FAQ

Curriculum

I'm looking for a game or song that will help my child with a specific reading skill. Where can I find that information?
Our Find It! section was designed with exactly that question in mind. We've sorted our games, stories and songs by literacy skill so that you can find what you need easily. Check it out!

What's the target age of your show and site?
Between the Lions is aimed at kids ages three to seven, but anyone learning English literacy can benefit from the show and Web site.

Where can I find out more about the curriculum framework of Between the Lions?
There is an extensive description of the curriculum in the Parents and Teachers section, which outlines recommendations for preschool and K-3 literacy and provides examples of how the series addresses these recommendations, linked to selected clips.

Where can I find the curriculum for a specific episode?
In our Episodes listing, you'll find a brief summary of each episode and its main learning goals. If you'd like a more in-depth description of the curriculum content, see our guides in the Teacher's Toolkit.

How can I find out what shows a particular song is in, or which shows cover a specific letter or theme?
The Teacher's Toolkit guides have episode lists organized by vowels, consonants, text genres, and subject/themes, along with a song index.

Is W a vowel?
The letter W is not a vowel, even though it is often added to a vowel letter to stand for a vowel sound (COW, SHOW, PAW, FEW, BREW). Unlike Y in MYTH and BABY, for example, W never stands alone for a vowel sound. The letter H works the same way, as in YEAH, OH, AH, or HONEST. And don't forget G, which joins with H to become a silent vowel companion in certain spelling patterns: NIGHT, THOUGHT, EIGHT. Still, A, E, I, O, U, and sometimes Y are officially known as the vowel letters of the alphabet, and all the others are officially consonants.

Aren't there FOUR sounds of Y, not just three, like it says in your song?
See, what happened was, the producers of the show asked Dr. Nitwhite how many sounds Y has. That was their first mistake. Dr. Nitwhite said there were three different Y sounds: Y as in MY, Y as in FUNNY, and Y as in YELLOW. Unfortunately, the song was already recorded by the time Watson said, "It certainly is MYSTERIOUS that Y has so many different sounds." When they heard the word MYSTERIOUS, the songwriters realized that there was a fourth sound of Y: Y as in MYSTERIOUS. They had made a mistake, but it was too late. It just goes to show how confusing English can be sometimes.

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