Intended for teachers of grades K-2, this book is a practical resource manual designed to provide step-by-step suggestions for assessing and instructing students' phonics skills and strategies. It presents phonological awareness as a foundation and preparation for phonics instruction and integrates the two so they become reciprocal. In addition,…

Describes letterbox lessons in which children learn the alphabetic code, spelling words by placing letters in boxes that show the number of phonemes in words, and later reading what they have spelled. Discusses materials, how to teach a letterbox lesson, and effectiveness of these lessons. (SR)

This book provides the tools classroom teachers need to determine which children lack the phonological awareness skills needed to become successful readers as well as to pinpoint deficiencies and address various needs. The book's unique features include the following: a comprehensive assessment that measures children's phonological awareness…

Presents poetry activities to help students develop two important skills--comparing elements and decoding compound words. The first activity has students unravel a list poem and put one together. The second has students explore compound words within a poem. A reproducible list poem is included. (SM)

Describes word-learning activities for first graders, devised to help at-risk readers make discoveries about the alphabetic system. Discusses why these discoveries are important for students' progress in learning to read and spell. (SR)

Nursery rhymes and written phonics used in a meaningful context are valuable teaching methods which can be applied in a whole language classroom or in conjunction with a basal reading program. Because nursery rhymes are rooted in oral tradition they lend themselves to oral presentation. They provide forms for the oral beginnings of the best of…

This booklet presents many examples of instructional activities that occur on a daily basis on the campuses of Spotlight Schools, schools identified by the Texas Education Agency as having student populations that reflect a diversity of ethnicity and socioeconomic backgrounds, and demonstrate that essentially all children can become readers. It is…

Intended to discourage classroom reading teachers from relying on "phonics instruction" as a remedy for students' inadequate reading performance, this pamphlet presents reasons why phonics drills should not be taught at all in the classroom and offers a set of practical phonic awareness activities to help poor readers overcome reading…