Research Supports Zoo-phonics

• As Stahl (2001) notes, “Early and systematic instruction in phonics seems to lead to better achievement in reading than later and less systematic instruction.” • Adams (2001) points out that to learn to read, “all students must know the letters of the alphabet, understand their linguistic significance (phonemic awareness), and learn the logic and conventions governing their use (phonics); and… ensuring students’ grasp of these basics must be a serious goal of any responsible program of beginning reading instruction.” On physical movement for memory and learning: • “An astonishing high 64 percent of K-12 American students do not participate in a daily physical education program…physical exercise is still one of the bet ways to stimulate the brain and learn- ing” (Brink, 1995). • Spiegelman and his colleagues suspected that FNDC5…was responsible for exercise-induced benefits to the brain—in particular, increased levels of a crucial protein called brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), which is essential for maintaining healthy neurons and creating new ones… and the link between exercise and BDNF is widely accepted. “The phenomenon has been established over the course of, easily, the last decade,” says neuroscientist Barbara Hempstead of Weill Cornell Medical College in New York City (2013, Servick, K. “How Exercise Beefs Up the Brain,” http://news.sciencemag.org/biology/2013/10/how-exercise- beefs-brain. • Ratey (2010) calls movement induced BDNF , “Miracle-Gro for the brain.” • Research shows that making time for physical education and movement actually helped children’s per- formance in language, reading, and performance tests (Yancy, 2007). • Fernando Gomez-Pinilla (et al) at UCLA found that “voluntary exercise increased the level of Brain De- rived Neuro Trophic Factor (BDNF) in the hippocampus, a brain area involved with learning and memo- ry…this protein improves academic performance” (Jensen, 2006). • Gesell says, “Mind manifests itself in everything the body does.” References Adams, M.J. (1990) Beginning to Read: Thinking and Learning About Print: A Summary. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. Asher, J. (1982) Brain Switching, Learning on the Right Side of the Brain (2nd edition). Ehri, L., Deffner, N., Wilce, L. (1984) “ Pictorial Mnemonics for Phonics ” Journal of Educational Psychology, 1984, Vol. 76, No. 5, 880-893. Fuller, B., (2009). Fuller’s Earth: A Day with Children. Gesell, A. (1961) “Growth and Development Theory,” Gesell Institute, retrieved May 17 th , 2017, https://schoolwork- helper.net/growth-and-development-theory-arnold-gesell-1880-%E2%80%93-1961/. Jensen, E.(2006) Enriching the Brain, How to Maximize Every Learner’s Potential, Corwin Press, Oakland, CA Medina, J. (2010) Brain Rules (2 nd ed.) Seattle, WA: Pear Press. (2 nd ed.) Seattle, WA: Pear Press. Norfleet, J. & A. (2007) Teaching the Male Brain, How Boys Think, Feel, and Learn in School Stahl, J. (2001), “On Research on the Teaching of Phonics,” retrieved May 2017, http://www.wou.edu/~brownbr/ Reading-Math_Resources/Reading_Phonics/Research_Tchg_Phonics.pdf. Ratey, J. (2010) Spark! (2 nd Ed.) New York, NY. Little, Brown, & Co. Sousa, D. (2005) How the Brain Learns . Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press. Wolf, G. (2014), “Differences in Mean Number of Consonant-Vowel-Consonant Words Decoded be- tween Letter-Sound Readers and Non Letter-Sound Readers.” Oregon Health & Science University.