Please can any teachers or childcare workers help with a question?

[twobabiesandapup]

Hi everyone, just wanting any hints and tips if anyone has anything to share with teaching my little boy phonics? He’s young to be starting (only 20 months) so it’s more a bit of fun more than anything else as he seems to really love learning (doesn’t get this from me 😅) so it’s just something to challenge him a bit - he’s currently able to count to 20 and recognise the numbers in isolation and similarly with the alphabet, he can recite this and also recognise and name the letters out of sequence (i.e. he pronounces them the proper way and not the phonics-y way with sounds). He loves to read and will sit with books and name the letters one by one on each page so I thought this would be a natural next step for him, is phonics the best “next thing” to teach him or is there something we could do before then? I’m a bit confused really on what to do next with him so if anyone has any suggestions that would be amazing x

What do you mean about the pronunciation? If he is saying 'ay' for 'a' then that will hold him back. Please read up on phonics as you need to learn how it works before you try to teach it to your child.

Learn all of the sounds yourself first would be my tip. So many children learn them incorrectly at home and then they are so confused and disappointed when they start school.

I do think you should do it though.

Aww, he sounds like a bright little button! Do you know which school he'll be going to yet? Different schools have different approaches (Jolly Phonics, Read write Inc, Monster Phonics etc) so it's be good to be consistent with them. If you know where he'll go give them a ring and ask which system they follow and look it up.

Well he's going to have to un-learn what you've taught him, to start with. Which is unfortunate.

And yes, please check how single letters are pronounced at school before you start. For instance, n= 'nnnnnnn', not 'nuh'.

And reciting numbers in order is not counting. If he doesn't understand one to one correspondence to count items, he can't count. That's the most important number concept for any child, and a huge number of kids start school without any understanding of counting, despite being able to recite numbers in order to 100.

He's not even 2 yet, it's fine that he's learnt the letter names, not their sounds. There are loads of phonics programmes out there - Read Write Inc is very well known but shit for many reasons, so that's one I'd avoid. Jolly Phonics songs are catchy and auditory learning is very helpful. Enjoying stories, reading real books, exploring and fostering a love of language, rhymes, vocabulary etc is all going to help.

Watch alpha blocks, I learnt a lot from that 🤣🤣

OP ignore the negative nellies here.

There are lots of videos on YouTube with teachers explaining phonics.

Teach your monster to read is a great app for learning phonics sounds - even for you to have a look at if your DS is too young. It shows the correct way to pronounce them and introduces them in the order that the school will likely use (they're not taught alphabetically).

Alphablocks is a great show on Cbeebies that again will show you the correct way to pronounce the letters. Also, fun to watch together if he has some TV time.

To help with sound identification you can also break down words into their phonetic sounds as you say them for example, "oh look a cat, c-a-t, cat". Just pointing out letters as you go is also a good way to introduce it.

I teach foundation stage and I'm a mother or 2. He sounds bright and keen however I wouldn't do any formal teaching with him. Children at this age learn through play and through experiences. Definitely read lots of books to him and ask questions about the story, about the characters etc. During play you could count cars, add one, take one away. Alphablocks and Number blocks on cbeebies are great for phonics, number recognition and counting. Getting out into nature and learning about seasons, sizes and shapes of things. Whiteboards for mark making, drawing etc. Sorting toys, playing shop. It should all be fun and interactive and engaging. Well done for being so keen but he is going to learn it all in school so no need to add more work to yourself and him.

I was taught to say ay as in hay, bee, see, dee by all my older relatives as a child. I could read fluently by the time I went to school. Shocking, I know.

@twobabiesandapup the best thing you can do at this age is read plenty of picture books with your child. Watch some Jolly Phonics videos if you’re not sure of the sounds. Keep it fun. Little and often. I qualified as a teacher 30 years ago and have been a dyslexia specialist for 25 years. I taught my DC to read using a combination (shock, horror) of secondhand Letterland books and Jolly Phonics during the nursery years.

I agree, I’m not a fan of Read Write Inc.

It’s fine for a grown adult to learn the sounds though. She doesn’t need Jolly Phonics ditties.

We grown adults who were taught to read before phonics had to learn phonics somehow. We can’t say them correctly unless we hear them said correctly. I like Jolly Phonics because it’s multisensory, but I only have the A4 teaching book. No ditties there.

The child is 20 months old. Get down off your high horse, it’s the school holidays.

He's 20months, just let him play! Colours, shape, numbers are all things he can learn through exploring the environment around him. Messy play, music classes, swimming, splashing in puddles. Physical play and development is most important at his age. Phonics can come later.

@twobabiesandapup this is an old document now, but I would go back to what was called 'phase 1' and play lots of those games and activities with him
https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/67124a19b40d67191077b36e/Letters_and_Sounds_-_Phase_One.pdf

This will give him a great foundation for his speech development and sounding out and blending words later.

Yep. Chuck in numberblocks and you’re there 😂

Sorry if I sounded negative.

But this video is all you need to teach him the letter sounds he'll use at school.

The important thing to note is the absence of the 'uh' that we were taught with, for example: n (nuh) l (luh). Which are now nnnnn and llllll. And with h and p etc, there's no sound from the throat. It's just a breath sound.

Yes, we all learned to read the 'wrong' way (as did my kids) but we didn't start school to suddenly find that we had to do it a different way. Which is what today's pre-schoolers might end up having to do if parents teach them the old way.

I'm trying to help so that your son doesn't start school and find himself anxious and confused. Three years is a long time for the 'wrong' sounds to get established, and then have to be changed.

This video is good for you to learn the pure sound pronunciation - too boring for your 20 month old though! Check out this video from this search, oxford owl phonics sounds
https://share.google/nVrbQE8hnEi5m37jt
I’d be reading loads of rhyming, rhythmic books with him and playing rhyming jokes (eg when the rhyme makes you expect one word but you put in a different one - Oi Frog etc is great for this). Sing lots of songs and play musical games so he tunes into listening carefully. Talk a lot, enunciating clearly, so he can hear the words properly. He’s little to need phonics and will be learning it in school anyway.

At his age, I wouldn't worry too much. Obviously anything he shows interest in, encourage him and do your best to support him with it. At three DD was adamant she didn't want to wait until she started school to learn more, so we bought her some activity books for Maths and English based at pre-schoolers. She loved them, seemed to get through them very quickly. She had no problem adapting to how the school taught her - she was placed in the top groups for everything and stayed there (not boosting, as long as she was happy any group would have been fine).

Can I ask what the issue is with RWI? I'm not a teacher but it's the scheme DS' school uses. He's just finishing year 1 and has completed RWI, so I thought he was doing well. Will learning this method cause issues later on?

Mine loved Montessori sandpaper letters, numbers and shapes when they were toddlers. Very tactile and practical.
These board books come in letters, numbers, shapes and maps.
https://www.worldofbooks.com/en-gb/products/montessori-letter-work-book-bobby-george-9781419704116?sku=GOR006427586&gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=19554086773&gbraid=0AAAAADZzAICJ8H1WgDprTY4YV2eSxEbMi&gclid=Cj0KCQjwhO3DBhDkARIsANxrhToSMcM48wkucYiQbgDrDMxjJ_L50LBjXOc9oaPyj0gIRqLjNJOm6DYaAqdnEALw_wcB

Also you can get the actual letters/numbers made out of sandpaper from Absorbent Minds.

No RWI won't cause issues later on. It is actually quite thorough in the writing aspects in particular. It has a reputation for being a bit boring but is also well liked by many teachers.

AlphaBlocks and NumberBlocks on CBeebies / YouTube.

He'll quite possibly be fine with you having taught the letter names not the sounds. But some children do get confused which is why they now teach the sounds and lower case letters before the letter names and upper case letters. And you don't know which children will get confused before you start.

If he goes to nursery ask them if they use any particular scheme, but as others have said make sure you do 'mmmmmm' not 'muh'.

Moving on from this, if you do writing at any point then do not do letter formation so it looks right but has been drawn wrong. e.g. Letter 'o' is done anticlockwise, 'm' starts with a down followed by an up back on itself.

You can buy RWInc cards (or at least you could 15 years ago).

RWI is used by lots of schools, it's perfectly accurate and is in no way going to mess up progress. My issues are partly due to teaching methods I don't particularly like plus some other issues which would just derail the thread and are personal peeves!