How Your Child Learns with Wilson Fundations
How Your Child Learns to Read and Write in PreK and Kindergarten
After using the renowned Wilson Fundations Reading and Handwriting curriculum in our Tobin Kindergarten program for the past two years, we were very excited to learn that Wilson was creating a PreK program to complement it. As soon as the materials became available in September of 2015, we jumped on board and began using the program in our Morning PreK and three Jr. Kindergarten classrooms. Wilson Fundations has an excellent reputation as a strong, multi-sensory, sequential phonics system with a proven track record of success in teaching reading and handwriting. We had already seen solid results from our Kindergarten students so we were eager to put these new tools into practice for our PreK and Jr Kindergarten students.
How Students Are Introduced to the Alphabet and Handwriting
In the first half of the year, students are introduced to the whole alphabet in sequence with two ‘new’ letter-sound-keywords each week using a fun owl puppet named “Echo”. Repeating back the “A-apple-a, “B-bat-b” sounds as they are learned and added to their repertoire, this process is repeated using small Fundations letter cards, a wall alphabet strip, and large keyword cards each morning. With each letter students also learn correct handwriting forms for both the uppercase and lowercase letter, skywriting it in the air before they try their hand at it on paper using the line language of Wilson Fundations (the sky line, the plane line, the grass line, and the worm line). The repetition, the hard-to-resist owl puppet, and the multiple-sensory approach have made Fundations time a class favorite!
Thoughts from Our Teachers
Teachers here at Tobin shared the following comments upon introducing the program this year:
“The kids pick up on the letter sound and keywords so quickly!”
“The program strongly reinforces letter/sound connections.”
“My class loves Echo the Owl! We have adopted him as a class mascot and even made him a little house to live in. They can’t wait to see what Echo will teach us next!”
Continued Use in Kindergarten
We knew that adding this tool would create a strong foundation for our students who would, in many cases, continue to use Wilson Fundations in their Kindergarten classes in the future. Wilson Language Learning even featured The Tobin School’s rollout of the new program on their website, and we were more than happy to endorse this wonderful program.
We’d be happy to share more about this exciting new curriculum option – all you have to do is ask.