Any tips on teaching a 3 yr old to read?

[Mollyfloss]

Hi,

My DD who is 3 yrs and 8 months is at a French nursery school and as everything is in French they do not cover the English alphabet, phonics etc. As my DD will be going to an English school next September I want to make sure she is at the same level as the other kids. I've heard most nursery schools do letter and digit recognition etc. So what is the best approach? Also she is quite interested. Numbers are fairly straight forward I think. I've heard I should introduce lower case letters first, say the name of the letter and then the sound it makes. Is that correct? Any tips would be great much appreciated

Thanks!

Honestly there is no need whatsoever. She will learn at school, just like the other children. Nurseries in GB don't do phonics etc.

Don't worry at all. My DD started school this September, into reception at 4.5yo. She could recognise and write her name, that was all.

She now knows all the letters and most sounds, and can decode/read simple words already - they pick it up so quickly. I wouldn't have the first clue how to teach them TBH. Just read with her lots, that is the main thing.

That's what I thought but I have a friend who is a teachers assistant in a state nusery school and she said they are starting now.... They are also doing it in her French school but it is in French of course. hmmm... I really am not the 'pushy Mum' type. I just thought it was the norm.

FestiveFrieda: I'm not even sure what's the correct way to go about showing her how to write her name although she seems to be figuring it out herself. She drew an A tonight and showed it to me saying her name started with that letter. I suppose she learned it at school.

Hi Molly, I agree there's no need to do formal lessons but with a just turned 3yo DS, i'm finding it pretty hard not to by default. For example, if he wants to watch a cartoon on youtube, he doesn't want me to type it in - he wants to do it himself, which means that he is fast learning all the letters and lower case sounds of the alphabet. Same when we read books, oh and he is obsessed with road signs. Numbers he learnt ages ago because we get buses everywhere - and he now gets the concept of counting too, just through playing. On the other hand, he's not interested in writing at all (perhaps being a leftie?).

My suggestion (as a parent only) would be do lots of reading in English when your DD is at home, point out signs, numbers etc, just as part of everyday play, and give her the opportunity to draw and write letters if she wants to. If she shows an interest in progressing to reading and writing, great go with it (it'll give her confidence at school if nothing else) but don't worry if she's not - she will catch up soon enough.

DD's teacher praises her 'letter formation', even though I have seen her write and she doesn't do it the right way at all, but they end up looking ok!

They are going straight to precursive writing in our school rather than printing letters, but I don't know if that's the same throughout the UK or not.

AFAIK, and I am no expert as she is my oldest, the nursery/preschools will encourage them to recognise their name, managing to write it is a bonus. Our preschool gave the children name cards to collect at the beginning of the session with their first name and photo on to start with, then after a while just name no photo.

The focus is more about getting ready for school - ie learning to sit nicely in a circle, eat lunch in a group, take turns, co-operate, all the social skills that will help for school rather than trying to teach them formally, reception is still very much learning through play as well.