First Grade Phonics: When to Move Beyond Basics
There’s a moment that many first-grade parents describe with the same kind of wonder, the moment their child picks up a book and just… reads it. Not perfectly, not without…
Your family plays a big role in helping your child learn to read and write. With the right phonics activities at home, you can support your child’s literacy development and academic success. The more you understand how and why phonics instruction works, the better you can facilitate effective and meaningful learning experiences with your family.
To help your child practice phonics at home, read our insights for parents below! You can also browse our phonics program reviews for more.
Your child watches snowflakes drift past the window, clutching a mug of warm apple...
The menorah glows on the kitchen counter. Your preschooler watches the first candle flicker...
New Year’s brings fresh starts, new goals, and celebrations around the world. You pull...
You open a picture book with your four-year-old. The words dance across the page...
Your child snuggles beside you on a cold December evening, eyes bright with anticipation...
The twinkling lights are up, cookies are baking, and your eager young reader wants...
Picture a seven-year-old who can explain the water cycle in stunning detail, design elaborate...
Rachel teaches first grade in a suburban elementary school. Last year, she watched five...
You open the package with equal parts excitement and dread. Inside sits your investment...
Your kindergartener writes “doy” instead of “boy.” Your first grader reads “was” as “saw.”...
There’s a moment that many first-grade parents describe with the same kind of wonder, the moment their child picks up a book and just… reads it. Not perfectly, not without…
There is a well-documented shift that occurs around third grade, which literacy researchers have studied for decades. In the early grades, children are learning to read. By third grade, they…
Here’s something that surprises many parents: phonics learning doesn’t begin in kindergarten. It begins in the bathtub. It begins in the car. It begins every time your toddler claps along…
If you’ve ever sat at a kindergarten pickup wondering whether your child is keeping pace with their classmates, you’re not alone. Phonics progress in kindergarten can feel mysterious from the…
You’ve just announced that your school is implementing a new systematic phonics program. You expect relief. After all, reading scores have been declining, and this approach is backed by decades…
If you’re a parent whose child is struggling to read, you might wonder why their teacher seems uncertain about phonics instruction. It’s a fair question, and the answer might surprise…
The Right to Read Act, introduced in Congress, is an effort by lawmakers to address gaps in literacy instruction and library access. While legislation always involves a political process, the…
Your third grader still struggles to decode simple words. Your English language learner confuses similar sounds. Your high schooler avoids reading aloud at all costs. These scenarios play out in…
You’re scrolling through educational apps at 10 PM, reading glowing reviews and watching demo videos of animated characters celebrating correct answers. This one promises to teach your child to read…
It’s 6:30 PM on a Tuesday. Dinner’s cooking, work emails are piling up, and your five-year-old is restless. You hand over the tablet loaded with that phonics app everyone recommends.…
