What have you found is the best way to teach phonics?

[RedRobyn2021]

We do a lot of reading together and visit the library a lot

We have a couple of wipe away books

Please can anyone recommend what worked well for them?

DD is 3 and she has been going to pre school a couple of mornings a week since January so not long

Honestly? Watch alphablocks together! Taught me how to pronounce each sound 'correctly' for phonics. We've also got some magnetic letters and practise making 3/4 letter words. DD is 4, starting reception in September for context.

Not the answer you're looking for OP I know, but honestly I wouldn't worry about it at 3. They'll cover all that at school and give the parents some guidance too so you're all on the same page.

Just read with her, enjoy it, talk about the books etc and she'll do brilliantly.

I would start with initial sounds- first letter/s sound, so I spy type games. When it’s eg chips say ch rather than c. Do the letter sound rather than the name so mmmm not em for M.

I would leave it for school as each school teaches differently and you don't want it to be confusing.
Reading lots is always good though and doing colouring etc for pen control.

You could look at getting some phonics flash cards or a poster to put up and go through. Otherwise we just read to our 3YO DS.

We didn’t do any formal phonics before DD started reception, but we did watch alphablocks as mentioned by another poster. Honestly she has flown through since starting reception and has now she’s in year 1 has finished the Read Write Inc scheme that they use at her school and can read practically anything I put in front of her. I did wonder about doing more before starting school because she’s autumn born so would have been ready for it, but I’m glad we didn’t as I don’t think there would have been any benefit to her having to start over at school.

If you’re sending your child to a prep school or something that’s probably different but my experience is with a high achieving state primary.

At 3 start with just focussing on the hearing. I spy, talking about which things start with the same sound, funny alliterative poems. Phonics is all about linking the phoneme (sound) with the grapheme (written letter).

When DC are hearing sounds, you can slowly start introducing the graphemes. We did this in fun ways - foam letters for the bath, fridge magnets, stampers. Make sure you use lower case letters.

There's a good ipad app called Pocket phonics where it makes letter sounds and you trace letters with your finger.

3 isn't too young. My eldest could recognise all the graphemes and knew their sounds by 3 and 4 months. Youngest was just turning 4.

Agree with this, lovely little stories and the correct way to pronounce letters! My DS learnt to read watching Alphablocks (especially on the website), I have a video of him creating words by dragging the letters with the mouse into the right order to create the word and move the story on.

We also had the magnetic letters and DS made CVC words like CAT and PIN, I wouldn't push for anything more complex than that at her age tbh. AFAIK infant schools show the Alphablocks episodes to the kids (my son's certainly did) so I don't think there's anything there that will clash with the NC.

I would leave it for school as each school teaches differently and you don't want it to be confusing.

If you are teaching phonics properly, the sounds are the sounds regardless of the school scheme and the national curriculum requirements are quite specific about the order the sounds are taught in (phase 2 etc), its the same in any approved scheme. Apps like pocket phonics follow the same order.

Definitely alphablocks. Otherwise, leave it to school. There doesn't seem to be any difference in my DS class between those who had prior knowledge of phonics and those who didn't.

I'm a phonics lead. We tell our Nursery and Preschool parents to focus solely on phonological awareness and oral blending. There's tons about both of these on the internet so have a look.

Where early reading can pay off is vocabulary, speed & spelling. My eldest was reading a far greater volume than his peers with a broader range of styles and language, through all of reception and ks1, simply because he started reading longer more complex books earlier. It exposed him to masses of language, grammar and spelling and his confidence with reading comes across in how expressively he reads aloud.

You can tell when kids are ready, and if they are, gently enabling them to learn does no harm.

If it isn't clicking, you just back off and let them get there in their own time.

I'd also add, see if your child is receptive to it. Mine is so we play little games as above but if she wasn't, I'd leave it. There's no rush unless they show an interest.

We tell our Nursery and Preschool parents to focus solely on phonological awareness and oral blending. There's tons about both of these on the internet so have a look.

Why?

Why is it so frowned upon by early years practitioners to move onto grapheme recognition with children who are secure in phonological awareness/blending and are ready and keen? I couldn't really stop DS. He would ask "mum, is that a j? j for juice!! Jam jam jam."

Whatever you do, don’t do it wrong! I teach phonics and it’s so difficult to undo wrong pronunciation, wrong letter formation, and calling the letters by their letter names.

Go with your child’s interest, but don’t push it if they’re not ready. It’s far better for them to learn all the sounds easily in Reception, rather than slogging away at it before that.

This video teaches the correct sounds

Play games, like ‘Put on your h-a-t’, Simon says ‘s-i-t’.

I wouldn't before you know which school she is going to, and which phonics system they use. Reception teachers spend a long time undoing things previously taught.

Alphablocks is a good shout, though.

Which ever scheme school uses otherwise it will be confusing. Alphablocks it great is watch.

RWI has excellent parent packs but I would only use them if school uses RWI.

There is no NC requirement to teach the sounds in a specific order and never has been.

A quick look at 2 government approved synthetic phonics schemes will show you that e.g. Read Write Inc Vs Sounds Write

Globules pretty much all schemes start with similar letter sounds, amd progress on with sh/th/ch among the earliest digraphs.

Most schemes refer to phase 2/3/4 sounds for eg

I cannot possibly see how a child taught phonics sounds & letter formation correctly, can be confused by the school using different schemes.

I have spent time in a lot of schools and sadly most eyfs teachers peddle this nonsense because in a honesty its inconvenient and harder work for teacher having a broad spread of preparedness in a class of 30 and requires more effort to ensure they all have books suitable for their level of phonic understanding etc. Its also difficult if those who are less prepared lose confidence watching peers read confidently. This can be limited with reading groups that provide more appropriately for ability levels but this is currently unpopular in education as it won't "close the gap" between less/more able.

But for a parent doing whats best for their child, this is not a reason to hold back a child ready to learn.

Agree with this. My DD is in P2 (equivalent to year 1 in England) and most of the top reading group didn't do any phonics before school. My own DD had no interest in anything relating to reading or writing in nursery or P1 but is flying now in P2 now that she's matured a little. IMO they find their way.

Have to say I agree with this. There doesn’t seem to be any desire to stretch more able readers at my daughters school (despite it very recently getting a good ofsted, snd phonics identified as being well taught). The whole class progress at the same, very slow, pace (2 sounds a week) and they all have reading books at the same level. My daughter gets books she was capable of reading a year ago. They completely ignore all prior attainment and teach them all the same, though I assume those who struggle have extra catch up sessions.

not all phonics schemes follow the same teaching order. Floppy’s phonics seems to teach multiple spellings of the same sound (eg s And ss, and l, ll, le, and even j and dge) before they’ve done any vowel digraphs eg ee or oo!! Seems very odd to me. However, having previously learned most of the sounds with me isn’t ‘confusing’ her - though I know I was pronouncing them properly which many parents won’t be.

I wouldn't worry about the fashion of the moment phonics.
Many people learned to read before "phonics" was invented.
I taught my DD. She could read - really read - before she started school. Obviously not 5 syllable long words but was a good reader.
She got so frustrated with the "phonics".

Is there a recommended scheme to use at home for a child that will not be learning English at school?

Read rhymes and poems to her.
Sing together, clap out rhythms/ stamp feet, etc.

Re-read books to her as often as you can bear it and then go the extra mile.

Leave it until she's at school so a teacher can teach her ?