Phonics /Kindergarten readiness resources

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Not everyone trusts their children's schools to do it well or do it right. Out of 3 elementary schools my children attend(ed), only 1 was really on the ball with early literacy. We taught our kids to read before K after hearing educational complaints from friends with older kids. Reading is too important to leave it to chance, which is what you're doing when you leave it to the schools. YMMV.

This is so true.

Most schools, both public & private (even several highly regarded local privates), fell into the Lucy Calkins “Balanced Literacy” / Whole Language nonsense, which now has been widely discredited. Actual science shows that about 20-30% of students will learn to read no matter which curriculum is used. The majority of students really do need the explicit Phonics instruction which most schools have not been providing for the last 20-30 years.

VA public schools are being forced (via a bipartisan law from legislature which was signed by the current governor) to move to a Science of Reading curriculum, where explicit Phonics instruction is front & center. APS now has a good reading curriculum, thanks to pressure from the local NAACP. Not sure about where DC or MD stand at present.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Hi all, Looking for any online/in person- Phonics /kindergarten readiness classes for my DD - currently in Pre K and would be in Kindergarten . Please share any kind of online resources which you have tried and worked for your kids as well . I have tried few online resources the problem I'm facing currently is that I'm unable to streamline through it . Any kind of resources will be very helpful. TIA.

https://library.lol/main/DDFC49CC58F0D8544AE87C96806562B7

[Anonymous]

https://larrysanger.org/2010/12/baby-reading/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not everyone trusts their children's schools to do it well or do it right. Out of 3 elementary schools my children attend(ed), only 1 was really on the ball with early literacy. We taught our kids to read before K after hearing educational complaints from friends with older kids. Reading is too important to leave it to chance, which is what you're doing when you leave it to the schools. YMMV.

This is so true.

Most schools, both public & private (even several highly regarded local privates), fell into the Lucy Calkins “Balanced Literacy” / Whole Language nonsense, which now has been widely discredited. Actual science shows that about 20-30% of students will learn to read no matter which curriculum is used. The majority of students really do need the explicit Phonics instruction which most schools have not been providing for the last 20-30 years.

VA public schools are being forced (via a bipartisan law from legislature which was signed by the current governor) to move to a Science of Reading curriculum, where explicit Phonics instruction is front & center. APS now has a good reading curriculum, thanks to pressure from the local NAACP. Not sure about where DC or MD stand at present.

We are in DCPS and the curriculum is heavily phonics focused starting in K. Not sure when they adopted this approach (our kid is in 2nd) but we've never had to supplement at all this n reading because the instruction through school has been so strong (beyond just reading to our kid and supporting with library visits and such). Now we do supplement for spelling and writing, which I think DCPS does not emphasize enough. But the standard reading instruction in DCPS, at least for the last 3 years, is based in phonics/science of reading. They also test for dyslexia at the start of 1st grade and have good tutoring/intervention programs for reading LDs (our DC was not diagnosed but we know a couple kids who were helped this way and receive in-school support from a specialist and it's been great).