DS 3.8 ready to start learning to read...what next?

[OohMrDarcy]

DS already knows all his letter sounds, some of the two letter phenomes, can spot initial and last sounds in words, and in simple 3 letter words can sometimes spot all those sounds

we were playing the cbeebies app earlier and he went on the alphablocks game and picked the picture for fox - the idea is they spot the sounds and essentially spell it - he literally looked at it and went :
'fox... F F Fox' F is first mummy (drags the F)
'fox f Ox f Ox' O next (drags O)
'fox fo X' thats X (drags X)

he has never done this sort of thing with me before - I knew he could spot initial sounds easily and he loves looking at an old jolly phonics book of DD's so thats how I know what sounds he knows

have registered him on the teachyourmonstertoread site - but the first steps games are too easy really (though he likes them)

Am sure I have read here about other games which are good for preschoolers at this point - does anyone have any suggestions? DD was good with sounds and starting to read before school, but not this early so am a bit baffled as to where to go next!

Thanks in advance!

[acrabadabra]

Watching with interest. Ds is almost at the same stage.

[FairyPenguin]

DS is also at this stage. We have been playing lots of I Spy! We also have some phonics flash cards with word on one side and picture and word on the other so he can try to read the word then turn it over to see if he's right. He loves doing that! We're also using the Pocketphonics app on the iPad which is great for blending and also writing. We've got magnetic letters and a white board so we can take turns spelling words out to each other. First stage phonics books are ok but I find that he often guesses the word from the pictures which isn't great. I tend to read the whole sentence and he does the last word, but it's quite obvious what it will be.

[AbbyR1973]

Try getting some of the Songbirds books. They are phonics based and I think are entirely decodable. You could try having a look at some of those with him. My DS's also loved the Reading Eggs website (you do have to pay a subscription.) Also possibly get him to join in with the odd CVC word when you are reading to him, and you can get those books for shared reading with a simple sentence for the child to read and something more detailed for the adult.

[VinegarDrinker]

Tbh we haven't gone down the apps/games route. DS just tries to read whatever is around us: road signs, bus stops, shop names etc. We also have a double sided black/whiteboard which has magnetic letters so he can write words, or ask us to write them for him to read. We also have foam letters in the bath and he loves to write words (often made up!) and read them back.

He was at your DS's stage about 4 months ago, and without doing anything special he just got blending and reading/spelling gradually longer words. Obviously he is a way off being a free reader, but he can decode loads of words now and loves doing it.

May get the Songbirds books though, it would be nice to have something to read that doesn't involve me trying (badly) to explain an "exception" every few words!

[OohMrDarcy]

Its the blending he needs to 'get' I think.... he can hear the sounds, decode the words etc - but blending is his bit he is working on

I struggle with how to teach that other than sounding it out then making the gaps shorter until I'm almost saying the word!

[VinegarDrinker]

I think that's all we did (almost by accident) - just saying the sounds with shorter gaps. I remember wondering how/when he would "get" blending then the next day read a bit on here, Googled a load of CVC words (having discovered what CVC meant!) and wrote them out on his whiteboard. And he just sounded them out and read them all! (I was so surprised I did a boasty thread on here ). I still hear him uttering the sounds under his breath when he's reading an unfamiliar word.

[VinegarDrinker]

*muttering not uttering!

[issysapp]

I've been struggling with the same thing! I've started building an app to help our DD. Would love to hear your feedback on this :)

issysapp.com

[sanam2010]

Use the readingegg website, it's great. My DD also quite likes the Bob books Reading Magic apps.

[sanam2010]

Sorry forgot the link, this is a free site:
readingeggs.co.uk/

[OohMrDarcy]

Thanks sanam

[tumbletumble]

My advice is just to keep reading to him a lot! I think that's the best way for him to learn.

[OohMrDarcy]

Oh I do! Read him 3 stories at bedtime tonight, he loves looking through books on his own or with us, and he ropes DD into reading him stories too when I am busy!