Bear Necessities is designed for children who need extra support with the basics of learning to read; children who are learning letter-sound correspondences but are struggling with starting to read. All pupils must complete Bear Necessities A1 before starting this book.

Flashcards-which are used at the start and end of each session-teach children instantaneous recognition of single letter sounds and unambiguous digraphs (e.g., or, ck, th). Multi-sensory boxes reinforce letter formation and sounds as well as introducing 'tricky' words, which are then practised in simple sentences.

Single word reading exercises cement phonic decoding as the primary word attack skill and eliminates guessing, while cloze sentences promote reading for meaning as well as providing practice for 'tricky' words.

Our innovative 'Bear Markets', mini-scripts for two or three voices, and serial stories are very popular with pupils eager to show off their newly-acquired reading skills! Each episode consolidates new sounds and words.