Learning to read - resources/materials/books - recommendtions wanted

[Hulababy]

I know there are tons of threads of this no doubt, but there is so much to choose from I haven't a clue where to start!


DD (3y7m) is really into sounding out words at the moment and wants to know more about reading. But none of the books we have are really suitable for helping her with this.

She has some little letter cards we made and she can sound out many phonetically spelt words - cat, dog, mum, dad, hot, sun, etc. and she can do sh sound too so "shop".

I am not sure where to go next though.

How do you go about teaching the other blending sounds?

And what about sight words? We have a set of the reception key words and I noticed that a few of them are sight words - is that just a memory thing?

And does anyone know of any books/resources ideal for DD to use? There are so many about - Jolly Phonics, Letterland, ORT and loads of others too. Not really sure where to start!

[binkie]

I wouldn't have gone near these myself, as the very words Baby Einstein give me shivers, but someone gave us Baby Einstein flashcards (they call them "Discovery Cards" maybe to soften the hothousy feeling) and they actually are really good: simple words, plus a bit of longer text when the child is ready, really really nice pictures. I'd say they're from about age 2 to 5.

A plea: if you do get good recommendations, can you please do a list of them and then we can build that into the "Links & Resources" bit of Education that is being planned? Thank you!!

[frogs]

You want your child to learn sensible decoding stragegies, not 'look and guess' ones, so go for a proper phonics-based scheme. Ruth Miskin Literacy (RML) is brilliant. My children's school introduced it between dd1 and ds, and the difference was breathtaking. Or Jolly Phonics, which I have no experience of, but is the same kind of thing.

Read Diane McGuinness's book 'Why Children Can't Read' before you go any further.

ORT is phonetically completely illogical for tinies -- they use words like 'guitar', 'headache' and 'chicken' which the child has no chancee of being able to actually read, thus encouraging them to guess from the pictures. The later stages (Stage 5 upward) have a range of good adventure stories based around a Magic Key, but only once children have actually learnt to read.

[LIZS]

sight woirds ar epart memeory , part being able to identify the letter shapes and sounds which the words contain. you could try the Jolly Phonics videos and song dvd's and their flash cards - available on Amazon or the JP site. dd is only just getting the idea of blending the letter sounds. She has now covered all the JP sounds having started Reception in September but knew all her letter sounds at least 18 months prior to then and could identify some cvc words. There is also a Parent's guide to JP available and I think some simple readers. Letterland is a bit too character based for my liking and ORT is not srtrictly phonetic so probably best wait until she starst school for that.

What does the school use ? They may prefer you to do something different to what they will cover, in the meantime.

[binkie]

(The Maisy ABC video taught both of mine to read. That's in an aside because I saw that someone else on here disapproves fiercely.)

[frogs]

Yes binkie! Despite all my protestations on here re. phonics, dd1 taught herself to reading using some extremely superannuated Peter and Jane books published in the early 60s.

[Hulababy]

I remember Peter and Jame

Thanks for the information.

So, maybe a phonics scheme to start with then?


I did consider phoning the school and asking them what reading scheme(s) they use. My friend used to work at the school DD is going to but it was a while ago now and I suspect it will have changed. Do you think the school would mind?


frogs - I will have a look out for that book.

[LIZS]

I doubt the school would mind. Have you looked at the Ofsted or ISCIS report as that might detail it.

[Hulababy]

Couldn't find anything specific. Looks like I shall have to pluck up courage and phone the school. Don't want them thinking I am a pushy parent before she even starts there!

[Hallgerda]

I taught my three sons to read between the ages of 3 and 4 using the updated Ladybird scheme - it is similar in approach to Peter and Jane, but the main characters, Tom and Kate, are less irritating. (They have lunchboxes and crocodile fixations just like real children, and are occasionally naughty.) There was, briefly, a Ladybird phonics reading scheme. It didn't really work (I remember ds1 struggling with "Jenny put the snake on the elephant" in the first book) but it did contain lists of sounds that I found useful at the time (I am sure any book on phonics would provide much the same information.) The repetition in the reading scheme really helped my children to pick up common words quickly, and the phonic back-up from me (writing down lists of words with particular sounds and practising them) enabled them to cope with unfamiliar words.

[Hulababy]

Are the Ladybird books much good then? Just asking as I can get Ladybird books for 75% off retail price. If likely to be any use I could get some of those anyway to get us started.

[LIZS]

Personally we find the Ladybird ones very uninspiring and old fashioned. Peter and Jane are whole word readers and their phonics books are really odd. How about getting some card based literacy games, such as their Phonics cards, JP Lotto and Orchard games like Slug in a Jug. dd gets copies of the JP cards (which we also have anyway) from school and spends ages sorting them, copying them, pronouncing them. Now she is progressing onto simple words. Her school uses JP, ORT and Rigby books at this level. It is all very much a game to her.

[Hallgerda]

I would agree with LIZS that the Ladybird books are not the biggest thrill out - I mentioned my sons' ages because I wouldn't recommend them to anyone trying to help their 8-year-old! However, they did work for us. As with any other educational resource, you can use them any way you like - though they are supposed to be "whole word readers" as LIZS says, you can always supply the missing phonic element yourself as I did. (I don't think there's anything wrong with recognising whole words at an early stage - it does mean you reach the end of a sentence and still remember what the beginning was about!) Another thing you can try at the "getting started" stage (even cheaper than Ladybird books with a 75% discount) is leaving messages for your daughter in a special notebook, perhaps building on her current obsession. One of my children had a police notebook,in which mysterious confessions appeared along the lines of "I did it. I am a cat".

[singersgirl]

Hi, Hulababy, I taught my son, now 4, from the same age as your daughter with Jolly Phonics - I got the manual from Amazon at about 20 pounds (sorry, foreign keyboard) and it was a brilliant investment because it just provides all the early material you need. If she knows all her sounds and is starting to blend, she will know a lot of the early stuff, but it is excellent for teaching digraphs ('ou' and 'ai' etc) and tricky words too. I like the Ruth Miskin books as well (better than the Jolly Readers) and the first stages of those would probably be perfect for you daughter. You can read samples online - don't have a link, but search for "Ruth Miskin Literacy".
My son was at a very similar stage when we started and was trying to read a lot. He is reading really very well now and has always enjoyed it. We kept our sessions to 10 or 15 minutes a day, but I was pretty consistent and systematic once we got going.

[Hulababy]

Hallgerda - I like the messages and notes idea, will try that.


Am also leaning towards the jolly phonics stuff - also as it is easy to get hold of! Will have a better look round the net. Thanks

[Orinoco]

Message withdrawn

[ChocolateGirl]

Hulababy,

I'm afraid I haven't read all of this thread so I apologise if I'm repeating what others have said.

I taught my ds1 to read using Jolly Phonics which I am always recommending on here - it is fantastic.

You are doing just what it recommends by teaching him to sound out words. The Handbook costs about £20 and contains lists of words for him to read as well as all the 44 sounds of our language.

Also useful are the Steps of Jolly Phonics which can be found on the JP website: www.jollylearning.co.uk. They are on the messageboard, way back in May 2003 and tell you what to teach and in what order to teach it. They were extremely useful. And completely free!

I also found these websites useful:
www.syntheticphonics.com
www.rrf.org.uk
www.dyslexics.org.uk (not just for dyslexics).

For reading practice I used Ruth Miskin Literacy (the Read Write Books), Jelly & Bean, Jolly Readers - and other decodable readers and where you can get them are listed on the www.syntheticphonics.com Links page. But there is lots of downloadable stuff too.

I hope this is helpful. I really can't recommend JP highly enough! I thoroughly enjoyed teaching my son to read - so much so that I am now teaching two of his friends!

[julienetmum]

I am currently using the finger phonics books with dd aged just 4. I have the Jolly Phonics workbooks too but we havn't looked at them yet.

We have spent ages just on book 1 but only looking at it every so often, a couple of weeks ago we moved onto book 2 and now she is asking for them instead of a bedtime story!

She is just starting to blend the sounds. I am having to do a little copunteracting of her learning the alphabet in nursery (took a while tonight to understand f is fffff not pher but I am really impressed and she is wanting to do it.

[puff]

Jolly phonics handbook is brill. The reading books aren't up to much, Ruth Miskin's are better.

[Dodsey]

Once again a Jolly Phonics convert. DS1 has astounded me with his speed of learning all down to the basic idea of linking a sound with an action. This method is especially helpful for boys.

The other great thing is how quickly they introduce diagraphs to the child, helping them decode much more complex words. Previously beginning readers would have learned them with the "look & Say Method" only learnig to decode further down the line.

[SueW]

Don't remember teaching DD to read, just read lots to her.

She entered school at 3y9m and learnt her 20 words or whatever which she then insisted on reading every time we came across one in the book were reading (we read lots of Disney storybooks.

At 4yo she left that school when we went to Australia and she stopped reading although we still read to her a lot. Kinder there was play-based.

At 4y9m she went back into school and could pretty much read very quickly afterwards. School used ORT and Ginn and others all sorted out into their own reading scheme on a colour base.