I agree with the discussion thus far concerning specific phonics instruction being necessary especially in the early grades. I am a firm believer in the 4 Blocks Literacy Model and have used it very successfully in my 1st/2nd grade multiage classroom for over five years. The phonics portion of the four blocks has some excellent activities to use to reinforce phonics skills being taught. The beauty of 4 Blocks for me is that it is a management system and not a program, so I can use Project Read, Orton Gillingham, a basal reader's phonics component or any other phonics program my school district decides to mandate. The phonics block in the 4 Blocks model is about a 40 minute block of time daily. The other three blocks are Self selected reading, guided reading, and writing. During my 40 minute phonics block, I use the first 10 to 15 minutes to introduce/ review new word wall words or a specific phonics rule, or blends, chunks, etc. The next portion of the block uses activities that will reinforce whatever I am teaching in phonics that week. Some of the activities used are: Be a Mind Reader, Guess the Covered Word, On the Back, Rounding up the Rhymes, Rainbow Writing, etc.
My philosophy about spelling/phonics for my first and second graders is that once I have taught a skill, it remains taught. So I expect that the students will apply whatever phonics rules, word wall words, chunks, blends, etc. that they have been taught in all their writing across the curriculum. Just my 2 cents worth, Nancy > _______________________________________________ Mosaic mailing list [email protected] To unsubscribe or modify your membership please go to http://literacyworkshop.org/mailman/options/mosaic_literacyworkshop.org. Search the MOSAIC archives at http://snipurl.com/MosaicArchive.
