If you are looking for a phonics program... WTW is not it... That much said, the activities involved.. be they open sort,pattern sort, no peek sort, word hunt and the games really do very nicely complement any program... we piloted it in first grade for two years... first ...management is difficult and only works if you differentiate groups and use the developmental books that correlate to each group... which does suck up lots of school time... we kept it at a minimum of three different groups... secondly the manual says you can copy the lesson of the week... that is a no go... especially if you have three or more groups ... it takes too much time, thirdly the sorts are done on small paper strips... which were difficult for first grade to handle... they actually blew off their desks.... and because there were so many words in each lesson... they invariably lost many of the strips.... fourth... if you do use the workbooks... they are supposed to travel to and from school daily.. our parents never got the hang of this and then the next day's lesson was down the tubes because the book was not in school... but the part I objected to the most was that the kids never really did internalize the patterns only matched the letters to make the correct sort. This approach must be implemented by a teacher well versed in the phonics rules that apply to a given pattern... I found it needed lots of supplemental teaching in terms of phonemes and vowel teams... the program assumes that if the kids sort them well they understand the phonics rule... which unless the teacher makes it her business to explain... never comes across.... and this is not inherently spelled out by Donald's teacher's manual. But then this is only my opinion... I know for a fact that Columbia touts it as a fabulous tool.
Good luck, Kukonis -----Original Message----- From: read3 <re...@aol.com> To: mosaic <mosaic@literacyworkshop.org> Sent: Sat, Jun 9, 2012 9:13 pm Subject: [MOSAIC] Words Their Way Hi. We are looking at a consistent district-wide approach to spelling. Words Their Way is on our list (along with Sitton and Zaner Bloser) . I found this quote on amazon.com when pricing WTW: "It gives you all the tools you need to carry out word study instruction that will motivate and engage your students, and help them to succeed in literacy learning. Ordered in a developmental format, Words Their Way™ complements the use of any existing phonics, spelling, and vocabulary curricula." So, if it's meant to "complement" an existing spelling curricula, what are some of you who use WTW using it with? Please email me offline. Thank you - so much! Martha _______________________________________________ Mosaic mailing list Mosaic@literacyworkshop.org To unsubscribe or modify your membership please go to http://literacyworkshop.org/mailman/options/mosaic_literacyworkshop.org Search the MOSAIC archives at http://snipurl.com/MosaicArchive _______________________________________________ Mosaic mailing list Mosaic@literacyworkshop.org To unsubscribe or modify your membership please go to http://literacyworkshop.org/mailman/options/mosaic_literacyworkshop.org Search the MOSAIC archives at http://snipurl.com/MosaicArchive
