“From the mouths of babes…”: Students Reflect on Phonics Progress

We are in our second year of SIPPS® implementation as part of our daily first grade intervention model. While my brain is overflowing with reflections on student progress, implementation progress, celebrations, and frustrations, I pause to wonder, “what do my kids think about all of this?” After all, they are the reason that we began our intervention journey in the first place. So I sat down with my first graders and we just talked. And, of course they had lots to say!

I began by asking them about the learning we do each day in our SIPPS lessons. I said, “imagine we have a new student in our group, tell her about what we do each day.” The group was able to name every instructional routine, without hesitation. While they didn’t use terminology such as “phoneme play” or “read decodable words,” they did precisely describe each of the daily SIPPS routines. For instance, one student said, “we take off part of the word and tell you what is left!” Another said, "we say words and sound words and then we spell them.” Knowing that my kids have internalized the daily SIPPS routines helps me feel confident that I am consistently delivering all of the instructional components.

Then our conversation moved to the little books found in the beginning level. They were quick to tell me that Riff is their favorite character. They also loved the multi-part books because this means “we are reading chapter books now.” Some of their favorite titles included The Red Truck, Fun on the Slide, and Bug in a Rug.

Then I asked the kids to consider reading goals or “what do we need to work on so we are all the best readers we can be?” I was amazed at their insights. One student said, “we need to read longer and harder books.” Another said, “we need to make sure we are focused every day.” One student suggested “we need to know words right away…as soon as we see them.” When I consider these suggestions, I think of text complexity, higher-level thinking, engagement, and automaticity. If I had listed goals for these readers, these would be at the top. But why should I do all the reflective work when my first graders know just what they need? And so it goes, out of the mouths of babes. I am reenergized and ready to help this group of students meet and exceed their personal reading goals!

Katy Cortelyou is a primary level intensive reading teacher in Tampa, Florida. She uses the SIPPS program (Beginning and Extension Levels) during her daily reading instruction and works closely with her colleagues in the delivery of high-quality reading interventions.