Early Reading Direct is a pack designed to help encourage children's early reading skills - it has everything you need, there are no extras to buy and their is even a users guide. If you want the alphabet at your fingertips, then this is perfect.

What do you get for your money?

The pack comes in a sturdy blue plastic folder (which you can keep it in) and contains:

• Double sided alphabet cards (letter on one side, and a corresponding letter rhyme and illustration of the other)
• Picture word cards (3 letter word one side, illustration the other)
• story book character cardboard puppets
• 5 A4 work books
• 5 corresponding black and white story books
• A book mark 

How does it work?

The first work book gives you an introduction to the scheme, lists activity ideas, tells how to introduce the alphabet cards and then introduces the first sound 'a'. 

The scheme is not just about showing the child the letter, helping them learn the corresponding rhyme, but about you can reinforce the letter, for example 'A's craft ideas include - apple printing, making an ambulance from junk, making an apple mobile. The worksheets also then reinforce the sound, and get harder as the child works through them and they learn more letters.

By the end of the first work book - you can give your child a certificate, they read the key words of their first book, and they are beginning to feel confident.

Do you have to work through the scheme?

No, this is a great resource full if ideas, that can you plan activities for the Foundation Stage Curriculum. I used it for a whole term with 2 three year olds, we didn't work through all the workbooks, but we made lots of things, learnt the rhymes, the children pointed out letters everywhere.

Can I try it?

Early Reading Direct has kindly given us permission to put a sample sheet on the Internet - this is a pdf file, for personal use only. Download it here.

If you would like further information then visit their web site at www.earlyreadingdirect.co.uk

Helen Renouf