Phonics ... where do I start?

[Claribel]

Keen to have a go with this, but looking for some advice on how to start with my 4 year old.

Also, anyone got any books/workbooks/flashcards etc. for sale?

Thanks

[Pickle]

Type "Jolly phonics" into YouTube and you'll find the songs, they are the best place to start.

[Fuschia]

At school they do one sound at a time, image of the letter, sound, song and action

A a ants in your arm

There is a rather good wall frieze that would serve as an aide memoire

[Goodliz]

Agree with Pickle. Once you hear the songs and see the pics it all falls into place.

[Helen GV]

I got this book for my son

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/1844140806/ref=mp_s_a_1_8?qid=1370152452&sr=8-8&pi=SL75

Which is nice as it introduces the sounds in the same order as they do at school, there's a story around each sound, a raised letter they can trace their finger over etc. I also bought the cd but as others have said they're on you tube, I didn't think to look there first...

You can then follow up with little games, spot the 's' when you're out, draw a letter on a page and get lo to make the shape in play dough or whatever, make your own lacing card and use shoe laces to thread..

There's also a letters and sounds document available online which the nursery pointed us to, will see if I can find a

link!

[Helen GV]

Think it's this one

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/190599/Letters_and_Sounds_-_DFES-00281-2007.pdf

[KateW]

Alphablocks on Cbeebies followed up by the Alphablocks books. We do little 5 minute bursts of the programme followed by the book and my daughter loves it. At 2 and a half, she can phonetically spell her name and can certainly recognise most of the letters by their phonetic sounds.

[MrsAk]

At our school we teach the 'read write inc' scheme of work which is excellent.

http://www.focusonphonics.co.uk/acatalog/Read_Write_Inc.__Ruth_Miskin_.html?gclid=CPO_k5r9xLcCFbLMtAodg2IADQ

[ad2000]

When my son started nursery school, his teacher advised us to talk to him so that the child didn't get conflicting messages. Is your child at nursery? Maybe check with them - they are the experts in this. I second the jolly phonics too, by the way. Good luck!

[Syppox2000]

I like the sound of read, write inc mrs ak !

[Pam50]

Hi, It is really important to look through the guidance section of whatever programme you are looking at so that you know the principles underlying the practice. Here's the link for 'Letters and Sounds'. It was written for schools, so some bits you can skip!

http://www.teachfind.com/national-strategies/letters-and-sounds-notes-guidance-practitioners-and-teachers

The early skills of listening, sound discrimination, rhyming etc - are absolutely vital. Develop these through engaging and playful ways!

If you do teach letter sounds (Phase 2), is very important to model the 'clean' sounds and not add an 'uh': mmmmmmm not muh, d not duh etc... Here's the section in Letters and Sounds'

Does it really matter how phonemes are pronounced?

Some children pick up the skill of blending very quickly even if the phonemes are

not cleanly pronounced. However, many teachers have found that for other children

pronouncing the phonemes in, for example, cat as ?cuh-a-tuh? can make learning to blend

difficult. It is therefore sensible to articulate each phoneme as cleanly as possible.

This is also a key point in Read Write Inc and Jolly Phonics.

Have fun!

[MrsAk]

Do you know it Syppox2000? he he xx

[newtoedf]

I worried a lot about whether or not I should be getting my daughter started on phonics before she started school but although she loves stories she wasn't really interested and I didn't push it but worried I was letting her down by opting out.

However, as soon as they started phonics in reception she was fascinated, and now is making use of the books and games I got her last year by the third term of reception is reading quite independently. By which I mean, she picks up story books we had already at home and reads them to herself with requests for help on particular words.

Which is really just to say phonics is an amazing teaching tool, they do it brilliantly at school and when children are ready to learn they will just soak it up - so if you do what I do and buy a load of books that your child isn't interested in, don't despair!

[Jo'sEnglish]

Does anyone have any recommendations for phonics stuff for younger toddlers? My 21 month old loves letters, he finds them everywhere! He knows all of them but some he knows the phonic sound and some the letter (eg, he'll say 'ah, bee, cee, duh, etc). This is because I try and say the sound, but his Dad often forgets and says the name of the letter. Also a combination of watching Alphablocks and Let's Squiggle letters!

Do you think it matters at this age that he's a bit muddled up or should I just wait til he's older and starts nursery school and see what they do? He doesn't go to nursery now. At the moment he just loves practising them so much that I don't want to do discourage him by trying to correct him and worry about confusing him!