A Parent’s Guide to using the
Alphabert The Ready
to
Read Robot
learning toy
™
Dear Parent,
You know how important reading is to your child’s future. If your child can read,
your child can do anything. That’s because reading is the foundation upon which
all fundamental learning is built. A good beginning is absolutely essential.
That is why VTech designed the Fundamentals of Reading product line to help your
child develop language skills, the skills crucial to learning how to read. Our ageappropriate activities will help your child feel successful every step of the way. In
fact, we provide three levels of reading progression to help your child move from
a beginning reader, to a growing reader, and finally to an advancing reader. Our
curriculum begins with letters, letter sounds, and letter formation all the way
through vowels, consonants, word recognition - even full sentences. With the
Fundamentals of Reading product line, children think they’re playing, but they’re
actually learning. So their confidence grows, their self-esteem grows and their
appetite for learning grows, too.
How Can You Help?
You’ve already started by showing you’re interested in your child’s reading development. By being a good role model, your child should see you read books, magazines and newspapers. Of course, there are other sources including billboards,
grocery lists, recipes and street signs. What’s most important is that reading is a
fun, interactive experience that should be shared with your child daily.
We encourage you to play the activities in the Fundamentals of Reading product
line together. You’ll see first hand what progress your child is making. Children
love positive reinforcement so praise your child’s achievements. As your child
embarks on the road to learning, he or she will encounter challenges. This is a
natural part of the learning process. Please be patient and if your child needs
help, be sure to provide it. Have fun. Remember, learning to read isn’t a race. It
doesn’t matter who gets there first, it’s simply “getting there” that really counts.
We wish you the best as you help your child get off to a great start in becoming a
lifelong learner. As your child grows, count on VTech® to be there with fun, innovative learning toys to help your child do his or her best every step of the way.
We thank you for entrusting us with the responsibility of building your child’s
future. When your child can read, your child can do anything.
Sincerely,
Your Friends at VTech®
1
PLAY
ALPHABERT THE READY TO READ ROBOT™
TO BEGIN
CARRY HANDLE
VOLUME CONTROL SWITCH
LCD SCREEN
ON/OFF BUTTON
ACTIVITY
BUTTONS
ARROW BUTTONS
SPEAKER
26 LETTER/OBJECT BUTTONS
TO BEGIN PLAY
1. To begin play, press the
the keyboard. You will hear an opening short tune
followed by “Hello! How are you?”
2. Press any
sixteen activities. The friendly robot will guide you
through each of the following activities:
ACTIVITY BUTTONACTIVITY BUTTON
ACTIVITY BUTTON to select one of the
ACTIVITY BUTTONACTIVITY BUTTON
ON/OFFON/OFF
ON/OFF button or just open
ON/OFFON/OFF
ENTER BUTTON
LOCK BUTTONS
HELP BUTTON
2
1)Learn Letters 9)Word Groups
2)Alphabet Order 10)Word Scramble
3)Sounds of Letters 11)Word Search
4)Sounds of Words 12)Letter Catch
5)Missing Letters 13Hangman
6)Missing Vowels 14)Memory Challenge
7)Matching Rhymes 15)Counting
8)Beginning & Ending Blends 16)Hear A Song
3. Press the
receive the answer to a question.
4. To adjust the volume, slide the
SWITCHSWITCH
SWITCH to the left for low volume or to the right for
SWITCHSWITCH
high volume.
5.To turn the learning toy off, press the
ton again or just close the keyboard.
HELP BUTTONHELP BUTTON
HELP BUTTON to repeat a question and/or
HELP BUTTONHELP BUTTON
VOLUME CONTROLVOLUME CONTROL
VOLUME CONTROL
VOLUME CONTROLVOLUME CONTROL
ON/OFFON/OFF
ON/OFF but-
ON/OFFON/OFF
3
ALPHABERT THE READY TO READ ROBOT™
ACTIVITIES
ACTIVITY 1 - LEARN LETTERS
LEARN
LETTERS
This activity introduces letter identification. Your child will also learn a word that
begins with each of the 26 letters of the alphabet. For the letters A, E, I, O, and U,
two words will be taught to represent both the long and short vowel sounds of
those letters. The friendly robot will say, “This is the letter__.” Then the friendly
robot will tell your child the name of an object that begins with that particular
letter.
Learning Benefits for Your ChildLearning Benefits for Your Child
Learning Benefits for Your Child-The Learn Letters activity is presented to intro-
Learning Benefits for Your ChildLearning Benefits for Your Child
duce your child to the 26 letters of the alphabet. Your child may explore at his or
her own pace by choosing which letters to press. There are no specific instructions
telling your child which button to press. This free exploration is very inviting and
encourages your child to take risks by pressing letters he or she may not be too
familiar with.
ACTIVITY INSTRUCTIONS:
1. Press the Learn Letters activity button. You will hear
a sound effect followed by “Let’s learn the letters.
Press a button.”
2. Press a letter button to hear the letter identified
followed by an object that begins with that letter.
For example, press the letter “p” button and you
will hear “This is the letter P. P is for plant” and the
corresponding object animation will appear on the
LCD screen.
How Can You Help?
• Encourage your child to find the beginning letter of his or her name as well as
other names of family members. Ask your child to think of his or her friends’
names or favorite toys, animals, etc. and guide your child in finding the beginning letters of those words on the letter buttons.
• Write some letters of the alphabet down on paper and encourage your child
to find the matching letter on the learning toy. After your child presses the
letter and hears the name of the letter, ask him or her what letter it was.
• Allow your child plenty of free time to explore this activity. Have your child
touch and trace the letters of the alphabet on the learning toy. He or she
should say the name of the letter while tracing it. Have your child say, “The
name of the letter is___.”
4
ALPHABERT THE READY TO READ ROBOT™
ACTIVITIES
ACTIVITY 2 - ALPHABET ORDER
This activity strengthens alphabetical order skills. Your child will recognize that
the letters of the alphabet are arranged in a certain order. He or she will have
opportunities to tell which letter comes before or after certain letters. Your child
will be asked specific questions such as, “What letter comes before the letter B?”
He or she will then have the opportunity to look at the letter buttons and find that
letter.
Learning Benefits for Your ChildLearning Benefits for Your Child
Learning Benefits for Your Child- The Alphabet Order activity is designed to famil-
Learning Benefits for Your ChildLearning Benefits for Your Child
iarize your child with the alphabet. Your child will also be taught the concept of
before and after. This activity provides opportunities for your child to identify
letters of the alphabet on his or her own.
ACTIVITY INSTRUCTIONS:
1. Press the Alphabet Order activity button. You
will hear a sound effect followed by “Let’s learn
What letter
comes before
the letter “d?”
before and after.” Then the learning toy will ask
a random question, for example, “What letter
comes before the letter d?”
The letter “c”
2. When a correct letter button is pressed, you
will hear a positive response. For example, when
comes before
the letter “d.”
you press the letter ‘c’ button, you will hear
“The letter c comes before the letter d. Great
job!”
ALPHABET
ORDER
3.When an incorrect letter button is pressed, you will hear an encouraging
response. For example, when you press the ‘n’ button, you will hear “Uh-oh. Let’s
try again!” and the question will be repeated.
4. When the Help button is pressed once, the question will be repeated. If the Help
button is pressed a second time, the answer will be identified.
5
ALPHABERT THE READY TO READ ROBOT™
ACTIVITIES
ACTIVITY 2 - ALPHABET ORDER (continued)
How Can You Help?
• While your child is playing this activity, encourage him or her to look at the
letters while making his or her decision about the answer. Have your child tell
you why he or she is choosing a certain letter for his or her answer.
• Your child should understand what the terms “before” and “after” really mean.
To help your child grasp this concept, practice this skill with your child. You
may wish to use objects that your child is familiar with (i.e. colored blocks,
small toys). Lay three or four objects in a line and talk about before and after
in regards to those particular objects.
• Talk about “before” and “after” in regards to events that have occurred
throughout the day. For instance, ask your child, “What did you do before
lunch?” or “What do we usually do after dinner?”
LETTERS
SOUNDS OF
ACTIVITY 3 - SOUNDS OF LETTERS
This activity teaches sounds of the consonants and vowels. Your child will hear the
correct pronunciation of each letter sound. He or she will recognize that the
vowels A, E, I, O, and U can make two different sounds, both long and short, and
consonants C, G, and Y can also make more than one sound. Every time your child
presses a letter button, the friendly robot will tell your child the sound(s) that the
letter makes.
Learning Benefits for Your ChildLearning Benefits for Your Child
Learning Benefits for Your Child-The Sounds of Letters activity introduces your
Learning Benefits for Your ChildLearning Benefits for Your Child
child to the sounds of the letters of the alphabet. Your child will hear the correct
pronunciation of each letter. He or she will learn that some letters even make two
sounds. There are no specific instructions telling your child which button to press.
This free exploration is very inviting and should encourage your child to take risks
by pressing buttons that may be unfamiliar to him or her.
ACTIVITY INSTRUCTIONS:
1. Press the Sounds of Letters activity button. You will
hear a sound effect followed by “Let’s learn the sounds
of the letters. Press a button.”
2. Press a letter button to hear the sound(s) of each letter. For example, when you press the letter ‘k’ button,
you will hear “K says kuh, Kuh is for king.”
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ALPHABERT THE READY TO READ ROBOT™
ACTIVITIES
ACTIVITY 3 - SOUNDS OF LETTERS (continued)
How Can You Help?
• Encourage your child to say the letter sounds along with the learning toy.
Your child could practice by saying, “The name of the letter is B. The sound of
the letter is buh.”
• This skill takes lots and lots of practice. Remember to remain positive and
praise your child when he or she can tell you the sound of a given letter.
• In everyday situations, have your child tell you what letter a certain object
begins with. Repeat the word slowly for your child by really stressing the
beginning letter. Have your child tell you what sound that letter makes.
ACTIVITY 4 - SOUNDS OF WORDS
This activity introduces your child to sounding out words. Your child will be able to
hear every letter sound within a given word when completing this activity. When
your child presses a letter button, he or she will hear the friendly robot slowly
sound out the word for that given letter. Your child will be able to look at the
letters of the word as it is being sounded out.
SOUNDS
OF WORDS
Learning Benefits for Your ChildLearning Benefits for Your Child
Learning Benefits for Your Child-The Sounds of Words activity is designed to help
Learning Benefits for Your ChildLearning Benefits for Your Child
your child learn that letters make sounds and sounds put together make words.
This activity provides many opportunities for your child to press any button he or
she desires to hear a word sounded out. Your child may press a certain object
button as many times as he or she desires. This activity is another free exploration
activity to acquaint your child with the sounding out process.
ACTIVITY INSTRUCTIONS:
1. Press the Sounds of Words activity button. You will
hear a sound effect followed by “Let’s see how the
sounds of letters make a word. Press a button.”
2. Press a letter button to hear each individual sound
of a word. For example, when you press the ‘j’
button for ‘jam’ you will hear, “juh, ahh, mmm”
followed by the word “jam.”
7
ALPHABERT THE READY TO READ ROBOT™
ACTIVITIES
ACTIVITY 4 - SOUNDS OF WORDS (continued)
3. An object animation will appear on the LCD screen that corresponds with the
object button that was pressed.
How Can You Help?
• Encourage your child to sound out the words with the friendly robot. Remind
your child to look at the letters within the word while he or she is sounding out
the word.
• Using the object words from the learning toy, write each of the words on cards.
Have your child try sounding them out on his or her own. If your child does it
correctly, have him or her illustrate the word on the back of the card. See how
many your child can recognize.
• Using the cards mentioned above, lay two words out in front of your child and
say the name of the word slowly for your child. Allow him or her to decide
which word you have said. Check the back of the card for the correct
illustration.
ACTIVITY 5 - MISSING LETTERS
LETTERS
MISSING
This activity strengthens spelling skills. Your child must decide which letter is
missing in order to complete the word. He or she must rely on the knowledge of
letter sounds in order to complete this activity. Using the objects from the learning
toy, your child will be asked to tell which letter is missing in order to complete the
word. Your child may refer to the letter buttons for help.
Learning Benefits for Your ChildLearning Benefits for Your Child
Learning Benefits for Your Child- The Missing Letters activity provides opportunities
Learning Benefits for Your ChildLearning Benefits for Your Child
for your child to spell words correctly. The main objective is for your child to
recognize that there is a letter missing from the word. It also teaches your child
how to correctly spell some short words.
ACTIVITY INSTRUCTIONS:
1. Press the Missing Letters activity button. You
will hear a sound effect followed by “Can you
find the missing letter? Let’s try!” You will then
hear a question, for example, “What letter is
missing in the word block?”
8
What letter is
missing in the
word “block?”
ALPHABERT THE READY TO READ ROBOT™
ACTIVITIES
ACTIVITY 5 - MISSING LETTERS (continued)
2. When the correct letter button is pressed, the
answer will be heard, followed by a positive phrase.
For example, for the question “b l o _ k”, if you press
the letter “c” button, you will hear “C is the missing
letter in the word block. Great job!” You will then
see a rewarding animation on the LCD screen.
3. When an incorrect letter button is pressed, you will
hear “Uh-oh. Let’s try again” and the question will
be repeated.
4. When the Help button is pressed, the question will be repeated. If the Help
button is pressed a second time, the answer will be identified.
How Can You Help?
• When your child is playing this activity, point out that the words being used
are words from the objects pictured on the letter buttons. Remind your child
to refer to those when necessary.
• Practice this activity without using the letter buttons by having your child
guess what letter is missing from a word that you have written down. Use
words from the objects on the learning toy. It may be helpful to provide choices
of letters for your child.
• When reading a book to your child, choose a word that your child is familiar
with and cover up one of the letters in that word. Ask your child to tell you
what letter is missing. Continue in the same manner with more words.
ACTIVITY 6 - MISSING VOWELS
This activity strengthens spelling skills by having your child decide which vowel is
missing in order to complete a word. Your child will be shown a word with one
blank space somewhere within the word. Your child must enter a letter, which is
the missing vowel for the word.
9
VOWELS
MISSING
ALPHABERT THE READY TO READ ROBOT™
Find the missing
vowel in the
word “ant.”
ACTIVITIES
ACTIVITY 6 - MISSING VOWELS (continued)
Learning Benefits for Your ChildLearning Benefits for Your Child
Learning Benefits for Your Child-The Missing Vowels activity provides a good re-
Learning Benefits for Your ChildLearning Benefits for Your Child
view of vowel recognition. When choosing an answer, your child will have to decide
between vowels and consonants using the letter buttons. This is a great way to
see if your child can distinguish the two apart as well as know their sounds.
ACTIVITY INSTRUCTIONS:
1. Press the Missing Vowels activity button. You
will hear a sound effect followed by “A, E, I, O,
and U are vowels. Let’s find the missing vowel”
followed by a question, for example, “Find the
missing vowel in the word ant.”
2. When the correct letter button is pressed, you
will hear the answer followed by a positive
response such as “A is the missing vowel in
the word ant. You got it!” You will then see a
rewarding animation on the LCD screen.
3. When an incorrect letter button is pressed, you will hear “Uh-oh. Let’s try again!”
and the question will be repeated.
4. When the Help button is pressed, the last question will be repeated. If the Help
button is pressed a second time, the answer will be identified.
a
10
ALPHABERT THE READY TO READ ROBOT™
ACTIVITIES
ACTIVITY 6 - MISSING VOWELS (continued)
How Can You Help?
• Remind your child that the vowels are displayed in a different color from the
consonants on the letter buttons. Review the names of the vowels A, E, I, O, and
U. Be sure that your child knows the sounds (both long and short) of the
vowels.
• While reading books, magazines, signs, etc. to your child, draw attention to
the vowels in words. Have your child tell you what the vowel is in a word.
• Using old magazines, have your child look for vowels in print. Help him or her
cut out vowels. Next, organize all of the A’s together, E’s together, etc. and
glue them onto cards which have been labeled for each of the vowels. Keep
your child’s learning toy nearby for this activity so he or she may refer to the
vowel buttons when looking for vowels to cut out.
ACTIVITY 7- MATCHING RHYMES
This activity challenges your child to make a rhyming word pair. Your child will
discover that rhyming words have the same ending sound. He or she will be asked
to add a missing letter to one of the two words that appear on the LCD screen in
order to make the two words rhyme.
Learning Benefits for Your ChildLearning Benefits for Your Child
Learning Benefits for Your Child-The Matching Rhymes activity will help teach your
Learning Benefits for Your ChildLearning Benefits for Your Child
child that certain word endings can be used to make a number of words that
rhyme (i.e. ATE can be used to make the words gate, rate, and fate). Your child will
be able to recognize that the ending letters do not change, only the beginning
letters change. Your child will be able to spell many words by recognizing rhyming words. Rhyming words may also be referred to as being part of the same word
family. Other words in this activity are glue and zoo. These words rhyme, too, but
are not considered to be in a word family since their endings are not the same.
ACTIVITY INSTRUCTIONS:
1. Press the Matching Rhymes activity button. You
will hear a sound effect followed by “Some words
sound the same. These words rhyme. Fill in the
letter to make the two words rhyme.”
11
Fill in the letter
to make the two
words rhyme.
MATCHING
RHYMES
ALPHABERT THE READY TO READ ROBOT™
ACTIVITIES
ACTIVITY 7- MATCHING RHYMES (continued)
2. Press the letter buttons to fill in the missing
letter to make the two words on the LCD screen
rhyme.
3. If the correct answer is entered, the learning
toy will identify the rhyming words followed by
a positive phrase and a rewarding animation.
For example, you will hear “Ant rhymes with
plant. You got it!”
4. If the incorrect answer is entered, the learning toy will ask you to try again and
the question will be repeated.
5. When the Help button is pressed once, the last question will be repeated. If the
Help button is pressed a second time, the answer will be identified.
Ant rhymes
with plant.
How Can You Help?
• Familiarize yourself with word families as you play this activity with your child.
While he or she is playing, see if your child can tell you what word family the
words on the LCD screen belong to. Have your child think of another word to
go with that family.
• Make word family wheels. Cut out two circles making sure one is smaller than
the other. On the edge of the large circle write a word family (i.e. UMP). Carefully cut out a small space in front of the U in UMP. Next, using your smaller
circle, write a letter(s) on the edge that could be used to form words in the
UMP word family. Continue with additional letter(s) by moving the circle. Then
position the smaller circle underneath the large circle so that you see a letter
next to UMP. Use a paper fastener to hold the circles together. Move the wheel
so new words can be seen. Let your child tell you the name of each word. Try
to make another wheel with a different word family. Good luck!
• While reading to your child or while your child is reading to you, pick out
words in the story that rhyme. Have your child tell you another word that
could rhyme with that word. Have your child make up silly sentences using
rhyming words.
12
ALPHABERT THE READY TO READ ROBOT™
ACTIVITIES
ACTIVITY 8 - BEGINNING & ENDING BLENDS
This activity strengthens phonetic skills by exposing your child to blends at the
beginning and ending of words. Your child will learn that blends are made by
combining two or more consonants to make a new sound (i.e. CR, BL, ST). A word will
be pronounced and shown on the LCD screen. Your child will be asked to decide
which letters in the word make up a particular blend. There may be a blend at the
beginning of the word as well as the ending of the word.
Learning Benefits for Your ChildLearning Benefits for Your Child
Learning Benefits for Your Child- The Beginning & Ending Blends activity is
Learning Benefits for Your ChildLearning Benefits for Your Child
designed to help your child understand that both letters in a blend can still be
heard when saying the word. Your child will exposed to some L blends, R blends, N
blends, and S blends. Your child should become more comfortable with reading
words that contain blends.
ACTIVITY INSTRUCTIONS:
1. Press the Beginning & Ending Blends activity
button. You will hear a sound effect followed
by “Two letters combine to make a new sound.
These letters are blends. Press a button.”
land
2. Press a letter button to find a word with a blend.
If the word you select has a blend, it will be
identified. Then the friendly robot will ask you
to choose the two letters that make up the
blend. If the letter button you selected does
not have a word that has a blend, you will be
asked to press a new button.
3. Press the left or right arrow button and the
Enter button to choose the two letters on the
LCD screen that make the blend sound.
13
Choose the two
letters that make
the “nd” sound.
BEGINNING &
ENDING BLENDS
ALPHABERT THE READY TO READ ROBOT™
ACTIVITIES
ACTIVITY 8 - BEGINNING & ENDING BLENDS (continued)
4. When the correct answer is entered, you will hear
the blend followed by a positive phrase and a
rewarding animation. For example, you will hear
“Great job! ‘Nd’ is the ending blend of land.”
5. When an incorrect answer is entered, the learning
toy will ask you to try again.
6. Press the Help button once to hear the last question
repeated. Press the Help button a second time to
have the answer identified.
How Can You Help?
• You can help your child think of words that start with the blends that he or
she is exposed to in this activity. Have your child see how many words he or
she can come up with. Make a list of all of the blends that your child learned
from this activity.
• Have your child create sentences using blend words. Encourage your child to
use more than one blend word in a sentence. He or she may wish to use a
different color when writing the blend word.
• Create puzzle pictures with blends. Have your child write a word with a blend
on an index card, leaving room on one half of the card for an illustration to go
along with the word. Next, your child could draw a squiggly line to divide the
blend word and the picture. Then he or she should cut on the line. Continue
with about 9 more words. Mix all of the cards up, and try to match the
illustrations to the words. Every time your child makes a match, he or she
should say the word and tell what the blend is in the word.
ACTIVITY 9 - WORD GROUPS
This activity increases problem-solving skills by asking your child to decide which
object from a group of objects doesn’t belong with the others. Your child will have
to decide which one of the three pictures doesn’t belong with the others.
WORD
GROUPS
Learning Benefits for Your ChildLearning Benefits for Your Child
Learning Benefits for Your Child-The Word Groups activity helps your child with
Learning Benefits for Your ChildLearning Benefits for Your Child
categorizing. Your child will have to decide what two of the objects shown have in
common before excluding the other object.
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