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Mini spelling detective stories 1

Inspector Spellor and the Theft of the Crown Jewels

Product: Book

Trim size in cm: 20x27

Pages: 56 in full colour

ISBN: 978-88-590-1097-5

Publication date: 01/05/2016

Suitable for: Primary 1st level (ages 6-7), Primary 2nd level (ages 8-10)


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mondo   Rights sold to: Slovenia





A series which turns spelling, often considered boring and frustrating by children, into an opportunity for implicit learning and active enjoyment. 
The 5 books have increasing levels of complexity, for progressive development of spelling and lexical competences. In line with the primary school curriculum, but unhampered by criteria strictly connected to the classroom, they can also be useful for pupils with specific learning difficulties for development and remediation.

In the Theft of the Crown Jewels, by solving engaging puzzles, children will obtain clues which will serve as conclusive evidence for catching the crook!
In the first book, children will practice specifically:
• phoneme-grapheme conversion of paroxytone words with two, three and four syllables, like cane (dog), sapone (soap), pomodoro (tomato);
• words containing similar sounds: f/v, p/b, t/d, m/n, like dado/dato (a die/a date) foglia/voglia (a leaf/a wish);
• words containing “bridge” letters like carta (paper), porta (door), cantare (sing);
• words with digraphs and trigraphs like gn, gl, ch, gh, sc/sch.


Exercises about:
• phoneme-grapheme conversion of paroxytone words with two, three and four syllables, like cane (dog), sapone (soap), pomodoro (tomato);
• words containing similar sounds: f/v, p/b, t/d, m/n, like dado/dato (a die/a date) foglia/voglia (a leaf/a wish);
• words containing "bridge" letters like carta (paper), porta (door), cantare (sing);
• words with digraphs and trigraphs like gn, gl, ch, gh, sc/sch.



Mini spelling detective stories

 

Fun play books for practising spelling in primary school

An innovative series, conceived by Susi Cazzaniga and Silvia Baldi, which turns spelling, often considered boring and frustrating by children, into an opportunity for implicit learning and active enjoyment.

So many crimes for Inspector Spellor and his assistant Agatha Bird to solve

Each child must help the steadfast Inspector Spellor, a pure breed fox terrier who is extremely renowned in the world of solving crimes, and his assistant Agatha Bird, a tufted titmouse who is training to become an inspector, find those guilty of committing the shocking crimes that have put Scotland Yard on their guard.

By solving engaging puzzles, each child will obtain clues which will serve as conclusive evidence for catching the crook!

THE FIRST BOOKS IN THE SERIES

The books have increasing levels of complexity, in order to encourage the progressive development of spelling and lexical competences in primary-aged children. Click on the cover to find out more!

Mini spelling detective stories 1

Who stole the Crown Jewels from the Tower of London?

    With a variety of puzzles and exercises to develop and consolidate:
  • phoneme-grapheme conversion of words with two, three and four syllables
  • recognition and transcription of words containing similar sounds (f/v, p/b, t/d, m/n), "bridge" letters and words with digraphs and trigraphs (gn, gl, ch, gh, sc/sch).

Mini spelling detective stories 2

Who broke into the underground safe containing hundreds of gold coins?

    With a variety of puzzles and exercises to develop and consolidate:
  • phoneme-grapheme conversion of words with two, three and four syllables
  • spelling remediation of words with digraphs and trigraphs (gn, gl, ch, gh, sc/sch) and words with simple doubles (consonant-consonant/a-o-u).

Mini spelling detective stories 3

Who stole the Crystal Skull, one of the most famous artefacts in the British Museum?

    With a variety of puzzles and exercises to develop and consolidate:
  • spelling remediation of words with digraphs and trigraphs (gn, gl, ch, gh, sc/sch) and words with simple doubles (consonant-consonant/vowel) and multiple doubles, like cappello (hat)/ pennello (paintbrush).

Mini spelling detective stories 4

Who did help Thomas Gorilla to escape from the maximum security prison?

    With a variety of puzzles and exercises to develop and consolidate:
  • words with digraphs and trigraphs (gn, gl, ch, gh, sc/sch)
  • words with simple doubles (consonant-consonant/a-o-u)
  • words with multiple doubles e.g. cappello (hat), cappotto (coat)
  • words with complex doubles e.g. consonant-consonant-consonant/vowel: labbra (lip)

Mini spelling detective stories 5

Who did sabotage the Big Ben?

    With a variety of puzzles and exercises to develop and consolidate:
  • words with digraphs and trigraphs (gn, gl, ch, gh, sc/sch)
  • words with simple doubles (consonant-consonant/a-o-u)
  • words with multiple doubles e.g. cappello (hat), cappotto (coat)
  • words with complex doubles e.g. consonant-consonant-consonant/vowel: labbra (lip)

In line with the primary school curriculum, but unhampered by criteria strictly connected to the classroom, the books in this series can also be useful for pupils with specific learning difficulties for development and remediation.

The suspects

ASCOTT HAMISH: 45 years old, Barman EMMA GOAT: 83 years old Ex-Italian, teacher ROBERT CASTOR: 37 years old, Dockworker REBECCA FOX: 26 years old, Journalist ADAM HORSE: 56 years old, Mayor STELLA CAT: 22 years old, Actress

The clues

Completing engaging puzzles which gradually increase in difficulty at semantic and spelling levels, children will obtain clues which will serve as conclusive evidence for catching the crook!

Each book contains a wide variety of fun puzzles and crosswords

PUZZLES FOR DEVELOPING SPELLING ABILITIES

On a theoretical level, word games like riddles and puzzles involving changing, replacing and matching letters require careful phonological analysis of the word or maybe even manipulation of sounds. Word games like crosswords and cross puzzles are instead extremely effective for boosting lexical knowledge.   

The definitions allow those solving the puzzles to conjure up mental representations of the words, which are then fixed in their long-term memory, with both semantic and spelling analysis.  Word games therefore assume a certain importance in lexical enrichment and greater awareness of spelling.

Puzzles in general allow both phonological and semantic-lexical strategies to be stimulated. Above all, in a language with transparent spelling like Italian, it is only through the use of a lexical strategy that it is possible to retrieve the correct spelling of words with irregular or ambiguous spelling, for example: scienza/scenza (science), liquore/licuore (liqueur). 

All the puzzle material that has traditionally been considered as recreational and little more than a pastime in this series becomes the essential means for integrating motivation and specific training.