Originally Posted by tomato:
I am using a curriculum of my own invention, based on word families, or two or more words differing in only one letter and phoneme. My rationale is Piaget’s finding that preschool children can focus on only one variable at a time.
I am in the second week and I have been happy with the results. Following is my schedule. Suggested picture book titles are in parentheses:
May 9-13: bat, cat, mat, rat, hat (Play with a and t by Jane Belk Moncure)
May 16-20: lad, mad, pad, sad, Dad (Power Phonics: A Day with my Dad)
May 23-27: can, fan, ma, pan, van
May 30-June 3: cap, lap, map, nap, tap
June 6-10: bed, fed, Jed, led, Ned, red (Play with e and d by Jane Belk Moncure)
(Power Phonics: Every Egg)
June 13-17: Rick, lick, Mick, Nick, sick,
June 20-24: fill, hill, Jill, pill, sill, Will
June 27-July 1: hip, dip, lip, nip, sip, tip
July 4-8: big, fig, pig, wig (Play with i and g by Jane Belk Moncure)
(Power Phonics: Little Pigs, Big Pigs)
July 11-15: cop, hop, mop, pop, top
July 18-22: bug, hug, jug, lug, mug, rug, tug (Play with u and g by Jane Belk Moncure)
(Power Phonics: Just Bugs)
July 25-29: gum, hum, sum
August 1-5: bun, fun, nun, sun (Power Phonics: Family Fun)
August 8-12: cut, hut, nut
August 15-19: tub, rub, cub, sub
August 22-26: bug, hug, jug, mug, rug, tug
As much as possible, I call letters by their sounds rather than their names. However, I can’t abolish letter names entirely, because the children have already been exposed to Sesame Street.
I made up a song to the tune of Oh, Susannah!
O the C says /k/, the C says /k/,
The C says /k/ /k/ /k/,
O the C says /k/, the C says /k/,
The C says /k/ /k/ /k/.
As for the alphabet, I don’t push it. At a Montessori school where I once worked, I sang the ABC Song every day, but only because the children requested it every day. Montessori adherents argue that knowledge of the alphabet is useful for using the phone book, the dictionary, and the encyclopedia, but not for learning to read.
This exactly, except for the age group this is taught to. Here, kindergarten focuses on sight words and this curriculum type is introduced in first grade, not pre-k. Pre-k seems a little young for this formal of an education, in my opinion.