New Back-to-Basics Language Texts OKd

Simi Valley public school students will be reading new back-to-basics core literature next year, as trustees have voted to adopt new language arts textbooks--the first time in seven years.

Simi Valley Unified School District trustees Tuesday unanimously approved three sets of books, all heavy on phonics, spelling and the classics, which teachers will receive before summer.

Kindergartners through fifth-graders will use Macmillan/McGraw-Hill’s “Spotlight On Literacy.” Sixth- through eighth-graders will use McDougal Littell’s “The Language of Literature.” And high schoolers will read Holt, Rinehart and Winston’s “Elements of Literature.”

When the district adopted a new set of books seven years ago, the emphasis was more on “whole language” instead of phonics, spelling, writing, speaking and listening, said Karen Theobald, who coordinated the language arts adoption program.

“Whole language” describes “teachable moments” derived from the act of reading, she said. For instance, teachers wouldn’t have special books to teach spelling or grammar, rather they would see an “apostrophe s” in the story, and use that moment to teach about it, she said.

But now, the state has seen a swing to more traditional teaching methods and most books have left out whole language and gone back to phonics and spelling, she said.