Focus on Phonics

(Grades K-3) / Flex Course

PDI Course Number: 72T02 / UCSD Course Number: EDUC41475

Course Description

Do your students lack basic phonics skills? Does this deficit hamper their reading abilities? This online course focuses on effective ways to teach children the most critical phonics skills needed for reading success. Phonics basics will be emphasized along with specific ways to help students who are struggling in this area. The course begins by providing assessment techniques such as running records, miscue analysis, as well as other more informal phonics assessments so that diagnostic information can be used to effectively plan instruction. Details about how phonics and decoding impact fluency and comprehension are provided. Using context clues and structural analysis as a means of decoding will be introduced as well as suggestions for teaching sight words, high frequency words, and instant words. Teachers will also learn how to use the making words approach and chunking strategies as well as how to implement reader’s workshop and literacy stations. Teachers will gain ideas for properly using the language experience approach to reinforce phonics and spelling skills. By the end of this course, teachers will have the strategies and tools needed to strengthen their students’ phonics skills and help them become successful readers. This course is worth 3 ⅓ semester units/5 quarter units (50 hours of training) from University of California San Diego (UCSD) Division of Extended Studies. For detailed information on university credit, click here.

"I felt that this course touched on everything that I was looking for in the area of phonics. I felt the articles were easy to read and informative. The instructor and staff could not have been more helpful" - Megan Barberio