I am returning to 3rd grade after a few years in another grade. I used to teach phonics in 3rd grade, but it has not been taught past second grade for the past couple of years. I am just wondering how many 3rd grade teachers still teach it and think it's still a necessity for this grade. What program of phonics does everyone who still teaches it use? We don't even have a book, I'm hoping I can find something.....
Its not part of our curriculum, but I teach word families and some phonics with my lower guided reading groups b/c they really struggle with it. I don't usually do it with the whole class though b/c its not really something we have a lot of time for
I like that saying Rainstorm...it's a shame though because a lot of my kids come in so low in 3rd and really don't know their phonics. Our new reading program isn't teaching it explicitly in 2nd anymore, and they just lose it.
You all are saying it perfectly! There's no time to teach it, students SHOULD have learned it by the time they enter 3rd grade, but many don't, for numerous reasons. I am torn...there are many skills our old phonics series taught in third grade that I feel my older kids haven't been strong in....such as prefixes, suffixes, (correct rules for spelling patterns when adding suffixes)base words, dividing syllables, soft c & g, etc. I really liked our old series because I could teach a lesson in 15-20 min. daily, and it was easy breezy for many but much needed for others, and no one was singled out. Many pages still had small pics to color, and it was a class they all liked. Our school doesn't have a strong phonics program across the board, so I am wishy washy right now!
Can you work it into your morning work routine? That's what my coop teacher did when I was student teaching. She didn't have the time for it, so she gave the kids phonics worksheets (along with math and penmanship pages) each morning.
I teach phonics as necessary, plus with our new spelling, a lot of activities are in there. I do it more as small group work, for those who need it. I can't possibly be the only one who does what she needs to, rather than what the Scope and Sequence limits her to.
I use a program called SIPPS. I use this as my supplemental to our spelling program. It has made a huge difference.
I TOTALLY teach phonics in 3rd grade! It is mostly as spelling, but my kids need it. I don't teach it like you would in K-2, but I do have to teach it. I don't do all the letter sounds or anything, but they still need reminders about the vowel diagraphs (sp). I call these "two vowels go walking." I never have much of a problem when it comes to kids READING these phonics patterns, but they do need help SPELLING them. They still need help with lots of rules, like changing y to i, and those kinds of things (doubling letters when adding ing, etc.) Maybe it's just my school?? I am not so sure that is considered phonics, except I include all those things in word study. But, my school has a play based K, so they are not doing the heavy lit instruction some schools do in K- so it may be that my third graders are still doing some second grade work....
Yes, these are many of the things I still want to teach/reinforce with my third graders. I feel like after third grade, if they haven't mastered many of these things, they will forever have trouble spelling, because they are expected to know these things by the upper grades. Not many upper grade teachers have the time to concentrate on reteaching these lost skills!
I sturggled myself with phonics as a kid, so I want to make sure my students are more confident in it than I was I also do it in spelling and our grammar book with the changing of y to i and stuff. But I may need to do a bit of explicit teaching to the whole group this year after seeing the incoming class' TerraNova scores...
when you assess students during running records and other reading conferences, you should be able to group students according to needs. if i have a students that are low, low readers and see that they need phonics, i will cover it. but at grade 3, i see that most of my low, low students know their phonics and sounds but can not put them together to form words. but it all goes back to assessing their needs.
I am so glad for this thread! I used Saxon phonics during our first grade year. I immediately ordered the second grade program, only to find out it's a near total review of first grade! They do not offer grade three phonics, and I haven't seen as terrific a program since. I was going to rely on the phonics instruction from our RAZ program, plus I have the Saxon phonics rules charts posted on my dining room wall. Saxon taught things like The Floss Rule, how to spell the /k/ sound,final /s/ rule, etc.
