This morning I read an article in the National Review by Caroline Downey about schools that stopped using Phonics to teach students to read and implemented a new reading program based on literacy expert Lucy Calkins’ “whole language” approach. According to Lucy Calkins, reading and writing develop naturally in children, and she derides Phonics as “drill and kill”. Not surprisingly, the method has left both students and teachers frustrated, and many schools have chosen to switch back to Phonics.
Yes, GHAPS is using the Lucy Calkins method to teach students to learn as part of social-emotional learning.
When my kindergarten student started school at Peach Plains in 2018, I was told GHAPS had a new reading program they were starting that would help improve literacy rates. I attended a parent meeting where the methods of the new program were described so parents could support their children at home.
My initial thought was, “they have to be kidding.” I was told that students were going to learn to read by looking at a picture and guessing what the words below the picture were. For example, I was shown a picture of a boy sitting at a desk. The text read, “A boy is sitting at his desk.“ If my child read the sentence as, “A boy is sitting at a table.” I wasn’t to correct him. As far as the teacher was concerned, he read the sentence correctly.
When I asked, “wouldn’t it be better to correct him?” I was told the focus was to make him a confident reader, and if I was correcting him all the time it wouldn’t allow him to become a confident reader. And when I asked, “where are the sight word lists for him to bring home and practice reading and learning how to spell?”, I was told there are no sight word lists.
So, I asked, “How is he going to learn to spell words?” I was told word lists were provided during writing time and kids could use them to spell words correctly.
I moved my child after first grade to a school that used Phonics to teach reading and writing.