Best Phonics Books for Children to Learn How to Read English.

I am always asked which books I recommend for parents sons and daughters to learn how to read English. I always reply with my favorite course called Smart Phonics. In fact, it is the only Phonics course I teach to children in my classes other than my own Phonics books. There is a very simple reason for this. It follows the natural progression children should learn to develop fluency. It helps them learn to correctly sound out words and build sounds for more complex words. In this post I hope to help you all understand the correct phonics progression for your child as well as suggest this series to use in addition to my videos teaching phonics.

Level 1 Phonics

In the first level of English phonics the child should learn all of the initial phonics sounds. At this stage they can learn the sight words that match these initial phonics sounds to help them remember the sounds better. You can start this level at age 3-4 years old without too much difficulty. Try to limit lessons to 3 letters and just a few sight words for each letter. It is key to be consistent and not overwhelm your child. It is easy to forget that this is all new information for them. Yes, children learn super fast but we don’t want to take the fun out of learning and turn it into work for them.

I always recommend these two books. The first is Smart Phonics Level 1

I have created a complete course where I teach this book to you. You can see every lesson here: Watch Level 1 Phonics

You can also follow along with my own book which I designed to go along with much faster video lessons. Each chapter has a QR code you can scan to watch the video that teaches you the lessons.

You can watch all of the videos that go with this book here. Awesome Phonics Level 1

Level 2 Phonics

In the second level of English Phonics, is where children start to actually learn how to read. In this level, the child continues to learn sight words that match the sounds but also focus on the short vowels that build words and sentences. After learning the initial sounds in level 1 it is important to start with the short vowels. Often, programs will mix things like this up but that is a big mistake. Children and new readers need to learn how the initials blend with the short sounds vowels can make. The nice thing is that these words are all short and very useful for learning to read each sound and develop real reading ability. I recommend two different books as well.

Smart Phonics 2 does a great job of breaking short vowels down.

You can watch all of my video lessons for this book here: Watch Level 2 Phonics

You can use my book which has much faster video lessons and additional story chapters.

Here are all of my Short Vowel Level 2 phonics videos. Awesome Phonics Level 2

Level 3 Phonics

In the third level of Phonics, we often see students start to think the words are harder. This is just because of the long vowel patter they are now learning which has made the words a bit longer. Don’t worry though as this is completely normal and it is definitely ok if the children slow down a little. They should still be able to progress quite quickly, just not as quickly as the first two levels. Level 3 Phonics focuses on the long vowels and the sound combinations that make up these words. Children learn their first pattern in the Vowel Consonant E Vowel pattern of long vowels.

The book I always teach is Smart Phonics Level 3.

You can watch all of my video lessons from this book here for free: Watch Level 3 Phonics

While I do not have the 3rd level of Awesome Phonics out yet, you can watch all of my faster video lessons here: Awesome Phonics Level 3

Level 4 Phonics

Level 4 Phonics is often the hardest level as it has two letter consonant sounds. In this level your children will start to blend together consonants that are individual sounds but at the same time connected to the next letter. Blending a consonant letter with a vowel is much smoother than with another consonant. But don’t worry. This book outlines the process excellent and I always use it in my class.

Smart Phonics Level 4

You can watch all of my video lessons from this book here for free: Watch Level 4 Phonics

You can watch all of my faster video lessons here: Awesome Phonics Level 4

Level 5 Phonics

This is the last level of phonics and it once you are finished, you will be able to read fairly well. In this level of phonics, children and students learn how to combine two letter vowels. It is usually the easiest series in the course because at this level, students and children are able to read. These sounds become easy to reproduce and read on their own. I always finish phonics in my school with this book and it has served me well for thousands of students.

You can watch all of my video lessons from this book here for free: Watch Level 5 Phonics

You can watch all of my faster video lessons here: Awesome Phonics Level 5

Conclusion

This set of phonics books has served me well as a teacher for 11 years now. I always recommend it. My video lessons have helped almost 100,000 students learn to read using these books and I completely trust them. I hope that my video lessons also help you or your child learn to read. Smart Phonics is an excellent course and I hope that my videos help you maximize the lessons you get in each chapter.

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