Saxon Phonics

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Mashburn Elementary Curriculum Night 2007
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Mrs. Kim Lochbaum

• Twentieth year in the teaching profession
• Seventeenth year teaching first grade
• Bachelors degree in Music Education
• Masters and Specialist degrees in Early
  Childhood Education
• National Board Certified Teacher
• Teacher Support Specialist

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Reading To and With Your Child

• Read to your child every night
• Have your child read aloud to you, encouraging
  them to
• Sound out words
• Look for clues in the pictures
• Retell the story
• Phonics readers are sent home two times a week.
  Students have learned the rules to read all of
  the words in each story (they may code them if
  needed).
• Additional websites to help your child with
  reading
• http//starfall.com

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Comprehension

• After reading a story, ask the following types of
  questions to increase your childs understanding
  of the story
• What happened in the beginning, middle, end of
  the story?
• Who were the characters?
• Where did the story take place (setting)?
• What was your favorite part of the story? Why?
• Additional websites to help your child with
  comprehension
• http//www.marin.cc.ca.us/7Edon/Study/7read.html

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Dolch sight words

• The Dolch sight words are words that often cannot
  be sounded out, and therefore must be memorized.
• There is a PowerPoint presentation on our
  classroom website that flashes the words for 3
  seconds which is the amount of time the
  students have to read the words - with no
  assistance.
• You can help your child practice these words at
  home by making flashcards, writing the words in
  sentences, spelling them in shaving cream,
  finding them in newspaper articles, highlighting
  the words in magazines, etc.
• Some websites that can be used to help practice
  sight words are
• http//www.theschoolbell.com/Links/Dolch/Contents.
  html
• http//www.fcboe.org/schoolhp/shes/sight_words.htm
  
• http//www.learningbooks.net/xLPDolch.html
• http//www.quiz-tree.com/Sight-Words_main.html

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Saxon Phonics

• incremental lessons
• repetition
• rules that work
• hands-on practice
• strategies for decoding
• homework component
• weekly spelling lists that focus on mastery of
  particular skills

WARNING!!! Grown-ups who were not taught with
Saxon Phonics can become very confused. If this
should happen to you, please seek immediate
assistance from your childs teacher.
(Many parents have been confused before-therefore
you are not alone. Additionally, you are still
smarter than a first grader. It is a thorough
and effective program that works best when you ,
the parents, understand what your child is
learning. So, PLEASE dont hesitate to ask.)
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Phonics Basic Training

• As a parent working with your child, it is
  important to
• talk to your child about what he/she learned in
  school that day
• read the note to parents on the nightly
  homework page
• monitor your childs work for completion and
  accuracy-your level of assistance should be based
  on your childs level of need
• help your child make connections between weekly
  spelling words and what has been taught in
  class
• refer to your Phonics Cheat Sheet for Parents
  as needed and contact your childs teacher when
  in doubt

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What we know so far

• All vowels have AT LEAST two sounds, long and
  short.
• A vowel followed by a consonant is short code it
  with a breve.
• An open, unaccented vowel is long, code it with a
  macron.
• Two same letters together (twin consonants) make
  only one sound.
• Suffix s at the end of a word means more than
  one of something.
• The letter s sometimes makes the /z/ sound and
  should be coded with a voice line.
• The word I is always capitalized.

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Writing

• First grade teachers have modified the 5 star
  system used by the Kindergarten teachers for
  writing (see next slide).
• Students can practice writing at home and use the
  5 star system to check their work.
• Students can improve their writing by working at
  home on things such as keeping a journal, writing
  about their weekend, writing about a vacation,
  writing letters and thank you notes to friends
  and relatives, etc.
• Some websites to help with writing are
• http//www.angelfire.com/wi/writingprocess
• http//freedom.up.net/msbones/ww01000.htm
• http//www.greatschools.net/cgi-bin/showarticle/ca
  /409

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Writing

• The five star system for first grade is

Capital letters (beginning of sentences and
important names) and end marks
Correct spelling using the phonics rules learned
Best handwriting
Multiple, detailed sentences that make sense
Write a story with a beginning, a middle, and a
logical conclusion
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Math

• Counting Money
• Help your student identify dollars and coin
  values as well as determining change amounts when
  spending money during/after family shopping
  trips.
• Give your student a combination of real coins and
  have them determine the value. Allow them to show
  you a different way to make the same amount.
• Set up a store at home and allow your child to
  buy items from you. This is a good way to work on
  counting coins and making change.
• Hold coins in your hand so that your child can
  not see them. Give them clues to guess what you
  have (Example I have three coins in my hand.
  Theyre worth 0.16. What do I have?)
• Great Websites
• http//www.toonuniversity.com/flash.asp?err569
• http//www.little-g.com/shockwave/cents.html
• http//classroom.jc-schools.net/basic/mathmoney.ht
  ml

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Math

• Math Facts
• Practice with homemade flash cards, dice from a
  board game, or a regular deck of playing cards.
• Use the following website, or many others like
  this one to play math fact games.
  http//www.harcourtschool.com/activity/thats_a_fac
  t/english_4_6.html
• Print some worksheets and time your child. See if
  they can beat their time. Need a challenge? Print
  some 2nd or 3rd grade worksheets.
  http//www.mathfactcafe.com/view/view.aspx?tPg1
  
• Practice counting by 5s, 10s, 2s, and 1s.
  Count both forward and backward. When learning
  allow your child to use the 100 grid.

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Homework

• Saxon Phonics page each night (Mon.-Thurs.) to be
  returned the next day
• Weekly assignments in the Math Homework Book-to
  be returned on Thursdays
• High-frequency, Dolch words and spelling words to
  be studied as needed
• Nightly reading-at least one book and phonics
  readers (if appropriate)

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Grading

• 3 Student consistently and independently achieves
  the standard
• 2 Student is progressing toward achievement of
  the standard
• 1 Student has made limited or minimal progress
  toward achievement of the standard
• Instruction is incremental in nature. Students
  are assessed at different levels throughout the
  year.

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Questions? (Please e-mail or call at your
convenience.)