Reply to APS - Which Phonics Program did your school adopt?

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Reply to "APS - Which Phonics Program did your school adopt?"

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[quote=Anonymous]Yes - Lucy Calkins is the author of Readers and Writers Workshop Units of Study. I’ve been an educator for 20 - district literacy specialist - and I’m dumbfounded that a district considered as exceptional as APS doesn’t have a phonics program. I have taught 1st, 2nd, and 3rd grade with a range of programs and agree that workshop does a remarkable job of helping kids to see themselves as readers and writers. For writing in particular, her units of study really get kids expressing themselves through writing.

The problem is that workshop does not address all our students’ needs. Literacy instruction requires explicit systematic phonics instruction (Fundations is great except needs to be supplemented with decodable texts and needs more phonemic awareness (I’ve heard GREAT things about Heggerty), explicit vocabulary instruction, and KNOWLEDGE. Frequently, poor comprehension can be attributed to lack of background knowledge. Core Knowledge (“CKLA”), Wit abd Wisdom, and EL Education curriculum all engage students in grade level texts that build knowledge.

Poor or limited curriculum causes so much inequity in our schools. We have to demand better from APS. Readers Workshop/Lucy Calkins doesn’t do enough for our kids. My daughter is in K now and the random letter worksheets she’s bringing home everyday are making me cringe.

We could look at some of the local large urban districts, like Baltimore and DC, where balanced literacy has come to mean complex and culturally relevant texts, vocabulary instruction, phonics/morphology, SOME leveled text (not all), and writing for many purposes.[/quote]

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