By Dr. Jane Hodges
Literacy, LLC
www.astronautstozippers.com
DrJane@AstronautsToZippers.com
2631 Canterbury Road
Columbus, MS 39705
800-658-2745
Astronauts to Zippers (A to Z) is a multisensory language arts program for all learning styles. It features catchy alphabet songs, cute readers, handwriting lessons, grammar lessons, and phonics lessons. The Elementary Kit is designed to follow the Astronauts to Zippers Primary Kit, but it could be used for a child who has used another introductory phonics program (although I do not recommend this option). It is a complete language arts program. All you need are pencils, crayons, and a CD player for the songs. The Elementary Kit comes neatly packaged in a reusable cardboard box with the following items included: Levels 4-6, three teacher guides and three student worktexts, 54 storybooks, 1114 word/sentence cards, and 130 "banana" cards. The Elementary Kit does not include the song CD, games, or alphabet charts, so you will need to purchase those separately if you did not use the Primary Kit. All cards and games are printed on lightweight cardstock, and you may want to consider the suggestion of the author to have them laminated ($50 at my local print shop to do all sheets).
I would suggest you visit my review of Astronauts to Zippers Primary Kit at http://www.thehomeschoolmagazine.com/Homeschool_Reviews/language_arts_products.php to get a feel for the total program. The Elementary Kit works just like the Primary Kit. Lessons are a bit longer because children are reading more, so you will most likely need 30 to 50 minutes per lesson for levels 5 and 6. The Elementary Kit also has more spelling and writing practice, longer storybooks, fewer games, and no singing in levels 5 and 6.
The final lesson in level 6 has students reading words like calendar, listed, notice, and autumn; spelling months of the year; writing a report on their favorite season; and taking a spelling test with the words riddles, world, across, little, write, and afford. Pretty impressive, if you ask me.
I am awed and inspired by Dr. Jane's work in Astronauts to Zippers. It is a comprehensive and easy-to-use language arts program for beginning readers. A student who completes the program through level 6 will have an extremely solid foundation for reading, writing, and spelling. I greatly prefer it to any other language arts/phonics program I have used or seen.
Product review by Tina Rice, Contributing Writer, The Old Schoolhouse Magazine, LLC, January 2007
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