Anonymous wrote:I don’t even know what they use in our schools. All I know is they just learned to read relatively easy. Unless there’s a real issue that gets in the way reading is like learning to talk. You’ll get there not matter what you use

My niece never used phonics because she started reading at three years old without being taught. She could read any adult book without skipping words. Like talking, it’s pretty organic.

No, learning to read is not organic. For most kids, it must be taught. For some kids, it must be explicitly taught. OP, how is your child doing now? Are you seeing progress since the start of the school year?

I don’t even know what they use in our schools. All I know is they just learned to read relatively easy. Unless there’s a real issue that gets in the way reading is like learning to talk. You’ll get there not matter what you use

My niece never used phonics because she started reading at three years old without being taught. She could read any adult book without skipping words. Like talking, it’s pretty organic.

Reading is fundamental. Even for math, students need to be able to read the textbook comfortably.

All about reading —another vote!

I taught first grade. I think phonics is extremely important. I successfully taught hundreds of kids to read. I also taught some kids who resist phonics and learn best through other approaches. I still gave them lessons in phonics, but my goal was to teach them to read in the most effective way for them.

Education tends to swing from one extreme to the other. Please do not ignore other approaches on the altar of phonics. Keep having him sound out words--but don't do it until he hates the process.

There is nothing wrong with using your brain to connect the pictures and the words. There is nothing wrong with asking leading questions about "what do you think will happen?" It's called motivation.

Phonics is the building block. But, you don't want to make your child hate reading.

A first grader in September who is able to sound out words with cvc is on target. Go with the Bob books. But, don't forget to continue to read to him books that are rich in vocabulary.

As for writing, if he resists it, you might write stories with him. Have him dictate a sentence or two and then read it back. That was another technique that was pushed for a while by educators. It was called "language experience" and it has some value.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OMG, can lefties not make phonics a right-coded thing? We know phonics works to reach kids to read. Please use it.

But the fact remains:

- phonics were demonized by just one of our two political parties: the democrats. Schools were pushed to abandon phonics (and replace it with Lucy Calkins or before that, “whole language”), by progressive democrats.

You cannot just erase the mistakes of the past just because they are inconvenient for your currently-chosen party affiliation.

I'm conservative and send my kids to a conservative Catholic school where it's unlikely you'd find a single parent who voted for Harris. I do not care who was responsible for coming up with the stupid teaching methods of the past and I don't think we need to assign blame. At this point we just need to move forward with phonics. It's not a Republican or a Democratic thing. It's about making sure our society as a whole continues to prosper. Reading is fundamental.

Anonymous wrote:OMG, can lefties not make phonics a right-coded thing? We know phonics works to reach kids to read. Please use it.

the PP is likely a rightie subtly trying to say "toldya so" and own the Lucy Calkins libs.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OMG, can lefties not make phonics a right-coded thing? We know phonics works to reach kids to read. Please use it.

But the fact remains:

- phonics were demonized by just one of our two political parties: the democrats. Schools were pushed to abandon phonics (and replace it with Lucy Calkins or before that, “whole language”), by progressive democrats.

You cannot just erase the mistakes of the past just because they are inconvenient for your currently-chosen party affiliation.

NP. I consider myself a Democrat (would personally label myself moderate leaning liberal). I do not care who promoted what in the past. I care that there is substantial evidence that direct instruction in phonics does work well to teach reading. If that's the method likely to have the best results, that's the method that should be used. Why would the political leanings people who support or don't support something matter much once there is evidence about the suitability of the method?

I've heard good things about the All About Reading followed by All About Spelling & the Logic of English books.

Anonymous wrote:OMG, can lefties not make phonics a right-coded thing? We know phonics works to reach kids to read. Please use it.

But the fact remains:

- phonics were demonized by just one of our two political parties: the democrats. Schools were pushed to abandon phonics (and replace it with Lucy Calkins or before that, “whole language”), by progressive democrats.

You cannot just erase the mistakes of the past just because they are inconvenient for your currently-chosen party affiliation.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OMG, can lefties not make phonics a right-coded thing? We know phonics works to reach kids to read. Please use it.

No, “we” do not know what you are claiming to be true.

The Berkeley public schools still use the Lucy Calkins reading curriculum, not anachronistic and right-wing phonics.

This appears to be true; https://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/1203734.page