Anonymous wrote:Very depressing to see the lifeblood being sucked out of reading in favor of PARCC scores and "science." The pendulum will surely tilt back in favor of whole language, but it sounds like it will too late for most of our kids. Comprehension is critical. Writing skills are critical. Developing a love of reading - critical. Learning buzzwords like "R Blends" are not.

People like you are the cause of a lot of grief.

Of course kids should read whole books and talk about what things mean, and they need to understand enough about the history of the English language to know that we have several different spelling systems smooshed together.

But most kids also need help with learning how to sound out simple words. Whole language fanatics who ignore the need for phonics are a menace.

If you or your kids learned reading without any phonics, wonderful, but many other kids obviously need some phonics.

Anonymous wrote:Very depressing to see the lifeblood being sucked out of reading in favor of PARCC scores and "science." The pendulum will surely tilt back in favor of whole language, but it sounds like it will too late for most of our kids. Comprehension is critical. Writing skills are critical. Developing a love of reading - critical. Learning buzzwords like "R Blends" are not.

On the contrary, when kids are given no direct phonics instruction and expected to just pick it up intuitively, for some of them it works but for some of them it doesn't. Then they end up way behind, and they don't love reading at all because they aren't getting the support they need. My DD did wonderfully with Fundations and loves reading to this day, and her comprehension and writing is outstanding. And it all rests on a foundation of early, high-quality phonics instruction. "Whole language" is a buzzword. "R-blend" is a combination of sounds. I'm really perplexed that anyone would think learning phonics for 30 minutes is such a bad thing. They have the whole rest of the day to do woo-woo Lucy Calkins things.

Very depressing to see the lifeblood being sucked out of reading in favor of PARCC scores and "science." The pendulum will surely tilt back in favor of whole language, but it sounds like it will too late for most of our kids. Comprehension is critical. Writing skills are critical. Developing a love of reading - critical. Learning buzzwords like "R Blends" are not.

Our CH DCPS does fundations PK4-2nd + reading groups for whole books/discussions/book reports starting in 2nd. (They do have free reading time starting in 1st, so more advanced readers are steered towards whole books then, but there’s no real comprehension engagement.) It’s heavily science of reading/phonics based in the early years and does disproportionately well for demographics in ELA on PARCC, so its seems to work well. They do LC writing workshop for writing, which I don’t love (wish they’d focus a bit more on spelling and integrating the phonics lessons with writing), but I don’t hate as much as the ELA guessing as reading curriculum.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DCPS teacher here.

Elementary school level says Fundations but most classrooms don't have a complete kit. Most teachers need multiple levels (A PreK, K, 1st, & 2nd grade kit) but you are lucky if your classroom has the one for its grade.

What this sequence looks like in real life:

- Letter Symbols
- Letter Sounds
- Blending CVC words and nonsense words
- Using computer apps ( Reading A to Z, iReady)
- Read Alouds (Close Reading primarily) with Week long story theme focus
- Worksheets
-Very little reading fluency practice

Definitely get a tutor/supplement if you are serious

So no whole books, no reading comprehension, no classics. Just blends and sounds out of context?

Of course there are, but that is not what Fundations is. Fundations is the 30 minutes of the day where they learn and practice phonics. Fundations includes comprehension. There are also whole books and classics, throughout the rest of the day.

FWIW, my DD was a super-early reader and took to Fundations very happily. I know it sounds a bit tedious, but it was exciting to her. For some kids reading is a code and they are eager to crack it. Other kids just need a lot of really granular practice to become fluent. When my DD switched to a HRCS in K, she was way ahead of the kids who hadn't had as much detailed attention to phonics and fluency practice.

My 1st grader at DCPS talks about reading whole books and points out books he's read at the school when we are the library. We are at Title 1 EOTP. Seemed like lots of phonics instruction as i hear how he is reading and he is definitely sounding out words.

Anonymous wrote:DCPS teacher here.

Elementary school level says Fundations but most classrooms don't have a complete kit. Most teachers need multiple levels (A PreK, K, 1st, & 2nd grade kit) but you are lucky if your classroom has the one for its grade.

What this sequence looks like in real life:

- Letter Symbols
- Letter Sounds
- Blending CVC words and nonsense words
- Using computer apps ( Reading A to Z, iReady)
- Read Alouds (Close Reading primarily) with Week long story theme focus
- Worksheets
-Very little reading fluency practice

Definitely get a tutor/supplement if you are serious

So no whole books, no reading comprehension, no classics. Just blends and sounds out of context?

DCPS teacher here.

Elementary school level says Fundations but most classrooms don't have a complete kit. Most teachers need multiple levels (A PreK, K, 1st, & 2nd grade kit) but you are lucky if your classroom has the one for its grade.

What this sequence looks like in real life:

- Letter Symbols
- Letter Sounds
- Blending CVC words and nonsense words
- Using computer apps ( Reading A to Z, iReady)
- Read Alouds (Close Reading primarily) with Week long story theme focus
- Worksheets
-Very little reading fluency practice

Definitely get a tutor/supplement if you are serious

Our charter unfortunately has bought into the SOR cult of phonics drilling, like Fundations. It's pretty sad and joyless - but the overall school culture is good - so we basically try and ignore. We told the teacher at the beginning of the year that we would not be supporting homework assignments at home (DD is in K and goes to aftercare where they do homework).

Our DCPS had a strong phonics curriculum. But it appears to be based on local choice of the principal, which isn’t great!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There is not a single DMV school district that teaches reading well. Concerned? Possible dyslexia? ASDEC tutor. Of course get a neuropsychology exam first but don’t blame the school districts. Remember they are jobs programs for the lower third of every graduating class. MCPS particularly bad in this regard so don’t think moving will aide your issue. -dyslexic parent

What an awful assumption about teachers. I’m an elementary school teacher with an undergrad the University of Notre Dame and a Masters from Harvard. Move along with your assumptions.

What curriculum do they use for PK-4?

Anonymous wrote:There is not a single DMV school district that teaches reading well. Concerned? Possible dyslexia? ASDEC tutor. Of course get a neuropsychology exam first but don’t blame the school districts. Remember they are jobs programs for the lower third of every graduating class. MCPS particularly bad in this regard so don’t think moving will aide your issue. -dyslexic parent

What an awful assumption about teachers. I’m an elementary school teacher with an undergrad the University of Notre Dame and a Masters from Harvard. Move along with your assumptions.

There is not a single DMV school district that teaches reading well. Concerned? Possible dyslexia? ASDEC tutor. Of course get a neuropsychology exam first but don’t blame the school districts. Remember they are jobs programs for the lower third of every graduating class. MCPS particularly bad in this regard so don’t think moving will aide your issue. -dyslexic parent

DCPS is more phonics-orientrd than some charters. Fundations is common, but it does vary by school. Be sure you understand what they use for different kids-- it may be one primary curriculum plus another
method for those who need a boost.

Has anyone else listened to the Sold a Story podcast?

Does anyone have any insight into how DCPS teaches reading or what curriculum it uses?