Supporting New Zealand Schools

The Pye Foundation supports New Zealand schools, teachers and students with a free grant to Sunshine Online’s two libraries – the new Decodable Library and Levelled Library

Sunshine Online Decodable Library contains 180 child-centred, relatable titles, both fiction and non-fiction. The titles follow a synthetic, systematic, cumulative, and sequential scope and sequence, so that students are exposed to phonemes (sounds) and graphemes (spelling) sequentially and then read meaningful texts containing only those sounds and letters that they have learnt.

Each title has a listen and say activity to teach children a sound and let them practise blending sounds to make words. There is also a read activity (children read the book, or listen to the voiceover for assistance), and then they record themselves reading the text. There is also digital assessment and lots of teacher resources. [Note that the Decodable Library is the Australian edition, featuring Australian illustration and voiceover.]

Sunshine Online Levelled Library is a literacy and maths programme – delivered digitally! The book is the first focus, followed by interactive activities that explore a range of skills from the text. The programme is supported by phonics books and activities, games, songs, raps and rhymes. The books are narrated to support the reader. The books are levelled so that teachers can choose where to start children who are then motivated to progress through the levels. The vast number of books provides plenty of opportunities for learning new vocabulary and grammatical structures.