PHONICS IN MOTION

Babies are born learners, with a natural curiosity to understand how the world works. From the moment they are born, children are immersed in a multi-sensory world, and the natural learning process begins. At Notre Dame Elementary School, the natural learning process is encouraged with Phonics in Motion, a multi-sensory teaching method used to aid the teaching of reading and writing. The components of the PIM method include highly specialized, targeted kinesthetic motions that children associate with letters and letter combinations. Learning the PIM method is broken into four distinct parts: kinesthetic motions; letter formation & directionality; modeled writing; and phonics development & spelling. “I love using phonics in motion in first grade. I feel that by “seeing” the words, “hearing” the words and by “doing the motion” students who may have trouble reading have the opportunity to hear and motion and learn the sounds. It is amazing how many of my students will tap out words and sound out the words using the motions while they are writing stories,” states first grade teacher Katherine Biro. “Using the language calendar has really helped to prepare students for writing in their everyday lives. Students are learning how letters make sounds, sounds make words, and words make sentences. We use the language calendar to help us understand how to create sentences and how to identify common spelling patterns,” explains kindergarten teacher Elizabeth Looman. With these engaging tools, students make crucial connections with language, which contribute to life-long success as readers, writers and collaborators in a changing world. Pictured are Emma Murphy, Michaela Stimac; back row: Ryan Creech, Juliana Janosy and Kristina Linares.