All About Phonics

Educating Children At Home

PhonicsKid — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 07:35:43 +0000

Many parents prefer to read children’s books to educate their children about many facets of the world they live in. This form of teaching is colorful and makes learning fun and enjoyable for everyone. The topics for these learning tools can help a child develop intellectually, spiritually and help with the overall development of the child on a social, psychological, and intra-personal level. The storylines will often inspire children to lead better lives and the characters will guide them to be outgoing and adventurous.

Is it okay if during the first phonics lesson…?

PhonicsKid — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 01:17:41 +0000

okay, I am in college but doing a part time job give Kindergarten kids phonics lesson.

this weekened will be the first lesson. so, is it okay if I just introduce them alphabets and have memory games with the alphabets to make things interesting in the first place.

or should I let them do tracing alphabets?

this supposed to be in teaching section, but I am very sure Id get very few answer there so hope its okay here in P&S.

Looking for a good second grade reading list?

PhonicsKid — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 13:19:40 +0000

My husband has yet to get on-board with homeschooling… I have been trying to show him by doing home-summer-school, to show him I can handle it and how much our son enjoys learning with me as the teacher…

Anyway, I am looking for good Christian/character building book suggestions that a second grader (going into second) can read on his own as part of our summer reading program.

Activity and field trip suggestions welcome too!

Thanks

Teaching reading comprehension – methodology consistent with examination practice?

PhonicsKid — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 07:43:39 +0000

I am teaching English reading to intermediate level Chinese students, and their standard tests will involve a comprehension passage and four multiple choice questions.

As well as teaching/providing practice for the standard reading skills, I would like to do some practice comprehension tests throughout the semester and teach specific skills for passing these examinations.

In my mind, the methodology is something as follows:

1. Skim the text for gist, not being too concerned with the unfamiliar lexis;
2. Read the questions;
3. Read the text intensively, trying to answer the questions directly, without recourse to the multiple choice alternatives;
4. Then choose the best answer from the multiple choice;
5. Re-read and check.

I haven’t got any authoritative sources on this methodology. It is just something I have from memory as a student and a couple of websites.

Does anyone have an authoritative source or opinion on this subject?

Thanks for your help.
Hi Melissa! VERY helpful – Thank you! And thanks for the cheerful encouagement!

Kids Celebrate Reading

PhonicsKid — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 05:51:23 +0000

Nine years ago, the National Education Association launched the “Read Across America” program to encourage, excite and energize children to do just that.

What are some good books to improve a first-grade reading level?

PhonicsKid — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 02:03:29 +0000

I’m giving a few books to a girl who is in third grade but has a first-grade reading level. Should I give her first grade books, second grade books, or third grade books? What’s going to improve her reading level? Does anyone have any suggestions that I could easily find at Barnes and Noble tonight. As for the type of book, anything goes, but I want 1 or 2 books about puppies because that is one thing that I know she likes.

Cute Toddler Sings Phonics

PhonicsKid — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 13:28:53 +0000

Adorable 2yr old toddler singing alphabet phonics. Pay attention to his funny expressions. What a daring, so funny!

Reading, Writing & Education : Activities for Teaching Phonics

PhonicsKid — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 11:17:16 +0000

Activities that help teach phonics include having students connect the sound of a letter to the shape, allowing the students to trace the shape of a letter and having students look at objects that all start with the same sound. Provide visual interest for students learning about phonics with advice from awriting instructor and former classroom teacher in this free video on education. Expert: Laura Minnigerode Bio: Minnigerode earned a Master’s in Education from the Harvard Graduate School of Education in Cambridge, Mass., and is a credentialed teacher. Filmmaker: Todd Green

I need some phonics activities for onset and rime?

PhonicsKid — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 20:43:35 +0000

I’m doing some phonemic awareness interventions with a student in kindergarten and the onset and rime activities I already have are a little above her level. She can read only a few letters from the alphabet so the activities need to have pictures. Thanks!

Does Your School Use Learning Styles Effectively?

PhonicsKid — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 12:09:27 +0000

Different students receive information best in different ways. They also process and use information best in different ways. Ways of processing and using are called multiple intelligences or talents; we shall discuss those in a future article. Ways of receiving information are called learning styles; some of these different styles are described in this article.Let us repeat the basic reality – - Different students receive information best in different ways. This can lead to a serious problem in both school and home learning. If a student receives information best visually and his teacher or parent gives most information orally, the student is at a great disadvantage. The student can become the victim of ineffective teaching – - teaching that depends too much on just one way of presenting information.Here is a simple listing of four major learning styles:1. Visual – - A large number of students, 45% or more in most American classrooms according to Dr. David Sousa, prefer to receive information visually. This includes both those who like pictures, video tapes, and charts and those who enjoy reading as the interpretation of symbols that translate into pictures in their minds. A good learning style test will measure both types of visual preferences, pictures and reading.2. Somatic – - Some students, usually at least 35%, learn most effectively while moving (kinesthetic) or handling (tactile) things. This action and body involvement help them to perceive meaning.3. Auditory – - A relatively small number of students, 19% or so, now prefer either listening or discussing/talking as a way of receiving information. Unfortunately, there are classrooms in which most information is presented with the spoken word even though that is not the most effective presentation form for a majority of students.4. Reflective – - In addition to receiving information in one or ore of the ways described above, a student can construct new information by thinking about what he or she has observed or experienced. So, do not forget to give “discovery assignments” in which you provide a bridge between received information and the use of intelligence or thinking processes.There are some other style options that are important to consider. Two of the secondary style options or contrasts are:1. Interpersonal – - Some students prefer to learn in groups, through interaction with others, as opposed to working alone.2. Global – - Some students prefer to be shown the whole picture or the major concepts of a unit before they are expected to work through a logical sequence of information in an analytical manner. To others, this global introduction is not as important; they are comfortable gaining the big concepts by completing analysis one step at a time.Clearly a teacher can best serve his or her class by including different ways of receiving information, not by presenting information primarily one way.Both teachers and parents should evaluate the learning style power of programs in an individual school to avoid the learning problems that occur when proper attention is not given to different styles. These can be serious problems because inattention to styles can mean that many youngsters will fail to realize their potential. One example is that we find that many visual learners who have been in strong auditory phonics programs without a visual component are not reading on grade level; given the addition of visual learning options, they can rapidly grow to the proper reading levels. Excessive dependence on auditory language labs without significant visual and cultural components can greatly reduce the effectiveness of world language learning for many students. A major and well researched point to remember here is that television, computers, and our multimedia world have “wired” the brains of contemporary students with a much higher focus on visual learning than was common thirty years ago. It is a very serious error to ignore this fact in today’s classrooms.To evaluate whether or not your school programs are giving adequate attention to different learning styles, seek affirmative answers to these five questions:1. Have teachers and students received training on different learning styles?2. Does each teacher try to offer learning style options in each unit taught? (This does NOT mean designing a different activity for every student – - an unreasonable task. It means presenting options or more choices to students trained to select from same.)3. When a student is experiencing a learning problem, is he or she given an opportunity to meet with the teacher to determine whether a learning style option can help?4. Are students expected to develop skills in the use of all learning styles rather than just focusing on their preferred styles?5. Are parents helped to understand and to support learning style options and their value?A “yes” answer to 4 or 5 of these questions means that a school staff is well focused on using the power of attention to different learning styles. A preponderance of “no” answers is a sign of serious weakness in a school program.