The Development of Zoo-phonics

The Development of Zoo-phonics

Zoo-phonics was Developed in Two Real Classrooms Created and Field Tested...

Zoo-phonics was born in Georgene “Gigi” Bradshaw’s classroom in 1983. It was the first week of school, and too many of Gigi’s third grade students didn’t know all the sounds of the alphabet. She knew she had to teach them the sounds of the lowercase letters (used 95 per cent in text) quickly, so she did it the fun, playful, physical and mnemonic way ! Charlene (Dr. Char and Zoophonia!) Wrighton used her sister’s hand-made materials for her students. They learned so quickly that all the primary teachers in her school wanted it too! Immediately the sisters began to develop and share the Program. Gigi and Char teamed with illustrator Irene Clark who created the original Zoo-phonics Animal Alphabets. Zoo-phonics was born! This unique, playful, physical, vervistic, and multisensory approach quickly caught on with other teachers across California, out-of-state, and then out of country! The “Essences” or philosophy of the Program make it stand out from all other language arts programs. Don’t let the word “phonics” in the title fool you – it is a full, comprehensive and balanced phonics and liter- ature-based method for teaching reading, spelling and writing. Additional materials, readers, games, and technology are available to support teachers and students in the classroom and parents at home. Zoo- phonics has gone across the country (public and private preschools, Head Start, primary schools) and the world, becoming an international program. Every aspect of the program has been field-tested and found to be effective (see enclosed research studies). Neu- roscience and educational research has repeatedly supported play-based curriculum, phonics in early literacy pro- grams, as well as the educational benefits of mnemonics and purposeful and playful movement while learning. We are International! Zoo-phonics en español, developed by Irene Clark, was launched in the fall of 1994, using the same brain-efficient, playful, vervistic and physical teaching techniques original to Zoo-phonics in English. Arabic and Danish versions have also been created. Zoo-phonics is used as an ESL program in S. Korea, Japan, Singapore, Mexico, Dominican Republic, Denmark, India, Africa (10 countries – helping the poorest students gain literacy), Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Dubai, Abu Dhabi, etc.

Left to right: Irene Clark, Charlene Wrighton and Georgene Bradshaw