not so jolly phonics!!!

[frangipan]

OK I'm no expert but DS2 has just started Yr1. He is a late june child so turned 5 just before the end of reception. They used the jolly phonics in reception for the first time at the school last september when DS2 started.

BUT........ he can't read...at all.....despite every effort at home to support him.

AND........while he recognises most letters that are written down ie if we read the alphabet........he only knows their sound not the actual letter.... iyswim. For example he will say 'a' as in apple but doesn't know it as the letter A as in 'Ay'.

Now I don't know if this is age related or teaching related but DS1 was taught the 'old fashioned' way and he is a fab reader and was reading by the end of reception, he is now in YR3 , but then he is an early sept child. He was taught 'Ay' is for apple. 'Bee' is for ball etc etc

I just don't feel like this jolly phonics has done DS1 any favours at all, he doesn't want to read and gets panicky when I am reading him a story if I ask him what any of the letters are let alone the words.

Any advice on how I can help him would be dearly appreciated.
Thanx in anticipation.

Can recommend rude words .

We have some of those letters that stick to the bath. Sometimes we did did a bathtime session of toilet words. My boy when he was first starting to learn loved it. If you don't want to make it too scary then say give the letters b, b, u then get him to arrange them into bum. Rather than a scary pile.

You can build it into simple sentances as they get more confident.

childs name sat on his bum.

OK I felt a little worried what he's come up with at school

Forgot to say when it gets to more complicated sounds then he used to think it was hysterical if you over emphasis some blends in a comic way, with a silly face.

f AR t

t OI (as in oi you) let

Good job I never became a teacher.

I'm a remedial reading teacher and I would be very concerned if my child was not beginning to read after a couple of terms of GOOD synthetic phonics teaching.

The fact that your child is not reading yet, more than likely means one of two things -either the teaching is poor, or your child has serious underlying language problems that are still not being tackled.

If your child can hold a normal conversation and seems otherwise bright then you can be almost certain that it's the teaching that is the problem.

Jolly Phonics is an excellent synthetic phonic programme but it needs to be used by a knowledgeable person who sticks to the programme's principles. In the wrong hands its effectiveness can be ruined.

Do read the following page
www.aowm73.dsl.pipex.com/dyslexics/should_I_have.htm

HTH

sorry for hijack:
Maverick, do you think that one of the reasons why ds is so slow at picking up reading might be that his dominant language is still Italian? thanks (sorry frangipan)

OOOH Tissy and bluebob i think he'd love the rude words!!!

DS2 is a real chatterbox and holds a conversation with no probs. He's not daft by any stretch of the imagination and maybe it is just a case of him not being ready yet.

He's great at games and PE according to his school report[GRIN]

And in RE he is beginning to develop his own set of moral values...apparently

I'm getting off the OP! i'm 34 weeks pregnant at the mo, so probrably worrying far to much. I'm going to go in to school tommorow and see what DS teacher thinks about my concerns. While part of me feels that he's still only little and that it will all click into place at some point, another part of me doesn't want to not do anything about it in case there is a problem and he gets 'left behind

Am going to go off and cry irrationally about it now, because I'm hormonal and I can.............

Thanks for all your advice xxxxxx

Don't cry Frangipan, if this is of any consolation my ds's report applauded his dressung up abilities .

LOL at the dressing up!!! Bless 'em..

went into to school to see DS2 teacher today and discussed my concerns. I didn't realise he was having extra support in school on a one to one basis 3 x weekly- nice to be kept informed

We're sticking to the 'sounding out' now and just trying 10 minutes of 3 letter cvc words on the way home each night. I guess I just didn't understand how jolly phonics worked, but fingers crossed we'll make some progress now.

Tonight we managed- Bum, Tum, Hum.....

And DS2 had a star of the week award today also....sniff sniff....
thanks to you all xxxxxxxxx

Sounds to me like he is not being taught properly. My dc's school 'did' JP but alongside key words and look and say and only did the alphabet sounds not the long vowel sounds which were left until year1 and Year 2 . They also sent home reading books with words they could not decode from thir knowledge and were expected to guess (eg fence, ice cream) - appalling for dd's confidence and she almost gave up.

I would recommend the Jolly phonics video - it is great and they love watching it, and because it is TV it does not feel like learning. Get some really easy books like jelly and bean with only one or two words per page and no confusing complicated pictures and just go from there very slowlly.

I taught my two this way once i realsied how bad the school were and dd (age 6) now has a reading age of 9.

Good luck

PS if you are close to Bristol you can borrow my basic books

Not read the whole thread so apologies if i've duplicated anything.

The jolly phonics system is completely different from how my niece and nephew were taught (they had letterland) so I did buy a few bits off Amazon as DS started reception in September to help me get to grips with how he was being taught to read.

The CD is fab, the songs are simple and have the letter sounds in them so definately worth getting. The teachers handbook is also very good and it comes with photocopying rights so you can copy the worksheets etc. I'd be more than happy to send you copies of the parts relevant to the stage your DS is at if its any help.