Dear Lori,

I am reading between the lines of your inquiry. You and your colleagues must feel daunted by your time schedule—too much to teach and so little time to accommodate your busy curriculum! Right?

I can offer relief regarding your Sourcebook instruction—relax. You do not need to “cover” everything! In fact, feel no pressure to finish the book. You see, there are no new concepts introduced in the later units of your Sourcebook. All key concepts are elements of the opening units, which are then recycled extensively. You can which skills are covered within each unit in the scope and sequence (found in the back of your Sourcebook or at www.epsbooks.com/sittonspelling.)

As the program progresses within a level and from level to level, teachers add valuable layers of understanding to the program’s concepts simply by revisiting them. Research confirms that this systematic recycling leads to student mastery and appropriate application of the concepts. (Therefore, skipping concepts in a current unit to accommodate a time schedule may not give you the results you seek. By doing this, you may be skipping a creditable layer of learning.)

However, it is appropriate to bypass a concept or two in a unit if your students do not need to work on that topic. But never pass over a concept because you are limited by time. Think of your Sourcebook as your source for complementing your students’ spelling and word-skill needs, not as a book to complete by year’s end. (Remember that assessment of the Core Words is also extensively recycled in subsequent levels, so the words are not “dropped” if you do not complete the book.) Every unit includes a menu of learning opportunities—you should select all those that you determine will benefit your students, and then move on.

The time frame for using your Sourcebook is yours to decide. Take into consideration various elements. Respect the other materials you have on hand that you may use to teach the same topics in your Sourcebook. Be familiar with your state standards, district curriculum guidelines, and school improvement plan to make appropriate lesson selections. Use the results of your students’ recent achievement tests to target areas of need, too.

So, Lori, let your students’ needs be your guide, not the clock or the calendar. By the end of the school year, most teachers have completed well over half the Sourcebook units, but not necessarily all elements of every one. Try this approach and I believe you and your colleagues will not only feel more comfortable, but student results will confirm its wisdom. Let us know how it goes.