How Did I Learn Langauge?

I have never taken the time to truly evaluate the way a child should learn language, so this is an interesting topic to learn. In k5 my class used balanced literacy with phonics and whole words. We learned to sound out words and were encouraged to sound out every word silently before saying the word aloud. In addition, we learned sight words or whole words that may be exceptionally difficult or hard to sound out. We had weekly spelling tests that consisted of about ten words and then two or three sight words. I believe that balanced literacy is the best method of teaching children language. I was able to read most any book placed before me by the end of k5 so I am a firm believer in the way I was taught to read. I will use this method in my future classroom!