The authors introduce first grade teachers to 100 Making Words lessons that cover all of the literacy skills included in most first grade curricula. The activities progress through a systematic, sequential phonics program that includes practice with the phonemic awareness skills of segmenting and blending.

Patricia M. Cunningham and Dorothy P. Hall

Making Words First Grade

Based on the best selling book, Phonics They Use: Words for Reading and Writing, this grade level series offers a fresh pairing of lessons and activities for kindergarten through fifth grade. In Making Words First Grade, Pat and Dottie introduce first grade teachers to 100 Making Words lessons that cover all of the literacy skills included in most first grade curricula. The activities progress through a systematic, sequential phonics program that includes ample practice with the phonemic awareness skills of segmenting and blending. After students gain experience stretching out words to add letters and make new words, all lessons include a transfer step to help them apply the sounds they learn to the spelling of new words.

"This book is very appealing to me as a first grade teacher. It provides many lessons to teach...essential skills for beginning readers. I would...highly recommend it to others based on the practicality and usability of the [book] and on the reputation of the authors."

-Janet Dancy, teacher, Norfleet Elementary School, Kansas City, MO

"Any teacher who has ever watched the functionality of making words will love this book for its inclusion of phonemic awareness concepts as well as the sequential layout of skills taught."

-Laura Denise Boger, teacher, Clemmons Elementary School, Clemmons, NC

Patricia M. Cunningham is the author of Beyond Retelling, Classrooms That Work, Schools That Work, and Phonics They Use, all published by Allyn & Bacon, as well as a professor of education at Wake Forest University. She has over 30 years of experience in various elementary grades and with remedial reading and has served as a curriculum coordinator and director of reading. Pat promotes literacy for all children through her Four Blocks(R) workshops and staff development sessions with educators.

Dorothy P. Hall is the co-developer of the Four Blocks(R) framework and the director of the Four Blocks(R) Center at Wake Forest University. A former elementary teacher and education professor, she also presents workshops around the country on Four Blocks(R), Building Blocks, guided reading strategies, and phonics instruction.

An active and innovative approach to making words that teachers and their students have grown to love is finally here!

Based on its highly successful parent text, Phonics They Use, this new grade-level series Making Words offers teachers a fresh multi-level activity and lesson series written for the kindergarten through fifth grade classroom. Pat Cunningham and Dottie Hall present classroom teachers with effective tools for strengthening phonics and spelling skills that encourage students to move beyond learning and into a world of word discovery. Each research-based volume includes a wealth of friendly, hands-on, manipulative activities that guide teachers in teaching the development of words--from phonemic awareness to spelling.

In Making Words First Grade, Pat and Dottie introduce first grade teachers to100 lessons that teach all the phonics, spelling, and phonemic awareness skills included in most first grade curriculums. Each Making Words activity leads children through a systematic and sequential phonics curriculum. All lessons include practice with the phonemic awareness skills of segmenting and blending as children stretch out words they are making and blend the letters to make new words. Because teaching children letter-sound relationships is easier than teaching children to actually use these letter-sound relationships, all lessons include a transfer step in which children apply the sounds they are learning to spelling new words.

Making Words First Grade is the best resource you can have on hand for motivating your students to learn words!

Features 100 fun and interactive lessons for building phonemic awareness, phonics, and spelling skills.

Presents a concise method for involving students in the process of identifying phonological units and patterns within words.

Promotes student awareness of similarities in words that helps develop writing skills.

Includes reproducible letter tiles, record sheets for each lesson, and take-home sheets to copy, cut, and/or laminate.

Highlights a list of useful children's books to extend the Making Words lesson.