Reading - advice please

[shades1]

DS1 is 5 and in year one, can read phonetically spelt words really well, but is getting stuck on words that aren't.

Reading his book last night he was getting stuck on "here" - so today I've been giving him the two pronunciations of each letter to encourage him to try both and see which one makes sense.

Will this work or is there anything else I could try ?

I've just bought some of the Ruth Miskin Literacy books and they're very appealing - charming illustrations, engaging storylines and lots of repetition of key phonic rules.
With a synthetic phonic approach, you just have to spend a little bit more time at the word level before giving children books to read. Of course you still read books to them! In the early stages children reading phonetically sound more stilted than 'whole word' readers. But once they've got the rules to automaticity, there's no stopping them.

shades1 - interesting points and question. The thing that stands out with synthtic phonics teaching is that it enables children to do precisely what you are seeking - work independently. There is no guesswork, no gaps in what can be completed, no limits to what can be accomlished, no heavy reliance on adult involvement and cues. There is a sense and purpose to it - it is directly relevant to the words children see on a page and want to put on a page. They have ownership of it. They see that they can do it - the rewards are rapid and continuous.

I always recommend Jolly Phonics - not because I'm on any kind of commission (I wish!) but because I have used it and really think it is fab. I love the picture references for the sounds which I find invaluable for display purposes and as a visual representation for the sounds which is not a letter or an object that has that sound at the beginning - very limiting and misleading.

There are heaps of resources other than those I ever used in the classroom which I think would much more appropriate for home use.

As for courses for parents - I'm sure there would be a huge audience for these although i don't know of any happening currently. However, I know 'whichphonics' is always looking at training opportunities (a company extended from the Jolly Trainers that exist through Jolly Learning) and also Debbie Hepplewhite at ink{http://www.syntheticphonics.comsyntheticphonics.com is embarking on new training so maybe she might consider a new audience. I would post on both of these sites' message boards and enquire. You could also contact your nearest Jolly Phonics trainer and see if they would come to a gathering of parents if you could collect enough together, although you would have to enquire about their fees which are individual to all trainers.

celia2 - a lovely comment, thank you! I love hearing those stories.

singersgirl - valuable comment. I love RM's 'Superphonics' books and they have also proved really popular with my classes.

I have, however, found that many children find the books that look the dullest, most tedious stories to me quite exciting - as they can actually read them themselves and that is the most motivcating thing for them.

oops, should have previewed that - no idea how that happened. Well, that garble links to Jolly Learning OK - so here's the other site.

I've been lurking around various reading threads with interest. I am a passionate advocate of synthetic phonics.I worked in secondary, not primary, teaching teenagers to read on a reading recovery programme. An astonishingly large number of children arrived at 11 who were functionally non-readers, and we found the most effective support was to go back to the very basics and teach a programme based on synthetic phonics, aimed at older children of course. It had fantastic results, but you do have to "keep with the programme". I was extremely pleased when I went to the meeting at ds's new school, and they said they were doing the Jolly Phonics programme, and following it strictly. He is loving it!

And I've noticed at the DSs' school that they use Jolly Phonics for remediation - the frieze is up in the Learning Support room and I've seen TAs working with children in Y2 with the sounds. So why don't they start with it in Reception?
And, backing up Catflap's point, now that DS2 really understands the rules, he is trying to read everything - his older brother's Horrid Henry joke book, a really dire Rugrats annual we've got, the menu in Pizza Express. He doesn't look at unfamiliar words and say "I don't know that one." He starts at the beginning - he can even do it with things like 'production' now.

Catflap, are you talking about the Diane MacGuinness stuff? I've just started reading her book "Why our kids can't read (and what to do about it)" and she also says that more or less all normal children can be taught to read by one method as long as it's the right one. I'm getting very excited about this and hoping that once I get to chapter 11, I'll be able to teach my DS to read as he hasn't learnt yet, and is now in Year 2. Are you familiar with this, and do you agree with it, or are you talking about something else entirely?

Caligula - yes, that's the lady and that's the book! Well, that's where I started and to be honest, I based most of my practice around what she had to say in that book, using the JP materials as a resource. I was hugely excited when I read it - I'm glad you are enjoying it.