Predictable Format

Many children respond well to a defined and repeatable structure. All the books in the POPS Reading Scheme have a similar style. Keeping the same style ensures children will become familiar and confident with the format as they become involved in the lives of the POPS family. Research has shown that a predictable format can help children with the retention of the material and with improved memory capacity.

Story Lines with Defined Start Middle and End

The style and structure of the reading scheme provide sufficient variations in the topics to hold the child’s attention and help them to generalize the reading skills they need to succeed. Each story line has a defined start, a middle sequence and a humorous ending. The book starts with a Shared Reading Page, to be read to your child to set the scene of the story to come. The ending of each story relates back to the content of the Shared Reading Page.

Three Way Design Feature

Many books combine the text and illustration on the same page forcing the teacher to cover the illustration with a sheet of paper to determine if the child can read the text, without the aid of the illustration. This can be very frustrating for teachers and sometimes very disturbing for the child as they cannot understand what is happening. The POPS books are designed so that the text is separated from the illustration, with the illustration on the left hand page and the text and matching exercise on the right hand page. The book binding is controlled so it is easy to bend or fold the book over and use it in three different settings:

• for younger children, use the illustrations as a picture book to generate stories
• fully open, using the illustration and the text and matching games to read the story
• for older children and for revision, just use the text page, folding over and hiding the illustration