A group of teachers, including many from the Lapeer Community Schools, spent the day at the Administration and Services Center for a crash course on Zoo-phonics, an innovative program aimed at teaching very young students the alphabet and getting them a head start on reading comprehension.

Here’s how the creators of the program describe Zoo-phonics:

Children are so ready for learning, however, it is difficult at best to teach them through abstract methods and materials – they do not understand abstractions. Make it concrete, however, and there is no limit to what they can learn.

The problem with learning how to read and spell is that the alphabet is too abstract. So we made it concrete! Our Animal Letters are delightful and memorable. Here’s why: A bear is a bear, is a bear, no matter how you turn him!

Based on these photos, I think these teachers were really enjoying their day of professional development.

There’s video evidence as well: