First Day Notes and Parent Presentation

Question: What types of notes does a Kindergarten teacher need to send home on the first day of school? What types of things do parents need to know?

In response to the question above, I have decided to post the papers that I send home with parents on the first day of school. I actually send all of these documents home in English or Spanish, as the parents wish. At my school, we have a meeting for the parents on the very first day. The parents are asked to stay for the first 45 minutes or so while we meet the children and take roll. After we read the kids a story and salute the flag, etc., we then send our children outside with our aides while we spend about a half an hour with their parents. We like doing this on the first day of school, since most families do usually come with their child on the first day. This maximizes parent attendance as we go through some important information and routines that they will need to know about. The document called, “First Day Overhead Notes” are notes that we give the parents that go along with our presentation to them. In it, you will see all of the things that I think are important to mention at this first meeting with the parents. We used to give this presentation on an overhead projector, but now I use my computer and an LCD projector, which is of course much nicer! I also included lots pictures of my students participating in field trips and other major events in the presentation, and the parents seemed to really like this a lot!

The “Checklist” document is the cover sheet that is stapled on top of the these additional papers: Important Information, Phone List, and Volunteers. I add other documents that the school requires to this packet, such as the Library Permit, the Electronic Use Permit (so that the kids can use the computer lab, etc.), Student Health Insurance Information, etc. I try to staple all of these together with the checklist on top, so that the parents know exactly what they need to send back the next day, or ASAP. This is much easier for me to keep track of when the children begin turning them in, since they usually come back all stapled together in a neat little packet. This especially helps me to know which paper belongs to whom, because in the past I have sometimes received papers that the parent signed but forgot to write the child’s name, leaving me to try to match the parent’s sometimes illegible signature with a child who might have a different last name! Stapling it all together is an extra step to complete at a busy time of year, but one that saves me time in the long run.

The Important Information paper helps me find information quickly when parents are late picking up a child, or if I have a quick question to ask. Also, sometimes contact information changes from the time a parent registers their child in April to the time they child starts school at the end of August. This seems especially true with cell phones that get turned on and off if a bill cannot be paid. So it is just a good thing to have on hand in any case, I think.

The Phone List is something that I do for my students each year that is strictly for my own convenience. I hate being in the position of being asked to pass out invitations to a birthday party to just a few of the children in the class, since this often leaves the other children feeling bad because they did not receive one. So the policy in our Kindergarten at my school is that no invitations may be passed out at school unless there is one for all. The parents are asked to give permission to have their contact information on this phone list so that invitations may be sent through the mail or communicated by phone. They can opt out of this list, of course. When I type if up for the class, I just write “unlisted” next to that child’s name. Then I type up another list that is complete for myself so that I can have a list at home and a quick list to consult at school if I need one.

The Volunteer sign up sheet is exactly that: a plea for classroom volunteers! I make sure that I tell parents how much I need them and what they might be doing if they sign up to help. Then I call each of them that expressed a desire to help regularly and schedule them right in. I LOVE having volunteers working with me in the classroom, and getting to know the families of my students!

I also pass out the children’s first homework sheet and Read Aloud Chart on the first day of school. I explain to the parents what the homework entails so that they will understand that much of it will be oral, and they will need to sign off on it each night as they complete it. This is important to mention, since often parents are looking for a worksheet for their child’s homework and don’t realize that this paper is, in fact, their child’s homework! Also, some folks are unfamiliar with the concept of a reading log, and this needs to be explained, just in case. They also need to know that the reading log is not an optional thing; their child’s participation is noted on the report card, and he or she will need assistance getting this done. Essentially, this is the “parent’s grade,” since the children are not usually able at this age to read alone and fill in the chart themselves. I always pass out homework on the first day of the school week, and collect it on the last day of the school week. I also let parents know that there will be important notes in the margins of their child’s homework sheet each week, and that they will need to be sure to read these notes to stay up to date on special events and things of that nature.

That’s it! If you have any questions about any of these papers, just let me know!

Teaching Sentence Structures

In a previous Blog post, I shared that I teach my kids to write different types of sentences by giving them different sentence structures to practice.  Recently, a kindergarten teacher asked me to share some of the sentence structures that I teach my kids to write over the course of the year.  Here is a list of some that I usually use.  

The ______ is (color).

I see the ______ .

I see the (color) ______ .

I like the ______.

I like the (color) ______ .

Here is a ______ .

Here is a (color) ______ .

It can ______ .

I can ______ .

I can see a ______ .

My ______  is (color).

I have a ______ .

I have a (color) ______ .

They are ______ .

They are (color) ______ .

I can go see a ______ .

I can go see a (color) ______ .

The ______  is for me.

The (color) ______  is for me.

I like to play with ______ .

You like to play with ______ .

He likes ______ .

She likes ______ .

He can ______ .

She can ______ .

You can ______ .

You can see ______ .

That was a ______ .

That was a (color) ______ .

At the end of the year, we try to write a story about ourselves.  It usually goes something like this:

I am a ______.  (girl or boy.)

I have (color) ______.

I like ______.

I can ______.

We sound out the ending words, or get them off of a word wall.  We use the word wall for the ending words more in the fall, and progressively less over the course of the second semester.  That way, by the time they have to write the story about themselves, they can pretty easily sound out the final word in each sentence.  They can write other sentences, too, if they want.  The structures are just a guideline to get them started.  I put one of these sentence structures into their homework each week so that they are also practicing at home on these types of sentences.  Recently, I added a mini Word Wall to their homework binders, too.  It is mounted on a file folder and laminated, and then I punched it so that it would fit in the binder.  Now they have a word wall to work with at home as well.  It seems to work great!

I do also have the kids do some journalling starting in February or March, and at this time they can write anything that they choose.  But when we journal, they cannot ask for any help with spelling, etc.  They are on their own while writing, and then if I can find the time, I let each of them read me their entries during their playtime about once a week.

Subtraction ideas

Recently, we have been learning how to subtract in my classroom. Here are some fun ideas to try to help teach this concept.  It has been said that in Kindergarten, you may need to find 20 different ways to teach one concept!  This is certainly true of addition and subtraction.  And after a while, the ideas start to run dry.  But the kids need to keep on using manipulatives while learning if they are really going to internalize the concept.  So I just try to keep thinking creatively as much as I possibly can to keep it fun and motivating for all of us!

One thing that I always do is use food to teach subtraction.  Here’s how:  In a small group, roll a die.  Everyone gets that number of pieces of cereal.  Then roll a die and have everyone eat that number of pieces and count the ones that are left.   This works great, since there is no chance of counting the ones that have been taken away!   Have the children practice writing that equation (or watch while you write it) before going on to another problem. 

Tip:  You will need two dice; one with larger numbers and one with smaller numbers.  You can make your own by writing with a permanent marker on a blank wooden cube, or simply cover the numbers on a die with a sticker.  Make sure your dice are two different colors. 

 

Another tip:  Make sure that you have your students show you how many they are going to eat in the palm of their hands before they put them in their mouths!  Otherwise, you will have some children that will find that their answers are different than other children’s answers since they at the wrong amount of cereal.

We also had the kids roll the dice and make a subtraction equation out of it and write it.  Then we had them make pictures to illustrate the equation.  For example, 5 - 2 = 3 might have a picture of five pigs, but two of them are crossed out, etc.

Another thing we have been doing is to act out equations!  The kids really like this.  We do it with both addition and subtraction.  For subtraction, just pick about five kids and have them stand up in a group.  Then pick someone to pretend to be a bee that stings a couple of them. Those that get stung must fall down.  Then write an equation to illustrate what happened.  As an alternative, you could have the kids pretend to be flies, and have another child pretend to be a frog that eats some of them.  Then write an equation.  We have done this sort of thing with the Five Little Ducks song, too.  You just stop the song after each verse and write an equation. The kids can write their own equations on white boards or magnadoodles, if you like.

We like using Ten-Frames also.  You could use egg cartons and cut off the last two egg cups on one end.  Each child should have their own.  Have the children put ten counters in the ten frame so that there is one counter in each spot.  Then roll a die and have the kids take out that many and put them in the lid side of the ten frame.  Then write the equation and have them read it back to you.  Or, have them each write the equation themselves, and then touch the numbers while reading it back.  I like using ten frames so much for addition and subtraction that I bought a set of "Count-Ten" cartons from Cuisenaire.  They look just like plastic egg cartons, but there are only ten spaces.  They are sturdier and cleaner than using egg cartons.  If we wash them out, we can put cereal or other types of treats inside; then just eat and subtract!  To keep this activity fresh, we change the manipulative that we count with.  I have sets of plastic frogs, assorted insects, caterpillars and butterflies, seasonal erasers (like for Christmas or Valentine's Day), toy soldiers, pirate "booty," and stuff like that.  The kids love to use the different items to count.  It makes it seem like an entirely new activity.  We use these ten frames to make teen numbers also.  Just have them fill up the ten frame, and then put a few more counters in the lid section, and then count them all.  My kids enjoyed making one of each of the numbers 10-20, and then coloring in that numbered apple on a tree that I gave them.  We used bingo bottles to fill in the apples.  That idea came from Pre-Kpages.com, which is Vanessa Levin's website.  She has some wonderful, fun ideas that can easily be adapted to suit more difficult K concepts.

There is also a printable subtraction lift the flap book with a zoo animal theme on my Musical Math Resource CD.  There is no song for this one, but the kids get to draw zoo-animals on each page, and then learn to read it.  Each zoo animal has been started with traceable lines on each page so that the kids can easily finish the picture.  For example, the body and head of the elephant is already there on the page with dotted lines to trace.  Then, the children just have to add the legs, ears, nose, and tail.  There is also a subtraction song (and an addition song!) on the Musical Math CD.  The kids love the motions to these songs.  They are on DVD also.  

We are going to use a bunch of old stickers to subtract on Monday.  My mom used to teach and she found a box just stuffed with old stickers!  So I cut them into sets of four, five, or six per page, and then threw them into a couple of tubs.  The kids are going to pick a sheet of stickers and stick them down on the paper.  Then they will roll a die to see how many they should cross out.  Then they will count how many are left and write an equation.  I think it will be fun.  We're going to do the same thing with a bunch of old Creative Memories dye-cuts that someone gave me recently.

If you have some creative ideas for teaching subtraction, I would love to hear them!  Let's keep these ideas coming, everybody!

Advice for Those Transitioning to Full-Day Kindergarten

The switch from half day to full day Kindergarten can be quite intimidating for the teacher!  If you are getting ready to move to full day Kindergarten, you might want to attend the I Teach K conference this summer in Las Vegas.  There are always lots of ideas to be had there.  I know that when we went full day, my principal was willing to send me for more training to help me through the transition.  This will be my fourth summer presenting at I Teach K, and despite the fact that I have taught Kindergarten for almost twenty years, I always learn something new and exciting there. My advice for anyone new to full day K is to plan for more activities that you think you will need or have time for.  Get them all ready, and put your supplies in a place where you can get them easily during the day.  Then try to plan your day by rotating through active, then passive, then active lessons as much as you can.  Remember, just because your students will be there all day, their attention spans are still the same, and they will certainly not be able to just sit and learn all day.  Typically, we would do a lesson, then sing some active songs, then do something with manipulatives (like patterning), then read a book or do another lesson, then stand up and sing another active song, etc.  Recess was in there, too, of course!  If you have an aide, you should also be able to rotate through a variety of activities as well.  I ALWAYS have some active songs ready to sing.  There is lots of music with movement available on my website, but if you don't care for mine, I would recommend that you find some that you do like and plan on using it to help your kids get through a long day without having to sit all day long.  For me, music is always a part of nearly every lesson.  And in the afternoons, I put out lots of creative art supplies and let them just create for as long as they want.  Those children that are not interested in doing more creative artwork can play while the others are creating.  The wonderful thing about full day K is that there is plenty of time to allow them to do things like this!  If your school will allow you to let the children have a rest time, then definitely take advantage of that during the first few months of school for sure.  My students really benefited from a chance to just rest with some soft music or books on tape playing.  I remember that one day, eight out of twenty kids fell asleep!  I let the children that didn’t want to sleep read books or draw on clipboards with paper and crayons.  I did, of course, let them know that they were not allowed to get up and do other things during this time.  I also used to plan our playtime for right after their rest time, just in case someone wanted to keep sleeping.  That way, the child wouldn't miss his or her instructional time.  Later in the year, we just lay down on the carpet with our journals and write or draw.  The children that are ready to write can write about anything that they want, and the others can just draw pictures and copy words from the wall.  The students loved the restfulness of this time, and really enjoyed sharing their journal entries with me during their playtime.

How to Combine Zoo-Phonics with HeidiSongs During the First Few Months of School

On the first day of school, I introduce the Zoo-Phonics characters and movements from A-Z, usually as early in the day as I can.  Then, later in the day, (usually after recess), I also introduce my Jumpin' Numbers and Shapes cards, along with a few of the songs (usually Zero, One, Two, and Three.)  The next day, I do Zoo-Phonics again early in the day from A-Z (although my cards are always mixed up and not in any particular order.)  Later again, usually after recess, I review the Jumpin' Numbers and Shapes cards and sing the songs we learned the day before.  Then I introduce another few songs- maybe the songs for Four, Five, and Six.  Each day, I follow this routine, along with the other things you would normally do on the first few days of school, like read stories about starting school, play games with names, learn how to make patterns, do some graphs, etc.  Every day, then, I add on a couple of new number songs and review the previous songs.  How many songs I do each day really depends on how long my class can pay attention and how much they are enjoying it.  Often, I have students who are repeating the year, or who had siblings in my class.  These kids often know many of the songs, and will beg for their favorite ones, so that makes me go a little faster sometimes.  I start adding in the color word songs right after Zoo-Phonics early in the morning on the second or third day of school, along with one letter song per day from my Singable Songs for Letters and Sounds CD!  Then we'll do ZP and then sing a few color songs, learning just two or three and then adding them in as the children can handle it.  I try to introduce as many as I can without exhausting them and making them tired of the songs. I try not to "cram it down their throats,” but I want to introduce as many color words as I can while still making it fun for them.  Typically, first thing in the morning, I will take roll, salute the flag, and do the calendar, and then stand up for ZP and singing.  After that, I will read a story and explain some type of art or hands-on activity that we will all do together.  Then, we'll read a story and then go out for recess after that.  Once we come in from recess, we'll read a story to calm down and maybe do a graph.  Then we'll do our numbers and shapes cards and songs, and then have some inside playtime until it is time to go home.  Our students only stay half day during the first four weeks of school; after that, they stay until 1:20 (school starts at 8:15.)  At the beginning of the third trimester, the kids begin staying until 2:15 and then go home after that.  Thursdays are Compact Days and the kids go home at 1:15 all year, except during the first four weeks.  We can sing a little more in the afternoons once we start staying later.  This extra time allowed me to finish teaching all of the alphabet songs by the fifth week of school.  We usually did the alphabet songs in "chunks;"  for example, we worked on A-F for a while, then G-L for a while, and then L-Q for a while, and so on. As far as the sight words are concerned, I usually start with the word, "the" after about two and a half or three weeks of school, and then introduce "see" on the same day, or a couple of days after that.  We continue doing ZP every day for the first three weeks of school faithfully.  After about three weeks, I start pulling kids individually during their playtime to see who knows ZP yet.  If the majority of the kids know all of the sounds and signals, I start doing ZP, but with modified "transitional" cards that I made with the ZP font.  These have the ZP character on the front as always, but on the back, there is just a plain letter.  I drill the kids on ZP, but just show them the plain letter and ask them to do the sound and signal as always.  If they get it wrong or hesitate, I flip the card over to the ZP side for a quick look, and then flip it back to the plain letter side.  So when they are doing the sounds and signals, they are doing it while looking at the plain letter.  Though I may give them a quick review/look of the ZP side, they are looking at the plain letter while they "do it, hear it, see it, and say it" simultaneously.  As soon as they give me the correct sound, I say, "What's that letter name?" and those that know it call out the name of the letter.  This helps teach the ones that don't know the letter names.  I begin pulling the lower ones out during playtime to work with them individually on the ZP Transitional cards to try to teach them the letter names.  Last year, I kept the lowest of my low kids for after school tutoring and worked on this same routine again with them and also added in many of the alphabet activities that are on the handout for my Singable Songs presentation.  By the time about four or five weeks of school have passed, most of my students know most of the alphabet and the sounds.  Once they know them, we stop doing ZP except maybe once a week, or even just a couple of times a month for review, (although I do have them signal the sounds as we learn to sound out words.)  We pick up on the sight word songs, and learn about two or three songs per week.  Again, how fast I go depends on the attention span and attitude of my group.  If they are loving it and begging for more, I give it to them!  If not, then I just stick to about two new words per week.  We do activities with the words in small groups to help the learn them.  We also write them while the music plays in large groups using a class set of magnadoodles or white boards.  Most of the activities that I do are listed on the handouts from my presentations on Sing and Spell. So basically, I don't follow the ZP manual really at all!  I did when I first started doing ZP, but since then I have trimmed it down a bit to make it more manageable as far as time is concerned.  Another thing that really helps is to show parents how it works at your first parent meeting, and have them learn it.   Then use the ZP font to make cards that the kids can take home.  Most parents are really "gung-ho" to help at the beginning of the school year, and are eager to have a way to help their kids.  When the parents work on ZP at home, it goes much faster than without.  I would say that about one fourth of our student population have parents that may not help their children at all, (either due to lack of language or because they don't know how to help, etc.)  I usually help the children from these families in my room during after school tutoring or during playtime.  You have to make sure that they are practicing making the correct sounds when they do ZP, or they will likely learn that incorrect sound and this can be hard to correct.

Why Use Music and Movement to Teach?

Recently, I was asked by a young lady in Malaysia who is doing a research project to explain the benefits of using music to teach young children!  I have decided to include my response in a blog entry, as it may be useful to others as well.

The benefits of using music and movement to teach are that the words and their spellings are quickly added to long term memory via music rather than short term memory.  When children learn things via rote practice (drill and kill with flashcards, etc.) the activity must be repeated many, many times in order for them to learn each and every word that cannot be sounded out. Research tells us that children will need to see each and every symbol- that's every letter, number, and word- anywhere from 50 - 5000 times (depending on the research and the individual child) in order to learn.   When children learn things via "elaborative rehearsal" (as with music and movement), the concept usually goes into long term memory quite easily.  This is because it is fun and engaging.  The children see it as a fun activity rather than a lesson.  When I ask my students why we sing, they almost always say, "Because it's fun!"  I have to really coach them to tell me that we do it because we are learning.  (My question usually arises as a result of someone refusing to participate in the musical activity.  Sometimes, they just start talking to each other instead, or start playing around.  I have to remind them that refusing to sing, or ignoring the song and the movements, is the same as refusing to do a worksheet, or even worse!  We are learning from this activity, and if you don't do it, you are not learning.  The children that are focused on me and mimicking my movements and words are fully engaged in this multisensory activity.  If they are also happy and excited, then we also have the emotional response that produces hormones that act as memory fixatives in the brain.  All of these things create a situation where learning is easy, fun, and fast.  This is the main advantage of teaching with music and movement.  Remember that the movement component is a major part of why it works.  Just playing the songs for the kids will not produce the same response in the majority of your children.  Their whole bodies must be fully engaged for the words or concepts to go into long term memory.

For more information on how this works, here are some different sources that also cite this information in general:

Gardner, H.  (1983).  Frames of Mind:  The Theory of Multiple Intelligences.  New York:  Basic Books.

Jensen, E.  (1998).  Teaching with the Brain in Mind.  Alexandria, VA:  ASCD.

Hannaford, C. & Pert, C. (2005).  Smart Moves: Why Learning Is Not All in Your Head.  Stoddard, WI  Great River Books.

Mah, R. (2007).  Difficult Behavior in Early Childhood:  Positive Discipline for PreK-3 Classrooms and Beyond.  Thousand Oaks, CA:  Corwin Press.

Marzano, R., Pickering, J. & Pollock, J.  (2001).  Classroom Instruction That Works: Research-Based Strategies for Increasing Student Achievement, Alexandria, VA:  ASCD.

Marzano, R.  (2004). Building Background Knowledge for Academic Achievement: Research on What Works in Schools, Alexandria, VA:  ASCD

Tate, M.  ((2007).  Shouting Won’t Grow Dendrites:  20 Techniques for Managing a Brain-Compatible Classroom.

Thousand Oaks, CA:  Corwin Press.

Sounding Out Nonsense Words and CVC Words

Learning to sound out words can be really hard for some children to master, especially in Kindergarten.  My district now has the children tested not only on sounding out CVC words as before, but also nonsense words as well.  Here are some methods that I have come up with that work really well for me.

One thing to keep in mind is that certain consonants will be easier to start with than others, since they can be drawn out.  These consonants, called “fricatives” (as opposed to “stops”) include the following:  f, l, m, n, r, s, v, and z.  The sounds of /th/ and /sh/ can also be included in this list of fricatives, but since they must be read as digraphs (two consonants that form one single sound), they are not great ones to start with unless you are working with the children on blending strictly as an oral activity, without showing them any letter cards.  I usually start early in the school year having the children practice blending just two sounds together orally.  It’s a good idea to practice blending without any letters in front of them, too, strictly as a phonemic awareness activity.  This sets the stage for reading the words at a later date.

There are several games that I have used successfully with my class while teaching them to sound out real and nonsense CVC words.   One game that my kids LOVE is "The Queen Game."  For this game, you will need a large white board; ours is a white board easel and that works great.  First, on one side draw YOUR head with a crown on it, and tell the kids that you are "the Queen," and write the word "Queen" above it.  For extra fun, buy yourself a tiara and wear it while playing the game.  :)  Then, on the other side of the board, draw 3-4 children's faces and write "Kids" above them, telling the kids that these are all of the kids in the class.  Now the fun begins!  Show the kids a nonsense word and have someone try to sound it out.  If they get it right, the kids get a point.  If they get it wrong, the queen gets a point.  Somehow, the queen always loses and is a very poor sport!  She cries and cries!  But the queen gets a point if someone is talking out of turn, or being naughty, etc.  The queen also gets a point if she is in a bad mood.  Basically, the queen doesn't play fair, but always loses, and makes a big crying deal out of the fact that she always loses.  The kids think that this is hilarious!  However, my class this year has been having a hard time grasping the whole nonsense word thing, and some of the kids started just refusing to try, letting the queen have the point.  After that, we changed the rule so that the kids must only TRY to get the point.  If they refuse to try, then the queen gets a point.  That worked a little better.

We also played the same game with Tic Tac Toe. If they try to sound out the word, then they can put either an X or an O on the board.  (It's boys against girls!)  Actually, just watching them reason through the game of Tic Tac Toe is pretty hilarious!  Some of my kids this year just don't get it!

Here's another game:  Just have them sound out a word, (or at least TRY to sound out a word!) and then throw that child a ball as a reward.  I have collected several different types of fun balls to throw to them.  That game is also “a hit,” and can be used with drill and practice for any concept.

Something else that really works well is getting the "Really Good Stuff Word Blending Desktop Pocket Chart and Stand" from reallygoodstuff.com.  This little triangular shaped chart can sit in the teacher's lap very easily, and it comes with large alphabet cards and four slots to put them in.  By changing just one card, you come up with a related but different nonsense word.  Of course, some of the words turn out to be real.  I just stuff lots of blue consonant cards in the first and third pockets, and lots of red vowel cards in the second pocket.  There is a storage pocket on the back of the chart, so if you want to remove a certain hard letter, it is easy to just stick it in the back.  There are actually four pockets in the front so that you can do CCVC words also, etc.  The chart was only $17.99 and worth every penny!  It came with the letter cards, too.  It also folds down flat for easy storage, but the truth of the matter is that I use it so much we never seem to put it away, at least this time of year anyway!

One other thing that I have created is a 180 page book of CVC work sheets and accompanying flash cards.  These are real words, not nonsense words, and I find it quite useful!  The kids do a lot of matching the picture to the word, so that when you give them the worksheet, they already know what all of the pictures represent.  I have the flash cards and word in a small format too, so that you can send them home for practice reading and matching.  You can order it in a set with a CD-Rom so that you can have them to print or just xerox the book, if you want.  I like finding the correct worksheet in the book and then printing it off of the CD-Rom.  One great feature of the CD-Rom is that it also includes those same picture flash cards in a bingo game format so that you can reinforce the words in another way.  On my bingo game boards, the kids have all of the pictures for the CVC words printed on their boards in black and white.  The bingo caller holds up a word, and the children together try to blend the sounds into a word.  Then they try to find that picture on their board and cover it up.  There are only six spaces on each game board, so they should not be too overwhelmed by all of the things on the board in front of them.  The boards can also be used as a phonemic awareness activity if you have the bingo caller have the children just blend the sounds together rather than read the word.  For example, the caller could say, “/p/ /at/,” and the kids would look for “pat.”

One problem with using this method is that the kids do tend to memorize the CVC words in the book, and those without any phonics skills tend to look just fine on their report cards, so practicing with nonsense words is essential, especially if you also use my sight word songs.  The kids pick up the sight words so easily when you put them to music, and then they memorize the CVC words with the flash cards and worksheets.  The problem is that when they get older, you find that there is a gap in phonics skills and they can't sound out the multi-syllabic words.  So the whole nonsense word thing has to be addressed, unfortunately!  This is the first year that we have been required to teach this skill.  It sure can be hard for the little immature ones!   It kind of makes me sad for them, as it used to be alright to be a Kindergartner that couldn’t yet read, and that is just not the case anymore.