In a school south of the state, Barbara teaches many students in her EALD (English as an additional language) role who love the SPELD SA Phonic books.
“The photo backgrounds and the beautiful characters draw them into reading the book. One little boy, when he first saw one book said, “These kids look just like me!”
When designing the series, this was just the comment we hoped for.
We developed characters and storylines in close consultation with cultural advisors, schools and artists to create characters that reflected the Anangu people in the APY Lands. Our goal was to make reading more accessible, relatable and enjoyable for Aboriginal students. Barbara has found that her Aboriginal students remember the books fondly and enjoy reading them over and over again.
All the artists who worked on the series were brilliant.
‘Nana’ is fittingly one of the first titles in this series. Trent Lambert, who designed the character Nana, really captured that warm and loving relationship that she has with her grandkids. In the story, Nana is important, respected, knowledgeable and loving.
During NAIDOC week we join in celebrating the theme ‘For our Elders’.
“Across every generation, our Elders have played, and continue to play, an important role and hold a prominent place in our communities and families.” – NAIDOC.org.au
For those who teach children struggling to read, you know how helpful it is if the child instantly has a connection with the book by looking at the front cover. Sometimes it means that the child will just give it a go and open the book. When designing this series, we wanted children to form an instant connection with the book by using characters who are similar to them, who do similar things and are in a place that is familiar.
Support your phonics program
Phonic books support the teaching of synthetic phonics by providing students with practice in decoding. Nana is part of the series that uses the Jolly Phonics scope and sequence. Our newest series uses the Sounds-Write scope and sequence. Initial Code titles are available now to order or as free downloads. The Extended Code set is currently in development and is due for release in Term 3.
Educational Resources
The series has a set of freely downloadable literacy resources that pair with the storylines to promote deep connection with, and understanding of, concepts in each book using evidence-based practices and activities.
There are more educational resources for Foundation to Year 10 on the NAIDOC website to promote further cultural learning.
Thank you to Educator, Barbara, and Educator and Author within the series, Jacqui, for sharing this story.
Nana from Set 1 Series. Written by Jacqui Edwards. Illustrated by Trent Lambert.
