Our approach.
Primary Day’s rich and varied curriculum builds a strong foundation in the core academic subjects and is designed to develop skills, nurture talents, build confidence, and cultivate a love of learning in every child. Learning at Primary Day is multifaceted, and sharp lines between subjects often blur. In all grades, children learn from caring teachers who understand young children. With our 8:1 student:teacher ratio, we teach to each child and to the whole child, in small classes that make it possible to give every student the attention he or she needs.
What is the Phonovisual Method?
The anchor of literacy instruction at Primary Day is our beloved, time-tested Phonovisual Method.
This phonics-based approach uses sounds and symbols as language building blocks to unlock children’s capacity to become skilled, confident readers and spellers.
Phonovisual sparks joy, engagement, and confidence, essential elements of our learners’ literacy journey at PDS.
In addition to the Phonovisual Method, we teach reading at Primary Day using Reading Workshop, a research-supported and nationally recognized methodology that contains all the essential elements of literacy.
We individualize instruction, using small groups and conferences, while introducing children to a variety of genres and skills. Writing instruction at Primary Day begins with basic skills in handwriting letters and words and evolves into reflective journal, story, and poetry writing, providing students with opportunities to express themselves personally and creatively.
Reading and writing are taught at every grade level using a rich and varied assortment of literature, genres, themes, and authors.
Students are celebrated as published authors and independent readers during their time at PDS.
Heggerty, our phonemic awareness program, is another critical element to reading success. This program targets language awareness and supports all students daily with “word play,” the ability to manipulate sounds and words.
Pre-Kindergarten
Children are introduced to beginning consonant sounds through stories, poems, games, and activities learning to associate the sound/symbol relationship of the “Quiet Cousins,” “Noisy Cousins,” “Singing Cousins,” and “The Neighbors.” Daily small group Phonovisual instruction, taught as a separate subject, helps children develop phonemic awareness and auditory discrimination as they learn to identify/name words with consonant sounds in the initial position of words. Children learn each of the 26 sounds on the Phonovisual Consonant Chart by the end of the year.
Kindergarten
Children continue to name and identify words with targeted sounds in initial position and work to identify the consonant sounds in the final position as they review the entire Consonant Chart. Phonemic awareness and auditory discrimination are further developed through games and activities. Short vowel sounds are introduced individually while children work in small groups to decode and encode words with cvc, ccvc, and ccvcc patterns. Long vowel sounds are also taught individually following the same sequence of instruction. Children decode and encode words with initial and final consonant sounds. Children are introduced to the secondary consonant spellings on the Consonant Chart. Phonovisual is taught as a separate subject and is integrated across the curriculum, reinforced, and reviewed in the Language Arts/Reading program.
First Grade
Repetition and review of all consonant sounds and primary spellings of the short and long vowel sounds continues through games and activities. Children continue to work with secondary spellings on the Consonant Chart. They learn the eight remaining vowel combinations as they work in small groups and as a whole class to decode and encode words with cvc, ccvc, cvcc, ccvcc, cvce and ccvce patterns. Vocabulary development continues along with learning compound words, suffixes, and alphabetizing. Phonovisual is taught as a separate subject and is also integrated across the curriculum, particularly in the Language Arts/Reading program.
Second Grade
Children review all primary and secondary spellings on the Phonovisual Consonant Chart and all primary spellings on the Phonovisual Vowel Chart. Children learn the secondary vowel spellings on the Vowel Chart. Weekly spelling lists include target words from units and themes studied across the curriculum. Children learn to analyze words based on foundational Phonovisual skills learned from the Consonant and Vowel Charts to determine if a word can be sounded out or if it needs to be studied. Vocabulary development continues along with learning spelling pattern rules, prefixes, suffixes, syllables, compound words, plurals, and alphabetizing. Children apply Phonovisual skills across the curriculum to encode and decode polysyllabic words. The Language Arts/Reading program also allows for direct application of Phonovisual skills.
