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Alpha-Mania Adventures

12/6/2016

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Captain Ray and the Rhyming Pirates

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The Alpha-Maniacs are letter-loving kids who live in Letter Lagoon. One day, as the five friends are busy playing pirates, a group of bumbling pirates washes ashore to their lagoon.  The pirates are a little strange, speaking only in rhyme and not knowing how to read a map.  The Alpha-Maniacs step up and teach them how to be proper pirates.

This is the first of five books focusing on phonological awareness.  This book cues children into rhyming schemes, letter identification and letter sounds.  Captain Ray and the Ryhming Pirates not only offers a fun story, but is highly interactive.  Each pages asks children to find different letters or objects that begin with different letters.  The bold, colorful pictures draw children in and allow them to explore with letter identification.  And, of course whenever the pirates speak, it is in rhyme, giving children a chance to fill in the last word of the pirate's speech.  

At the end of the story are even more ways and games to help your child begin to associate rhyming words and practice letter formation.  A great book for parents and educators of children 2-6.


This book was provided for free in return for an honest review.  

Slomo's Secret Treasure

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The Alpha-Maniacs of Letter Lagoon are back for another adventure.  This time they have found a map and they are certain that it leads to burried treasure.  When they follow the map, they instead find Slomo the Sloth who tells the Alpha-Maniacs that the map is his and he has moved the treasure.  Slomo gives them a new set of clues, but Slomo speaks very ssslooowly and the Alpha-Maniacs have to listen very closely and blend the sound together to understand him.

This is the second book in the series focusing on different elements of phonological awareness.  Slomo's Secret Treasure centers around blending sounds together in order to make words.  Since Slomo speaks so slowly, the reader is encouraged to draw the word out into separate sounds while the listener must put the sounds together in order to figure out the word.  Slomo's style of speech also encourages the listener to guess the second part of a word from the root.  Continued from the first book, the bottom of each page encourages children to find hidden letters and pictures that begin with certain letters in the bright, fun illustrations.  More fun learning games to practice blending sounds are including in the back, also.  Another great book for parents and educators of children learning to read. 

This book was received for free in return for an honest review. 

The Fantastic Floating Feast

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​Another awesome adventure with the Alpha-Maniacs.  The peculiar pirates have returned to Letter Lagoon with the treasure that they found with the help of the Alpha's.  Now, instead of rhyming however, the pirates are using a lot of word combinations that start with the same sound.  The pirates invite the Alpha's onto their ship for a fantastic feast, but trouble arises and the Alpha's help their pirate friends once again.

This is the third book focusing on different elements of phonological awareness.  The Fantastic Floating Feast draws children to the practice of alliteration.  Alliteration is one of my favorite techniques, so I had a lot of fun reading this aloud.  Children are encouraged to listen for the repetitive sounds of first letters that the peculiar pirates speak such as kind kids and terrific treasure.  One of my favorite activities was having children come up with their own alliterative pirate name such as Swashbuckling Sammy!  The letter finding games in the radiant, rich illustrations are continued throughout this third installment as well as the extra learning activities to practice alliteration and letter formation.  Another great book in the series!

This book was received for free in return for an honest review. 

The Splitter Critter and the Greedy Pirates

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​They find out that a bunch a greedy pirates have come to steal Slomo the Sloth's treasure.  With the help of the island's protector, the Splitter Critter and his special magic, the Alpha Maniacs will keep their island safe.

The fourth book in the series focusing on phonological awareness, The Splitter Critter and the Greedy Pirates engages children in splitting words into each letter sound.  I really enjoyed the Splitter Critter's goofy magic and that it engaged kids to say each letter sound along with him.  The Splitter Critter also encourages the use of imagination to scare the greedy pirates off the island.  Continuing the tradition of finding letters and pictures within the illustrations, The Splitter Critter and the Greedy Pirates is a good addition to the series. 

This book was received for free in return for an honest review. 

The Great Riddle Race

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​The Alpha-Maniacs have each received a clue for their next adventure, but the clues are in riddles.  With the help of the Island's Switch-A-Roo, the Alpha's have to solve a series of riddles by changing out sounds of certain words.  When they have solved each riddle they will find a grand prize.

This is the fifth book in a series about phonological awareness.  This book focuses on the harder task of sound manipulation, adding or subtracting a sound to make a new word.  The riddles that the Alphas must solve are very well done and I looked forward to solving them as well!  Each riddle has children replace a letter from the beginning, middle or end of the word and encourages them to interact with the book in order to help the Alphas.  This can be a hard task, but with fun riddles and encouragement, it is made a little easier.  This last book in the series also combined the characters and some of the phonological devices from the past books such as rhyming and blending so children could practice those tasks as well. 

This book was received for free in return for an honest review. 

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