /m/ • ‘eer’, ‘ere’, ‘ier’ /ear/ ‘rh’, ‘wr’ /r/ • ‘gu’, ‘gh’, ‘gue’ /g/ ‘are’, ‘ear’, ‘ere’ /air/ • ‘ey’, ‘eigh’, ‘ea’, ‘aigh’ /ai/ ‘ough’ /oa/
17. ‘ar’, ‘al’, ‘augh’ and ‘ough’ /or/ • ‘kes’ /ks/ ‘ou’ and ‘ui’ /long oo/ • ‘ue’, ‘ew’ and ‘eau’ / yoo/ ‘ear’ and ‘or’ /er/ • ‘u’ /w/
18. ‘o’ /long oo/ • ‘qu’ and ‘que’ /k/ • ‘ou’ and ‘eau’ /oa/ ‘ei’ /ie/ • ‘ough’ /ow/
19. ‘i’ /ee/ • ‘bu’ /b/ • ‘o’, ‘ou’ and ‘oul’ /short oo/ ‘u’ /long oo/

 

Get in touch

 

Contact us at cleverphonics@gmail.com