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

Patricia Cunningham (Illustrator), Dorothy P. Hall (Author), Gene Shanks (Author)

Book Description

Series: Month-By-Month Four Blocks | Publication Date: January 1, 1998

This book offers monthly activities, sample lessons, and word lists to help students become fluent decoders and spellers. Students will learn how to apply reading and writing strategies.

Product Details

• Paperback: 158 pages
• Publisher: Four Blocks (a Division of Carson-Dellosa); 1ST edition (January 1, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0887244734
• ISBN-13: 978-0887244735
• Product Dimensions: 10.9 x 8.7 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #112,140 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

143 of 144 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Second Chance for Upper Grade Readers, June 2, 2001

By 

F. Chamberlain (CA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Month-by-Month Phonics for Upper Grades: A Second Chance for Struggling Readers and Students Learning English (Paperback)

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!

66 of 67 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars FINALLY! A BOOK THAT WORKS FOR UPPER EL, January 23, 2002

By 

Sammy (Florida United States) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Month-by-Month Phonics for Upper Grades: A Second Chance for Struggling Readers and Students Learning English (Paperback)

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.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Word Work surpasses Spelling!, August 28, 2008

By 

T. McCarthy "elementary teacher" (Southern California) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Month-by-Month Phonics for Upper Grades: A Second Chance for Struggling Readers and Students Learning English (Paperback)

I purchased this after a literacy workshop in our district. After reading the introduction and the first month of lessons, I'm hooked! It's the first "spelling" approach I've seen in my 10 years teaching that makes sense and shows how to teach students to look at words in a whole different light than traditional, ineffective workbook programs. It provides words and structured instructional lessons for TEACHING word work rather than assigning words to memorize for a week, then forget.