Our district recently purchased Launchpad - a foundational skills curriculum for 4-year-olds. It is part of a larger "phonics suite" of programs by a company, Really Great Reading. They use the Simple View of Reading (Comprehension + Phonics = Reading) and focuses heavily on the foundational skills (instructional vocabulary, phonemic awareness, etc). Within the program, teachers gain a better understanding of which skills to teach, and when. Example - letters are not even introduced until unit 8, because so much time needs to be spent on the virtual manipulation of sounds (rhyming, initial sound, syllabication, etc). So once children have lots of experience with skills they can do with their eyes closed, then it is time to begin adding symbols to sounds. It's a much more sequenced approach to teaching foundational reading skills!
Good Luck!
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Leslie Frei
Supervisor for Early Childhood Education and Judy Centers
Frederick County Public Schools
Frederick, MD
USA
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Original Message:
Sent: 10-21-2020 02:24 PM
From: Susan Frizsell
Subject: Phonological Awareness
I would like anyone's thoughts on teaching Phonological Awareness? Does your school dictate whether or not you teach phonics for reading skills? If you do teach Phonological Awareness, what do you suggest as guides for learning to teach it?
Thank you!
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Susan Frizsell
Curriculum Coordinator
Nashville, TN
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