Learning letters

[edanna]

Hi everyone. My little boy is 2.5 and I'm not trying to teach him to read in some crazed pushy mum way - honest! But he is interested in letters, especially in his Thomas and Friends magazine! And I want to make sure that I'm saying them in the right way - I say 'buh' instead of 'bee' etc but am aware that what I was taught in the 70s and early 80s ('curly cuh' and 'kicking cuh' anyone?) may well be out of date. Can anyone recommend a basic resource that reflects how reading is taught in primary school these days?

Thank you!

[mumra]

The resource that is given to schools freely for how letter sounds (phonemes) should be taught is called 'Letters and Sounds'. It starts with homing in on teaching children how to listen for sounds and discriminate between them. It also encourages the use of music, as rhyme and rhythm play a central part to a child grasping reading early on. Yes, you should concentrate on the sound - phoneme, rather than the letter name (grapheme) as it is the blending/synthesising (hence term 'synthetic' phonics) of these sounds that kick start reading. It becomes more complicated when phonemes are made of more than one letter eg, 'ch', which is one sound, but 2 letters. Alot of day nurseries use 'Jolly phonics' which is widely available on Amazon and other places, which is quite parent friendly, but there are signs attached the letters which the children can become a little too fixated on at times. At 2.5 I would be doing any phonic work through quality children's books, encouraging a love of reading, and letting him lead with finding letters and their sounds within it. Flashcards can kill a child's thirst for reading if done without context, so stay clear of those until they are older and they are words which then they can reorder into 'silly sentences'. Magnetic letters are brilliant as children can build words without the pressure of writing. Keep teaching reading and writing separate. Sorry did not mean to write such a long response, but pm if you want any more info - this is my day job so have a fair amount to say on the subject of phonics!

[edanna]

Wow mumra, thanks for such a terrific response! That's really helpful.

[alfie]

On the subject of Jolly phonics - there is a CD of songs which I found really useful in helping me learn the sounds. There's a song per letter and for certain vowel groups (ai etc) and both of my kids (4 and 2) love to listen and sing the songs and it makes a change from Lola singing about germs when we're in the car...

[The Nappy Lady]

I got foam bath letters that stick to the tiles. They have been really excellent as it is a time when I'm sitting there anyway and we can discuss how to spell, finding letters, making silly sentences etc so they have 'grown' with us.

Found ours very cheap ?1-?2 in Tescos but am sure you'd get them on line too.

Molly

[womanofdulwich]

i second the foam bath letters- writing mum dad etc and your own name.

also any magnetic sticky letters on long car journeys .

[littleEDfamily]

Really useful thread. Thank you.

[Princess]

Ladybird Books have some great home learning aids at the moment. They have flashcards, a great new phonics series and have revamped the Read it Yourself series we all remember from our childhood. There are various levels to help children transition through those first steps in reading and writing. http://www.ladybird.co.uk/ And "Yes" I admit it I do work for them!

[nunheadmum]

Excellent thread! Mumra - can I ask what you're meant to do when reading and they come across words that don't follow the usual rules or use rules they haven't covered yet or are quite complex. I tend to say 'Oh this one's a bit of a funny one' and then just say it. But I'm not sure if that's the right way or not. My LO is only 4 so I'm not trying to push her at all but she does seem interested so I want to feed that but not confuse her by doing it the wrong way.

If you're kids are into letters, Alphablocks on Cbeebies really seems to get my LO's attention - she's transfixed when it's on. The programmes are really short - and I think most of them are online too - but also tackle some of the more complex issues like 'e' at the end of a word in kiddie sized chunks.

[trinity]

I found a 'physical' approach to letters worked wonders with my lot. So I started off showing them 2 letters, told them their sounds then placed copies of the letters round the room and they had to rush around finding them. Within no time at all they knew all the letters and sounds. You then move onto common 2 letter sounds. I was able to teach all of mine this at a very early age.

I think however you do it it must be a game rather than teaching.

[mumra]

Nunhead mum- Yes- approach words that don't follow the rules as a 'tricky' word - teachers collect these separately when they come across them- especially if they are 'high frequency' words, eg, 'one', 'the'. Sometimes you just have to learn them as a 'whole word'. Letters and sounds and schemes like Jolly phonics dictate an order that sounds should be learnt, eg, s, a, t, p, i ,n so that you can start building words straight away by blending the sounds. Words that are cvc words (Consonant/vowel/consonant) are best at first to illustrate blending - 3 letters-3 sounds. With that collection of letters you can then make sat, pat, tap, pin, tip, tin, which ensures children are secure with that set of letters and blending the sounds before moving on. When is comes to tricky sounds in words like 'igh' then that is taught as one sound/phoneme, so a word like high is split h/igh, so although it has 4 letters it has 2 sounds and children learn that those letters make that sound. Same goes for air, oa, ow, oo, ee etc. We have a very complicated language don't we?!

[nunheadmum]

Thanks Mumra. Yes, it's amazing we learn it at all when you start realising how complicated it is to explain in a logical way!

We've got the Jolly Phonics stuff - my LO adores the DVD, has it every day if I let her but tends to be random in the episodes. As I'm not actively trying to teach her it, I'm working on the presumption that it will all filter through and fall into place either naturally or when she is formally taught it. It tends to be the words you come across just in daily life that cause more problems.

But I'm probably worrying too much about it all and the possibility of 'getting it wrong'. Like most of us, I suspect she'll work it out one way or another in the end provided she's exposed to books, talking etc.

[born&brED]

I second everything mumra has said - definitely start with building that love of reading, taking an interest in books, talking about pictures, etc. Discriminate between environmental sounds - farm animals, etc. Starting too young with blending and segmenting phonemes in reading can put them off completely and detract from the enjoyment of the story as a whole. As far as writing is concerned, lots of big, gross-motor movements such as air-drawing, painting with a large brush, waving ribbons are really important if the fine-motor actions associated with holding and using a pencil/pen are going to develop when a little older.

For those with slightly older children, you may find this website useful for learning to link sounds and letters, and beginning to blend them together when reading - there are different levels. Starfall - I used it with a Reception class alongside the Jolly Phonics scheme.

I completely agree that English is a really difficult language! And especially those of us with Southern accents (i.e. who say bARth as opposed to bAth!) - I've often thought when teaching phonics, 'I WISH I spoke like the northerners do!' - usually when a child as tried in vain to spell as word such as 'grass', and can't understand when I say it's not 'g/r/ar/ss' (although you must always show them that they have segmented the sounds correctly). Shame! Of course, there are many examples of 'tricky words' with have nothing to do with dialect or accents.

If anyone with older children (e.g. reception) out there would like some free bright and colourful phoneme / letter / tricky word / number printable resources, then I'd fully recommend this site. There are some really fun shapes including lots that would interest boys. Also mats for use with playdough, etc.

Have fun!

[nunheadmum]

Good point re the southern accent. Another of my worries. I do think the (my!) Scots pronunciation makes things much clearer. I'm going to have to struggle to not correct my LO when she doesn't pronounce her 'r's and all those other things. (And not to take offence when she tells me that I'm the one who's wrong....which she has already...grrrr!!!!)