What curriculum are you using for reading? I see homeschool moms asking this question a lot! Naturally, if someone is using a curriculum that’s working for them, and you TRUST that person, you’re more likely to invest in that curriculum for yourself.
So, What’s the Best Curriculum for Kindergarten and 1st Grade Reading?
If you’re a homeschool moms who’s been wondering what is the best curriculum for kindergarten and 1st grade reading, I created a phonics curriculum with YOU at top of mind. This curriculum is different, because I don’t leave you hanging wondering, “How Do I Teach This?”
Inside short, bite-sized phonics skills training videos inside my course, TEACH YOUR KINDERGARTEN CHILD TO READ: Confidently Model Simple Phonics Skills at Home!‘, I show you HOW to teach your child to read using phonics skills as the foundation. The course includes phonics skills tutorials AND printable Kindergarten Phonics Curriculum. Highly recommend this version of my curriculum with both phonics skills tutorials AND the printable Kindergarten Phonics Curriculum.
Classroom teaching tells me that the best curriculum for Kindergarten and 1st grade reading, is one that ENGAGES your child!
‘Tell me and I forget, teach me and I remember, involve me and I learn.”
Benjamin Franklin
The best curriculum for Kindergarten and 1st grade reading will keep your child engaged. As a classroom teacher, I know what happens when your child is NOT ENGAGED, and I’m guessing this holds true for beginning readers at your kitchen table, too.
What happens when your child is NOT engaged in phonics lessons, because you’re not using the best curriculum for Kindergarten and 1st grade reading for your child? A curriculum not specifically designed for HIGH ENGAGEMENT?
- Weak Decoding Skills – Decoding is the process your child’s brain goes through to read words and sentences. If your child is NOT ENGAGED, his/her reading speed becomes slow and takes a tremendous amount of effort for your child. Your child relies on guessing words based on the first letter and pictures, because she cannot recall that r-controlled vowel ‘ur’ spells /er/.
- Poor spelling. Your child will spell words based on phonics alone, but won’t accurately recall the sight words/heart words you’ve gone over with her time and again. She’ll resort to what’s easiest, not what takes the most cognitive effort for recall. Because spelling is difficult, writing is difficult.
- Reading is choppy. Reading fluency, the speed at which your child reads suffers. Your child may be doing his/her phonics activities, but not at the level that invites quick recall of skills you’ve taught them. Your child uses most of his/her mental energy to figure out words, let alone understand what she’s just read.
- Reading fluency greatly affects reading comprehension. As a teacher using the old leveled reading and whole Language system, it was painful to see students trying their best to read a simple text passage, working so hard just to decode words, letter sound by letter sound. I would ask a few simple, scripted questions about the text, and the child could not come up with an answer. WHY? Because reading comprehension was a marker indicating if the child could read at a pace where connected words in sentences made sense. If not, the child was focusing on decoding, rather than making meaning of what she just read.
- When reading feels hard, your child may avoid simple reading tasks. I know that your kids are incredible! But, does your daughter quietly disengage by half-heartedly finishing the phonics lesson. I know this can be as much a kitchen table struggle for some learners as it can be in the classroom. Because you feel like you’re butting heads, it can affect your relationship with your child, especially at home where you wear both mom and teacher hats.
So, ask yourself, does my current curriculum ENGAGE my child in beginning reader and phonics activities? Is it the best curriculum for Kindergarten and 1st grade reading for my child?
Melanie
