Explode the Code

by Karen M
(Florida)

Product - Explode the Code
Subject - Phonics
Levels Used - The K level 3 books set - Book 8
Dates Used - I think we used ETC for the first time in 1999.

Likes - Because the lessons are similar my children became very familiar with what they needed to do and could quickly become more independent in their work which made them feel successful.

It provides reenforcement of concepts with the use of sentences so they are getting the new words but review words they have already mastered. My boys have all enjoyed the section of the funny sentences which they have to answer YES or NO. They work great with what ever reader set you are using.

Dislike - They are only in black and white.

Other - Sometimes my children thought the sentences left room for interpretation. But we usually used this for discussion point. In a classroom setting this would have been a drawback because if it wasn't the answer the teacher expected it would just be wrong. But at home I was able to determine for myself if they really got it "wrong".

For example the sentence might be something like this. Will the sheep sleep on a jeep? The answer they are looking for would be no. But my son might have marked it yes. When I asked him why did you mark this yes I have him reread the sentence to me. Then I can clearly see that yes he did indeed know the words. Then I let him explain his answer. This gives me an idea if he did comprehend the sentence and just come to a different conclusion or if he truly didn't understand what he read.

During this process he might say oh man I marked the wrong one. Or he might say something like "Well if the sheep was at one of those drive through nature parks and the guide left the jeep parked where the sheep were then maybe the sheep would climb on the jeep to sleep." I would usually conclude with wow that was some great thinking I would never have thought about that. I really like your answer. But remember that most of the time you don't see sheep sleeping on jeeps so if you were doing testing you might want to mark no.