Open Discussion Forum

Hi Everyone,

This is my first time posting to this forum.  I teach Pre-K at a Pre-K to Grade 8 Catholic School outside of Boston.  For the past year the Kindergarten Teachers have been using the Heggerty Phonemic Awareness program and seem to really like it.  The Pre-K Teachers have been asked to review the Heggerty program for Pre-K and Early Pre-K.  Also our 2nd Grade Teachers are looking into as well.   I have watched a few videos and noticed that you should do the activities every day.  Not all of my students attend school every day.  How does that effect the success and continuity of the program.  Is it confusing for the children who are only in school two or three days per week.

I need to make a decision on whether to purchase it or not by the middle of June. Please send along all of your comments and suggestions.

Thank you so much,
Donna Cantera-Davis
Pre-K4B Teacher
Our Lady's Academy

Hi Everyone,

This is my first time posting to this forum.  I teach Pre-K at a Pre-K to Grade 8 Catholic School outside of Boston.  For the past year the Kindergarten Teachers have been using the Heggerty Phonemic Awareness program and seem to really like it.  The Pre-K Teachers have been asked to review the Heggerty program for Pre-K and Early Pre-K.  Also our 2nd Grade Teachers are looking into as well.   I have watched a few videos and noticed that you should do the activities every day.  Not all of my students attend school every day.  How does that effect the success and continuity of the program.  Is it confusing for the children who are only in school two or three days per week.

I need to make a decision on whether to purchase it or not by the middle of June. Please send along all of your comments and suggestions.

Thank you so much,
Donna Cantera-Davis
Pre-K4B Teacher
Our Lady's Academy

Hi Everyone,

This is my first time posting to this forum.  I teach Pre-K at a Pre-K to Grade 8 Catholic School outside of Boston.  For the past year the Kindergarten Teachers have been using the Heggerty Phonemic Awareness program and seem to really like it.  The Pre-K Teachers have been asked to review the Heggerty program for Pre-K and Early Pre-K.  Also our 2nd Grade Teachers are looking into as well.   I have watched a few videos and noticed that you should do the activities every day.  Not all of my students attend school every day.  How does that effect the success and continuity of the program.  Is it confusing for the children who are only in school two or three days per week.

I need to make a decision on whether to purchase it or not by the middle of June. Please send along all of your comments and suggestions.

Thank you so much,
Donna Cantera-Davis
Pre-K4B Teacher
Our Lady's Academy

My question is if teaching Heggerty to Preschool children is developmentally appropriate. I used this program for one year when I worked as a literacy assistant in a grade school. It's very much a sit and drill (call and response) approach which does not seem to be the best way to teach young children about letters. Are we "pushing down" by using this system? Not judging, but genuinely wondering. This brings up a memory for me of when I was teaching preschool and we had foam letters in the water table. We had a very young three-year-old who could spell his name (completely on his own) and line up the alphabet on the sides of the table! He was learning by interacting and engaging with the materials/letters. I saw him again in kindergarten and he was reading chapter books (obviously, exceptional for his age and not what we would expect for most children). 

Hi Everyone,

This is my first time posting to this forum.  I teach Pre-K at a Pre-K to Grade 8 Catholic School outside of Boston.  For the past year the Kindergarten Teachers have been using the Heggerty Phonemic Awareness program and seem to really like it.  The Pre-K Teachers have been asked to review the Heggerty program for Pre-K and Early Pre-K.  Also our 2nd Grade Teachers are looking into as well.   I have watched a few videos and noticed that you should do the activities every day.  Not all of my students attend school every day.  How does that effect the success and continuity of the program.  Is it confusing for the children who are only in school two or three days per week.

I need to make a decision on whether to purchase it or not by the middle of June. Please send along all of your comments and suggestions.

Thank you so much,
Donna Cantera-Davis
Pre-K4B Teacher
Our Lady's Academy

I keep hearing about this program.  I have never actually seen it. No matter what programs try to sell you, anything that is based on making children sit and drill the learning is not DAP. We have known this for decades. I encourage you to go with your gut and advocate for what we know the research tells us. Remember, these programs are businesses that will tell you anything and everything to get you to spend your money, especially district money. If we focus on the research and best practice, the children in our care will get the necessary foundational skills. This is the push-down effect of the skill and drill ways of the public school. These and many other inappropriate practices lead to the surge in mental health crises we are experiencing. 

My question is if teaching Heggerty to Preschool children is developmentally appropriate. I used this program for one year when I worked as a literacy assistant in a grade school. It's very much a sit and drill (call and response) approach which does not seem to be the best way to teach young children about letters. Are we "pushing down" by using this system? Not judging, but genuinely wondering. This brings up a memory for me of when I was teaching preschool and we had foam letters in the water table. We had a very young three-year-old who could spell his name (completely on his own) and line up the alphabet on the sides of the table! He was learning by interacting and engaging with the materials/letters. I saw him again in kindergarten and he was reading chapter books (obviously, exceptional for his age and not what we would expect for most children). 

Hi Everyone,

This is my first time posting to this forum.  I teach Pre-K at a Pre-K to Grade 8 Catholic School outside of Boston.  For the past year the Kindergarten Teachers have been using the Heggerty Phonemic Awareness program and seem to really like it.  The Pre-K Teachers have been asked to review the Heggerty program for Pre-K and Early Pre-K.  Also our 2nd Grade Teachers are looking into as well.   I have watched a few videos and noticed that you should do the activities every day.  Not all of my students attend school every day.  How does that effect the success and continuity of the program.  Is it confusing for the children who are only in school two or three days per week.

I need to make a decision on whether to purchase it or not by the middle of June. Please send along all of your comments and suggestions.

Thank you so much,
Donna Cantera-Davis
Pre-K4B Teacher
Our Lady's Academy

I am wondering how NAEYC can influence curriculum in our public school pre-k programs.  So far, it doesn't seem like our voices are being heard.  Do administrators and principals have the knowledge and understanding to demand a different model for their youngest learners?  Are accommodations being made to schedules to allow for more outdoor play?  Is center play still the norm for most of the day?  Are teachers expected to be the all-knowing sage on the stage, or or they allowed to be guides or even observers of play.

Having no experience in a public pre-k setting, I am merely asking the questions.  I would love to hear from those working in that setting.  I agree with Rosalie that much of the skill and drill methods are push down from some (hopefully not all) elementary schools' pedagogy.

I keep hearing about this program.  I have never actually seen it. No matter what programs try to sell you, anything that is based on making children sit and drill the learning is not DAP. We have known this for decades. I encourage you to go with your gut and advocate for what we know the research tells us. Remember, these programs are businesses that will tell you anything and everything to get you to spend your money, especially district money. If we focus on the research and best practice, the children in our care will get the necessary foundational skills. This is the push-down effect of the skill and drill ways of the public school. These and many other inappropriate practices lead to the surge in mental health crises we are experiencing. 

My question is if teaching Heggerty to Preschool children is developmentally appropriate. I used this program for one year when I worked as a literacy assistant in a grade school. It's very much a sit and drill (call and response) approach which does not seem to be the best way to teach young children about letters. Are we "pushing down" by using this system? Not judging, but genuinely wondering. This brings up a memory for me of when I was teaching preschool and we had foam letters in the water table. We had a very young three-year-old who could spell his name (completely on his own) and line up the alphabet on the sides of the table! He was learning by interacting and engaging with the materials/letters. I saw him again in kindergarten and he was reading chapter books (obviously, exceptional for his age and not what we would expect for most children). 

Hi Everyone,

This is my first time posting to this forum.  I teach Pre-K at a Pre-K to Grade 8 Catholic School outside of Boston.  For the past year the Kindergarten Teachers have been using the Heggerty Phonemic Awareness program and seem to really like it.  The Pre-K Teachers have been asked to review the Heggerty program for Pre-K and Early Pre-K.  Also our 2nd Grade Teachers are looking into as well.   I have watched a few videos and noticed that you should do the activities every day.  Not all of my students attend school every day.  How does that effect the success and continuity of the program.  Is it confusing for the children who are only in school two or three days per week.

I need to make a decision on whether to purchase it or not by the middle of June. Please send along all of your comments and suggestions.

Thank you so much,
Donna Cantera-Davis
Pre-K4B Teacher
Our Lady's Academy

My question is if teaching Heggerty to Preschool children is developmentally appropriate. I used this program for one year when I worked as a literacy assistant in a grade school. It's very much a sit and drill (call and response) approach which does not seem to be the best way to teach young children about letters. Are we "pushing down" by using this system? Not judging, but genuinely wondering. This brings up a memory for me of when I was teaching preschool and we had foam letters in the water table. We had a very young three-year-old who could spell his name (completely on his own) and line up the alphabet on the sides of the table! He was learning by interacting and engaging with the materials/letters. I saw him again in kindergarten and he was reading chapter books (obviously, exceptional for his age and not what we would expect for most children). 

Hi Everyone,

This is my first time posting to this forum.  I teach Pre-K at a Pre-K to Grade 8 Catholic School outside of Boston.  For the past year the Kindergarten Teachers have been using the Heggerty Phonemic Awareness program and seem to really like it.  The Pre-K Teachers have been asked to review the Heggerty program for Pre-K and Early Pre-K.  Also our 2nd Grade Teachers are looking into as well.   I have watched a few videos and noticed that you should do the activities every day.  Not all of my students attend school every day.  How does that effect the success and continuity of the program.  Is it confusing for the children who are only in school two or three days per week.

I need to make a decision on whether to purchase it or not by the middle of June. Please send along all of your comments and suggestions.

Thank you so much,
Donna Cantera-Davis
Pre-K4B Teacher
Our Lady's Academy

We are required to use Heggerty and Letterland programs for Literacy.  Both go along well with the LETRS training which is now required by NC PreK classroom teachers.  Overall the Heggerty program is engaging and I feel productive.  You have to judge which parts and how best to implement it with your group.  
Watching videos on Youtube of teachers doing the program is helpful as it is confusing at first.

My question is if teaching Heggerty to Preschool children is developmentally appropriate. I used this program for one year when I worked as a literacy assistant in a grade school. It's very much a sit and drill (call and response) approach which does not seem to be the best way to teach young children about letters. Are we "pushing down" by using this system? Not judging, but genuinely wondering. This brings up a memory for me of when I was teaching preschool and we had foam letters in the water table. We had a very young three-year-old who could spell his name (completely on his own) and line up the alphabet on the sides of the table! He was learning by interacting and engaging with the materials/letters. I saw him again in kindergarten and he was reading chapter books (obviously, exceptional for his age and not what we would expect for most children). 

Hi Everyone,

This is my first time posting to this forum.  I teach Pre-K at a Pre-K to Grade 8 Catholic School outside of Boston.  For the past year the Kindergarten Teachers have been using the Heggerty Phonemic Awareness program and seem to really like it.  The Pre-K Teachers have been asked to review the Heggerty program for Pre-K and Early Pre-K.  Also our 2nd Grade Teachers are looking into as well.   I have watched a few videos and noticed that you should do the activities every day.  Not all of my students attend school every day.  How does that effect the success and continuity of the program.  Is it confusing for the children who are only in school two or three days per week.

I need to make a decision on whether to purchase it or not by the middle of June. Please send along all of your comments and suggestions.

Thank you so much,
Donna Cantera-Davis
Pre-K4B Teacher
Our Lady's Academy

We are required to use Heggerty and Letterland programs for Literacy.  Both go along well with the LETRS training which is now required by NC PreK classroom teachers.  Overall the Heggerty program is engaging and I feel productive.  You have to judge which parts and how best to implement it with your group.
Watching videos on Youtube of teachers doing the program is helpful as it is confusing at first.

My question is if teaching Heggerty to Preschool children is developmentally appropriate. I used this program for one year when I worked as a literacy assistant in a grade school. It's very much a sit and drill (call and response) approach which does not seem to be the best way to teach young children about letters. Are we "pushing down" by using this system? Not judging, but genuinely wondering. This brings up a memory for me of when I was teaching preschool and we had foam letters in the water table. We had a very young three-year-old who could spell his name (completely on his own) and line up the alphabet on the sides of the table! He was learning by interacting and engaging with the materials/letters. I saw him again in kindergarten and he was reading chapter books (obviously, exceptional for his age and not what we would expect for most children). 

Hi Everyone,

This is my first time posting to this forum.  I teach Pre-K at a Pre-K to Grade 8 Catholic School outside of Boston.  For the past year the Kindergarten Teachers have been using the Heggerty Phonemic Awareness program and seem to really like it.  The Pre-K Teachers have been asked to review the Heggerty program for Pre-K and Early Pre-K.  Also our 2nd Grade Teachers are looking into as well.   I have watched a few videos and noticed that you should do the activities every day.  Not all of my students attend school every day.  How does that effect the success and continuity of the program.  Is it confusing for the children who are only in school two or three days per week.

I need to make a decision on whether to purchase it or not by the middle of June. Please send along all of your comments and suggestions.

Thank you so much,
Donna Cantera-Davis
Pre-K4B Teacher
Our Lady's Academy

Hi,
My name is Ruchika and I am a teacher for PreK for all at a center based program in LIC, NY. I recently came across Heggerty Phonemic Awareness resource used by one of the special education first grade class in a DOE school. I was doing my student teaching there and I saw the teacher use phonics everyday with the students. It was a 12:1:2 classroom, self contained. I observed over the course of 6 weeks that the students were learning to speak more clearly. They were able to sound out words better and read easy words that they sounded using the phonics awareness. 
The students showed interest. They liked participating as it was interactive as well. I saw a positive impact on students when the teacher used it as an everyday activity. 
Thank you

We are required to use Heggerty and Letterland programs for Literacy.  Both go along well with the LETRS training which is now required by NC PreK classroom teachers.  Overall the Heggerty program is engaging and I feel productive.  You have to judge which parts and how best to implement it with your group.
Watching videos on Youtube of teachers doing the program is helpful as it is confusing at first.

My question is if teaching Heggerty to Preschool children is developmentally appropriate. I used this program for one year when I worked as a literacy assistant in a grade school. It's very much a sit and drill (call and response) approach which does not seem to be the best way to teach young children about letters. Are we "pushing down" by using this system? Not judging, but genuinely wondering. This brings up a memory for me of when I was teaching preschool and we had foam letters in the water table. We had a very young three-year-old who could spell his name (completely on his own) and line up the alphabet on the sides of the table! He was learning by interacting and engaging with the materials/letters. I saw him again in kindergarten and he was reading chapter books (obviously, exceptional for his age and not what we would expect for most children). 

Hi Everyone,

This is my first time posting to this forum.  I teach Pre-K at a Pre-K to Grade 8 Catholic School outside of Boston.  For the past year the Kindergarten Teachers have been using the Heggerty Phonemic Awareness program and seem to really like it.  The Pre-K Teachers have been asked to review the Heggerty program for Pre-K and Early Pre-K.  Also our 2nd Grade Teachers are looking into as well.   I have watched a few videos and noticed that you should do the activities every day.  Not all of my students attend school every day.  How does that effect the success and continuity of the program.  Is it confusing for the children who are only in school two or three days per week.

I need to make a decision on whether to purchase it or not by the middle of June. Please send along all of your comments and suggestions.

Thank you so much,
Donna Cantera-Davis
Pre-K4B Teacher
Our Lady's Academy

Hi,
My name is Ruchika and I am a teacher for PreK for all at a center based program in LIC, NY. I recently came across Heggerty Phonemic Awareness resource used by one of the special education first grade class in a DOE school. I was doing my student teaching there and I saw the teacher use phonics everyday with the students. It was a 12:1:2 classroom, self contained. I observed over the course of 6 weeks that the students were learning to speak more clearly. They were able to sound out words better and read easy words that they sounded using the phonics awareness.
The students showed interest. They liked participating as it was interactive as well. I saw a positive impact on students when the teacher used it as an everyday activity.
Thank you

We are required to use Heggerty and Letterland programs for Literacy.  Both go along well with the LETRS training which is now required by NC PreK classroom teachers.  Overall the Heggerty program is engaging and I feel productive.  You have to judge which parts and how best to implement it with your group.
Watching videos on Youtube of teachers doing the program is helpful as it is confusing at first.

My question is if teaching Heggerty to Preschool children is developmentally appropriate. I used this program for one year when I worked as a literacy assistant in a grade school. It's very much a sit and drill (call and response) approach which does not seem to be the best way to teach young children about letters. Are we "pushing down" by using this system? Not judging, but genuinely wondering. This brings up a memory for me of when I was teaching preschool and we had foam letters in the water table. We had a very young three-year-old who could spell his name (completely on his own) and line up the alphabet on the sides of the table! He was learning by interacting and engaging with the materials/letters. I saw him again in kindergarten and he was reading chapter books (obviously, exceptional for his age and not what we would expect for most children). 

Hi Everyone,

This is my first time posting to this forum.  I teach Pre-K at a Pre-K to Grade 8 Catholic School outside of Boston.  For the past year the Kindergarten Teachers have been using the Heggerty Phonemic Awareness program and seem to really like it.  The Pre-K Teachers have been asked to review the Heggerty program for Pre-K and Early Pre-K.  Also our 2nd Grade Teachers are looking into as well.   I have watched a few videos and noticed that you should do the activities every day.  Not all of my students attend school every day.  How does that effect the success and continuity of the program.  Is it confusing for the children who are only in school two or three days per week.

I need to make a decision on whether to purchase it or not by the middle of June. Please send along all of your comments and suggestions.

Thank you so much,
Donna Cantera-Davis
Pre-K4B Teacher
Our Lady's Academy

Hi Everyone,

Thank you so very much for all of your replies.  The information you provided was very insightful and helpful.  I have downloaded the Heggerty Sample Lessons for Pre-K and Early Pre-K and watched a few videos.  So far I am impressed by the number of concepts that are taught in each daily lesson. I can see how it would increase my students' success.  I am going to continue my research.  Please, continue to respond to my initial post.

Thank you again for all of the replies,
Donna Cantera-Davis
Pre-K4B Teacher
Our Lady's Academy

Hi,
My name is Ruchika and I am a teacher for PreK for all at a center based program in LIC, NY. I recently came across Heggerty Phonemic Awareness resource used by one of the special education first grade class in a DOE school. I was doing my student teaching there and I saw the teacher use phonics everyday with the students. It was a 12:1:2 classroom, self contained. I observed over the course of 6 weeks that the students were learning to speak more clearly. They were able to sound out words better and read easy words that they sounded using the phonics awareness.
The students showed interest. They liked participating as it was interactive as well. I saw a positive impact on students when the teacher used it as an everyday activity.
Thank you

We are required to use Heggerty and Letterland programs for Literacy.  Both go along well with the LETRS training which is now required by NC PreK classroom teachers.  Overall the Heggerty program is engaging and I feel productive.  You have to judge which parts and how best to implement it with your group.
Watching videos on Youtube of teachers doing the program is helpful as it is confusing at first.

My question is if teaching Heggerty to Preschool children is developmentally appropriate. I used this program for one year when I worked as a literacy assistant in a grade school. It's very much a sit and drill (call and response) approach which does not seem to be the best way to teach young children about letters. Are we "pushing down" by using this system? Not judging, but genuinely wondering. This brings up a memory for me of when I was teaching preschool and we had foam letters in the water table. We had a very young three-year-old who could spell his name (completely on his own) and line up the alphabet on the sides of the table! He was learning by interacting and engaging with the materials/letters. I saw him again in kindergarten and he was reading chapter books (obviously, exceptional for his age and not what we would expect for most children). 

Hi Everyone,

This is my first time posting to this forum.  I teach Pre-K at a Pre-K to Grade 8 Catholic School outside of Boston.  For the past year the Kindergarten Teachers have been using the Heggerty Phonemic Awareness program and seem to really like it.  The Pre-K Teachers have been asked to review the Heggerty program for Pre-K and Early Pre-K.  Also our 2nd Grade Teachers are looking into as well.   I have watched a few videos and noticed that you should do the activities every day.  Not all of my students attend school every day.  How does that effect the success and continuity of the program.  Is it confusing for the children who are only in school two or three days per week.

I need to make a decision on whether to purchase it or not by the middle of June. Please send along all of your comments and suggestions.

Thank you so much,
Donna Cantera-Davis
Pre-K4B Teacher
Our Lady's Academy

We are required to use Heggerty and Letterland programs for Literacy.  Both go along well with the LETRS training which is now required by NC PreK classroom teachers.  Overall the Heggerty program is engaging and I feel productive.  You have to judge which parts and how best to implement it with your group.
Watching videos on Youtube of teachers doing the program is helpful as it is confusing at first.

My question is if teaching Heggerty to Preschool children is developmentally appropriate. I used this program for one year when I worked as a literacy assistant in a grade school. It's very much a sit and drill (call and response) approach which does not seem to be the best way to teach young children about letters. Are we "pushing down" by using this system? Not judging, but genuinely wondering. This brings up a memory for me of when I was teaching preschool and we had foam letters in the water table. We had a very young three-year-old who could spell his name (completely on his own) and line up the alphabet on the sides of the table! He was learning by interacting and engaging with the materials/letters. I saw him again in kindergarten and he was reading chapter books (obviously, exceptional for his age and not what we would expect for most children). 

Hi Everyone,

This is my first time posting to this forum.  I teach Pre-K at a Pre-K to Grade 8 Catholic School outside of Boston.  For the past year the Kindergarten Teachers have been using the Heggerty Phonemic Awareness program and seem to really like it.  The Pre-K Teachers have been asked to review the Heggerty program for Pre-K and Early Pre-K.  Also our 2nd Grade Teachers are looking into as well.   I have watched a few videos and noticed that you should do the activities every day.  Not all of my students attend school every day.  How does that effect the success and continuity of the program.  Is it confusing for the children who are only in school two or three days per week.

I need to make a decision on whether to purchase it or not by the middle of June. Please send along all of your comments and suggestions.

Thank you so much,
Donna Cantera-Davis
Pre-K4B Teacher
Our Lady's Academy

Hi Everyone,

This is my first time posting to this forum.  I teach Pre-K at a Pre-K to Grade 8 Catholic School outside of Boston.  For the past year the Kindergarten Teachers have been using the Heggerty Phonemic Awareness program and seem to really like it.  The Pre-K Teachers have been asked to review the Heggerty program for Pre-K and Early Pre-K.  Also our 2nd Grade Teachers are looking into as well.   I have watched a few videos and noticed that you should do the activities every day.  Not all of my students attend school every day.  How does that effect the success and continuity of the program.  Is it confusing for the children who are only in school two or three days per week.

I need to make a decision on whether to purchase it or not by the middle of June. Please send along all of your comments and suggestions.

Thank you so much,
Donna Cantera-Davis
Pre-K4B Teacher
Our Lady's Academy

Donna, 

I personally haven't used Heggerty Phonics but have watched a colleague of mine use it in her program this past year. She only had her 4 year old class 3 days a week but she did it daily with that class. She didn't have the actual Pre-k program to do this but did the best she could. As I understood from her, you have 36 weeks of lessons. By January of this past year, she was only on lesson 11. She kept repeating the lessons until she felt most of the children understood it. She said that by the end of the year some of her ELL children still didn't understand. There were 3 of her afternoon students that came from my program (they were dual placed for extra help) and I did see letter sound and recognition growth, along with better understanding of rhyming, onset & rime, and sounding out sounds in words from the 2 boys.  This is what I learned from her doing Heggerty weekly. I am reading David Kilpatrick's book "Equipped For Reading Success" right now which explains the reasoning behind Heggerty somewhat. He does state in his book that the primary objective for pre-K teachers is to help children understand using books, print concepts, and sound to letter recognition. So I guess it's what you feel you want for your Pre-K program. Sometimes I think we push preschoolers too hard but I would use some of those techniques to challenge the ones who are ready for it. 

Hi Everyone,

This is my first time posting to this forum.  I teach Pre-K at a Pre-K to Grade 8 Catholic School outside of Boston.  For the past year the Kindergarten Teachers have been using the Heggerty Phonemic Awareness program and seem to really like it.  The Pre-K Teachers have been asked to review the Heggerty program for Pre-K and Early Pre-K.  Also our 2nd Grade Teachers are looking into as well.   I have watched a few videos and noticed that you should do the activities every day.  Not all of my students attend school every day.  How does that effect the success and continuity of the program.  Is it confusing for the children who are only in school two or three days per week.

I need to make a decision on whether to purchase it or not by the middle of June. Please send along all of your comments and suggestions.

Thank you so much,
Donna Cantera-Davis
Pre-K4B Teacher
Our Lady's Academy

We do push the Prek students too hard! I think many have forgotten what should be happening in a preschool classroom. Yes, see each child as an individual and create challenges that take them to the next level of learning and thinking.

Donna, 

I personally haven't used Heggerty Phonics but have watched a colleague of mine use it in her program this past year. She only had her 4 year old class 3 days a week but she did it daily with that class. She didn't have the actual Pre-k program to do this but did the best she could. As I understood from her, you have 36 weeks of lessons. By January of this past year, she was only on lesson 11. She kept repeating the lessons until she felt most of the children understood it. She said that by the end of the year some of her ELL children still didn't understand. There were 3 of her afternoon students that came from my program (they were dual placed for extra help) and I did see letter sound and recognition growth, along with better understanding of rhyming, onset & rime, and sounding out sounds in words from the 2 boys.  This is what I learned from her doing Heggerty weekly. I am reading David Kilpatrick's book "Equipped For Reading Success" right now which explains the reasoning behind Heggerty somewhat. He does state in his book that the primary objective for pre-K teachers is to help children understand using books, print concepts, and sound to letter recognition. So I guess it's what you feel you want for your Pre-K program. Sometimes I think we push preschoolers too hard but I would use some of those techniques to challenge the ones who are ready for it. 

Hi Everyone,

This is my first time posting to this forum.  I teach Pre-K at a Pre-K to Grade 8 Catholic School outside of Boston.  For the past year the Kindergarten Teachers have been using the Heggerty Phonemic Awareness program and seem to really like it.  The Pre-K Teachers have been asked to review the Heggerty program for Pre-K and Early Pre-K.  Also our 2nd Grade Teachers are looking into as well.   I have watched a few videos and noticed that you should do the activities every day.  Not all of my students attend school every day.  How does that effect the success and continuity of the program.  Is it confusing for the children who are only in school two or three days per week.

I need to make a decision on whether to purchase it or not by the middle of June. Please send along all of your comments and suggestions.

Thank you so much,
Donna Cantera-Davis
Pre-K4B Teacher
Our Lady's Academy

I definitely agree, Nora. Play is how they learn and our platform for teaching. Let them be individuals. learn at their own pace with guidance. Build on their needs, wants, and strengths - for every child. They'll  have plenty of years of sitting and listening ahead!

We do push the Prek students too hard! I think many have forgotten what should be happening in a preschool classroom. Yes, see each child as an individual and create challenges that take them to the next level of learning and thinking.

Donna, 

I personally haven't used Heggerty Phonics but have watched a colleague of mine use it in her program this past year. She only had her 4 year old class 3 days a week but she did it daily with that class. She didn't have the actual Pre-k program to do this but did the best she could. As I understood from her, you have 36 weeks of lessons. By January of this past year, she was only on lesson 11. She kept repeating the lessons until she felt most of the children understood it. She said that by the end of the year some of her ELL children still didn't understand. There were 3 of her afternoon students that came from my program (they were dual placed for extra help) and I did see letter sound and recognition growth, along with better understanding of rhyming, onset & rime, and sounding out sounds in words from the 2 boys.  This is what I learned from her doing Heggerty weekly. I am reading David Kilpatrick's book "Equipped For Reading Success" right now which explains the reasoning behind Heggerty somewhat. He does state in his book that the primary objective for pre-K teachers is to help children understand using books, print concepts, and sound to letter recognition. So I guess it's what you feel you want for your Pre-K program. Sometimes I think we push preschoolers too hard but I would use some of those techniques to challenge the ones who are ready for it. 

Hi Everyone,

This is my first time posting to this forum.  I teach Pre-K at a Pre-K to Grade 8 Catholic School outside of Boston.  For the past year the Kindergarten Teachers have been using the Heggerty Phonemic Awareness program and seem to really like it.  The Pre-K Teachers have been asked to review the Heggerty program for Pre-K and Early Pre-K.  Also our 2nd Grade Teachers are looking into as well.   I have watched a few videos and noticed that you should do the activities every day.  Not all of my students attend school every day.  How does that effect the success and continuity of the program.  Is it confusing for the children who are only in school two or three days per week.

I need to make a decision on whether to purchase it or not by the middle of June. Please send along all of your comments and suggestions.

Thank you so much,
Donna Cantera-Davis
Pre-K4B Teacher
Our Lady's Academy