Just had to put it out there that I am going back to first grade. Yes, I am. Who would have thought that as an adult, I could learn so much from a First Grade Phonics book. But really, I am!
For one thing, I know now that the little /t/ doesn’t mean “t” it means the sound t makes! Really! Now I have to ask all these curriculum publishers, WHY can’t you put that in the intro of your books? Why just assume that we know what that means??????? I have at least 10 books that use the coding but never once explain it, just assume we know what it means!
In case you haven’t guessed, I didn’t learn to read by phonics. I memorized. I’m a good memorizer. That was what got me by. But now, that I’m learning basically the science of how the written language works, it feels like the whole world is opening to me! No wonder I’ve been confused, I’ve been trying to teach phonics from a memorization perspective.
I know, I need a life.
But really, if anyone is looking for a good reading curriculum, I highly suggest Saxon Phonics. I’ve looked at many different publishers and haven’t been pleased with any, until I found Saxon. In addition to myself, I am amazed at how quickly my son is picking this up now that we have a good curriculum.
I, too, learned to read by memorization. When I changed schools in the 1st grade, all of a sudden they had these black charts with colored letters on them. What? I could never figure them out. (As an aside, that first grade teacher turned out to be my husband's grandmother!)
ReplyDelete