70 Phonemic symbols?

[Ravin]

My mom was telling me about this reading curriculum they're using for my 5 yo. niece, who is in kindergarten. It's got her a bit confused. It says they teach 70 phonemic symbols for the most common sounds in English. The list they sent home didn't include all of them, but it's enough to make me think they're basically teaching the kids two sets of symbols they're going to have to decode (well, three if you count upper and lower case letters as separate symbol sets).

Am I the only one who things this rather makes a mountain out of a molehill?

Also, why don't they call it "first grade" if they're teaching the same stuff that was taught in 1st grade when I was a kid???

[flyingspaghettimama]

Here's a website that explains it, in a not-so-small nutshell.

http://www.manateemiddle.org/phonics/phoeneme.htm

I think the theory is useful; but the actual execution is quite um...wacky. Or as you succinctly put it, a mountain out of a molehill. Phonemic awareness is very helpful for beginning readers, but to break it down to this extent seems like overkill - once they catch on, I'm not sure it's necessary.

[mykidsmom3]

depends on the kids.....I am a reading specialist and believe me some kids need intensive phonics to be good readers...I thought it was crazy when I first started teaching that way , but when I saw the strides my students made, I finally understood the importance. Although every kids doesn't NEED that intensive phonetic instruction, it doesn't hurt them to get it. And I find they are much better spellers (and even better readers in the long run) than those kids who don't get as much phonetic instruction.

[applejuice]

They tried that method in the United States in the mid 1960s and I see it nowhere now...it should be recycling back soon, like all bad ideas in education.

As a PP said, it depends on the child. It was used as a method to help children who had problems with reading and spelling, and then transition them over to the method we all use...in other words, throwing in an extra step for some students who were already struggling...as I said, it depends on the student.