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The
National Reading Panel’s (NRP)
report states that:
“Growth in reading power means, therefore,
continuous enriching and enlarging of the reading vocabulary”
(Whipple) (NRP 4-3)
Planet Wobble is a carefully levelled fiction series of books and
activities for early readers. By providing the books on-screen as
well as in printed format, you can support children of all abilities.
The on-screen versions can be read aloud with real speech, and there
is a huge range of carefully designed reading and writing activities
to go with every book.
The stories are about activities enjoyed by children everywhere,
yet because all the action takes place on another planet, all children,
no matter what their background, can relate equally to the characters.
This is a really important principle - the NRP emphasizes that:
“Active learning is best”
(NRP 4-25) and “Readers use their knowledge
of the world, including language and print”
to make sense of what they read.
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The Planet Wobble series has a strong emphasis on essential high
frequency words, both in the stories and in the supporting activities.
This helps children to move along the path to becoming fluent readers,
as they learn to recognize these words automatically, an essential
skill if they are to be able to tackle even simple texts. The National
Reading Panel’s (NRP) report states that:
“Fluency requires high-speed word recognition…so
that the meaning of a text can be the focus of attention.”
(NRP 3-6)
“High frequency and multiple, repeated exposures
are important for vocabulary learning gains”
Senechal (1997) Leung (1992) (NRP 4-22)
Planet Wobble puts the high frequency words into a meaningful context,
rather than teaching them in isolation. These words play an important
part in holding together the coherence of the text and early familiarity
with them will help students get pace and accuracy into their reading
at an early stage. Not only can students read these words in context,
they can become familiar with them within the wide range of supporting
activities contained in Planet Wobble. This approach is supported
by the NRP's research:
“Competent reading requires skills that extend
beyond the single-word level to contextual reading, and this skill
can best be acquired by practicing reading in which the words
are in a meaningful context” (Leischer, Jenkins
& Pany, 1979, NRP 3-11)
This is further reinforced by research that demonstrates the power
of stories for developing vocabulary:
“Storybook readings help teach children meanings
of unfamiliar words” (Robbins & Ehri,
1994, NRP 4-19)
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There is overwhelming evidence to show that we learn best when
we are actively involved in the learning process. That’s why
we have included so many activities to be used alongside every Planet
Wobble story. There are activities suitable for both group and individual
use, including:
- Matching (picture-picture, sound-picture, picture-word, word-word)
- Spelling
- Sentence building
- Missing Words
- Questions (spoken and written questions, with picture answers
and word answers)
- Writing frames that enable children write their own story using
the context of the Planet Wobble stories
Planet Wobble maximizes reinforcement by linking reading and writing
in many of the activities.
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North America | UK/International
High Frequency Words
