COMPOSITION CYCLE—These North school students are proofreading and writing sentences
correctly in their composition notebooks. From left, first row, Crystal Hunt, Rikki Murrell and
Carl Roberts. Second row, from left, Amy Pearson and Nikki Ormand; Third row, from left,
Ericka Watkins, Danielle Hunter and Liza Falls.
Headway Offers Different Approach To Learning
Crissy Hickman’s favorite
things are letters. Elise
Mayse prefers wall cards,
sounds. Alice Ann Howell en-
joys ‘‘show me’’ games. Two
Laotian students are finding
that reading and language
are fun.
Learning ABC’s in
Kindergarten and First
Grade has changed. It’s ex-
citing. ‘‘Hot teaching” is the
label given to this en-
thusiastic, face-paced
teaching.
Headway, a pilot program
for the Kings Mountain
District Schools, is underway
this year in North School's
Kindergarten and First
Grade classes. School of-
ficials are hopeful the pro-
gram can be continued next
year with second grades.
Instruction begins by
students repeating a letter,
learning the sound, using a
motion as a picture associa-
tion of the word.
The phonics approach to
teaching 150 Kids in six
classes of Kindergarten and
First Grades is paying off,
according to teachers and
Principal Jane King.
“There is no homework
problem and these young peo-
ple are unlocking words plus
the beauty of this program is
that it meets the needs of the
TEACHERS WRITE BOOKS—North School Librarian Jane
Talbert, left, and Kindergarten teacher Susan Goforth have
written two books for Kindergarten students to use as a
reading material for the pilot program underway at North
School.
USING PROJECTOR—Ms. Kathryn Blanton instructs
Caycee Dixon, left, Kenny Baldonado and Dewayne Dennis in
reading sentences at the overhead projector during a com-
position class in First grade at North School.
below average and above
average student,” Mrs. King
said. Teachers are reporting
that children are unlocking
outlaw words and enjoying a
new approach to learning.
They are receiving writing
directions, using workbooks
at the age of five and six and
receiving helps on state
testing. They are also enjoy-
ing two new illustrated books,
the work of staffers Jane
Talbert and Susan Goforth.
After students complete their
assignments, they take the
books home as well as news
letters to their parents ex-
plaining how they are learn-
ing ABC’s using phonics,
writing and would you
believe proofreading?
The Headway Program
published by Open Court in
Kindergarten is called the
Preparation Level. This level
focuses on the learning area
of Language Skills and Think-
ing Skills. The Language
Skills strand prepares the
students for reading and
writing by working in letter
and sounds, basic vocabulary
and classification. The Think-
ing Strand helps students
become more focused and
structured in their thinking.
The Language Skills strand
prepares students for learn-
ing by teaching them the
names, sounds and shapes of
the capital and small letters
of the alphabet. There is also
a picture and motion for each
letter. 'The students are
taught the letters of the
alphabet by various tracing
and copying activities on
chalkboards and on paper,
games and drills, matching
and manipulative activities.
One of the students favorite
activities is the Show Me
Games. The students are
given their own set. of
alphabet cards and respond
to different activities by
showing the appropriate let-
ter card. Students not only
learn visually and auditorial-
ly but also kinesthetically. As
a result of this method of
learning, students can print
letters independently and
recognize sounds of latters in
different positions in words.
The Thinking Strand helps
students develop sounder
skills in thinking. Students
become involved in different
types of activities. Students
learn to answer as well as ask
different levels of questions.
Sequencing activities and
pantomining also help
students broaden their
creativity and thinking skills
in this strand. An important
part of this strand is the
“Willie the Wisher” stories
that involve problem solving.
First graders are involved
with the Foundation Level of
the Headway Program. This
level has three main pur-
poses: to teach children to
read and write independelty,
to acquaint children with
outstanding literary selec-
tions, and to provide a mean-
ingful correlation of all the
language arts. These pur-
poses are achieved by a
variety of instructional
strategies, all of which em-
phasize live teaching, struc-
tured activities, and the use
of materials that are provid-
ed in the program.
ni # a
PROOFREADING IN GROUP SETTING—Mrs. Kathryn Blanton’s first graders at North
School, above, are proofreading in a group setting. The teacher guides the students in locating
spelling and language errors. The students then go to their seats and write the sentences cor-
rectly.
Story
And
Photos
Stewart
The Headway program dif-
fers from many other reading
programs in that it stresses
live teaching. The teacher is
a vital, moving element in the
program.
The Composition Cycle is
achieved as children are led
to write their first indepedent
composition through two
preparatory steps): writing
original sentences and
writing a summary of a story
read during reading.
The first step of a composi-
tion cycle is allowing the
students to write their
original sentence.
The second step is sentence
lifting. This step will be
repeated three days during
the school week. The teacher
collects the student’s original
work. She selects sentences
with common errors to drill
during the week. The teacher
puts the original sentences (2
a day) on the board. The
children proofread these
sentences under the teachers
directions and then rewrites
the sentences correctly in
their individual notebooks.
The final step is to return
each student’s original
writing. The student is asked
to proofread and correct any
SHOW ME GAME—North School Kindergarten teacher Ann Lefevers reinforces letter
recognition and auditory to visual association. The first level, letter recognition: second level,
letter sounds, and third level, listen for and identify sounds in position in words. From left,
Misty Garrett, Marty Goforth, Jennifer Wray, Banicea Watkins and Davan Kanesouphonh.
errors made. The student will
know that errors do need cor-
recting only b a “R” (for
‘“Remedy’’) in the corner of
the paper. The teacher will
write positive comments on
all papers.
The students in
Kindergarten at North School
are excited about learning
this year. This program
meets the needs of all levels
of ability. Most students are
beginning to read and unders-
tand the printed word.
This program does not in-
clude reading material for
the Kindergarten students.
Because of a need for
something for the
Kindergarten students to
read, during one of the snow
vacations Jane Talbert and
Susan Goforth wrote two
books entitled ‘“‘Amy’’ and
“The Zoo’. The students
must be able to read these
books before they can take
them home. Students in Miss
Goforth’s Kindergarten class
are working diligently so they
can be one of those who get to
share their reading ability
with Mom and Dad.
Kindergarten Teachers
are; Susan Goforth-Martha
Bell, aide; Marcie Hamrick-
Marilyn Williams, Aide; and
Ann Lefevers-Barbara Jones,
aide.
First Grade Teachers are:
Donesse Owens-Carolyn
Cobb, aide; Ree Byrd-
Virginia Gibson, aide; and
Kathryn Blanton-Janie
Crosby, aide.
PRACTICING LETTER FORMATION—Marilyn Williams
instructs Derek McClain in letter formation in the pilot
reading program underway in K-1 classes at North School.
i on ia NEY