Bug Club and Phonics Bug FAQs

We have put together the most popular questions and answers that will help you make the most of Bug Club in your classroom and give you a bit more information on the programme. If you have a query that isn't answered below, get in touch| and we'll do our best to help.

 How should I use Bug Club in the classroom?|

 Why are Bug Club eBooks better than the rest?|

 What is the Clackmannanshire study into synthetic phonics?|

 What do teachers and pupils think of Bug Club?|

 Is there any training to help me get started with Bug Club?|

 Where can I find technical FAQs for Bug Club and Phonics Bug?|

 

 How should I use Bug Club in the classroom?

Bug Club is a whole-school reading programme designed for ages 1-6. It is the first phonics-based reading programme to join books with an online reading world to teach today's children to read.

• Use Phonics Bug's whole class teaching software and 100% decodable books as your starting point to teach your youngest children about letters and sounds and how they blend to make words
• Inspire a love of reading with Phonics Bug and Bug Club's exciting books, cool characters and range of genres, then enter Bug Club's online reading world to make their reading journey even more rewarding
• Consolidate your children's learning with Bug Club's games, worksheets and eBook quizzes, in whole-class sessions or as independent reading practice at school or at home
• Assess pupils' progress with Bug Club's comprehensive range of tools for formative and summative assessment.
• Continue their reading journey at home, by assigning eBooks to children's personal homepage in Bug Club's online reading world and create that all important the joined-up learning between school and home.

 

 Why are Bug Club eBooks better than the rest?

Everyone seems to be 'doing' eBooks these days but Bug Club'e eBooks really are better than the rest. For example, you may have come across Oxford Owl, the site designed for parents, from OUP, which on the face of it, offers lots of free eBooks for children to use at home and some advice for parents to help them understand how children learn to read.

There are lots of important differences between the resources and support that Bug Club offers schools and parents, and the Oxford Owl site, but perhaps the main difference is the breadth and depth of Bug Club's online reading world, compared to OUP's site. Bug Club's online reading world| gives children their own personalised reading pathway, which contains finely-levelled eBooks, their own private homepage and fun and motivating rewards linked to APP quiz questions in each eBook. Unlike Oxford Owl, Bug Club's eBooks allow teachers to gather personalised APP feedback for every child and Bug Club's teaching and planning tools available to teachers really do set it apart from the rest.

Oxford Owl allows children to read eBooks at home. Bug Club does that and so much more: it creates real and useful links between what children read at school and what they read at home, helps engage parents with their children's reading.

Find out more about the key differences between Bug Club and Oxford Owl.

 

 What is the Clackmannanshire study into synthetic phonics?

Phonics Bug is based on a systematic phonics teaching method that was trialled as part of a successful seven-year research project conducted by Rhona Johnston and Joyce Watson in Clackmannanshire, Scotland, published in February 2005.

This project ('The Effects of Synthetic Phonics Teaching on Reading and Spelling Attainment') has been instrumental in shaping Government advice on the use of systematic phonics as the foundation for teaching children to read at primary school and this proven methodology forms the basis of the Phonics Bug whole-class teaching software.

Read the full Clackmannanshire research report| or find out more about the authors|.

 

 

 What do teachers and pupils think of Bug Club?

Lots of schools are already using Bug Club in their classrooms to great effect. They tell us they love the flexibility of the readers and eBooks and children are really motivated to pick up and read the Phonics Bug and Bug Club books, and more importantly, take them home to re-read or access them via Bug Club's online reading world.

You can find out more about what teachers and pupils think of Bug Club by reading some of our Bug Club case studies and quotes|, where you'll also find a video of Brookfield Infant School talking about how they use Bug Club in their classrooms and at home.

 

 Is there any training to help me get started with Bug Club?

Yes! We run regular online Bug Club training sessions to help you get started with your new Bug Club resources. The sessions run as twilight webinars, which means all you have to do is log in on your school or home computer after school, put your headphones on and access the session online. You can register individually, or if a whole group of colleagues want to join you, you can register as a group and access the training via your whiteboard or projector too.

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Topics covered in our Bug Club webinars include getting started with the resources, how to allocated eBooks and finding your way around the teaching and planning tools. It's easy to sign up and it's free!

Book your place on our Bug Club Getting Started Webinar today|.

 

 Where can I find technical FAQs for Bug Club and Phonics Bug?

If you already use Bug Club in your classroom, you can access a whole range of technical support to help you make best use of the programme with your children. These FAQs include topics on logging in, administration, searching for and allocating eBooks, using eBooks, reporting and general technical queries.

Check out our Bug Club and Phonics Bug technical FAQs.

 

Next steps?

 

To find out how to use Bug Club in your classroom, contact your local representative|.