APS - Which Phonics Program did your school adopt?

[Anonymous]

PP. Teachers College reading and writing project has units of study in reading, writing, and phonics. 3 separate programs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:PP. Teachers College reading and writing project has units of study in reading, writing, and phonics. 3 separate programs.

And they are all equally awful!!!!!!!! All students deserve better.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:APS - Which Phonics Program did your school adopt?

Mine chose "Lucy Calkins", which is horrifying, absolutely the worst choice ever, it shouldn't even been an option to begin with, and yet the principal selected that one!! So frustrating. Lucy Calkins teaches kids how to "guess", not how to "read".

Curious of what other schools chose. Please share your experience with reading instruction at APS, thank you!

Please tell me which school chose Lucy Calkins, because if it's mine I may have to move.

Do you have to move? see list below:

Abingdon, Arlington Science Focus, Ashlawn, Barcroft, Barrett, Claremont, Discovery, Drew, Fleet, Hoffman-Boston, Jamestown, Key, McKinley, Nottingham, Randolph, Taylor

If it’s so terrible why did they all pick it? I’m not doubting the teachers on here, just trying to understand!

[Anonymous]

The sad part is that some of the phonics taught in the Lucy’s calk ins program is just wrong. And that doesn’t even begin to address how it isn’t appropriately sequential etc.

I would love to know how the curriculum decisions are made. There must be sales reps out there pitching this nonsense.

[Anonymous]

I feel sad and angry that Lucy Calkins program is so widely used at APS.

[Anonymous]

Is anyone going to post any actual information or research here? It’s impossible to tell whether these posters are just spouting off or there is some actual validity to these claims that it’s so terrible and yet the majority of arlington elementary schools use it. That doesn’t seem to add up.

[Anonymous]

Our FCPS uses Lucy Calkins in the upper grades but not the lower grades.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Is anyone going to post any actual information or research here? It’s impossible to tell whether these posters are just spouting off or there is some actual validity to these claims that it’s so terrible and yet the majority of arlington elementary schools use it. That doesn’t seem to add up.

To follow up - can someone explain what you think the schools SHOULD be doing? I feel like there is thread after thread complaining about some of the top school districts in the entire country and I’m honestly trying to figure it out. Recently there was a thread about Fairfax reading being terrible because they don’t use phonics or something. Now Arlington is doing phonics but in a terrible way? What is the ideal way in posters minds?

[Anonymous]

Baltimore teacher here. I started using Heggerty on my own for phonemic awareness since Fundations doesn’t have much PA. Heggerty is fantastic and my kids love it. The book wasn’t cheap but I’m used to buying everything myself. Fundations is slow and dull but it is systematic.

[Anonymous]

Have you ever seen a Lucy Calkins writing lesson? It’s so artificial. I go off script bc I want to actually engage my students and not make them hate writing. It’s so sad what has happened to writing in the younger grades.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is anyone going to post any actual information or research here? It’s impossible to tell whether these posters are just spouting off or there is some actual validity to these claims that it’s so terrible and yet the majority of arlington elementary schools use it. That doesn’t seem to add up.

To follow up - can someone explain what you think the schools SHOULD be doing? I feel like there is thread after thread complaining about some of the top school districts in the entire country and I’m honestly trying to figure it out. Recently there was a thread about Fairfax reading being terrible because they don’t use phonics or something. Now Arlington is doing phonics but in a terrible way? What is the ideal way in posters minds?

Schools should teach phonics and reading systematically. Teach letter sounds in a sequence that makes sense, then teach students how to blend the sounds, etc. Lucy Calkins doesn’t believe in that, her so called whole language approach is idiotic. For example, if a student sees the word horse in a picture book but doesn’t know the word, what would you do? Help him “sound it out”, right? What does Lucy Calkins do? She’ll say, look at the picture, what do you think it is? The student then looks at the picture, and replies “ pony”, and bingo, that’s good enough for Lucy Calkins, to her the student is utilizing picture clue to understand the text, doesn’t even matter that pony I’d different than horse, because to her it doesn’t change anything in terms of understanding the story.

I hope this make sense. Typing on my iPad so please excuse any typo .

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is Lucy Calkins a phonics program? I'm a teacher in another state and I always thought it was just comprehension. We use Fundations in Baltimore City. It is remedial and pretty slow but our population needs it. Don't even get me started on this guessing at words based on the first letter. That enrages me as a teacher.

You are correct, Lucy Calkins used to be for reading and writing only, then she wanted to make more money so she now has a phonics program too, and many elementary schools are using that phonics program. I don't have a list but I know many adopted her phonics program, which sucks as bad as her other programs, if not worse. UGH!!!!

NP here. I would be concerned about any phonics program designed by Lucy Calkins since reading this quote by teacher and writer who works in dyslexia circles. "A few years ago I attended a week-long Reader’s Workshop in NYC with over a thousand other reading teachers and the word dyslexia was never even whispered (yes, at a reading workshop). When a colleague of mine asked Lucy Calkins, the creator of Reading Workshop, about her approach to dyslexic students, she told an auditorium packed with teachers that the condition is over-diagnosed and quickly moved on." Dyslexic students might represent a small percent of learners but I wouldn't trust a phonics curriculum written by anyone who was so dismissive of it.

Here is a link to the article. https://www.huffpost.com/entry/dyslexia-action-denied-an_b_5950008?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAADuomZ9D8g4niC3fG21li7pIcGgiLVNDwDNVr7G5JuH7Q_v6m94SdB_MscpdygHYos0rtTeM1gTzeDaW5ykQRufXtetVgNiP7yfdbjaNb--7VQqIYciOox7L5LYhTyL6W-uxpRX98aIrkEPK2d9MmUFq6Owft4q3kKITcarzeOD7

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Baltimore teacher here. I started using Heggerty on my own for phonemic awareness since Fundations doesn’t have much PA. Heggerty is fantastic and my kids love it. The book wasn’t cheap but I’m used to buying everything myself. Fundations is slow and dull but it is systematic.

DCPS parent here. Our school adopted Fundations and it seems really solid - maybe slow from a teaching perspective, but my kid really seemed to lock into it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is anyone going to post any actual information or research here? It’s impossible to tell whether these posters are just spouting off or there is some actual validity to these claims that it’s so terrible and yet the majority of arlington elementary schools use it. That doesn’t seem to add up.

To follow up - can someone explain what you think the schools SHOULD be doing? I feel like there is thread after thread complaining about some of the top school districts in the entire country and I’m honestly trying to figure it out. Recently there was a thread about Fairfax reading being terrible because they don’t use phonics or something. Now Arlington is doing phonics but in a terrible way? What is the ideal way in posters minds?

Schools should teach phonics and reading systematically. Teach letter sounds in a sequence that makes sense, then teach students how to blend the sounds, etc. Lucy Calkins doesn’t believe in that, her so called whole language approach is idiotic. For example, if a student sees the word horse in a picture book but doesn’t know the word, what would you do? Help him “sound it out”, right? What does Lucy Calkins do? She’ll say, look at the picture, what do you think it is? The student then looks at the picture, and replies “ pony”, and bingo, that’s good enough for Lucy Calkins, to her the student is utilizing picture clue to understand the text, doesn’t even matter that pony I’d different than horse, because to her it doesn’t change anything in terms of understanding the story.


Pp here - thanks for providing an explanation!
I hope this make sense. Typing on my iPad so please excuse any typo .

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:APS - Which Phonics Program did your school adopt?

Mine chose "Lucy Calkins", which is horrifying, absolutely the worst choice ever, it shouldn't even been an option to begin with, and yet the principal selected that one!! So frustrating. Lucy Calkins teaches kids how to "guess", not how to "read".

Curious of what other schools chose. Please share your experience with reading instruction at APS, thank you!

Please tell me which school chose Lucy Calkins, because if it's mine I may have to move.

Do you have to move? see list below:

Abingdon, Arlington Science Focus, Ashlawn, Barcroft, Barrett, Claremont, Discovery, Drew, Fleet, Hoffman-Boston, Jamestown, Key, McKinley, Nottingham, Randolph, Taylor

What does ATS use?