Month-by-Month Phonics for Upper Grades: A Second Chance for Struggling Readers and Students Learning English

This has been a great supplement for my high school English classes. The kids love it and they get a chance to work and look at words differently. They are using skills they don't use on a regular basis. It's quite a challenge for most!

This book is by far the most beneficial I have found for my upper elementary students struggling to improve their reading skills. It gives simple, step by step instructions for each of the activities and requires very little planning time for the teacher. EVERY child can succeed at improving reading skills, and the activities are appropriate for older students. They do not feel like they are doing 'baby' lessons- an issue I have dealt with when using other phonics books.

This is an excellent choice for teachers who wish to implement a phonics program that can really work for upper grades. The book is divided into months. Each month there are activities ready to be used. The activities are categorized into four specific goals. Once you learn how to teach the four goals for the first month, you will be prepared to teach the same lessons again the next month, of course, using different words.

The phonics activities help students notice spelling patterns in words through clever activities that the older kids will enjoy. For instance, there are phonics lessons based on brand names! I highly recommend this program because it will give upper grade students the chance to learn how to spell high frequency words, to identify spelling patterns in big and small words, to monitor their spelling, and to use root/prefix/suffix parts of words to define and spell words.

This book is suitable for 4-8 grades. It includes lessons that will last for nine months of the school year. Teachers on year round schooling will also be able to use this book. Each lesson should take between 15-30 minutes, depending on the teacher's scehdule. This is an excellent book for upper grade teachers!