Back to First Grade
In 2002 I had the good fortune to find a first grade teaching position at Macon-Hall Elementary School. I was able to use many Sound City Reading materials as a supplement to the regular classroom instruction. The materials were very helpful when tutoring individual students as well.
One year I tutored a young man who was having trouble despite all the approaches I had learned. One day, we accidently happened upon the routine that I call the "Robot Game." I had made picture cards/word cards for each short a word in the first story in the first pre-primer for first grade. I laid out the picture cards, and did an oral blending exercise, saying the separate sounds for each word. Trevin had to find the picture and say the word. We turned the cards over, and repeated the same exercise, using the word side. Again, he listened to the sounds and found the word. After that, he was able to read the words from the flashcards, and then went on to read the story all by himself. I adapted this lesson to use in the classroom, and it became the Robot Game.
Starting This Web Site
We have had 10 or 11 first grade classes at Macon-Hall for a number of years, now. When we switched to a new reading series, I adjusted some of the reading materials I'd created to match the phonogram sequence taught in the Scott Foresman Reading Street program, so that all the other first grade teachers could use them, too.
A first grade teacher at a local school, Heidi Samuelson, created a fantastic web site for first grade teachers in Tennessee. Many teachers from around the country have shared a lot of wonderful materials. I downloaded some of my Sound City Reading resources to the web site, but they took up so many megabytes, it pushed the limits of the size of the web site. At the same time, I got positive feedback from teachers who liked the files I had shared. I decided to take the plunge and develop a web site for Sound City Reading. Without the encouragement of Heidi and the other teachers on the site, it would not have been possible.
Many thanks to my first grade parents for generously giving me permission to use their children's pictures on this site.
In 2002 I had the good fortune to find a first grade teaching position at Macon-Hall Elementary School. I was able to use many Sound City Reading materials as a supplement to the regular classroom instruction. The materials were very helpful when tutoring individual students as well.
One year I tutored a young man who was having trouble despite all the approaches I had learned. One day, we accidently happened upon the routine that I call the "Robot Game." I had made picture cards/word cards for each short a word in the first story in the first pre-primer for first grade. I laid out the picture cards, and did an oral blending exercise, saying the separate sounds for each word. Trevin had to find the picture and say the word. We turned the cards over, and repeated the same exercise, using the word side. Again, he listened to the sounds and found the word. After that, he was able to read the words from the flashcards, and then went on to read the story all by himself. I adapted this lesson to use in the classroom, and it became the Robot Game.
Starting This Web Site
We have had 10 or 11 first grade classes at Macon-Hall for a number of years, now. When we switched to a new reading series, I adjusted some of the reading materials I'd created to match the phonogram sequence taught in the Scott Foresman Reading Street program, so that all the other first grade teachers could use them, too.
A first grade teacher at a local school, Heidi Samuelson, created a fantastic web site for first grade teachers in Tennessee. Many teachers from around the country have shared a lot of wonderful materials. I downloaded some of my Sound City Reading resources to the web site, but they took up so many megabytes, it pushed the limits of the size of the web site. At the same time, I got positive feedback from teachers who liked the files I had shared. I decided to take the plunge and develop a web site for Sound City Reading. Without the encouragement of Heidi and the other teachers on the site, it would not have been possible.
Many thanks to my first grade parents for generously giving me permission to use their children's pictures on this site.
Background, Philosophy, and Acknowledgements - Page 7
Sound City Reading
