Phonics..almost 4 year old struggling with blending but my daughter wants to learn more sounds, is this ok?

[Worriedmumofone1]

As the title suggests.. she’s going into reception soon and has an interest in learning the sounds of letters. We’re only a week in so I appreciate oral blending may take some time to ‘click’. But she wants to move onto more sounds.. (we’ve done SATPIN) is that ok even though she hasn’t grasped blending?

I think you can expose her to a few more sounds while encouraging blending at the same time. You can say simple words broken down into sounds at any time throughout the day so that she can use relevant context to help her work out what you’re saying.

I would never stop a child learning if they are keen. I’ve seen dc reading before YR so crack on. Did nursery do nothing on phonics? I’m not sure why phonics is left so late.

TizeroFizz... because 3 and 4 year olds should be learning through PLAY not sitting down/being force fed. Northern European countries don't even start until aged 6/7 and yet their literacy is better than ours. 4 years old is not 'left so late' if anything it's too early for the majority of children!
Preschool should be about learning through play, and developing social, emotional and independence skills, not reading.
It's fine to do a little bit at home if the child is really keen, and as long as it is done correctly, but often it's not, and most reception teachers would rather not have to undo the incorrect efforts of parents.
20 years in Early Years here...

If she wants to learn more sounds that's fine, but it's not necessary. She's only little.

Many 4 year olds aren't ready to blend. Though ime you really don't need to do much to teach blending when they are ready, if you teach the sound elements properly.

Totally agree. I’ve worked in Early Years and it can be problematic for children to start reception in this way. Focus instead on motor skills, school ready skills, imaginative play and school will be very grateful! This will also lead to better outcomes for your dc. Good luck!

It used to be commonplace a hundred years ago, when children used to learn via phonics, for well-to-do children to be reading fluently at around 3 or 4.

It’s fine to be teaching the sounds, but just make sure you’re using ‘pure’ sounds (ways of saying the sounds that facilitate later blending)

Here’s a tutorial :

Really important that you use pure sounds otherwise your child will have to re-learn when she’s at school.

You can also set her up for blending success by doing some oral blending activities

These activities take a few minutes (don’t know where people get these ideas that children learning phonics = hours and hours of seated lectures) and you do not need to be a qualified teacher.

To support your child even more, read a story/fact book to her every day because this will increase her vocabulary and knowledge of the world.

She’ll be assessed when she starts reception, so likely to go into the top reading set if she already knows the m,a,s,t,p sound-letter correspondences.

It’s much harder to unlearn than to learn… as a FS teacher I also prefer if children aren’t “taught” phonics at home as most of the time it confuses them when they are taught properly at school. Better school ready skills as others have said, self help skills, critical thinking, fine motor… and lots of reading to her. She can retell you the stories using the pictures, explain what she thinks might happen next, reinvent her own ending, role play a story etc… many many things would be a preferable use of time rather than phonics at home just before Reception starting

Geraldine the Giraffe is still going strong! My dc (and I) adored watching Geraldine learning phonics.

Agree about teaching pure sounds, makes blending much easier as the sounds just run on.

Surely she needs all letter sounds first beofre blending.
There's a great song
A is for apple a a apple

Reading eggs being used by lots of schools

@Sonolanona you really cannot compare learning to read Finnish or Swedish or even German with learning to read English. Different grammar, fewer phonetic rules. That’s why you can put off teaching reading until later but in any case the reality is kids obviously learn to read a lot sooner than age 7 in many Northern European households!

My German nephews were reading German by age 5 and were taught it at Kindergarten. It’s bs that they don’t get taught to read before age 6/7!

OP if dc wants to learn, of course! Watch a few YouTube videos about how to pronounce the phonetic letters correctly (not “buh” “cuh” “duh” - you need to clip the consonant sound so there is no vowel sound attached in order to blend the way it’s taught in schools now - so you have “b” “ah” “d” says “bad” not “buh-ah-duh”)

I always think it’s silly comparing to other countries when the op isn’t in said other country. It’s a bit like saying “Where can I buy apples?” and someone else answering “You need to buy oranges. Oranges are much better.”

Anyway, sounds much like dd1 who could write her name and recognise all her letters but couldn’t read before starting school. The pressure to get her doing so was crackers. If I’d have listened to one friend in particular I’d have written dd off at 3.

I just continued to do what I’d been doing. Reading. Talking. Pointing things out. A running commentary. And then trying to join the dots with “I spy”. So we were still actively learning but there was no pressure.

She’s nearly 18. She has a set of GCSEs at mostly 9 and is on course for some excellent A-Level results next summer all being well. In other words, not being able to read before starting school has not been an issue. Dd2 could read before starting school because she seemed to grasp blending very quickly but I wouldn’t say at nearly 15 she’s had any sort of advantage.

TL:DR this isn’t anything to worry about now!

As an ex-teacher, please don't stop an interested child from learning! In any case, she might learn a lot more easily with you on her own at home, rather than in a class with 29 others, some of whom might be disruptive/distracting. Going at her pace will also be much better for her, rather than holding her back to the same level as the rate of her class.

Go for it! Having a child keen to learn is such a blessing!

I know the phonics police will be after me but if you’re worried about teaching it the wrong way, and you feel like she’s wanting to learn, how about some word recognition games (e.g. ‘I spy’ as suggested above.)

I teach reading in all sorts of different ways and the overwhelming emphasis on phonics in schools really bothers me.

I taught mine young but mostly left phonics to the school and taught whole word recognition, like I was taught. They were reading before they started reception, bar one and have stayed consistently ahead. Phonics has its place, don't get me wrong but people do teach it differently and school like it done their way.

@Sonolanona Force fed reading? Do not be so silly. You do know some dc are very bright don’t you ? They are read to and want to to learn to read. They can learn through play at well. They are not one or the other! My DDs happily did phonics at nursery but wanted to do more because it naturally leads a curious child to read. Why do we assume all dc are the same and holding them back is a good idea? Do we do that with the mathematically bright too? Hopefully not. Some dc are curious about reading and learn much quicker then others.

Plus a joy of dc looking at words and books before YR is that you are not stuck with boring phonics! DD had a good grasp of thst by 4 1/2. Why should she be held back?

Watch Alphablocks with her.

Get the first books in the same reading scheme that the school uses and work through them with her.

Do Teach your Monster or Reading Eggs with her.

You don't have to stop or power ahead - you can read simple Stage One books so she gets the hang of - sss, i, ttt - sit - ttt - i - puh - tip and so on, and gently introduce new sounds.

Not a teacher, but eldest was reading by four and younger kids are heading in the same direction.

Beyond reading to mine, I didn’t push it. My daughter didn’t really ‘get’ reading fully until year 2. She then left primary with a reading age of over 16 and is now studying an English degree.

As has been mentioned earlier, there are many more important life skills that children would be better starting school with than being able to read.

Alphablocks and Teach your monster how to read are good..

Ds struggled in reception - we had to step in with support at home - and there was a tip in apple and pear reading program - shouting out the sounds - made a huge difference to him and being able to blend.

He also needed a lot of practise with the sounds and needed to be clear and quick/instant with them - so there was introducing new one and going over old ones at same time - the program came with flash cards.

DD2 knew the sounds of alphabet before being able to blend - we had an alphabet book she loved looking at so she picked them up that way, rather than us specifically 'teaching' her. I think it was a ladybird book. It didn't do her any harm learning that way, she's now a 15 year old book worm.

Games like I spy are really helpful at helping children to hear the sounds in familiar words.

You can also help DC hear sounds (not worrying too much about the corresponding written letter) - can you get your h...a...t? We need m...i...l...k etc. This will help them to blend in future.

Check with the school as to what scheme they are using
some use jolly phonics or read write inc
just so it doesn’t get her mixed up

I should probably add, DD1 didn't recognise letters before reception. She has just done her A Levels including English Lit. Different things work for different people.

Your child is too young to learn phonics in a formal way.

Read interesting books to her instead.