Reading Works
Welcome to our website.
All you have to do is scroll down to the CATEGORIES (below) to see groupings and individual titles.
They are purposely unschoolish, so the quirky world of people and places will come bounding into your classroom to surprise and entertain, every book a rigorous learning package of colour and energy from page 1.
For teachers, the hard work of preparation and the HOW have been done for you. Teaching Manuals and method hints on individual pages have been written with content so interesting that children want to read.
A Document Camera and Visualiser (less than AU$100) is recommended to display pages for deep interactive facing-the-front learning. Children must have a direct line of sight to both the teacher and to whatever is being shown and discussed. Paired seating is the best for quality learning.
Oh, by the way – there is enough learning fodder in these books to appeal to tentative learners through to the highly gifted. And a tip – I always taught children as if they were a year older than their actual age and assumed they were all very smart. ‘We like hard! Easy is boring.’
The sounds of spoken language, the symbols of how these sounds are written, seen in the mind memory and remembered for a lifetime are why these books were written. Put them in your class library so that they are easily accessible to read and re-read.
Also on a literacy arts theme – look at musicworks.net.au to find a picture-songbook-reader called Time to Sing, and a relaxed art-music book called Best Ever READ MUSIC by Drawing.
All books have been written by Ellie, a class teacher with a total of six years’ rigorous training (and lots and lots of exams), several decades of ‘have seen everything’ classroom experience, plus a decade or two of exhilarating full-time writing, all brought together to make your teaching strong, enjoyable, calm and successful.
Books by Category
- What Am I?
– Naming objects in the sixteen colour groups expands vocabulary and develops left-to-right eye movement in a fun way. - Oral Language in Action Series
– This is a special book for Pre-Schoolers and Pre-Readers. Full colour; ideas to fill a year of learning. - Also see more early childhood resources in Read while you Sing (below).
- Loud Phonics Series
– Explicit teaching -14 books – basic alphabet sounds; CVC (e.g. a, ba, bat); includes y as a vowel, matching readers and a teaching manual.
- Vowels
– 30 sounds for the 6 single-letter vowels. Includes y as a vowel and the important and under-rated schwa. Includes sentence examples.
Books are graded stages 1, 2 and 3. How to teach example click here. - Consonants
– 30 sounds for the 21 single consonant letters. Includes sentence examples.
Graded in stages 1, 2 and 3. How to teach example click here. - Blends
– 41 blends graded. Includes sentence examples. - Digraphs
– 56 examples of letters that have a new sound when placed together. Includes sentence examples. - The Schwa
What on earth is a schwa? This book is essential for understanding the most commonly misunderstood sound in English. Comprises word lists, pictures and sentence examples. - Silent Letters
– 200+ in this unique collection; word lists and sentence examples, fully illustrated. - Contractions
– 70 examples with more advanced sentences, fully illustrated. - Uncountables
– 195 plural nouns without s on the end; word examples and advanced sentences, fully illustrated. - Homophones and Heteronyms
180 Homophones and 40+ Heteronyms – word samples with sentence examples, fully illustrated. - A to Z Letters
All English letters and their sounds and silences; set out in lists, fully illustrated. - IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet)
– Every sound in English, its IPA symbol and representative words (6 examples for each); a unique collection, fully illustrated. - My Book of Charts
– Off the wall and on the Desk. Summarises with pictures and words Reading Works books 1 to 8. - Nuts and Bolts Literacy Teaching Manual
– Provides ideas, suggestions and a multitude of ways for the time-poor teacher be able to present a whole raft of high-powered lessons to strengthen the Reading Works series.
- Vintage Pictures and Rhymes
– The gifted artists and poets of the past have delighted children for generations. - Time to Rhyme
– A comprehensive phonemic is brought to life in this book. - Pocketful of Nursery Rhymes
– the recognition of rhyming words is an essential part of any pre-reading and pre-writing literacy programme. - Loud Poems for Noisy Kids
– A wide variety of energetic poems to delight children of all ages. - Slick Limericks
– 35 limericks in all, each one new in content but written in the traditional limerick style. - Toad
– A vocabulary-rich poem written for readers and listeners who love descriptions that are highly visual and a bit gory! - The Impossible Poem
– Suitable for one, two or three performers and whole-class discussions. - Brer Rabbit and the Tar Baby
– Traditional story every child loves. Suitable for the whole class in groups of three or four. - The Elephant’s Child
– Rudyard Kipling story, dramatised by Ellie Hallett. This is an essential story to know. - The Great Cake Mix Tragedy
– Perfect for Assembly - Captain
– Going on a cruise told in rhyme by the Captain; includes glossary of nautical terms; entertaining illustrations. - Storm!
– A story poem – includes a video with sound track. - Ten Pretty Butterflies
– A counting rhyme. Visualisation, observation, engagement and some puzzles as well. - Three Little Pigs in rollicking rhyme.
– Perfect for memorisation and performance. - Shared Reading Read-Out-Loud Stories
– 18 titles of favourite children’s stories that can be read row-by-row by partners and small groups, or as a story told by the teacher.
- Teach Yourself to Read Series
– Books 1 to 15; e.g. Bouncy Vowels, Consonants in Rhyme, Is this a cot or a cat? …
- What am I?
– Naming objects in colour groups to expand vocabulary and develop left to right eye movement. - Oral Language in Action
– Books 1, 2 and 3 (Pre-Schoolers; Beginner Readers; Budding Actors).
- Drama – Shared Reading Read-Out-Loud Plays
– 18 favourite children’s stories brought to life and formatted in rows for take-it-in-turn reading for partners and small groups. Everyone has equal reading time.
- Scripted Plays
– The Story of Pandora; The Riddle of the Sphinx. - The World’s Toughest Tongue Twister
– This book is a mouth-moving, tongue-twisting enunciation workout so listeners will understand WHAT YOU ARE TALKING ABOUT! - Read in Rows – Three Billy Goats Gruff; Henny Penny; King Midas and the Golden Touch (advanced vocabulary).
- Amazing Animal Adjectives – 33 Read-in-Turn Vocabulary cards – pass the card, read in turn around the circle. Lots of fun and many discussion topics in the humorous action pictures.
- Forwards and Backwards
– Three graded spelling books: Book 1 decodable CVC letters e.g. was, saw ; Book 2 words with four letters e.g. spat, taps ; Book 3 words with five to eight letters e.g. spans, snaps.
– lots of fish illustrations swimming left to right. - Wonder Words
– Word families; creating improvised sentences about favourite words. Improvised oral sentences can be made about favourite words.
- Mighty Mouth Movers
– This book places the vowel sounds of language at the centre of learning (bike, beak, back, buck, bake, book …). It provides a unique word study that develops explicit spelling, vocabulary, meaning, and creative thinking.
Each volume offers a full year of lessons, supported by highly appealing illustrations that prompt oral language discussions. Teachers can choose between two versions, both accompanied by comprehensive Teaching Manuals. The Mighty Mouth Movers series encourages clarity of speech and strengthens confident communication.
- Alphabet Swing!
– Ellie Hallett composed this new version of the alphabet song to separate each letter, making it clear, easy to understand, and simple to learn. Accompanying actions reinforce learning and memorisation, and no letters are rushed.
A supporting booklet enables children to read and sing lower- and upper-case letters together. Both children and teachers will enjoy this engaging action song, which also comes with a backing track. - Pocketful of Nursery Rhymes Song Book
– Traditional rhymes with piano arrangements by Ellie Hallett. - Pocketful of Nursery Rhymes
– Spoken rhymes; feeling the beat. - It’s Time to Sing!
– 20 original songs combining music, actions and oral language. Student Song Book-Reader and Teaching Manual.
- How to Draw the Sun
– There are two versions of this book, offering calming activities while strengthening fingers.
– Social conversation with a partner; learning cooperation; sharing ideas; pleasure of friendship.
Other websites by Ellie Hallett
musicworks.net.au; poetrydrama.com; pianoscales.com.au