As most of you know, I absolutely LOVE LOVE LOVE All About Spelling! So…I was totally excited when I got the honor of reviewing the All About Reading Level Pre-1! I have to say we’ve had so much fun!
First off the kids all attacked me when they saw Zigzag Zebra (My kids immediately changed his name to Ziggy). I mean who doesn’t love a fluffy zebra puppet, and it is a genius way to make reading more fun! So fun in fact that my 2nd grader offered to read to my preschooler just so she could play with it!
So What’s it All About?
The All About Reading Level Pre-1 is a reading program for preschool and kindergarten age children. They focus on what they call the “Big Five Skills” that are important for preparing children to read. What are the “Big Five”?
- Letter Knowledge
- Phonological Awareness
- Print Awareness
- Listening Comprehension
- Motivation to Read
For the Teacher, All About Reading Level Pre-1 includes an in-depth Teacher’s Guide much like the All About Spelling program offers. Lesson activities include tips for each lesson along with crafts, games and activity cards that go along with the lessons.
Want to See a Sample Lesson?
Click on the All About Reading Level Pre-1 link and scroll to the bottom. There you’ll find samples of the Teacher’s Manual, student materials, Zigzag Zebra book and Lizard Lou Rhymes book.
What Did We Think? Of course its no secret that we love Zigzag Zebra around here! He has the pleasure of sleeping with one kid per night, he’s on a rotating schedule ;o) We also liked the cute stories included in the reading, the fun games, and the activities.
Even though it says it’s for preschool to kindergarten, for us it was a little too easy for kindergarten level. So in my opinion I’d suggest it more for preschool level kids. It really focuses on introducing the alphabet and letter sounds to kids, so if your students already know their letters and sounds you’ll probably want to move on to All About Spelling Level 1.
We didn’t complete all of the alphabet activities as we’ve gone through most of that already with my Letter of the Week. But they do have some fun additional rhymes, poems and activities that we had fun with. We liked the food suggestions, riddles, and games. That said, I think it’s a great addition to my Letter of the Week and K4 Curriculum program. It is a fun enhancement to the reading preparation and phonics side of preschool with fun activities, reading, and games.
What’s The Cost?
- Basic Package: $79.95
- Deluxe Package: $119.95
- Additional Student Materials: $24.95
Honestly, I think you are probably good with the Basic package. You can also purchase items separately so you can just get what you need if you are on a budget.
Want to get a taste of Ziggy Zebra for your self? The nice folks over at All About Reading are giving away Two Free Activity Books!
I hope you enjoyed our review of All About Reading Level Pre-1! If you use it please comment, I’d love to hear your thoughts!
If you want more info, feel free to visit All About Spelling here:
- All About Spelling Facebook (Be sure to let them know Erica @ Confessions sent you over!)
- All About Spelling
- All About Reading
Happy Reading!
Disclosure: I was provided me with a free copy of All About Reading to review on my blog. The opinions I have given are mine and may differ from others but were not influenced by the company or the free product provided.
We have used this program for the past few months and love it. I bought the basic package because the Deluxe only adds the puppet, tote bag and a box for the divider cards. I just bought a divider box at walmart for under $2 and a hand puppet from the dollar section at Target. I didn't want or need the handbag! I wish the ziggy puppet wasn't so expensive 🙁 I personally think the program is overpriced, but I will be able to use it for more than one child so that helps my feelings a little bit 🙂
Hi there, I live in New Zealand and I am hoping to buy this programme as soon as I can afford it. Have been waiting for a sale to come up. My daughters are 11 and 12 and very poor spellers. Nothing seems to help, so I am relying on this programme to be the answer to our spelling woes. I really enjoyed your review. It's wonderful to hear how positive you are about it. It inspires me to hang in there and believe we can teach my girls to be excellent spellers. Bless you,Sandra nz
I bought this program a few months ago and am actually a little disappointed. It is very expensive. I think your program hits all those main points, and is a lot more fun. It's kind of an addition. I was just expecting more I suppose.
We bought this whole set around February or March for my threeyear old. She ADORES it! I have used all the spelling program for my son who is eleven and it was wonderful. We will start back with this in August…but my now four year old goes around rhyming words together..something she could NOT do before we did this and asking what certain words start with certain letters. I think this product is worth every penny…it is absolutely fabulous. Could not be happier!
My family and I are new to the homeschooling world and we will be officially starting homeschooling in the Fall! I have a 2.5 almost 3 yr old and 6 year old 1st grader. I've been researching curriculum and this looks great! Thanks for sharing it! Your blog has been so helpful to me, truly a blessing and encouragement! We are also planning on using workboxes!!! We can hardly wait!
What a neat program, we'll seriously have to consider it. Thanks for showing it to us!
If I am looking for a phonics program for my kindergartner, can you enlighten me on the differences of All About REading and All About Spelling? Can All About Spelling be used as a phonics program alone in your opinion? It seems to me the programs overlap some and I can’t afford both. Thanks!