All About Reading Pre-reading
Build reading readiness through play. Your child will love the games, crafts, and stories while effortlessly absorbing the critical pre-reading skills that build a strong foundation for learning to read.
The Five Skills to Ensure Reading Readiness
34% of children have difficulty learning to read. Research shows that much can be done to prevent this. There are five essential pre-reading skills, and teaching these five skills is the most important step you can take.
#1 Print Awareness
Print awareness is the understanding that text carries meaning and is related to spoken language. The greater the child's awareness of print, the more quickly and easily he or she can learn to read.


#2 Phonological Awareness
Phonological awareness is the ability to hear and identify parts of words. As the child interacts with the puppet, Ziggy, and tries out different language-based games, he is learning to pay attention to various parts of the words (the ending sound, the beginning sound, or the rhyme). He's learning how to take words apart and put them back together again.
The ability to attend to the various sounds in words is extremely important. Research shows that children who have strong phonological awareness learn to read much more easily.
#3 Letter Knowledge
Letter knowledge is recognizing the letters and knowing the letter names and sounds. Your child will gain a new awareness of letters as he works on the alphabet craft sheets, experiments with letter sounds, and eventually matches those sounds with specific letters.


#4 Listening Comprehension
Listening comprehension is a precursor to reading comprehension. We foster listening comprehension by discussing stories and characters, expanding vocabulary, and exposing children to a wide variety of experiences. Additionally, through read-alouds such as The Zigzag Zebra and Lizard Lou, the child absorbs language patterns that are not used as frequently in normal conversation but are commonly used in books.
#5 Motivation to Read
Motivation to read is gained through interesting and varied reading experiences. Also called print motivation, the concept is that the child wants to learn to read. The child who has motivation to read has gotten the message that "Reading is fun, and it's something I want to do soon!"

What Are Parents Saying about Pre-Reading?

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ - Posted by Christina
My four-year-old daughter has been dying to learn to read. After hearing such great things, we decided to start with the pre-reading level. She loves it. Each day, she wakes and asks for us to do the next letter. The craft is her favorite part. She's disappointed that we take weekends off. She's excelling and connecting the dots. I'm a former teacher, and I'm so excited about the hands-on, multi-sensory approach that is giving my young daughter so much confidence.
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ - Posted by Heather
My son loves it and Mommy does too! Super simple for moms to follow and the materials are of the highest quality. I have really high standards about what I like to use with my children. I typically make everything because I want things to look a certain way and I am super impressed and thrilled with the quality of the drawings and the stories and the worksheets and Ziggy!! I LOVE everything about this program. Cannot recommend it enough! Thank you!
We have just started using All About Reading Pre-reading and my two preschool-aged children are LOVING it. They BEG for Ziggy to come out and play, and they really love the letter craft page, too. Nothing beats learning while having fun!! Thanks for such a simple-to-use program!
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ - Posted by Tristan
This is the perfect program for a child who still needs to learn his letters and letter sounds. It is a fun, gentle introduction that emphasizes reading to your child, along with crafting and playing games together – a winning combination. My three-year-old actually knew most of the letters and many sounds, which made half of the program pretty easy for him, while the games – especially those centered around rhyming – were both challenging for him and a lot of fun. I wish I’d had this program when my older son was around age four or five!
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ - Posted by Joy
My son struggled with letter knowledge and phonological awareness. He knew the letters but constantly mixed them up and put them out of order. All About Reading Pre-reading has guided me and held my hand as I try to help an unnatural reader become more fluent and comfortable. I love the step-by-step instructions in the teacher manual. We love the intricate pictures in the books. They are so beautifully drawn with such incredible detail! And Ziggy the Zebra has revolutionized our home by motivating the children to do their schoolwork without grumbling.
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ - Posted by Jill
I really cannot come up with anything we did not like about All About Reading Pre-reading. This comprehensive program systematically teaches all letters and their sounds and uses games and word cards to work on the skills necessary to begin reading. My daughters loved using the cards for rhyming games and memory games and they of course LOVED the zebra puppet. Some of the games with Ziggy Zebra had my daughter laughing uproariously--the lessons were pure joy to her.
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ - Posted by Briana
My son was delighted with this program! He loved everything we did each day and quickly caught on. I also appreciated that the crafts were simple and used items most people with children have at home. There wasn’t any teacher prep for me, which is always a plus. All of the components are well thought out without any extra fluff to waste your precious teaching time. Our lessons take 15-30 minutes per day. I think All About Reading Pre-reading sets a strong foundation on which to build a positive phonics experience.
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ - Posted by Angel
I love everything about this program. The approach is perfect for what I believe my children need. It is simple, fun, and engaging. My children beg to do this; if I am busy, they will talk their fourteen-year-old brother into doing a lesson with them. In fact, the teacher’s manual is so clear and easy to implement that their older brother has no problem just picking it up and doing a lesson with the girls. There is no preparation involved at all. I have been so impressed by this program that I will be recommending it every chance I get!
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Our "Go Ahead and Use It" Guarantee
Check out all of the step-by-step lesson plans for ONE FULL YEAR. Treat the program like your own and learn everything the program has to offer. If you purchase from us and decide it's not for you, simply send the package back (in any condition) and we'll refund your purchase price.
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