Preface

Learning to read is a complex process that involves the integration of many cognitive, motor, and perceptual abilities. In this book we focus on the narrow domain of phonics instruction. We are concerned that as the cry for systematic phonics instruction becomes louder and louder at the national level, there may be a tendency in some schools for systematic phonics to be  interpreted as “skill ’n drill”or back-to-the-workbook activities. There may also be a tendency for teachers and administrators, anxious to meet the demands of politicians, to adopt fixed-sequence, commercial phonics programs, ignoring that some children know a great deal about phonics before they start school, and some children know very little. 
We were both first-grade teachers for some time before moving to university teaching. We both taught phonics from workbooks in a fixed sequence prescribed by the publisher. We know first- hand that fixed-sequence phonics instruction worked for some learners, but not for many others.
The purpose of our book is to support teachers who know that a fixed-sequence phonics program cannot possibly fit all learners. We propose phonics instruction that is explicit, systematic, rounded in research, and taught in authentic early literacy contexts across the literacy block and content areas.

Throughout the book we give examples of classrooms where teachers are teaching phonics systematically and explicitly, not as an add-on but as part of their comprehensive approach to literacy  instruction.Children in these classrooms are learning how to use phonics to read and write.