Cursive First

Programs in this section go beyond teaching children how to read, incorporating phonetic readers, spelling and writing as well. Arranged roughly by grade/age.

These materials span grades and include both instruction and practice.

Just as literacy suffered in the last century when the school systems abandoned phonics instruction, many people contend that handwriting suffered by the same educational system's insistence on beginning with manuscript handwriting. "Cursive first" is their rallying cry! Wanda Sanseri became convinced of this approach and has encouraged it as part of her Spell to Write and Read program. The Cursive First program was developed by Elizabeth FitzGerald to be used either with the SWR program or as a stand alone program of handwriting instruction.

The "program" is comprised of a Teacher's Manual, Practice Sheets, and the Cursive Phonogram Card Set. The Teacher's Manual is designed to convince you of the merits of starting with cursive. But it also includes information for preparing your student, specific "how-to," directions for using the Practice Sheets/Card Set and a "troubleshooting guide" - how to detect visual and perceptual problems. The reproducible (for families/classroom) Practice Sheets get quickly down to the business of practice - no cutesy graphics. Lowercase letters are taught separately from uppercase and connections are taught from the very beginning in the natural context of multi-letter phonograms. Although solid and dotted line models are provided, the student is quickly weaned from tracing to more active writing utilizing narrow ruled, dotted lines for practice. The Cursive Phonogram Card Set (yellow cardstock, each page to be cut into fourths) includes instructional dialogue for writing the phonograms on one side and a sample of cursive writing on the other. Both numerals and the first 26 phonograms are included. Laminating these would preserve their use through multiple children.

In addition to the program described above, we also sell a package that includes both the program and a set of SWR's 70 Basic Phonogram Cards. These are needed if you are using Cursive First as a stand alone handwriting program (without the SWR course). Janice

What do The Writing Road to Reading, and this program, Spell to Write & Read have in common? Both have similar (and potentially confusing) names. Both would be labeled intensive phonics. And Both would claim a teaching progression something like this: sounds of speech - building words - developing a spelling vocabulary - writing original sentences - and then reading follows. If that sounds a little backwards to you, remember that these programs have very devoted followers who claim great success using this methodology and Spell to Write and Read is one of Cathy Duffy's 100 Top Picks for Homeschooling Curriculum.

Spell to Write and Read by Wanda Sanseri is an updated replacement for a previous program (Teaching Reading at Home and School) and is designed exclusively to work with the W.I.S.E. Guide for Spelling, also by Mrs. Sanseri. While SWR and the WISE Guide are considered a reading and spelling program, they could also be used as a stand-alone spelling program for a child who is already reading. SWR functions as a step-by-step teacher's guide to accompany the specific word lists in the WISE Guide. Covering preparation, philosophy, preschool pointers, reading aloud, evaluating achievement levels, and teaching penmanship with phonograms, it also illustrates in scripted detail the spelling dictation process and the spelling rule Reference Pages with instructions and examples. These spelling rule Reference Pages are central to the entire teaching/learning system. Ideas for reading assignments, ways to improve comprehension skills and refine composition skills round out the teacher's tools. In summary, this is the overall master book of a product combination that works together to teach the first four to five years of language arts or to remediate students of any age. The other components include the WISE Guide, 70 Basic Phonogram Cards, Spelling Rule Cards, 70 Basic Phonograms CD, the Primary Learning Log, and the Black Learning Log (more details on these below).

The W.I.S.E. Guide for Spelling (W.I.S.E. stands for Words, Instruction, and Spelling Enrichments) includes a core spelling list that is an updated version of the well-known Ayres List - a foundational vocabulary of 2000 spelling words. Words are divided into manageable daily lessons with 2 pages of teaching ideas for each set of 20 words. Each lesson has preliminary warm-up drills, motivational comments for introducing the lesson, and reminders to teach specific Reference Pages from SWR. Sample sentences are given to illustrate each word. Selections come from the Bible, literature, quotes from famous people, or instructive comments. Each word is divided into syllables and marked for spelling rules. Suggested teacher dialogue is provided. Optional enrichment activities involve a wide variety of subjects - art, literature, composition, grammar, etymology, alphabetizing, analogies, oxymorons, and many more.

This program, like other intensive phonics programs, is exceedingly detailed and painstakingly comprehensive and thorough. The extreme attention to detail would detract for many, but for those who want to follow a thoroughly researched and carefully implemented approach, this may be for you. ~ Janice