| PHONICS TALK NEWSLETTER - Volume 11 - July 2004 - by Dolores G. Hiskes, DORBOOKS, Inc. |
| A TEACHING SECRETS FROM TWO SPECIAL TEACHERS In this issue of Phonics Talk two gifted first-grade teachers will share some of their teaching tips: Ann Edwards, who is the National Right to Read *Teacher Of The Year* for 2004, and Pamela Barrett, who was the National Right to Read *Teacher Of The Year* in 1998. Both teachers use Phonics Pathways and Pyramid in their classroom along with Open Court, with superb results -- all of their students are reading by the end of the school year, and most within just a few months. Learn how they do it! ‰€‰€‰€‰€‰€‰€‰€‰€‰€‰€‰‰€‰€‰€‰€‰€‰€‰ Feature Article: TEACHING SECRETS FROM TWO SPECIAL TEACHERS (1) 2004 TEACHER OF THE YEAR ANN EDWARDS (2) 1998 TEACHER OF THE YEAR PAM BARRETT ‰€‰€‰€‰€‰€‰€‰€‰€‰€‰€‰‰€‰€‰€‰€‰€‰€‰ (1) 2004 TEACHER OF THE YEAR ANN EDWARDS ‰€‰€‰€‰€‰€‰€‰€‰€‰€‰€‰‰€‰€‰€‰€‰€‰€‰ Ann Edwards is a first-grade teacher at Litel Elementary School in Chino, CA. She has had twenty-four years experience teaching every- thing from kindergarten through ninth grade, and says while her mission in life is teaching, her passion in life is teaching reading. Ann was chosen as this year's National Right to Read Foundation's *Teacher of The Year,* and because she uses Phonics Pathways and Pyramid in her classroom we were invited to the special ceremony for her that was recently held in Chino Hills, CA. This beautiful ceremony was attended by a wide variety of state and national dignitaries there to honor this very special teacher. The highlight of the evening for us was when her entire first-grade class proudly got up on the stage and took turns reading selections from William Bennett's *Book of Virtues.* Amazing! Ann begins teaching her students to sound out the letters right away. She also teaches them penmanship using graph paper -- they see, say, hear, and write each letter in their *Little Book of Dictation.* She meets with the parents at the beginning of the school year to explain what she is doing and tell them what she expects of them as well. Every child gets a packet of homework to take home, which has the same pages from Phonics Pathways that she is using in class. Parents reinforce what Ann is doing in, and record what they have done in their child's homework log sheet. Students begin using Pyramid as soon as they can read a sentence, and these pages get sent home as well. Ann tells the students they can build interesting sentences as well -- *the more words we can read the more interesting sentences and stories we can build.* Ann tests the students four or five times a year with the Slossen Oral Reading test, and she keeps a running record of the results. Most of her first graders are reading well into second or third grade by the end of the year. Congratulations Ann -- it was a great pleasure meeting you and being part of this wonderful ceremony! ‰€‰€‰€‰€‰€‰€‰€‰€‰€‰€‰‰€‰€‰€‰€‰€‰€ (2) 1998 TEACHER OF THE YEAR PAM BARRETT ‰€‰€‰€‰€‰€‰€‰€‰€‰€‰€‰‰€‰€‰€‰€‰€‰€ Pam Barrett is a first-grade elementary school teacher at Tovashal School in Murrietta, CA. We first met Pam when we were invited to attend the surprise *Teacher of The Year* award she received in 1998 from the National Right to Read Association. As with Ann, we were invited because Pam uses Phonics Pathways and Pyramid in her classroom. In 1998, after using Phonics Pathways for only 4 months, Pam had put on a *Literature Evening for Parents.* Her students poured hot chocolate for them and put on classical music. Then all of her eager little first-graders went up on stage and read selections from William Bennett's *Book of Virtues* to the astonishment and delight of everyone in the audience. We were all thrilled! Then it was Pam's turn to be astonished -- she was presented with the National Right to Read Foundation's *Teacher of the Year* award. It was a surprise to her, and was followed by many testimonials from those who know, love, and respect her for all she has accomplished and her great love for children. It was a tearful, joyous, and very special occasion! When we visited Pam this year, after attending Ann's ceremony, we soon learned that after seeing these spectacular results, all kindergarten and first grade teachers at Tovashal School decided to use Phonics Pathways. This school's kindergarteners are all reading three-letter words, and a few of them have actually finished the entire book -- as have a number of Pam's students! While I observed her class, Pam sent several students up to read to me from Phonics Pathways, each choosing what they wanted to read. I was thrilled to listen to these literate young ones! For example, tiny little Emily turned to the back of the book and flawlessly read a sentence from the R-controlled section of the book. I asked her if she understood what she was reading, and she then very patiently explained it to me in her very own words! At the beginning of the year Pam has her students sit on a rug with the first page in Phonics Pathways, and they learn that letter. She writes it on the chalkboard and shows the page on an overhead as well. She sends the page home with the students so parents can reinforce that day's classwork. Parents must *sign off* that the work was done. She hands out tickets for things well done: trying hard, improvement, being on time, reading first sentence, etc. At some predetermined time tickets are traded for prizes, frequently donated by local merchants: food, crayons, pencils, drinks, bowling, etc. After students know the short-vowel sounds they peel off and begin working in small groups.They frequently practice round robin reading, and Pam likes to use *Collections for Young Scholars* for the kinder- garteners once they are reading. (She uses *SRA Open Court Anthology 2002* for her first graders.) She pairs good readers with mediocre ones. Pam feels nonsense words are a great aid to reading accuracy and blending automaticity. Her students practice with nonsense words on a regular basis, sometimes having relay races. Another game is to see how many words they can read in 30 seconds. Pam uses a portable microphone to great advantage -- students turn to the same page in Phonics Pathways, and she takes turns handing the microphone to students randomly, saying *You're on the air!* As they read the passage out loud, the others must follow with their fingers on the page. Great fun for all! But aren't there some students who just *don't get it,* and need extra help? Yes, of course. And here's what Pam does: She has formed the *TLC Club* -- Tovashal Literacy Club -- for all students needing help with reading. Pam meets these students at school a half hour early three days a week, along with older students from the school and parents from the community who volunteer to help tutor reading. These students are not only reading by the end of the year, but some of them finish Phonics Pathways. Every student in the TLC Club who completes Phonics Pathways gets a huge, six-hour lollipop. There is a sign in front of Tovashal Elementary School: *School impacted, not accepting any transfers at this time.* Small wonder it's impacted with results such as those! ‰€‰€‰€‰€‰€‰€‰€‰€‰€‰€‰‰€‰€‰€‰€‰€‰€‰ More and more teachers are finding Phonics Pathways and Pyramid to be easy and effective solutions in fulfilling the stringent phonics requirements of the Reading First Program. These books are fast, easy to use, and most of all, they work. Please feel free to call (925) 449-6983 or write (dor@dorbooks.com) with any questions you may have -- we're always here to help (er, that is, almost always -- we'll be out of the office the last few weeks in July and will return August 10.) We hope you had a wonderful Fourth of July. Please enjoy the rest of the summer, and stay safe. Dolores © Dolores G. Hiskes 7-04 Reprinted by permissionContact us at dor@dorbooks.com, or by phone (925) 449-6983. |