Learning Phonics And Spelling In A Whole Language Classroom

The authors offer ideas for developing strategies including word sorts, cluster analyses, homophone pairs, silent letter searches, cumulative charts and word webs.

Researchers have discovered that traditional phonics, with its emphasis on letters, sounds, and words, ignores the complexity of children's natural learning processes, including children's inclination to focus first on the text, then on whole words, and then on their constituent parts. Whole-to-part phonics offers a concise, accessible introduction to this research and proven strategies for translating it into effective classroom practice. The contributors to Whole-to-part phonics recognize that children need to understand letter-sound relationships in order to become independent and fluent readers. But, they argue, this knowledge is of little value unless children learn how to use it in context. Accordingly, the authors maintain that children's encounters with print lay the groundwork for effective phonics learning. By drawing on children's wider experience and their preferred modes of learning, whole-to-part phonics enables students to focus on the construction of meaning rather than the decoding of text.

Looking Closely examines the classroom from three perspectives: it depicts a typical day and analyzes curricular elements that support learning; it looks at the language growth of three children over the course of a year; and it describes the role of the teacher in helping children learn a about sound-symbol relationships in language.

This position paper contends that the whole language approach to reading instruction has been disproved by research and evaluation but still pervades textbooks for teachers, instructional materials for classroom use, some states' language-arts standards and other policy documents, teacher licensing requirements and preparation programs, and the professional context in which teachers work. The paper finds that many who pledge allegiance to "balanced reading" continue to misunderstand reading development and to deliver "poorly conceived, ineffective reading instruction." It argues that "rooting out whole language" from reading classrooms calls for effort on eight separate fronts. The paper describes what whole language is, why it is contradicted by scientific studies, how it continues in education, and what should be done to correct the situation. (Contains a glossary and 57 notes.) (NKA)

Sound it Out! answers the questions, "Why is phonics important?" and "How can phonics help children learn to read?" as well as others, showing how phonics fits into the overall process of a child's learning to read, and how phonics can be integrated successfully into a classroom reading program. The text includes a wealth of suggestions for practical classroom applications and a solid research knowledge base so readers will understand what they are doing, why they are doing it, and why it works.

Teaching Phonics in Context debunks the myth that whole language teachers do not teach phonics. --

Fresh new cover, same great content In 1996, Gay Su Pinnell and Irene Fountas presented Guided Reading, the most comprehensive guided reading resource ever published. Hailed for its practical, systematic approach, the book showed hundreds of thousands of teachers how to address the needs of the whole classroom as well as individual readers. Now, with the publication of Word Matters, Pinnell and Fountas offer K-3 teachers the same unparalleled support, this time focusing on phonics and spelling instruction. Word Matters presents essential information on designing and implementing a high-quality, systematic literacy program to help children learn about letters, sounds, and words. The central goal is to teach children to become "word solvers": readers who can take words apart while reading for meaning, and writers who can construct words while writing to communicate. Where similar books are narrow in focus, Word Matters presents the theoretical underpinnings and practical wherewithal of word study in three contexts: word study that includes systematically planned and applied experiences focusing on the elements of letters and words writing, including how children use phoneme-grapheme relationships, word patterns, and principles to develop spelling ability reading, including teaching children how to solve words with the use of phonics and visual-analysis skills as they read for meaning. Each topic is supported with a variety of practical tools: reproducible sheets for a word study system and for writing workshop; lists of spelling minilessons; and extensive word lists, including frequently used words, antonyms, synonyms, and more. Armed with these tools-and the tried-and-true wisdom of Gay Su Pinnell and Irene Fountas-teachers can help students develop not just the "essential skills," but also a joyful appreciation of their own literacy.