Research shows that early instruction in phonics is the first step to reading success. Now Step into Reading is introducing a fun and comprehensive, educationally based phonics program designed to help kids learn to read, step by step! Developed by a phonics expert, each box includes eight brief books that cover a specific range of phonic skills. The boxed sets build on each other, and book by book, skills are reviewed and reinforced as new ones are introduced--giving kids the tools they need to crack the code of letters and sounds. A sample of featured skills: * more digraphs (or two-letter blends that form a single sound) like bl-, qu- , and cr- * additional two-letter phonograms (word parts) like -nk, -ck, and -sh * three-letter, long-vowel phonograms like -ade, -een, -ive , and -oke "We now know--because science tells us--what teaching methods are most effective. The basics work. Reading programs that include phonics and phonemic awareness work." --Remarks from Mrs. Laura Bush on Preparing Tomorrow's Teachers at the House Education and Workforce Committee, March 14, 2002.