Ring Around the Phonics

The curriculum facilitates direct instruction through clear teacher-directed phonics practice during gameplay.

Instructions require children to say letter sounds as they move around the board, with teacher guidance on which letters to introduce and when

The game format naturally incorporates retrieval practice as students repeatedly encounter and must recall letter sounds.

Students must say the sounds of letters they pass on the game board, providing repeated retrieval opportunities

The curriculum provides systematic phonics instruction with a clear scope and sequence across three levels.

Begins with basic letters s, a, t, b, u, m, o and progresses through digraphs, long vowels, and complex phonograms like 'wh', 'ai', 'ing' in a structured sequence

This curriculum focuses exclusively on phonics instruction without systematic domain knowledge building.

The game centers entirely on letter-sound relationships and phonograms, with no mention of content knowledge across subject areas

The included readers appear to be simple beginning texts rather than complex, grade-appropriate literature.

The beginning readers are described as 'similar to Bob Books' which are known for very simple, decodable text structure

The curriculum does not appear to include explicit vocabulary instruction beyond basic phonics elements.

No mention of vocabulary development activities, word meanings, or vocabulary building strategies in the review

The curriculum does not include writing instruction components.

The review focuses entirely on phonics games and reading practice with no mention of writing activities or instruction

The curriculum includes instructional guidance and pronunciation support for teachers.

Includes instructions on letter introduction sequence and free videos demonstrating pronunciation of each phonogram on the publisher's website

The curriculum includes some whole text practice through beginning readers similar to Bob Books at each level.

Five beginning readers come with the basic game, with four additional readers for level two and five for level three