Saxon Phonics program

[tammey31]

I am a second grade teacher that would like to hear other teacher's opinions about using the Saxon Phonics program in their classroom. I work in a district that has three elementary buildings, one that uses saxon phonics, one that refuses to use saxon phonics and uses the phonics that is included in the reading series and the third building uses something totally different from the other two. We will soon be getting a new elem. building which will combine two of the elem. centers and I have a feeling there is going to be a war between teachers over whether or not to use this series. It would be interesting to hear what others think about it. Thanks! :cool:

[Unregistered]

I've used Saxon Phonics for several years. I really think it is valuable. I don't however do all the activities that is suggests. I don't have the time. I pick and choose what I feel is important. The children have to tear apart the words and look at each part. I have noticed that it isn't for all learning styles, but what program is? I think this program has made my students better readers and spellers.

[Unregistered]

I used the K, 1 and 2 Saxon Phonics programs and found them to be the most comprehensive way to teach phonics! Seeing, saying and writing information really helped my sp. needs students. The Grade 1 program is very involved with something called coding words which can get very confusing for parents since they often don't have close involvement with the program. I use bits and pieces of it and supplement with things I've acquired through the years. It has great phonemic awareness sections so there is practice daily. Some people see it as dry, but I used much of it and was very successful with my special needs students.
I've taught for over 20 years and haven't found anything yet to compare to the results we got with Saxon Phonics.
We found similar results with their Math program.

[Unregistered]

I would like for someone to scan and email me Saxon phonics rules. When my school became a Reading First school, we could no longer use Saxon because it isn't research-based, therefore, we had to dispose of all Saxon materials. However, the basal series we are using doesn't provide my students with the rules that Saxon does, and I can certainly tell the difference. If someone can send these rules to me, I would certainly appreciate them. hmyers7882@yahoo.com

[glynnis]

I have not taught Saxon Phonics, but I work with kids who were taught using it. This past year my 1st graders had Saxon Phonics in Kindergarten and adjeusted well to reading in 1st grade. The Kindergarteners that are coming up in about 3 weeks are far behind due to the fact that they did not have Saxon Phonics. They did not get the phonics background that is required in Kindergarten. All of the 1st Grade teachers this year are preparing to start with Phonics instead of our reading program. I recommend using Saxon Phonics as I am seeing the results of not using the program.

[Unregistered]

Based upon what I've learned as a Reading Specialist, and having used the program in a first grade class, I was a bit put off by the program. It was impractical to teach children how to code words, the lessons were way too long (you'd have to spend about an hour alone getting through an entire lesson), the higher level students had no problem with the program, but the average to lower level learners struggled with it. The parents did not like the program, and were very confused as to how to help their child. I would not recommend this program.

[Unregistered]

I piloted Saxon PHonics for 2nd grade last year. I was amazed at the results. At the beginning of the year, I had 7 students on academic intervention plans for reading. In December, 6 of the 7 were removed from Reading Support and their AIPS! It was phenomenal what they could read and sound out using their phonics. I ,too, chose what to teach - leaving out the accenting, etc. since I didn't thing it was valuable enough for the time spent. I LOVE the program and now our school is using it in 1st and 2nd grade! I think it is the most exciting thing I've used in teaching :-)

[Unregistered]

I have been teaching Saxon phonics for about 5 years now and I absolutely love it. It teaches every aspect of phonics imaginable and my 1st graders always do very well on the Reading portion of standardized tests. I would recommend it to anyone. Yes, the lessons can be long, but after you get the hang of it, you can modify it to fit your children and schedule. The coding can be a bit much towards the end, but after they have the basics, they can do it!!

[Unregistered]

I love Saxon Phonics! Like one of the other teachers said, I don't do everything it says to do in the script, I just get to the meat of the lesson. It just helps the kids to learn rules to help sound out words independently.

[Unregistered]

I am a second grade teacher that would like to hear other teacher's opinions about using the Saxon Phonics program in their classroom. I work in a district that has three elementary buildings, one that uses saxon phonics, one that refuses to use saxon phonics and uses the phonics that is included in the reading series and the third building uses something totally different from the other two. We will soon be getting a new elem. building which will combine two of the elem. centers and I have a feeling there is going to be a war between teachers over whether or not to use this series. It would be interesting to hear what others think about it. Thanks! :cool:

Saxon is an awesome program. I'm a first grade teacher who recently took a new job in another district in Tulsa, OK. I came from a north side school (poverty) and taught Kinder. We used Saxon and most kids were reading by January. It is repetitive so you must have a stable student population. I'm now using it in first grade but the kids didn't have it in the kindergarten at my new school. While these kids are already reading (middle class White), I find that it's difficult for them to just jump into coding words since they've not had it before. And the parents don't have a clue on the homework. It's a great program and I think you should fight for it at all grade levels.

Gloria

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[Unregistered]

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[Unregistered]

I'm a second grade teacher I've taught saxon phonics for 2 years, I agree it helps the students to know the rules, but it is way too long.

[Unregistered]

Saxon Phonics has its place in K & 1. It's certainly better than "Letter of the Week" some of our teachers are using! As a second grade teacher, I find that children are better readers and spellers if they went through Saxon phonics in K & 1. I don't believe in spending valuable learning time on the background and the coding. If a student hasn't had Saxon by grade 2 then a teacher has to decide whether this type of approach is necessary or don't bother with the details, or have another student show him what to do along with wall charts. Some of the spelling words could be changed as well as the passages. I would like to see some multiple choices questions. The sight word test would be better given separately than on the regular assessment. It would be much easier to grade.

[Unregistered]

I would like to know if any one know how it compares with Open Court. We use the Saxon Math and it is time consuming but easy to use and good for the students. Is it the same for the phonics. Open Court is very time consuming as well but at least it has readers and literature with it.

[Unregistered]

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[Unregistered]

This is my second year using Saxon Phonics. At first I have to admit I hated it because it was a new approach for me. I was not familiar with all the rules and concepts. This year however, I love it. I have gotten use to and seen the growth in my kids. I hope to continue to be able to use this program. There are some things that I do not use due to tie....history of the english language. Pluse it seems to be over the kids heads.

[Unregistered]

We use Saxon Phonics K-2 in our small rural school. Everyone loves it, and the students learn to code the words very well. We have had workshops for the parents so that they can learn how to code the words. That way they can help their kids at home. Our reading scores are very high, and I believe it is because of our phonics program. The reading program does not do nearly as good a job. Granted, the lessons are very long, but we pick and choose which parts of each lesson need to be taught and which don't. You can change it to fit your students.

[Unregistered]

I would like for someone to scan and email me Saxon phonics rules. When my school became a Reading First school, we could no longer use Saxon because it isn't research-based, therefore, we had to dispose of all Saxon materials. However, the basal series we are using doesn't provide my students with the rules that Saxon does, and I can certainly tell the difference. If someone can send these rules to me, I would certainly appreciate them. hmyers7882@yahoo.com
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[Unregistered]

I used Saxon Phonics with my two children as a homeschooling parent. I believe that Saxon Phonics is the best phonics program out there. Children really learn the English language. It's step by step, incremental approach to learning reading helps every child to succeed. Handwriting and spelling are also incorporated. The only downfall is that the program does not have a lot of pizazz and color. It also does not leave room for any teacher creativity. All of the lessons are scripted. My daughter has dyslexia and this program has insured her success.

[Unregistered]

I've taught for several years and Saxon Phonics is the best thing I have ever taught! It is amazing to see the children decode words like paleontologist and extraterrestrial ! The 2nd grade program is wonderful, packed with history of the language. It is time consuming - but time WELL spent! My friend loved the Saxon Phonics and Math programs so much, she left the classroom after 18 years and is a representative for the company! It really works!

[Unregistered]

I taught Saxon Phonics to my first graders for two years. Then, our school got a reading grant that dictated that we had to use a different program. Let me say that the children who got part or all of the Saxon program were much more successful readers and writers. Saxon Phonics was especailly helpful to ELL and ESOL students and parents.

The only down side I saw to Saxon was the if you had a student enter the class during the 3rd and 4th nine weeks, they struggled because Saxon is very intensive. But the results are GREAT. Just ask anyone at our school. We loved our Saxon Phonics and want it back. (Our test scores proved the benefits of Saxon Phonics!)

[Unregistered]

I too have taught Saxon Phonics for many, many years to my Kindergarten children. The first few years I taught Saoxn I did everything the way the lesson said. But as I became accustomed to the program, I realized that I could monitor my children and know what they needed. I now do not do all the components of the program but my students are very successful. I would fight to keep Saxon at my school. The strategies I have learned by using the program are invaluable. Students will learn to read and write with ease when taught by the saxon program.

[Unregistered]

I used Saxon Phonics for three of my 24 years in education. This was in a first grade setting. Although there are parts of the program I found very useful (rules that are "Saxon" invented that help children remember sounds letters make), I must say when I transferred to a different school district, I was so happy to be "freed" from the long, tedious and often developmentally inappropriate lessons. Until about Christmas the "coding" is ok, but after that there are many lessons requiring syllabication. Not only were the kids confused, but parents were totally confused. When a child moved in from another district that did not use Saxon Phonics, they were lost unless the child was very bright, and in that case didn't really need Saxon Phonics as they'd already "cracked" the code to reading. Bright children are totally bored with the lessons and it makes little sense to expect those who are reading above grade level to sit through the hour long lessons. Having said all that, I did see improvements with many of the struggling students, especially if their parents expected them to do and READ all of their Saxon homework every night. Still, if you can avoid using it, my recommendation is stay away from it. It is very scripted and leaves little time to do phonics using alternate strategies.

[Unregistered]

I don't like Saxon Phonics. We finally got rid of it. It is a scripted program and may work if you are working with students with an above average IQ. I taught a low average second grade class and once we got to a point the kids got lost. I guess it was not really a meaningful program for my population.The rules get really confusing. Letterland is a better alternative and is much more user friendly. I would also encourage you to look at using something like WOrds Their Way. Unfortunately we have to use Saxon Math still, even though it is not even on our state adoption list and our kids are really missing a lot of the course of study we must teach so we are working double time to try and get it all in!

[Donna B.]

I am a fourth grade reading teacher that notices a huge problem with spelling and writing. I am interested in looking for an upper elementary program to incoporate phonics mini-lessons into my reading program. The students at my school recieve saxon phonics from K-2 but some of them don't seem to be able to apply the rules to their writing and spelling. Are they too young in K-2 to internalize all of the rules? Do they need to continue Saxon throughout 3-6 grades? I'm very interested, but we have very little money to spend. Any suggestions would be great. I would love a step by step program to help me out with getting my feet wet in this new endeavor.
Thanks!
Donna B.

[Unregistered]

I am a homeschool mom and I use the Saxton Phonic with my first grade son. I have to say it's been a good program. Like some have said it can be long so I only use what I know my son needs work on. My son has done really well and I plan to use it when my four year old is ready for it. The excitment on his face when he reads a word he hasn't seen yet tell's me it is good for our family.

[Unregistered]

My child reads extrememly well on her on, but the Saxon phonics, exspecially coding words, just stumps her. I have requested additional info from her teacher for me to tutor her at home (I am a former teacher), but my child's teacher does not want me to do that. I need HELP!

gena@nlamerica.com

[Unregistered]

I taught Saxon phonics for 2 years in the 2nd grade. I now teach a K-1 transisiton class. My school has now adopted the Phonobets program from SPELL/READ/P.A.T it is a fairly new program that was recently bought by KAPLAN. I really liked most things about SAXON (except the coding) but I LOVE Phonobets. You might want to have your school look into it.

[Unregistered]

Saxon=Joke Account

[Unregistered]

I am a second grade teacher who has used the Saxon Phonics program for three years. Our school uses the program in grades K-2. Our K-1 teachers love the program and swear by it. Everyone who has taught 2nd grade agrees it is no longer a good use of our time. It takes an hour to get through everything, even when you leave things out. At 2nd grade, that is too long to spend solely on Phonics. After about the midway point, students can't code the words unless they know how to read them, which defeats the point. Many of the words are developmentally inappropriate for 2nd graders as well. We tried to get our principal to discontinue the 2nd grade program and allow us to use the phonics that matches our reading program; she refused. I have privately switched to the reading program's phonics, and my second graders are progressing nicely!

[Unregistered]

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[Unregistered]

I have taught Saxon Phonics 3 years. As with any program it has positives and negatives. I do feel it is the most comprehensive phonics program I have ever used. It is very time consuming and the coding is a little redundant but, my first graders are much better readers and have better decoding stratagies. We still use our basal readers in addition to Saxon Phonics. Some of the booklets Saxon provides are too hard at first. Overall I feel like Saxon phonics is a great program.

[Unregistered]

What's the verdict on Sadlier Phonics then I heard it is better?

[Unregistered]

Hello,
My child started first grade in a school where they use Saxon Phonics to teach reading. She came from a kindergarten where they did NOT use phonics. She now seems a bit behind in some of the concepts that were probably taught to the rest of the class in kindergarten. Any tips on how to catch her up fast? Is it worth buying the K Saxon Phonics program, or do we just target particular areas, such as beginning/middle/ending sounds, blending sounds, etc? Any prompt replies appreciated! Thanks in advance.

[Unregistered]

I have used Saxon Phonics for the last several years. I absolutely love it! I do get tired of the Sound Sheets as the year goes on. Like some of the others I don't do everything listed. I am upset that my campus will not be allowed to use Saxon after this year. My principal says it is too expensive. I wish she would listen to the 2nd grade teachers who tell us they can tell which children had Saxon and which ones did not.

[Unregistered]

I've taught 2-4th grade, so I've both used the Saxon Phonics program and evaluated the benefits of it. I am absolutely sold; I think it is a wonderful product for teaching children both how to read and how to spell. I'll agree that it's time-consuming and, yes, boring, but it cuts the amount of reteaching time down to almost nothing since it repeats the information over again and again and burns that information into your students' brians.

[Unregistered]

I agree 100% with the reading specialist from quote #6!

Yes, the bright students soar but the low and middle students struggle. Consider what percentage of your students are above average. Saxon Phonics (in first grade) moves at a very fast pace and most students are overwhelmed. For lower readers the coding is very confusing. For most parents it's Greek. Unless you plan on presenting parent workshops to teach the parents how to code, it makes the home school connection next to impossible.

Yes, Saxon is very repetitive; repetitive to the point it will bore students to tears. It takes forever to present the the whole lesson, and doing the most effective parts creates a time crunch for completing the daily worksheet. Speaking of the worksheet, it's a worksheet every day and they all look the same. Cutting out activities for the sake of time takes out the variety. Now to some teachers, boring may not matter. But I believe attitude is a big part of learning and if we want children to become life long learners, we'd better start presenting material in a stimulating and meaningful manner. It takes a little more effort on our part, put that's our job.

There is little opportunity for students to use creativity, higher order thinking skills, and not much variety- which research proves to be an important process in teaching young children. Your active students REALLY need the variety. It's hard to keep them focused during the worksheet and it's hard for lower students to keep up.

When using Saxon, I see very little of the phonemic skills transferred and applied to the spelling and journal writing. Students do not make the connection. They need to practice the skills (rules) in reading and writing immediately.

If you are looking for a program of convenience where everything is packaged and ready to grab with very little planning, Saxon Phonics can fill that. I personally believe it's one of the programs a trained monkey could carry out.

[Unregistered]

I have to say that my son's school is piloting the Fountas & Pinnell phonics and it is far superior to the Saxon. He's in third grade now and he was the first group to use it in Kindergarten....our Kinder kiddos did better on all their assessments throughout the year than any other school in the district. The reading specialist at the school told me that Saxon is a good program but just not reasonable to expect that a teacher can spend 45 minutes to an hour on a phonics lesson. Fountas and Pinnell spells everything out for you, covers the same skills, gives you great hands on activities to do with the kids and then later they can do independently in a center AND it is not time consuming at all. I'm subbing long-term in first grade at another school in the same district that uses Saxon and I find that it is difficult to use and I don't have time to get through the lessons. I have borrowed the F&P from my first grade teacher friend and am using that instead.....so much easier....and it's cheaper for the district too! There's only a book and a binder (with the reproducible word, picture and letter cards) then, purchase magnetic letter sets...you are good to go. Where ever I get a full-time job...I'm going to invest some money in F&P on my own if the school doesn't use it. Fountas & Pinnell also have some great resources for guided reading and another book called Word matters (I believe)that are helpful if you can't afford to get the phonics program.

[Unregistered]

Based upon what I've learned as a Reading Specialist, and having used the program in a first grade class, I was a bit put off by the program. It was impractical to teach children how to code words, the lessons were way too long (you'd have to spend about an hour alone getting through an entire lesson), the higher level students had no problem with the program, but the average to lower level learners struggled with it. The parents did not like the program, and were very confused as to how to help their child. I would not recommend this program.

Our daughter entered 2nd grade without any Saxon phonics background. She has absolutely no idea what to do with her worksheets. Of course we don't either. We have her in a Catholic School in Hudson, Ohio. She reads at a 4th grade level and A's most of her spelling tests. She has to work for her grades, but in general she is a slightly above average student. Her sister's 3rd grade teacher refuses to use the Saxon phonics (same school). She is pulling a B- as of her last report card in Phonics. So what am I complaining about right? What have other parents done in this situation like ours? Does anyone have any advice besides hiring a tutor (she goes to one at her school for phonics)? Has anyone talked with frustrated parents like us? What do we say to her teacher? How do we handle our daughter's confidence being shattered because of this Saxon phonics? It just totally amazes us that we can't help our daughter in 2nd grade! There's is something wrong here!

[Unregistered]

WOW! What a lot of rules and exceptions to learn. I have been teaching Saxon Phonics in first grade for several years and I still can't remember all the rules. As for the coding, most of my students read the word first and then fill in the coding which defeats the purpose. In addition, it looks like Greek to most parents. For me, it takes too much time even when I omit parts of it. I don't know the solution, but I do know that I have a lot of students struggling with it. On a positive note, I like the sound and key picture cards, but it's kind of confusing because our district uses a reading program that also includes phonics.

[Unregistered]

Saxon = Joke Account. Pwb 4 Life

[Unregistered]

I changed schools two years ago and began teaching Saxon Phonics. When I began teaching Saxon I didn't like it. By the end of the year I realized how much it had helped the children. I don't follow every lesson exactly and I don't use all parts of the program. I add my own lessons and activities. I believe this happens with any program. Great teachers add their own knowledge and creativity of the subject to their teaching. I was pleasantly surprised at how quickly the children caught on to the coding and how quickly they pick up on reading in Kindergarten. OUr first grades were using the program and decided they didn't like it. They have since changed to Houghton Mifflin and we are getting ready to adopt it for K-5. I believe I'll still use parts of the Saxon program if needed.
I will say that the children who are further advanced get bored with the Saxon by the middle of the year. They will say can we go ahead and do the worksheets by ourselves (b/c it is very repetitive). Depending on the group, sometimes I allow them to, so I can have time to give them more of what they NEED.

[Unregistered]

I have used the first grade Saxon Phonics for several years. I also get a little bored and put out by the program. I recently went to a workshop and Ginny Dowd presented a program called THE PHONICS DANCE. I ordered her book and have tried several of the lesson already this nine weeks and I love it. The kids enjoy the movements and sounds. I am using it to help bring a little life into my saxon phonics.

[Unregistered]

I am looking for someone who is using the Saxon Phonics program in first grade for the first time. I am in that same position and am apprehensive. I would love to share ideas with someone in a similar situation.
brjen05@aol.com

[Unregistered]

Saxon Phonics is for teachers who have no idea on how to teach Reading.Those who love it, substitute it for teaching reading.You don't have to think or plan..just read from the script. In the beginning ...the children are responsive...after a while ..it becomes ridiculously boring and students begin to act as a way to get out of the session. THERE IS NO MAGIC BULLET to teach reading..it is a combination of lots of factors. It's like teaching the children to bark. Total waste of money.

[Unregistered]

I teach in a first grade classroom, in a school that has a teacher choice option to use Saxon Phonics. Our county does not provide Saxon phonics but our principal sees the value in it and offers us the option to use it if we would like. After 11 years of using Saxon, I took a year off and feel that I did a disservice to my students that year. I have been using Saxon ever since and feel the benefit of the repetition, rules and coding of the words. I feel that I definitely have stronger readers using Saxon, rather than not using Saxon.

[Unregistered]

Saxon Phonics is for teachers who have no idea on how to teach Reading.

This encompasses a depressingly large sample of elementary school teachers in the US.

[Unregistered]

I used Saxon for several years in 2nd grade. I found it very useful in teaching all the rules, but that was also the downfall. There were too many rules! I believe their were over 140 lessons so it's one of those fast paced (sometimes monotonous) programs that tend to lose kids who have trouble memorizing many rules, and then forget about it if you have an extremely transient school (such as mine). It's also a costly program (over $500.00 per teacher) because of all the consumables. It also means you'll be spending part of your pre-planning unpacking and filing all those consumables in the nifty folders they provide for you.

I have since found other phonics programs that also incorporate more visual learning, more hands-on learning, and more kinestetic techniques (with movement, sign language, etc.) that truly helps the students learn their phonics rather than "rule memorization" and overloading me with more paperwork. One more thing, the parents have a really, really hard time understaning the homework sheets that go home with Saxon.