Beyond the Letter: Innovation in Phonics & SEL

This year, Amanda Geiger’s 1st-grade classroom has been transformed into a high-energy learning lab, thanks in part to an innovation grant she was awarded in the fall. The project was designed to move phonics instruction beyond the whiteboard, replacing traditional drills with a multi-sensory curriculum that engages the mind and the body simultaneously.

The initiative introduced 12 comprehensive units—ranging from "CVC" words to complex digraphs—each featuring a "choice board" of 10 to 20 tactile activities. Students now spend their phonics blocks navigating stations filled with sand trays, Play-Doh, letter tiles, and colorful beads. By involving multiple senses, these abstract linguistic concepts become concrete.

"When girls are tracing sand letters or building words out of Play-Doh, they are seeing and hearing and touching and using a lot of senses all at once," Geiger explained. "That really helps strengthen their memory. It builds fine motor skills and, most importantly, it makes more abstract concepts concrete and understandable for them."

While the primary goal was to boost literacy, a powerful secondary benefit emerged: significant growth in Social Emotional Learning (SEL). Because the curriculum is rooted in gameplay and partnership, the girls are inadvertently mastering the "soft skills" of interpersonal development. In Geiger’s classroom, "winning with grace and losing with dignity" has become just as important as decoding a sentence.

"Something that I wasn’t thinking about as much when I started the project, but I’ve really seen come to life this year is the development of stronger interpersonal skills," said Geiger. "Beyond just helping them build their phonics knowledge, these games have been helping those girls develop some of those important life skills as well."

One of the most impressive outcomes of the grant has been the shift in classroom autonomy. The students have become "incredibly independent," managing their own materials—from magnifying glasses for "Word Hunts" to "whisper phones" for reading practice—with minimal teacher intervention. This independence allows Geiger to lead small-group book clubs, providing targeted support while the rest of the class remains deeply engaged in their work.

With over 100 games already created and more on the way, the project revealed to Geiger that when students combine play with purpose, they don't just learn to read—they learn how to lead, cooperate, and thrive.

Watch the video below!