Letterland
Encyclopedia
Letterland is a synthetic phonics
approach to teaching reading, writing and spelling to 3-8 year olds. Children are taught shapes and sounds of letters by assigning them imaginary names and shapes and presenting them as living in the fictional land of Letterland. Letterland characters transform plain black letter shapes into pictogram characters. By translating the full range of dry phonic facts into engaging stories, children are motivated to listen, to think and to learn. These stories explain letter shapes and sounds, allowing children to progress quickly to word building, reading and writing. It was originally developed by Lyn Wendon, and first published in 1985.
Additionally, the vowels also had carers named simply Mr A, Mr E, Mr I, Mr O and Mr U and their families. Other characters include: Firefighter Frank, Munching Mike's Mom, Bouncy's Ben's Mom and Brothers (Bobby, Billy and Barney), Sammy Snake's Sisters and Clever Cat's Cousin Carol.
References:
ISBN: 0-17-410166-X. NPN 9 8. Post-1988.
Phonics
Phonics refers to a method for teaching speakers of English to read and write that language. Phonics involves teaching how to connect the sounds of spoken English with letters or groups of letters and teaching them to blend the sounds of letters together to produce approximate pronunciations...
approach to teaching reading, writing and spelling to 3-8 year olds. Children are taught shapes and sounds of letters by assigning them imaginary names and shapes and presenting them as living in the fictional land of Letterland. Letterland characters transform plain black letter shapes into pictogram characters. By translating the full range of dry phonic facts into engaging stories, children are motivated to listen, to think and to learn. These stories explain letter shapes and sounds, allowing children to progress quickly to word building, reading and writing. It was originally developed by Lyn Wendon, and first published in 1985.
Character names
In 2003, ten of the alphabet character names were changed to less pejorative ones. Impy Ink gained multicoloured ink (his ink was blue before), Wicked Water Witch accidentally turned into a sappy pld Walrus named Walter while testing a spell, Robber Red was finally arrested and sent to prison (some time after that he created his own robot known as Red Robot to go round doing all the Robbing for him), Max's friend Maxine was not always with Max to make the X sound so it was Max on his own (now known as Fix It Max) and a new character named Vicky Violet was introduced who is now always seen alongside the Vase of Violets. The old names are now called the "Classic" range. Transition stories, explaining the changes, are available on the Letterland website. This enables teachers and parents to use a mixture of Classic and New Letterland books without confusion.| Letter | New Letterland Name | Classic Letterland Name |
|---|---|---|
| A | Annie Apple | |
| B | Bouncy Ben | |
| C | Clever Cat | |
| D | Dippy Duck | |
| E | Eddy Elephant | |
| F | Firefighter Fred | Fireman Fred |
| G | Golden Girl | |
| H | Harry Hat Man | Hairy Hat Man |
| I | Impy Ink | |
| J | Jumping Jim | |
| K | Kicking King | |
| L | Lucy Lamp Light | Lucy Lamp Lady |
| M | Munching Mike | |
| N | Noisy Nick | Naughty Nick |
| O | Oscar Orange | |
| P | Peter Puppy | Poor Peter |
| Q | Quarrelsome Queen | |
| R | Red Robot [New Character] | Robber Red [Old Character and Former Character] |
| S | Sammy Snake | |
| T | Talking Tess | Ticking Tess (formerly Ticking Tom) |
| U | Uppy Umbrella | |
| V | Vicky Violet [New Character] | Vase of Violets [Still appears in the later series along side Vicky Violet] |
| W | Walter Walrus [Wicked Water Witch now in the form of a Walrus known as Walter] | Wicked Water Witch [Old and Former Character] |
| X | Fix-it Max [Just Max on his own as Maxine is not always around to be with Max] | Max and Maxine |
| Y | Yellow Yo-Yo Man | |
| Z | Zig Zag Zebra |
Additionally, the vowels also had carers named simply Mr A, Mr E, Mr I, Mr O and Mr U and their families. Other characters include: Firefighter Frank, Munching Mike's Mom, Bouncy's Ben's Mom and Brothers (Bobby, Billy and Barney), Sammy Snake's Sisters and Clever Cat's Cousin Carol.
References: