Oxford Reading Tree: Word Sparks

The Word Sparks series combines an explicit emphasis on extending vocabulary with systematic synthetic phonics practice aligned to the Letters and Sounds sets. Children will learn new vocabulary at the same time as developing their decoding skills, fluency and comprehension. At each book band and ORT level there are eight expertly-written, colourful Word Sparks books. The Lilac to Orange sets each contain four regular fully decodable texts with focus word boxes prompting adults to discuss the story and introduce new vocabulary to the child. In addition, four partner books feature parallel texts — one page to be read by the child (fully decodable) and one by the adult, thus extending vocabulary and opening up discussion. Within the Turquoise to Lime+ sets, eight regular texts are designed to support comprehension and fluency, plus

covering a range of genres from funny stories and folk tales to non-fiction. Extensive notes are provided on the inside covers and a handy list of GPCs (grapheme-phoneme correspondence) and common words are printed on the back cover for ease of matching phonic learning and the appropriate books to each reader.

The Lilac to Orange banded sets support Oxford’s new SSP programme, Essential Letters and Sounds, and can be purchased individually by colour band or as a separate pack for schools following this teaching programme who need to top up.