Word Skills - User Guide

The Fitzroy Word Skills are the ideal way to get the most out of the Readers. Used together, students will enjoy a step-by-step integrated approach that steadily leads them to reading, writing and grammatical mastery.

The Word Skills sheets are so important, some of them should always be used even before a student starts reading a Reader!

To find out which Word Skills sheet you should be studying, simply find the one with the same number as the Reader you are working on. In other words, Word Skills sheets 3A and 3B go with Reader 3, while Word Skills sheets 21C and 21D go with Reader 21.

Where to Begin?

The best place to begin the Word Skills sheets is with the A and B sheets. These cover new sounds and special words respectively and help students become more familiar and confident with them before they tackle the Readers.

After these sheets have been done, students should then read the Reader they are on before finishing off the rest of the sheets.

Word Skills Sheet Order

For best results, the Word Skills sheets should be done in the following order:

1. A and B sheets before reading the Reader
2. Sheet F, immediately after reading the Reader.
3. Sheets C, D, E and G can be done at any time that is convenient before moving on to the next Reader.

Advanced Word Skills (6A and 6B)

These Word Skills books have 14 work sheets per Reader. Since they cover high level grammar they will generally not be finished until after a student has progressed all the way through the Readers (1-60).

With the exception of the A and B sheets - that should still be studied before attempting the corresponding Reader - all other sheets can be done at a convenient time for the teacher.

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Word Skills Books

Alphabet Book - User Guide

The Alphabet Book is the first book to be used by students of the Fitzroy Method. It comprises three main sections:

1. Pre-letter writing activities
2. Letter sound and letter writing practice
3. Two-letter word formation, including sentences with pictographs

Pre-writing activities:

Generally speaking, students will work through the book in the order listed above, but it is possible that very young children might find it easier to spend some time learning to recognize the letters and their sounds before learning to write them.

Letter writing is a more difficult skill to master than letter recognition – the pen being quite hard for young hands to handle – so in some situations (where coordination is a problem, for instance) it can make sense to get young children familiar with the letters before having them write them.

The writing process can be made a good deal easier, however, if students practice the pre-writing activities before beginning to write the letters. In this way they develop their fine motor skills (coordination) so that holding a pen and keeping it steady are less of an issue. In doing so, most young children will soon be able to write reasonably well formed letters.

Straight Lines and Circles

The key to the success of the pre-letter writing activities is the fact that the most commonly used print children learn is made up of only two different sorts of pen strokes: straight lines and circles. Examples of straight line letters are: l, i, t and w; examples of letters that use circular strokes are: o, c and s; examples of letters that use both straight lines and letters are: p, d and b.

For children to be able to write well they need to be comfortable with these two pen strokes. By practicing the pre-writing pages they will soon gain in confidence and ability to write all letters.

To ensure that students get enough practice it is a good idea to photocopy the pre-writing pages so that they can be used as many times as necessary to develop the necessary fine motor skills.

Another tip is to get children to draw pictures using only straight lines and circles (or parts of circles). This is a fun way to get them to practice the two letter strokes.

Letter sound and letter writing practice:

Although students can work through the letter pages in alphabetical order, the best way to tackle them is to learn them on a ‘need-to-know’ basis. In other words, you should learn the letters required to read the Fitzroy Reader you are up to.

To begin with this will mean learning half of the alphabet (for Reader 1, A Fat Cat), but after that students will never be required to learn more than four new letters for any single reader (Reader 2, A Big Pig, for instance, introduces four new letters: p, g, j & w).

Learning the letters in this way makes the whole process less boring and abstract since children quickly see how useful it is to learn new letters.

Two-letter word formation, including sentences with pictographs:

Practising simple sentences with pictographs is a good way to grow in reading confidence. By starting simply and building step-by-step towards more complex words and sentence patterns, children never feel daunted by the learning process. The pictographic sentences in the Alphabet Book can be worked through as soon as the letters needed to form the two-letter words in them are learned. They are a great stepping-stone to the first Fitzroy Readers.

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Alphabet Book

Alphabetics Game - User Guide

The Alphabetics Game is the ideal fun way to help children master the art of forming words. It is easy to play, can be calibrated to the precise reading level of students and, unlike Scrabble©, contains digraphs (like sh, ch and ee) among its letter cards. These are a great aid to word formation and give children a simple means to practice more complex spelling patterns.

How to play

Getting started:

1. Select the appropriate cards for your students. To do this you should select all cards with a level number (found on the top right-hand corner of each card) equal to or less than the Fitzroy Reader level number students are working on.
      Since each card level corresponds to a Reader number (level 1, corresponds to Reader 1 etc.), this is a simple way to make sure that children are not confronted with new sounds and spelling patterns (digraphs) they are not familiar with.
2. Place all chosen cards cover-up in a pile on the table.
3. Have students select a card each to see who goes first. The student with the highest card number (found on the bottom right-hand corner of the card) wins.
4. Get students to pick five cards each, paying attention to create an appropriate spread of vowels, consonants and digraphs.
      Each type of card (there are four of them) can easily be distinguished from others by its color (vowels are white, consonants are cream, and so on).
       If students pick too many of the same type of card (e.g. vowels) they will find it difficult to form words. This is often part of the learning process, however, and helps train them to think about how words are formed.
5. Start to play.

Playing the game:

1. The player who goes first must attempt to form words from his/her five cards. All words formed are to be placed on the table in front of the player. If possible, it is okay to form more than one word.
2. After a player has formed as many words as possible, that player must pick up as many cards as needed from the pack in the middle of the table until he/she has five cards in hand once more. After picking up cards, it is then the turn of the next player.
3. If a player cannot form any words, then he/she must swap two of the cards in his/her hand with the pack in the middle. After doing so, it is the next player’s turn. You cannot pick up cards and then form a word with them in the same turn.
4. The game continues (moving clockwise from player to player) until either a set time has elapsed or (if agreed on in advance) no player can form any word in a round.

The Winner:

At the end of the game, players must add up the value of all words they have formed. This can be done in one of two ways:

1. By awarding one point for each card of every word formed by a student and adding up the total
2. By adding up the score of each card in every word formed by a player and adding up the total.

Like in Scrabble©, more difficult letters (or digraphs) are awarded higher points.

For variations of the game and more extensive details on how to play, please refer to the instruction cards contained in the Alphabetics box.

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Alphabetics Game

Teacher’s Guide - User Guide

The Teacher’s Guide is the ideal place to gain a thorough understanding of the Fitzroy Method. For those that have the time, the first – more theoretical part of the book – can be read from start to finish to help one grasp the fundamentals of the Fitzroy Method.

Teachers and parents who read through this part will generally find that even if they can’t remember the precise details of a topic, they will nevertheless have a good intuitive understanding of how they should teach it.

This first section will also make it easier to follow the lesson plans and other teacher resources in the second part of the book.

Using the Index

For readers that don’t have time to read through the entire first section from front to back, it is also possible to use the index and research topics as the need arises.

The advantage of this method is that the learning process will be less abstract and, as a result, more memorable. If you have a question that needs an answer, you will generally remember it when someone gives it to you!

Getting an Overview

Before putting the book on a shelf and waiting for questions to arise, however, it is nevertheless a good idea to at least flick through both parts of the book. This will give you an idea of its general contents, something that will help generate the right questions to ask.

Even more importantly, it will familiarize you with the many useful teacher resources at your disposal. If you know that there are lesson plans and spelling tests and end-of-level tests etc. you will look for them when the right time arises. Otherwise you will most likely struggle to ‘reinvent the wheel’ when help is at hand.

Easy to Read

Finally, do not be intimidated by the apparent size of the book. Over half of it is devoted to the teacher resources (so it’s not really as big as you think!), and the ‘theoretical part’ is written in very clear, quick-to-read English.

As is our policy, we have strictly avoided all jargon which unnecessarily complicates the reading process. This makes even a ‘teacher’s guide’ readily accessible.

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Teacher's Guide

Fitzroy Software - User Guide

The principal feature of the CD-Rom version of the Fitzroy Readers is the ability to read and listen to an audio recording of the Readers. To listen to an entire Reader:

1. Select the New Book option from the Main Menu
2. Choose the title you wish to hear
3. Click on the read option from the Main Menu
4. Select > File [i.e. the 'File' menu at the top of the screen] > Tell story

The story will then be read from beginning to end. If you wish to hear one page at a time, just click the ‘ear’ (hear) icon instead of selecting Tell story. To hear an individual word, just click on whichever word you wish to hear.

To get the most out of the Fitzroy Readers, it is always best to progress through them in order (1 then 2 then 3 etc.). Since each Reader builds on the one(s) before it, this is the best way to ensure that students will have the proper foundation needed to read each Reader with confidence.

Software Games

After finishing one Reader and before progressing on to the next, it is a good idea to play through many of the games included on the software (e.g. Slide and Treasure).

On the default setting, these games will test students on words encountered in the Reader they are working on, so this is an excellent way to help reinforce all of its contents.

If you wish to give your students an additional way to practise all that they have learnt, choose the Write option in the Main Menu. Here students can alter the original text by erasing it and typing in words of their own choice.

If, instead, you would like to begin with blank lines and no text:

1. Go to Teacher Options from the Main Menu
2. Choose Alter Settings
3. Find the Write box
4. Deselect the start with story text box

Words written by students will then be read out by Windows’ default (robotic) voice.

Don’t forget that you can easily change all of the setting by following a similar procedure and clicking on the Teacher Options button in the Main Menu and then choosing Alter Setting.

For further instruction on the many features of the software, please refer to the instruction sheet that comes with the program or the Help Menu that is found in the top left-hand corner of each screen.

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Talking Readers Software

Fitzroy Talking Readers Software:
Alphabet Program - User Guide

This program is the ideal place to learn the letters and the sounds they make. It should be played before attempting to read the Readers and children should learn the 26 letters of the alphabet on a ‘need-to-know’ basis. In other words, they should learn the letters as required to read the Readers.

For example, Reader 1, A Fat Cat, uses 13 letters. These should be the first letters learnt. Reader 2 introduces four more letters (p, g, j & w)); these should be the next learnt. (To select these letters, go to > [menu] settings > alter settings and then either select or deselect the required letter by clicking on the box next to the listed letters of the alphabet.)

Learning Should Not Be Abstract

It is important for children to put the letters they are learning to use as quickly as possible. Otherwise the learning task becomes dry and boring.

If children see how the letters they are learning help them to read ‘books’, then the whole learning process will be so much more meaningful and enjoyable.

Start With Lower Case Letters

After selecting the right letters, students should practise recognizing them in lower case form. Start with the simplest option and select a choice of only two possible answers. As children gain in confidence, the amount of possible answers can be increased (to do this, go to > [menu] answers and select the desired option).

Once a student is able to recognize the letters, he/she should practise recognizing them using only an audio clue. In other words, the student must listen to the letter being spoken and select the right letter from the options at the bottom of the screen.

As with the first letter-recognition exercise, you should start with only two possible correct answers and increase the number as students improve their ability to choose the correct letter.

Note: If a child does not hear the letter the first time it is spoken out loud, she can click on the ear icon.

Capital Letters

Children should learn capital letters on a need-to-know basis. In other words, they should learn them immediately before they come across them in the Readers.

Reader 1, for example, teaches the capital letter A. This, therefore, is the only capital letter that should be taught before starting to read this Reader.

After that, Reader 3 introduces a capital T. This, then, is the next capital letter that ought to be learnt.

In this way, all capital letters are learned step-by-step in the first ten Readers so there is little chance of confusion.

Two final points should be noted:

1. Like the lower case letters, all capitals are learned immediately before starting to read the Reader, not after.
2. For learning-to-read purposes, students should not spend time learning the names of the letters. Instead they should focus all of their attention on learning the basic sounds the letters make.

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Talking Readers Software

Fitzroy Audio CDs - User Guide

The Fitzroy Phonics Audio CDs are easy to use. They can not only be used to improve the pronunciation and comprehension of ESL students, they are also great for children who need a little bit of extra support when reading.

Furthermore, they are particularly useful for parents who don't always have time to assist their child. Children can listen to the stories while reading, giving them both greater confidence and an easy way to make sure they understand everything.

Audio CDs Are Not a Substitute for Reading

To get the most out of the audio CDs, however, some care does need to be taken, because listening to them should never be a substitute for reading the Readers.

Small children often learn to memorize stories, so when the time comes to check whether they are capable of reading one, take care that they are actually reading it, not just memorizing the words.

The best way to get them to do this is to have them point their finger under the words (or letters) as the recording reads them. In this way they will link the words heard to the words on the page. Otherwise they might just enjoy a fun story without learning a thing!

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Phonics Audio CDs

Fitzroy Sounds - User Guide

Phonics courses are all based on the sounds the letters make. By learning the basic letter sounds (for instance, c for cat, a for apple, t for tap) students learn to ‘decode’ words.

As a result, a thorough understanding of the basic letters sounds is the foundation upon which all phonics courses must be built - and the Fitzroy Sounds goes a long way to providing this foundation. It teaches children all of the basic letter sounds through song and audio illustrations, making learning fun and easy.

The Fitzroy Sounds is composed of three main parts:

1. 2 CDs that teach the 26 letters of the alphabet through a series of songs and instructions (the second CD provides alternative pronunciation to letters like m and n).
2. Extra strong letter cards for every letter. These letters cards not only provide colorful illustrations for every letter, they also teach letter writing, including correct stroke order.
3. Instruction cards on the use of the Fitzroy Sounds pack, including one devoted to the writing of capital letters.

The Fitzroy Sounds is best used in one of two ways:

1. It can be played straight through with children listening and singing along to the different letter songs. This method is a fun way for children to learn the basic letter sounds without feeling that they are being given lesson.
2. Teachers can teach the letter sounds one at a time on a ‘need-to-know’ basis. In this manner, students will be taught each letter just before it occurs for the first time in the Fitzroy Readers. To find out where each letter is introduced, simply look at the ‘letters we know’ page at the front of all early Readers.

Naturally a combination of the two methods is also effective. Indeed, it is most likely to produce the best results.

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Fitzroy Sounds

Fitzroy Files - User Guide

The Fitzroy Files is available only as part of a complete range package or to participants of the Fitzroy Method Professional Development Courses. It is a huge help to teachers and parents alike who wish to ensure that they have the tools and understanding to teach the Fitzroy Method effectively.

The Fitzroy Files is made up of six parts:

1. Final tests for each reading level (including two tests for Readers 51-60). These tests are a quick and efficient way to gauge a student’s reading level. Students who do well on these end-of-level tests are most likely ready to move on to the next reading level.
2. Spelling lists. There is one spelling list for every Reader. Each list is a useful spelling test that covers the most essential words in every Reader. Since they are on file they are easy to print out and copy.
3. Sample lesson plans. These lesson plans illustrate proven methods for conducting ‘phonics’ classes on a range of topics. As the name suggests, they are particularly useful for teachers needing to prepare classes using the Fitzroy Material.
4. Articles on the Fitzroy Method. These articles discuss a variety of topics that help one to understand both the phonics method in general and the Fitzroy Readers and associated learning materials. There is also interesting information on the history of the Fitzroy Method.
5. Additional teaching material. This section includes different types of reproducible letter picture cards (both black and white and color) and a list of reading recovery levels associated with the Fitzroy products.
6. Professional Development Presentation. This PowerPoint professional development course (complete with notes) provides a fascinating introduction to the Fitzroy Method. Using examples from a wide variety of Fitzroy Materials it clearly explains not only the key features of the method but also how your students stand to benefit from working with it.

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Fitzroy Files

Fitzroy Word Families - User Guides

The Fitzroy Word Families are great for extra spelling and word forming practice. They should not be used instead of the Fitzroy Readers, but used in conjunction they can help students gain greater reading and writing confidence.

The Word Families books are made up of two main sections:

1. Reading and writing practice using word families
2. Spelling tests

Reading and writing practice:

The best time to use the Word Families reading and writing sheets is immediately after the letter sounds and spelling patterns (word families) have been taught in the Fitzroy Readers and associated Word Skills Books.

To find out where new sounds are introduced into the Fitzroy Method, please consult the Master List found in the Fitzroy Method Teacher’s Guide. Since each Word Families sheet does not have a corresponding Reader number (like the Word Skills Books), the teacher or tutor may wish to get students to skip over any spelling patterns that have not yet been taught. Later on, after they have been covered in the Fitzroy Readers, students can go back and fill in the gaps.

Spelling Tests

The spelling tests found in the Word Families books have a long history of providing accurate assessment of students’ literacy levels. Each Word Families book has two spelling tests:

1. A read-aloud test
2. The Forever Spelling Test.

The read-aloud test helps teachers discover what types of words students can sound out from print; the Forever Spelling Test - originally created in the UK and updated for modern usage - is designed to evaluate the average ‘spelling age’ of students. It is therefore extremely useful in working out whether students are above or below reading norms for their age group.

Both spelling tests can be done either at the end of each year level or, for more precise and immediate results, at the end of each term.

For more instructions on how to best use the Word Families books, including activities and methods for helping long-term memory retention of spelling patterns, please read the introductory pages in the Word Families books.

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Fitzroy Word Families

Fitzroy Range

• Alphabet Book
• Alphabetics game
• Answer Books
• Audio CDs
• Fitzroy Files
• Fitzroy Sounds
• Phonics Readers
• Phonics Software
• Teacher's Guide
• Word Families
• Word Skills