I don't think anyone has advocated for no phonics instruction. I know I certainly haven't. What I said in my post, following up on Lori's, was that in twenty years in primary I have never taught short and long vowel sounds. That is very different from not teaching phonics.
In the classroom where I work right now (I am not in charge) they sing a song that goes like this: What's that sound in the middle of cat? A! A! A! A! A! What's that sound in the middle of bug? UH! UH! UH! UH! UH! etc. What's that sounnnnnnnnnnnd? Short vowel soouuuuuuuuuunnnnd. It's really stupid, really aggravating, and really, really fast. Plus, the teacher never ever ever used different words. The kids just sing the song the way they sing Yankee Doodle Dandy. hah. Phonics and phonemic awareness are vital to reading, and everyone knows it. That doesn't mean it has to be taught in a silly way, or that children need to learn the terms "schwa" and "short vowel sound" and "long vowel sound" or that they need to circle all the short vowels words and underline the long vowel words. :-) In my personal opinion, of course. :-) Renee On Feb 29, 2008, at 3:48 AM, KENNETH SMITH wrote: > Bonita, > I'm glad to hear that your students are doing so well without phonics > instruction. However, as a 15 year veteran of teaching Title I kiddos, > I consistently find that the students who are still with me or have > moved in after second grade, bring two major areas of weakness with > them - phonics and fluency. They just don't know what to do with those > vowel sounds, and they don't have the background knowledge to "try it > both ways". We began teaching phonics again this year (after not > having it in the curriculum for several years) - we are using Animated > Literacy. I am already seeing a huge difference in our K-1 kiddos who > are receiving this instruction. I can't wait to see how they do on > their DRAs at the end of the year! The four elementary buildings in > our district are currently conducting some action researach on the > effectiveness of this phonics instruction - not all buildings are > using it, so we'll be comparing notes at the end of the year. I'll > keep you all posted on what we discover. > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Bonita DeAmicis" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > To: "Mosaic: A Reading Comprehension Strategies Email Group" > <[email protected]> > Sent: Thursday, February 28, 2008 8:38:58 PM (GMT-0600) America/Chicago > Subject: Re: [MOSAIC] vowel sounds > > > ---- Joy <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: >> Lori, >> I stand with you, but refuse to duck. My kids not only read well, >> but make unbelievable gains in their testing, across the board. (Not >> that testing is everything, but it's hard to ignore 30 and 40% gains >> for every single child who walks in my door.) > > > Does your school do standardized testing of first graders? > > _______________________________________________ > 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. > > > > _______________________________________________ > 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. > > Anyone who has never made a mistake has never tried anything new. ~ Albert Einstein _______________________________________________ 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.
