Bear Necessities Book A1

Bear Necessities is designed for children who need extra support with the basics of learning to read; children who are learning letter-sound correspondences but are struggling with starting to read. The books starts by teaching blending in small, easily-mastered steps, beginning with oral blending with simple picture cues. At the same time, the basic flashcards—which are used at the start and end of each session—teach children instantaneous recognition of single letter sounds and unambiguous digraphs (e.g., ee, ar, sh). The oral blending skills are gradually combined with letter recognition and transferred to print. The transition is gentle enough to ensure that the pupil rarely makes a mistake. Within a few weeks, children are beginning to read simple three-letter words. When basic blending skills are securely in place, high-frequency irregular words are gradually introduced in simple sentences with the additional reinforcement of tracing exercises. Our innovative ‘Bear Markets’, mini-scripts for two or three voices, are very popular with pupils eager to show off their newly-acquired reading skills!