Welcome
The Zeb Books were designed to encourage children ages 3-8, in learning to read. The fun characters and humorous stories are presented in a sequential order based on Phonics skills. There are four series of reading books. Series 1 introduces three letter, short vowel sounds and sight words. Series 2 introduces long vowel sounds, a review of the short vowels sounds presented in the first series, as well as additional sight words. Additionally, Series 3, continues the reading process by introducing blends and digraphs and a review of skills introduced in Series 1 and 2. Finally, Series 4 introduces “r” controlled vowels and compound words. The 4th series reviews Phonics skills presented in the previous 25 books, and are designed to be on a first to early second grade reading level.
Series 1
Short Vowels & Sight Words - Reviews All Vowels
Designed for children who already know their sounds and letters, and are able to blend them together to hear the word. It starts simply, with each book adding additional skills.
Series 2
Introduction to Long Vowel Sounds - Reviews All Long Vowels
Introduction to long vowel sounds & silent e, as well as double vowel sounds. Series 2 also reviews the short vowel sounds learned in the previous series with added additional sight words.
Series 3
Blends & Digraphs
In Series 3, we review the skills sets learned in series 1 and 2, while introducing blends and digraphs. At this point, we encourage the child to review the series and re-read their favorite books to practice decoding skills.
Series 4
Compound Words & R Controlled Vowels (Phonograms)
The most difficult of the four, this series is a review of all 3 sets and takes the reading comprehension and ability to decode words to a higher level. This is where we see the child’s fluency in reading significantly increase. By this point, the child should be reading on a 1st or 2nd grade level.
About the Program
Students will begin the program with these fundamental reading exercises before moving on to the Zeb Books Series.Letters & Sounds
The program begins by introducing alphabet letters and sound cards that associate the phonetic sound to the letter using visual clues. All vowels are red and consonants are blue.
Peek-a-Sound
Next is the fun "Peek-a-Sound" game which re-enforces the sound and letter cards by using the same visual clues. The repetition of this game, which the child can use to self correct, will help the child gain comprehension and memory of sound to shape and symbol.
Blending Sounds & Rhyming Words
The next activity is Blending Sounds to Make Words, which is designed for the child to learn to “hear the word” as they blend the sounds together. The last activity is Sound It Out cards, which have one, two and three letter short vowels sounds.
Sound It Out
When the child has mastered the recognition of all of the letters and phonetic sounds, has learned to sound out two and three letter short vowel words, and lastly, is successful in “HEARING” the word and they are sounding out without assistance, they are de-coding words and are ready to begin reading the books.
My kids absolutely LOVE Zeb books. As a parent, it is such a relief to see your child excited about learning to read. Wish I would have found these sooner!
About the Author
Zeb Books is written and illustrated by Carol Zerboni. Carol is a lifetime member of the American Montessori Society & has owned her own Montessori Preschool and Kindergarten for 36 years. Carol has taught reading to children ages 3-7 for 45 years using the Montessori approach with phonics. We hope you enjoy the books and enjoy the ride!
