I'm moving to 1st grade next year from Kindergarten and I'm trying to decide how I'll teach phonics. I need a plan!!! I looked at our curriculum map from last year and it looks like they did short vowels until DECEMBER!! :| I know if I try that with my kids they'll be bored to tears. What phonics program do you use? What do you do for your word study? Do you recommend any professional books? I'm looking for a program that I can follow all year. (Looking at the old curriculum map they bounced all over the place...short vowel a controlled r, short vowel i, blends..etc.) I hope this makes sense.
I use... I teach first grade also, for the last 4 years. I have the text from Scholastic, Phonics From A to Z, I find that it works fantastically with my scope. I usually do short vowels til Thanksgivingish...but I also differentiate my curriculum and spelling with Words Their Way. I also use Making Words by Patricia Cunningham, and we do that most days for about 10-15 minutes. I think that as long as you can keep on top of your class, you'll know who is ready to move up, and take on more difficult principles (long vowels, vowel pairs etc.) That is just my 2 cents, good luck=) Cari
I have used Saxon phonics for the last 5 years it is a very intense phonics program. Our students the last year or so have really began to loose interest before the lesson would really even get started. This year we are going to use Fundations by Wilson the conference was great its hands on and kid friendly.
We use the Fountas and Pinnell phonics as well. (though I'm not sure it's the same as the PP uses) I do find that sometimes things are listed in there at a different pace than my kiddos need. I also use Words Their Way.
