63 of 63 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Familiarize With Phonics!, December 28, 2009
= Durability:4.0 out of 5 stars = Fun:4.0 out of 5 stars = Educational:5.0 out of 5 stars
This review is from: LeapFrog Tag Learn to Read Phonics Book Series Long Vowels, Silent E and Y (Toy)
I am an elementary school teacher. Even though my family has officially banned anymore educational toys from my children's playroom (instead insisting on some "regular" toys), I just couldn't help myself. I love LeapFrogź toys. I have had my eye on the Tag since my oldest son was 2œ, but finally at 4œ I feel he is ready for it.
This set includes six books: Long A, Long I, Long O, Long U, Y as a vowel, and a Review book. They are different from regular Tag books in several ways. There are no licensed characters featured in the set (e.g. Dora, Diego, SpongeBob). They are also paperback books. The biggest difference though is the educational substance of this set. With regular Tag books, a child has the option to play games (book-wide or page-wide games), have the entire page read to them (like a Story Reader), to point to the individual word and have it read, or point to any graphic on the page and have it do something. While these books have all of that, this set is additionally designed for TEACHING phonics. Each book page has three modes the child can choose from: Say It (default), Sound It, and Spell It. I will describe each:
' Say It - just like regular Tag books, you put the Tag pen on an individual word and it will say it.
' Sound It - (or phonics mode) sounds out individual consonants, vowels, or special grouped combinations (like "ea", "ou", "kn", etc) which are too difficult to explain efficiently in this learning format. For example: while running the Tag pen across the name Lily, it would sound out, "Llllll - ih - lllll - eeeee, Lily." You will also hear things like, "this e is silent," and other phonics rules.
' Spell It - self-explanatory
What makes this set so unique is the phonics mode. LeapFrog should incorporate it into all of their Tag books. The Long E sound is missing. Long Y could have been incorporated into the Long I book to exaggerate the point of their similarity ("spy" "sky" and "bike" "hike") to make way for a Long E book. Perhaps they left it out because E is not long "stand alone" and needs another vowel to combine with it to sound long ("feat", "bee", "sea", "ear"). Long E still has a functional sound and should be addressed for consistency's sake, especially given that the books include and acknowledge other vowel combos, and especially given that no vowel is long stand-alone without another vowel helper like the silent E (in June, huge, dune, rule, lone, cane) or within a vowel combo like (suit, fruit, bait, loan).
Also, each book does not make a point to EMPHASIZE the vowel sound they are trying to teach other than simply including a lot of words with that sound in the story. In my opinion, it should be exagerrated textually and phonetically so the child can make the connection. Overall though, this is a helpful set, I like it better than regular Tag books, and it WILL help your child.
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One problem I personally find with most educational toys is the age rating. Age 4-7 and 5-8 are huge ability gaps (yet these are how the Tag books are age-grouped) and I do not think all books are appropriate within the full range specified. I especially notice this in the Tag Junior books which say they are for 2-4 year olds (which I bought for my 3-year-old and some of the books are appropriate for my 15-month old!). While the Tag Reader and Tag Junior reader are appropriate for the ages specified, Tag books should be more precisely age-rated - perhaps 2-3, 3-4, 4-5, 5-6, 6-7, 7-8. Some Tag books are way over a 4- or 5-year-old's head and some of the books are not challenging enough for 7- to 8-year-olds. I bought some books for my 4œ year old that he enjoys listening to but cannot fully utilize yet, which is disappointing.
Unlike me, read up on the book content before buying and that should ensure you spend your hard-earned dollars on what your child will use NOW and not something that will be used in a year or two! Amazon, Wal-mart, and Toys-R-Us reviews are very helpful in this. HTH!
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
So far, so good., July 26, 2011
= Durability:2.0 out of 5 stars = Fun:3.0 out of 5 stars = Educational:3.0 out of 5 stars
This review is from: LeapFrog Tag Learn to Read Phonics Book Series Long Vowels, Silent E and Y (Toy)
I bought these for my son who is learning how to read. He likes the book and "reads" them regularly with his leapfrog pen. They are paperback so I would recommend taking care of them and buying a hard case to store them in (we bought the leapfrog case that holds a lot of books and has a slot for the reader pen) or they may be damaged. These along with hooked on phonics seem to really be helping my child to read and he enjoys the freedom of being able to learn from them without an adult being there. If you have the reading pen and get these for a decent price they are worth the investment.
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