We're fans of the Alphablocks, we watch them on TV and we've bought the magazines and have a couple of their DVD's. Letter Teams Volume 3 is their new compilation DVD featuring 'teams' of letters, usually pairs, which occur regularly in English language and make a specific sound that your child can learn to help with their reading - 'OO' being a really obvious and clear example.
This DVD is ideal when children reach the stage which my 4 year old is at, when they are confident with letter sounds, have learnt a few words, and are ready to move to the next step. It still has a great deal to offer my 3 year old, who is only confident with a few letters and hasn't yet the ability to put them together into words, because it reinforces all letter sounds and the stories are short, funny and captivating. It really holds the attention of both children, who don't even consider it to be 'learning', they think they're just looking at a group of characters with 'letter names'.
This DVD features 9 different letter teams episodes, plus a 'Letter Sounds' episode and an introduction to all of the Alphablocks characters. It has a running time of almost 90 minutes in total.
I think this is a really useful series of DVD's, it's fun, very easy to understand, the characters are friendly and it really shows children how words are made.
Because Alphablocks are a CBeebies programme there is also loads of free supporting information available on the CBeebies website, which gives you the tools to let your child gain the most from watching this DVD.
My children love this DVD and they gain a great deal from it. My 4 year old is learning the sounds the 'letter teams' make and the 3 year old is reinforcing his letter sounds. They both watch wide-eyed and with a big grin at the great little storylines. They have no idea just how much basic literacy they are learning, they really do view it as a series of stories and they're delighted when I put it on for them.
The Alphablocks DVD's, including Letter Teams Volume 3, are distributed by Abbey Home Media
"Abbey has been at the forefront of creating quality children’s programmes for over 15 years, specialising in audio, DVD and books that are particularly suitable for the younger child."
I was sent a copy of Alphablocks Letter Teams Volume 3 to review.
don't know if its my favourite but sh is the one im having to practice most with my little boy!
ReplyDeleteHahaha...I think that's the same here!
DeleteI think this is a great way to learn letters, and I used to let the boy play with the website. I thought it was better than me miss pronouncing the sounds!
ReplyDeleteI'm sure you can talk better than you're making out there!
Deletemr Z loves diagraphs, or letter teams. he finds them more interesting than the single letters, so he will enjoy this one!
ReplyDeleteI've always been rather fond of 'oo' myself :P
DeleteOrange is so cool
ReplyDeleteLittle Mr A used to love Alphablocks and I think they are great for children starting to learn phonics.
ReplyDeleteBoth of mine love them, they must be doing something right :)
DeleteWe love Alphablocks! Miss C used to dance along to the theme tune when she was a baby!
ReplyDelete:D Early groover huh?
DeleteWe have the same dvd and they can learn so much from it,
ReplyDeleteThey certainly can :)
DeleteThese are great for children practising their letters. Mister B thinks he's hilarious sometimes when he copies them but has no idea he's learning at the same time.
ReplyDeleteThat is one of the best things. The little characters are so sweet the children have no idea they're doing anything other than watching a children's show :)
DeleteWe used to love Alphablocks here too
ReplyDelete:D Much as I think they're cute, It will be nice when my little ones are fluent readers :)
DeleteWe've not got into this - will have to explore
ReplyDeleteIt is really good and phonics on the curriculum matches and compliments very well :)
DeleteI have two massive fans of Alphablocks here and this looks great!
ReplyDelete:D It's a good next step once they've learned all the letter sounds.
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