Phonics Helps First Graders Learn to Read

There are a number of big milestones during the first-grade year. In addition to the end-of-year first grade tefillah, in which students learn to lead the morning service, there are a number of smaller milestones that take place in the classroom. Learning to read is one of these milestones. “The written language can be compared to a code,” explains resident teacher Orr Agam. “We are working on our phonics, which is a method of teaching students to read by correlating sounds with letters or groups of letters. Knowing the sounds of letters and letter combinations will help students decode words as they continue to read.” The phonics instruction model includes multi-sensory teaching techniques, which help students focus their attention on the sequence of letters. “In that sense, this develops not only the students’ reading abilities, but also their writing and spelling,” which in turn develops students’ confidence in language arts.

 

Adds Mr. Agam, “Seeing students figure out how to read a word they did not know based on the sounds of the letters is a remarkable thing to witness. Assisting them in such a critical lifelong skill is one of the true honors of being an educator.” MORE PHOTOS