A Message from GLOBE Leadership
We're Listening ...
Did you know that GLOBE K-2 English teachers teach systematic, explicit phonics? A few years ago, GLOBE adopted a phonics program to use alongside our Reading Units of Study curriculum. We made this decision because we want to ensure our youngest students have a strong phonics foundation so they can read fluently and think deeply about what they read.
Many of our teachers and community members have read and discussed the series of articles Emily Hanford has written for APM Reports about teaching reading. In an effort to address some of the issues brought up in Hanford’s most recent article, we would like to share some of the ways Teacher’s College (publishers of the Reading Units of Study curriculum we use at GLOBE) believes Reading Workshop needs to be rebalanced along with some steps GLOBE has already taken or is in the process of taking.
Increased Phonological/Phonemic Awareness - Research recommends that kindergarten and early first grade students receive explicit instruction for 5-8 minutes a day in this area. While our intervention teachers already incorporate explicit phonological awareness into their instruction, some of our K-2 classroom teachers have also done so. We plan to implement daily systematic, explicit phonological awareness in all of our kindergarten and first grade English classes.
Brief, frequent review of previously learned phonics materials - Our K-2 teachers have been trained in Fundations, which is a scientifically based multisensory structured language curriculum that aligns with Orton-Gillingham principles. Our approach to teaching phonics is explicit and cumulative, and provides opportunities for students to transfer what they learn about phonics to their reading and writing.
Including decodable books as a choice in a student’s reading diet - Students have a wide range of books to choose from, but we are working to provide more high quality decodable books for every kindergarten and early first grade reader.
We hope this overview sheds some light on reading instruction in our K-2 English classrooms. We fiercely believe in teaching children how to read (by teaching phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension) and in instilling in children a love for reading. We feel strongly that the reading curriculum resources we have selected for our K-2 classes, along with ongoing professional learning with our peers and staying current on reading research, positions us to be excellent teachers of reading.
