Wendy's Bookworks

Zip to Success This School Year!!

It's back to school and here we go again!

Most adults would say that the goal of a reading program is to produce a student that can competantly read written material, comprehend the material, integrate the material into his or her own knowledge base and then communicate clearly in a response. And yet we adults can't seem to agree on the methods to achieve that goal. Last school year we watched as the kids in our homework tutoring program (most of whom are bi-lingual) were rushed through the basic phonics decoding skills, leaving them confused about all the long vowel patterns. They read endless "fluency" passages in one minute but could not answer a question about what they had just read.  Finally, in what seemed like a desperate measure, the second and third graders were told to read a story every day and write the beginning, the middle and the end - apparently in three sentences. Common Core wants kids to say "I Can"; these kids were saying "I Can't".

This year start using the Tutor Quick Pocket Slider with the Phonics and Spelling Zip Strips. You can build a successful program, achieving all the Common Core goals, with this product. The word lists are organized by phonetic patterns. Start the week by reviewing the words before they go in the pocket. The picture provides comprehension. Put the strip in the pocket and practice both reading and spelling the words for morning work or in a center. Use the words to have the children brainstorm and create three or more sentences using the words on the list for fluency practice. During the week, use some of the eleven extension activities to teach rhyming, grammer, syllables, antonyms, synonyms alphabet order and sentence writing. Make an extra pocket with the parents at back to school night and explain that homework will be to practice reading and spelling  the words for the week with the pocket. Homework planning done!!

I am posting pictures of some of the extension activities. You will see that they are simple and use the word lists that the kids cut and paste to create their own "worksheets". The file folder games use colorful cut outs, but I have not colored the pictures. Lost pieces are easy to replace by just making another copy of the words and cutting it up.

FREE samples of the pocket slider, zip strips, instuctions and extensions are available on my web site http://www.wendysbookworks.com or at my store at
Teachers Pay Teachers.

Zip to Success this school year!!