Month by Month Phonics for First Grade Edition 2

On 7/16/08, Steph/4/TX wrote:
> It looks like you've got the basic jist (sp?) of it, except your WWW
> block really should be a little longer. In 1st-3rd, that block
> should consist of 10 min doing the word wall and 20 min doing a
> phonics/decoding lesson/activity, for a total of 30 min. They
> suggest 30-40 min for each of the other 3 blocks, so you could cut
> down your GR and writing blocks a little and have 30 min for WWW.
>
> As far as the sight words go, there is a list for 1st grade in the
> Teacher's Guide to Four Blocks. From that, you can do them in any
> order. When I taught 1st I would find words on the list that were in
> our GR texts to reinforce those more at that time. You can also
> choose the spelling patterns you are going to focus on in the
> phonics/decoding lessons. When I taught 1st, I followed the sequence
> of the spelling lists in our reading series, but taught them the 4
> blocks way!
>
> For GR, the hardest part about what texts to use is finding
> materials you have class sets of. You can very easily use your
> reading series for this (or science books or SS books) and do your
> instruction with those stories using 4 blocks before, during, and
> after activities. Another great resource for inexpensive books is
> reading atoz.com. They have tons of leveled books that you can
> download and print as many of as you need. Their individual
> membership is like $80, but WELL worth it in my opinion! (Yes, I am
> a member!!)
>
> The main focus of GR is teaching comprehension. You pretty much run
> the show during this time. You start with a before reading activity
> to get them ready for reading. You have some type of during reading
> format or activity for them. Then you do an after reading activity
> to tie it all together and help them process what they just did. The
> big thing with 4 blocks GR is that you DON'T do leveled small groups
> (like Fountas & Pinnell). There is small group work, but the groups
> are flexible and not based on ability.
>
> If I were you, I would get The Teacher's Guide to the Four Blocks.
> It is easy to read, but VERY helpful when you are starting out with
> this model. There are also many other great books out there (I think
> I have them all!!) that you might check out after you've read the
> Teacher's Guide that go into a lot more detail about each block.
>
> You might also check out the 4 blocks center here on teachers.net.
> There all kinds of things you can download and print. It is
> wonderful! There used to be a link to it on the home page, but I
> can't find it anymore. But, if you type "four blocks center" into
> the box to search teachers.net, you'll get a link to it. That's how
> I always get to it!
>
> HTH!
> Steph :)
>
> On 7/16/08, Kimberly wrote:
>> Ah, that would help...1st Grade!
>>
>> On 7/16/08, What grade do you teach? nfm wrote:
>>> On 7/16/08, Kimberly wrote:
>>>> We are starting the model this year. It looks very
>>>> thorough and I am excited to get it going. Our adopted
>>>> text is Scott Foresman, but understand this is not to
>>>> dictate our curriculum. So, my question is where to you
>>>> get the spelling, sight words, etc. for the Working with
>>>> Words portion? Here's how I see implementing it...
>>>>
>>>> 8:15-8:30 Working with words (alternate sight words and
>>>> spelling words daily)...should those come from the SF or
>>>> is there a recommended list?
>>>> 8:30-9:15 Guided Reading (again, is there a recommendation
>>>> for these titles or can it be the readers that come with
>>>> Scott Foresman?) Do I understand this to be about 15
>>>> minutes of large group instruction and then a rotation of
>>>> various reading opportunities?
>>>> Break
>>>> 9:30-10-Self Selected Reading
>>>> 10-10:45 - Writing (We were planning on using the Six
>>>> Traits writing model).
>>>>
>>>> After lunch is math (50 min.), recess, pull-outs (we will
>>>> do centers during this time for more small group reading
>>>> opportunities), followed by science/social studies for 50
>>>> min.

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