When I started homeschooling over 12 years ago, I used ABACARD® to teach phonics and early reading.
This system, created by © Shirley Epstein and other teachers and artists, have designed picture clues within each letter shape. This concept assists memory of the shape and sound of each letter.
“It works because the clue is contained in the letter shape!”
When my young children showed signs of reading readiness, I put the wall chart on the wall near their beds.
I simply pointed to and read each letter in its phonic sound and named the picture inside it, such as: “a is for apple“, “b is for ball” and “c is for colours” (using the phonic sound for each letter and not “ay/ bee/see…” Then they repeated the sounds and named the picture clue inside each letter.
Each day I revised the previous letters and continued with the next set. Within 3 days or so, we had covered the alphabet. At each bedtime and nap-time, we would run through the chart.
I was delighted to hear my young 4-year-old reading the chart aloud on her own to herself as she lay down for her midday nap after just a few days!
Then I took out our ABACARD® cards.
They come in a nifty hanging plastic holder with clear plastic pockets containing packs of 4 of each letter. My kids loved the colourful jellytot sweets design on the back of these cards.
We revised the letters and then played games several fun games like “snap”, “memory” and “twin and win”. The pack comes with a lovely instruction booklet.
Then we started building words with the cards. Taking just the letters p, t, b, g, and the vowels a, e, i, o and u we made the word bag. We swapped a and made beg, then big and bog and bug. Using this principle we made up lots of words – my child WAS READING!
When we moved on to early readers, we used these cards to make up the new vocabulary and played games until these new words were easy to read.
ABACARD® is an excellent tool for remedial work too. Because each letter has a picture inside it, children are less likely to confuse letters! It is great for kinesthetic learners because they can handle and move each letter.
Abacard are still busy creating their new website, but they can be contacted at Abacard@telkomsa.net or call them on South Africa 0861 67 22 22 or 083 463 7355
Please note: I do not distribute, sell or receive any payment for endorsing their product.
Blessings, Nadene
I have a question what is a ABAcard kit?
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@Lionel, the Abbacard system is a phonics program using the cards and posters with the picture in the letters as seen and described in the blog post. Abacard are still busy creating their new website, but they can be contacted at Abacard@telkomsa.net or call them on South Africa 0861 67 22 22 or 083 463 7355. Please note: I do not distribute, sell or receive any payment for endorsing their product.
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Where can I purchase the abacard set
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@Elaine Naidoo, I do not have any contact information for this product, sorry.
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I would like to buy an abacard cd for my grade 1 child to help her with her school work to help her to read sounds and phonics.
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@Nonhlanhla Masikane, I do not distribute, sell or have any contact numbers for this company. I would recommend you make or purchase something similar.
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I have a granddaughter with severe learning disabilities shes i gr 1 but struggles with word building and reading. Will this help her
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@Ronell meyer, unfortunately I cannot locate the distributers or publishers, or this system is no longer available, but it is extremely effective!
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Where can I buy the alphabet cards? My son is in grade 1.
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@jennifer, I can’t contact anyone from the original company. I emailed them, but have had no reply or response. Pity. So many readers would also like to obtain their product!
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Hi lady i also have a 3 year old girly and will definitely give it a try. I will contact the company tomorrow and will let you know about Tash-mia’s results as soon as i have it. I am from Namibia and hope that they can send me the abacard set as soon as possible. Nicolene Dreyr from Walvis Bay Namibia
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