
Five-Star Phonics Combats Adult Illiteracy
Five-Star Phonics was created by a three-time, award-winning Reading Teacher of the Year after years of research about how to best help even older adults to read. Adults learn the phonics rules that they need to help them read even the most difficult words on these life-changing cards. We have years of data to prove that adults who needed help with reading English learned to read better within weeks. This powerful, effective reading program has helped English language learners (including Chinese students from Duke University, Brazilian adults in Virginia, and Hispanic adults in Texas and Virginia), incarcerated adults in North Carolina, and numerous homeless adults from Virginia to read in less than a month.
These statistics help to motivate us at Five-Star Phonics to work quickly to tackle the huge problem of illiteracy in the United States:

- In 2024, 21% of adults in the United States are illiterate.
- 54% of adults have a reading level below sixth grade (20% are below a fifth-grade level).
- Low levels of literacy cost the United States up to 2.2 trillion dollars per year.
- Three out of four people on welfare have severe reading difficulties.
- 60% of adults in American prisons can’t read.
- To determine how many prison beds will be needed in future years, some states actually base part of their projection on how well current elementary students are performing on reading tests.
- 85% of juvenile offenders have problems reading.
First, we offer a free pretest that will show any child or adult exactly where to begin (on which Phonics Bingo card to start.)
For just $19.99, we offer Five-Star Bingo Cards, sequential cards which teach in order the phonics rules (based on the Science of Reading). In addition, we offer Five-Star Phonics Playing Cards for $9.99 per set which reinforce the rules on the Phonics Bingo Cards. If a person purchases the Phonics Bundle Deal (1 Phonics Bingo Card and all 28 boxes of Phonics Playing Cards), he/she will immediately receive an email with a link to access all 28 videos explaining exactly how to use these cards and presenting a hands-on lesson for students to participate! Any child or adult can work independently or with other children or adults by watching the creator of this program explain in detail how to play each Five-Star Phonics Bingo Cards and Five-Star Phonics Playing Cards.
The Phonics Playing Cards may be used in these four fun ways:
- Choose cards (one at a time) to determine the order of the words for the Phonics Bingo game. (See specific directions for this game inside each box of Phonics Playing Cards. In the video that is included with each set of Phonics Playing Cards, the creator of the Five-Star Phonics games will use these Phonics Playing Cards to call out the words so that an individual (child or adult) or a group may play a Phonics Bingo Game.
- Play Go Fish For Phonics. Use the playing cards to play Go Fish for Phonics with 2 or more players! Shuffle the box of green and blue cards together. Deal 5 cards to each player, and place the remaining cards in a pile. The first player will show only one of his/her cards to the other players while saying aloud the sound or word on the card and asking any one of the other players if he/she has that matching card. If the player that was asked has that same sound or word, he/she will give it to the player who asked for it to make a match.
If the player who is asked about having the same card does not have it, that player will tell the asker, “Go fish for phonics!” The asker will then pick one card from the pile. (If that card is the card for which the player asked, the player will show the other players and take another turn. If the card is not the card for which the player asked, it is another player’s turn. The game may continue clockwise until the cards run out. Then the player with the most matches wins.
- Play the Phonics Memory Game. Use the playing cards to play Phonics Memory. Shuffle the blue cards, and lay them face down in rows on the table. Then, shuffle the green cards and lay them face down in rows on the other side of the table. The first player turns over 1 blue card and 1 green card and says aloud the words (or sounds) on the cards. If the 2 cards match, that player gets another turn. If not, the 2 cards are turned face down in the same spots, and the player on the left chooses one blue and one green card. The game should continue in a clockwise direction. The player with the most matches at the end of the game wins!
- Play the Sort the Sounds Game/Activity. To play game #4, player 1 (or team 1) is to use the blue cards to categorize the words while player 2 (or team 2) categorizes the green cards. Players race to see who can correctly sort/categorize the words. (Players may check the video which corresponds with the number/skill on the box of playing cards to make sure they sorted the words correctly.) The winner is the player (or team) who is first to correctly sort all 24 words.
A person may play this game alone by keeping track of the time it takes to categorize the words. After using the video to check the answers, the individual may play again to see if he/she can beat his/her original time.