Worried knowing her ABCs will ruin Phonics?

[Bells3032]

Probably dumb and may end up being called a troll or stealth bosting etc but ehh who cares.

My daughter is just turned 2 and loves her ABCS, she can do the alphabet in order missing maybe one or two and can recognise about half the letters out of order. I'm not saying she's a genius or anything, she's just obsessed with those youtube simplesong videos where they do the alphabet and has learnt from there (although it annoys me she says zeeee instead of zed).

I really want to encourage her as she loves to be read to and pretends to read herself too but worried in teaching her this way I am going to really confuse her when she learns phonics in school. I don't really know or understand phonics?

If i am going to encourage her letters should i be using phonics rather than letters? are there any good resources for me to learn the letters that way myself?

Thanks

It would be safer to teach her the phonic sounds rather than the names.

Why?
Although many kids can cope with both with no issues, a subset will get confused, and you can't tell who will be in that subset before you start. See also using mixed methods such as whole word or guessing alongside phonics.

Try searching for alphablocks on youtube.

Yes you should teach her letter sounds as she’ll learn those at school. The tv programme alphablocks shows how to say them. It’s how you can then blend them together so M is mmmmmm (not muh) etc. Or look for videos on Jolly Phonics

Yes, if you really want to go down that route, then find out about phonics so you can at least link the two together maybe... e.g. this is A, it makes the sound 'ah' or whatever.

Alphablocks is a simple program on CBeebies which can start you off with what each sound is like. Jolly phonics used to be the one in schools - you could buy a book with songs, a matching CD so you can hear the songs and flashcards when my teen was in reception... but don't think it's used any more. The sounds and principles are still the same though.

If you look up teacher Nancy on YouTube, she will give you all the sounds you need to know how to make. It's really interesting how some sounds are identical but one is voiced and the other isn't - b and p, s and z, f and v, t and d.

Yes it's not particularly helpful to learn letter names but the main thing is you're engaged and supportive which is super helpful.

My daughters school used jolly phonics, she only did her phonics screening last year.

This is a "problem" very easily solved by watching and then copying and reinforcing Alphablocks.

Meanwhile children have been learning the alphabet and progressing to learning to read just fine for many, many years. She's 2 for goodness sake, the alphabet is fine if she enjoys reciting it, just add in the sounds and when she's 3/4 YouTube phonics and try and move towards that if you wish.

That’s a BEE. It says buh.

Of course some children have been doing it this way.
But other children struggle with the transition to sounds, and you don't know in advance which children will be fine and which won't so why risk it?

It says /b/ not /buh/

Why risk it lmao ffs the dramatics.

Honestly it's no wonder some children are so anxious and stressed if their parents worry about stuff like this for a 2 year old.

I would 100% recommend Alphablocks on Cbeebies, you can get all episodes on iplayer. Definitely teach her sounds rather than names as it will make learning to read and spell much, much easier.

You can also look up Read, Write, Inc on YouTube, it's one of the most popular phonics systems in schools. There are videos showing you how to say the sounds correctly.

The main thing Imwould say to you OP as a much older mum and having spent working life in primary school is that one of thr biggest influences on how DC progress in reading and learning in my experience is having a loving stable interested parent, which you obviously are, so,please just relax and don’t worry about all the possible future judgy people (always around). Have confidence that your care love and enabling her to do more of what she chooses and enjoys is all she needs. She sounds like a Matilda, so maybe a library will be a good idea in the near future😄

"Supersonic phonic friends flashcards" https://beyondwood.uk/product/supersonic-phonic-friends/

Grandchildren had these.

But at two just get them to love books by reading to them

I used the RWInc flash card for DD when in upper nursery / Reception, as that was the scheme the school used. They were good, but I wouldn't be so formal with a 2yo.

I wouldn't worry about it. Yes, ideally you teach them the phonic sounds first but it's really not the end of the world, she is only two and it's years until she'll be reading. If she's interested in letters then she may well pick it all up quite naturally and easily anyway.

In America it seems that they teach all toddlers the alphabet song, and they seem to manage to teach them to read just the same.

If you want to you could do it like animal sounds "This is letter A, and A says aaaaah".

Thanks for all the advice guys. I'll find some alphablocks and jolly phonics for her to watch too. Will give me a break from super simple songs too haha

My older one learned the alphabet first as he was obsessed with Countdown. (He has autism and Countdown was the very first of his obsessions).

We got shaking heads when he went to school and the teachers said they were concerned about the affect on him learning phonics. It ended up being a total non-issue in our case.

He's 13 now and despite being developmentally delayed and with other learning difficulties related to a deprivation of oxygen at birth he is an exceptionally good reader.

Use your library. The best example you can show is to be a reader yourself. So turn off the TV etc and read

Good to know it's still used @mummyh2016 think by the next child it was Read write inc but we still used the Jolly phonics too.

Thanks for the judgement but we DO got to the library regularly. She gets at least 3-4 books every single night and many during the day too. We often watch TV during her morning milk as both a bit sleepy and find it hard to balance both her and the book. but thanks for judging a hard working mum just trying to do right by her child without knowing the first thing about her or her routine.

I taught all three of my children to read using both the letter names and sounds. They had no trouble whatsoever, and are all good at spelling as well.

I wouldn’t worry at all! Children learn the letter names too at school and shouldn’t impact on her phonics learning if she knows those first.

Reading is about much more than phonics. The broader her love of reading (story and books) the better.
Current government guidance that schools use - https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-reading-framework-teaching-the-foundations-of-literacy

Also be careful in using multiple phonics schemes as this can confuse.

This is ‘older’ guidance for schools but amazing in preparing children to be ready to read and much more appropriate for a two year old. Again, much broader than the alphabet and excellent language and communication development.
https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/5a7a10cfed915d6eaf15381b/Letters_and_Sounds_-_Phase_One.pdf

If a child is going through an obsessive learning phase it is best to step back and let it run its course, direct it where necessary and encourage. If she loves learning it won't be hard for her to catch up, like others say relate the letter to the sound. I had the same worry with my DS at that age but all was fine.