Review:The Literacy Box 1-3 from Prim-Ed
If you have read my review on Writing Prompts box from Prim-ed, you will know that I loved the cuteness of the cards in the teacher box! The Literacy Boxes 1-3 are even cuter but on a larger scale!
The Literacy Box series is a set of three boxes suitable for students of ages 5-7, 8-10 and 11 plus. They are basically supplementary materials to support reading in the primary classroom, catering for independent and more able readers.
Each “box” contains: 1 teachers guide, 75 four page-literacy cards and 75 answer cards. The cards within the box feature a range of texts types from imaginative, informative to the persuasive and cover a range of genres and curriculum subjects.
The cards are all colour coded, with the easiest cards at the start and more difficult at the back. There are 13 types of comprehension questions contained on the cards, from lower to higher order. The text types contain fiction and non-fiction, impossible to list all of the types here but the range is staggering!
The teacher resource book that accompanies the box is detailed and quite large but it explains the whole program really well so my advice would be to read it first before launching it on your class.
As well as all of these activities, the resource book contains a huge amount of supplementary material like pupil answer recording sheets, pupil tracking/assessment sheets, teacher tracking/assessment sheets, detailed lesson plans and ways to use a cross curricular approach linking reading, oral and writing skills together. There is also a really succinct and neat section on grammar and punctuation in the form of worksheets at the back.
I really loved this resource as it is just the most comprehensive resource you will find that understands how comprehension works with reading as a skill. I loved the way the pack seamlessly works together with the resources in it-colour coded cards for differentiation, extra resources for even more extension activities, grammar and punctuation and assessment and tracking sheets. It is a very appealing and attractive resource that will ensure a school is covering and challenging the independent and more able readers they have.
You could also use these really well in a group teaching setting or station teaching. They will free up your time significantly as the cards are all designed to be self-assessed by the child.
These boxes are expensive but a wise and long-sighted investment for a school as long as they were well looked after, they could last forever! I know some schools are putting them down as part of their rental book scheme so that may be an option. Prim-Ed are being very generous to us and offering us a Literacy box in this month’s competition!
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The Literacy Boxes are priced at €250 a box and are available from the Prim-Ed website or contact them directly for more information.
