Katharine Hind, 2012

The BBC’s alphablocks are such a fabulous resource that I have compiled this document to give teachers more information about the alphablocks and how to use them , as well as to help you find quickly the sounds you want to work on.

This link takes you to the following videos:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/cbeebies/alphablocks/games/alphablocks-games/

1. All the sounds in alphabetical order, or click on each to listen to its sound.

Blending:

2. s s a t = sat, pat, tap, taps,

3. n nip, nit, tin, in, pin, pit, tip,

4. m mat, man, map

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Katharine Hind, 2012

5. d pat, pad, pan, pin, tap, din

6. g pot, pod, pop, dog, dig

7. a cat, pan, pat, nap, can, cap, tap, tan

8. e net, ten, get, pet, peg, pen

9. u gum, dug, mug, sum, mud

10. r red, rod, rag, dig, rag

11. h hen, hop, men, hug, hum

12. b bop, big, bun, bug, bus, bin

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Katharine Hind, 2012

13. t top, bag, beg, bug, bog, big

14. f Fred, fen, fun, fin, fan

15. l hill, ill, doll, bell, mess, kiss, miss, off

16. j van, jog, jig, jug, vet, jet

17. z zap, yak, yap, yell, jazz, zigzag

18. ch chip, ship, shop

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Katharine Hind, 2012

19. s sail, snail, nail, hail, pail, wail, pain

20. 0 moon, hoot, foot, fool, hoof, tool, boot

21. v dig, cab, zoom, moo, run, jet

22. z buzz, fizz, zip, zap, snooze, boom, zoom, nap, zoo

23. t rat, tap, trap, art, pat, rap, tar

24. e bee, red, sneeze, beekeeper, three, tree, bed

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Katharine Hind, 2012

25. n bend, bind, bond, band

26. x cab, jab, gab, lab, fab, din

27. t bus, sub, pots, post, spot, spot, tops

28. e magic! Tape, cape, dine, bite, cane, kite, plane

29. k key, cage. rock, sock, sack, sick, lock, lick

30. e hide, seek, peek, ride, wide (ee and magic e)

31. y fly, shy, sky, cry

32. w glow, off, on, fun, sun

33. o fox, quick, brownfox, jumps, over, lazydogFunny! The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy

dog.

34. n note, notes, ten, tens, net, one, nets, lots

35. x (party), sat, saw, say, sad, sax, sag

36. q quiet, it, quack, squeak, squawk

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Katharine Hind, 2012

37. j jay, jab, jam, job, jaw, jar, joy

38. e (space), cap, pea, sea, ace, ape

39. -

40. i dot, top, doc, cod, pod, cot, pot, cop

41. -

42. -

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43. -

44. r map, rams, ramp, rats, raft, raps

45. x tea, seat, eat, sea, prod, rod, pod

46. f UFO, far, ear, fur, fair, four(Using capitals for the letter names!)

Since I wrote this, the BBC has added 12 more games!!

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Katharine Hind, 2012

AlphablocksLearn the alphabet and the sounds different letters make, and then have fun creating words using the Alphablocks.

Skip to: Fun with Alphablocks

Information for parents and teachers!

© 2010bbc.co.uk/cbeebies

Alphablocks

Alphablocks is a series of adventures that invite you and your child to have fun with words.

The Alphablocks are twenty-six living letters who fall out of the sky onto an empty, white world and discover that if they hold hands and make a word, it comes to life. They learn as they go along and they're always ready to have a go, help each other out and make their own entertainment.

Alphablocks is aimed at four-to-six-year-olds who are learning to read. Its simple purpose is to entertain, while showing that wordplay can be a lot of fun. It is based on best-practice phonics teaching and it can help young children develop engagement and confidence with reading and making words.

Every episode is different: there are songs, stories and games. The CBeebies Alphablocks website will feature all twenty-six episodes, with games that enable children to join in and make words to help the Alphablocks in their adventures.

The Characters

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Katharine Hind, 2012

Every Alphablock's personality revolves around his or her letter sound, for example:

D plays drums: D-d-d-d! R swings in with a big, piratey Rrrrr! V vrooms everywhere with a Vvvvvv!

The central characters are the stripey vowels, a, e, i, o and u. One of them is (almost) always needed to make a word.

In the first episode, Alphablocks showcases every letter, its sound and its personality. It is always available on the CBeebies Alphablocks website.

How word magic works

The Alphablocks and their world behave according to the natural forces of phonics:

When Alphablocks hold hands they sound out their letter sounds then call out the word (eg c-a-t CAT!). If it is a real word, it will come to life in a shower of magic stars. Sounding out is an important natural strategy for reading words.

Just like us, when Alphablocks say a word they blend together the letter sounds in the order they appear in the word.

Alphablocks can split in two to make more of the same letter (which is handy if you want to make a BANANA).

They can also fuse to make brand new sounds, such as OO, SH and AR. Alphablocks will sound out MOON as "m-oo-n MOON!"

Some letters can make more than one sound on their own too - compare A in LA and PAT, I in PIG and ICE, C in CAT and ICE, and so on.

The CBeebies website

Your child can watch the series on the CBeebies channel, but they will also be able to watch every episode on the CBeebies website whenever they want. Repeat viewing is encouraged, as it helps children recognise words and understand how to put them together. The website also has games that let your child take on the role of the Alphablocks and make words to help them in their adventures.

When the website launches, the first thing that appears is a round planet that becomes covered in pictures that represent all the episodes. Once on the planet surface, Z will explain what to do. Clicking on the question mark in the top right corner at any time will provide more help.

Using the arrows to scroll through episodes and find the one they want, your child can then click on the large icon in the middle to watch it. The first episode (with three stars) showcases each of the characters and is a good place to start. At the end of the episode, your child can click on any Alphablock to see it in action again.

Episodes with a single star have games in the middle. Halfway through the story, the Alphablocks will encounter a problem and your child can help them by making words. Your child can pick up an Alphablock with their mouse and put them in the red letter space(s) to make words. Whenever a word is made, it will come to life. The star word will be the one that fixes the problem and finishes the story.

Your child will collect a sticker for every word they see or make - and can go back into episodes to collect more stickers if they didn't get them all the first time.

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The games let children play with making words for themselves. Making non-words and hearing what they sound like can also help children understand the basics of word-building.

How to help your child learn with Alphablocks

Alphablocks is not a phonics course but it does demonstrate good phonics practice. Its main aim is to engage children in the idea that words are fun, and this can happen simply by watching and playing with it.

You can help your child get more from Alphablocks by joining in the activities, asking questions and helping them if they have questions - appropriate to their level of understanding. Pre-schoolers who are still learning their letters will engage best in recognising the letters and their sounds. Older children may be ready to try to predict which word the Alphablocks will make next.

Alphablocks is designed to complement phonics as it is taught in schools. There are many excellent phonics courses that are in use in schools and some also offer materials for use in the home. You can find out more about phonics and phonics courses with the links on the right.

© 2010bbc.co.uk/cbeebies

Alphablocks is a series of adventures that invites you and your child to play with

phonics. It is aimed at three-to six-year-olds and its simple purpose is to entertain

and show that wordplay can be a lot of fun. It is based on best-practice phonics

teaching, helping young children to develop confidence and encouraging

engagement with reading and making words.

The Alphablocks and their world behave according to the natural forces of

phonics:

Every letter makes a sound – and so does every Alphablock. A makes a

short /a/ sound (as in apple) when an apple falls on her head. B plays the

bass: b-b-b-b-b… and so on.

When Alphablocks hold hands, they do word magic – if they make a real

word, it will come to life in a shower of magic stars.

Just like learner readers, they sound out their letter sounds (c-a-t) then

blend them together to say the whole word (CAT!). Sounding out and

blending are important natural strategies for reading words.

Alphablocks can split in two to make more of the same letter (which is

handy if you want to make a BANANA).

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Katharine Hind, 2012

They can also fuse to make brand new sounds, such as OO, SH and AR.

Your child’s teacher will call these ‘digraphs’. Alphablocks will sound out

MOON as "m-oo-n MOON!"

Some letters can make more than one sound on their own too - compare A

in LA and PAT, I in PIG and ICE, C in CAT and ICE, and so on.

Your child can watch the series on the CBeebies channel, and they will also be

able to watch and play with the characters on the CBeebies website…

Watching online

Every Alphablocks episode is available to watch on the website whenever they want. The first episode is a great place to start, as the Alphablocks

showcase every letter’s sound and personality. Repeat viewing is encouraged, as

it helps children recognise words and understand how to put them together and as

your child begins to grow confident with building words through phonics, they

can advance to the later episodes.

Any episode can be selected by using the arrows to scroll through the pictures

and clicking on the one you want to watch. They have been arranged in order of

difficulty, with pink designating the beginner episodes, and green the more

advanced. The early episodes introduce the letters and their sounds and simple

three-letter words. Later episodes introduce first digraphs (such as OO, SH and

AR) and longer words. Finally, new digraphs and vowel sounds are added to the

mix.

A voiceover explains what to do, and clicking on the question mark in the top

right corner at any time will provide more help.

Alphablocks Games

If you see an episode surrounded by stars, that means there is a game halfway

through the story and your child will be able to help the Alphablocks continue

with their adventure. They will be asked to pick up Alphablocks with their mouse

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Katharine Hind, 2012

and make words. When a word is made, it will come to life and the star word will

be the one that fixes the problem and moves the story along.

Your child will get a sticker of every word they see or make - and can go back

into episodes to collect more stickers if they didn't get them all the first time.

The games let children play with making words for themselves. Experimenting

with non-words and hearing what they sound like can also help children

understand the basics of word-building.

Educational value of the show

Alphablocks helps children to:

Learn the alphabet.

Have fun with words.

Spell and read.

Develop engagement and confidence with reading and making words.

Read about the characters

Alphablocks

Every Alphablock's personality revolves around his or her letter sound:

The central characters are the sripey vowels – A, E, I, O and U. One of them is (almost) always needed to make a word.

A is for apple: aaaaa! Accident-prone A makes the short a sound (as in apple) whenever she falls from the sky, trips over or an apple falls on her head. Amazing A is also the singer with the BAND.

B plays the bass: b-b-b-b-b! Brilliant B plays bass beautifully. She likes to boss her brother D around a bit. Let’s boogie, Blocks!

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C makes things crack: c! Cracking C makes a crack with every step – cool! She can be a bit competitive with her brother K, who makes the same sound – copycat!

D plays the drums: d-d-d-d! Drummer D does dazzling drum solos. He’s in the BAND with his sister, B. Disaster? Don’t despair! D can do it!

E makes an echo: e-e-e!Excuse me, everyone! Energetic E pulls out his loudhailer and makes an echoey short e sound (as in echo) to get everyone’s attention. He’s the hardest-working letter and he even has a secret alter-ego: Magic E, who wears a top hat and mask and jumps onto the end of words to make long vowel sounds (turning a CAP into a CAPE).

F can fly: ffffff! Fantastic astronaut F has fun flying along and finds everything around her fabulous.

G Glug-glugs: g-g-g-g-g! When green-fingered G glugs water, her grassy green hair grows. Gosh!

H huffs and puffs: h-h-h-h! Hurry, H! H is always catching her breath as she hurries happily along, having fun keeping fit.

I sings i-i-i-i-i! I’m so important! Incredible I thinks she’s the most important and interesting Alphablock, and she likes to remind us all by singing a loud, operatic short i sound (as in important).

J thinks she’s a jaybird: j-j-j-j! Jolly J thinks she can sing and fly like a real jay, but in fact, she sings like a juddery jackhammer and lands with a jolt. Jumping Jellyblocks!

K kicks his ball: k! k! k!King of the kickers, K likes to play keepy-uppy. He thinks his sister C is O.K.

L sings a lullaby: lll-lll-lll-lll-lll! Lovely L sings a lilting lullaby to help the Alphablocks get to sleep. She loves her friends and likes to look after them.

M likes to munch: mmm! Munching M says mmm! when he sees something yummy, then mmm-mmm’s some more as he munches it.

N says nnn-nnn… no! ****No! No way! Not now! Never! N is a little bit negative and can’t bring himself to say yes. N plays No guitar with the BAND.

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O says o! o! o! o! o! Orange O only ever says short o (as in orange) – O-o o-o o! …but the others know exactly what he means. He often pulls out an O-shaped magnifying glass to wonder at things: o!

P appears with a pop: p! Pixie P pops in, pops out, pops off and pops back, appearing and disappearing whenever she pleases. She particularly likes peas.

Q is quiet without U: qu! qu! Quiet Q doesn’t make a letter sound on her own: but when U helps her make QU, she feels like a queen and clucks a proud qu-qu-qu!

R roars like a pirate: rrrrr! Rrright, me hearrrties! Who’s the rrred pirate who’s always rrready to rrride in on her rrrope to rrrescue the rrrest? Arrrrr!

S is for sag: sssss! Silly S sometimes sags with a sorry hissing sound, but she soon pumps herself up (sss-sss-sss!) and sorts herself out so she can soar in the air again.

T tuts when he runs out of tea: t-t-t! Terrific T has a tip-top time when his teapot has tea, but Tut-tut! It’s terribly tedious when he runs out.

U thinks everything is unfair: uh! Unlucky U is quite unfortunate and often upset. He is always groaning the short u sound uh! (as in unfair). Until something unbelievable happens…

V vrooms around: vvv-vvv! Vrooming V is very kind, very helpful and very, very, vvvery fast: vvvvvvvvvvvvvv!

W is weepy: w-w-w!Weepy W weeps when he is happy and weeps when he is sad. When he w-w-w’s, his top wells up with water until he wails. But he soon cheers up!

X uses his x-ray vision: x! x! x!The Exciting X is an excellent superhero. He excels at extracting his friends from extremely extraordinary situations, and his call sign is an X. Stand back, Alphamortals: X strikes again!

Y says yyyyy… yes! Young Y is always saying Yes! and Yippee! (or Yikes!) …and asking Why? Why? Why?

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Z is for zzzzz! Wake up, Z! Zooming Zebras! Z is in charge of the Alphablocks, but he often dozes off and has a quick snooze.

Fun with Alphablocks

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