In order to become good readers, children need
explicit and systematic phonics instruction.
The National Reading Panel conducted a research a couple of decades ago and, after reviewing thousands of studies, concluded that children learn to read better when they receive explicit and systematic phonics instruction. The results of their research were published at a time when the “reading wars” were raging in our educational system. Today, twenty years later, this war is far from over. Many school districts still haven’t adopted phonics as their main approach to teach reading, and many early childhood and elementary teachers don’t even know how children learn to read. As a result, we are facing a crisis in literacy, with a record number of children reading below grade level.
The phonics approach teaches children to read by decoding words using the alphabet and the letter sounds. Learning to read with phonics can be easy and the process can be fun if done the right way. In our program, we follow a simple step-by-step sequence, using movement, and lots of manipulatives.
