learning to read before Reception? how did your DCs do it?

[Greythorne]

My DD is 4.1 and in school (we are in France and school starts at 3). She seems to be doing fine, loves drawing, loves writing her name and those of others, starting to want to write birthday cards to family etc. We read to her loads and she - like all kids - loves being read to. We are on chapter books, Enid Blyton, Magic Ballerina etc.

The thing is, here in France, they do not teach reading until the equivalent of year 1 (ie age 6). To me, she feels like she is ready to engage with reading.

BUT, I am worried I will somehow teach her incorrectly or put her off.

So, do those who genuinely start reading early (age 4 ish) do it on their own, just by being read to a lot or do their parents actively teach them phonemes and synthetic phonics.

How do kids end up being able to read BEFORE starting reception?

I have the Phonics International scheme which has been recommended elsewhere on MN and it seems thorough but super complicated to me (a non teacher).

If your DC read earlier than being taught in school, how did it happen?

Hmm my dd was interested in letters/what things said from about 2, I didn't teach her letters phonetically, just used A B C etc.

She was reading a bit when she went to nursery at 3, they did a little bit of phonics (with all the hand signs etc) she also used to sit with the older children when they did literacy.

It just seemed to click for her really, at no point did anyone sit and teach her to read, she just picked it up. She could read very well by the time she started reception (almost 5).

I can't see how teaching a bit of phonics could do any harm tbh (although I wouldn't have had a clue how to )

I didn't teach ds1, I just realised one day he could do it! He has a phenomenal memory, and I think he began by recognising the shape of the words and remembering them.

We always read to him/shared picture books etc., and at first I thought he'd just memorised familiar stories, so I went to the library to get some he hadn't seen before, and he proved me wrong! That was all we did though.

Fondly remember when he was 4 and a bit, sitting in M&S cafe with him and my mum & dad, and dad asking him to point to the number 10. He looked around for a bit, then shrugged and said "Oh, over there where it says '10 per cent of duvets and pillow cases' you mean?" My dad's face was a picture

So yeah, he just picked it up through lots of being read to. I know some of my friends did try to teach theirs though, and were told that the best way was to find out what method the school used, and use that, which makes sense to me.

i think a lot depends on if your dd wants to start reading.
i used to work in a nursery with 3 - 5 yr olds and we would sit down with them and read.
some of them picked it up straight away but others showed no intrest and could only just read their names.
but your dd is already writting her own name and wants to do more.
maybe you could ask at her school what books the children are taught to read and see if you can get 1 to show your dd and see what she makes of it.
i dont think the age of the child matters when it comes to reading or writting all children grow and learn at different rates.
as for the phonics just say it as it sounds in the word and dont forget the curly "C" and the kicking "K"
i hope this helps a bit and good luck to you both

Personally I would think long-term. Learning to read at age 6 doesn't sound like a bad thing to me and it won't matter at all once your dd is older.

My 2 older dds are both excellent readers but their early experience of reading was v different. Dd2 who is now nearly 8, really taught herself to read at 3.5 with only a little input from me. She knew the letter sounds and it just went from there. I seem to remember the Ladybird Key words books helping....but I don't really remember the details with her - it just 'happened'.

Dd1 was a v different story. She started reception not reading and learning to read didn't come naturally to her. It wasn't until Year 1 that she really cracked it but now at age 9.5 she's an excellent reader.

I'd always read to my children a lot and they all have a love of books.

I've never heard of the Phonics International Scheme but I would avoid anything too formal with a young child. Look at books and letters together and you can teach her the sounds letters make. We have jigsaw puzzles etc with letters on. And also don't get too hung up on actual reading - speaking and listening are far more important skills at this age.

Was so glad to have found this thread as we had a real red letter day today - my DS read his very first book!
He is 4y 3mo and knew all his sounds when he was probably nearing 3. I had a very old Letterland book lying around and he just seemed to respond to it very well although he never mentions Wicked Water Witch, Annie Apple et al. anymore thank God!
I am a teacher so have access to the reading scheme he will be following when he starts school in September. I just began by reading him the stories and talking about the characters then introduced the actual character names. As he knew his sounds he was able to sound out the very simple text and hey presto! He's read his very first book!
I'm over the moon
BTW the reading scheme is the Oxford Reading Tree, widely used in English schools.

I know that letterland is possibly seen as a bit old fashioned, but I am a big fan for the first stages. I think one of the hardest things at home is to remember to focus on sounds, not names of letters, and to pronounce them purely ie not "tuh" but just the tongue movement "t" (ie little explosion of air, no "uh" sound). The way to check is try to blend the sounds - "cat" doesn't rhyme with "butter".

The drawback is that these sounds are not very clear or loud, so one is left using the names, which is confusing. Hence I like Letterland for learning the letters and their sounds, using the ABC book (and the CD). I didn't then run through their programme, but once the boys know all their letters, I played with blending. You can just use apealling readers, or chose a phonics scheme. I like the early Ruth Miskin books and related materials. Then just roll from there.

Sounds more complicated that it was, but using clean sounds is the most important big - lots of children get stuck at the early blending phase because adults are doing these wrongly.

I can't remember a time before I could read - I was certainly reading fluently well before school. Because I was so little (3) I can't remember how it happened, but my mum says I copied my elder sister who was 5 and it 'just happened'. We were surrounded by books and my parents read to us, read themselves, my dad made up wonderful stories and I grew up to think of reading as a source of pleasure. Now I'm in my 40s and it still is.

All three of my children (13, 11 and 8) are voracious readers, all reading copious amounts for pleasure, but ... none was a particularly early reader. It 'clicked' for ds1 at 6, ds2 was half-way through y2 before it clicked for him and dd was reading fluently by the end of reception. Precisely when they start to read doesn't seem to have any bearing on the outcome later on ...

Personally, I would just keep on reading masses of books to your dd, and choose different genres (not forgetting non-fiction and poetry) and make sure there are plenty of books in the house and that she knows that you read for pleasure yourselves. I don't think you need to do any formal instruction at all at this stage

Both of mine were late readers and would have done much better in Scandanavia with their system. Both now read a lot. It clicked for both at about 6.5 and then they just took off. I do feel it was a waste of time earlier. DS (now 10) is in top quarter of class now for literacy so it has not had any bad effect on him and he now reads all the time. My Friends DD could read very well earlier and then stagnated and she is worried about this now so each child is different. I would not worry about the school system not teaching reading before 6. If your child is interested they will teach themselves as my nephew did at 3 just by listening to his parents read to him and asking lots of questions.