Teaching to children to read - Any tips?

[CHOCOLATEPEANUT]

My daughter is 2 years and 7 months. She did everything early walking 9 months, talking in sentances 18 nmonths. We have just come back from holiday and two guests in our hotel said she was exceptionally bright. She wrote her name last week and I have never shown her how but her name is on things like her door and in her room so I guess she copied it.She loves books and we sit down each morning and night and read a few favourites. She now recognises words and and fills in the missing words when I read. I have just bought the Oxford Learning Tree books and I wondered if anyone has used them and if they have any tips on teaching children to read?

I could read before I went to school as my mother taught me but she died 7 years ago so I cant ask her

ORT probably isn't the ideal series to begin with as it is n't phonic based and the stories become too sophisticated for a younger reader beyond level 6 or so. Something like \link{ www.jollylearning.co.uk/\Jolly Phonics} might be a good place to start and you can get a parent's handbook to suggest creative activities and ways of approaching it in a subtle but multi-faceted manner. If she attends a playgroup or preschool you may want to tie in whatever you do at home with the method they introduce.

Do bear in mind that she is still young and an early interest may not follow through to early literacy and she may naturally get diverted into other areas of learning and play along the way.

Jolly Phonics sorry

It's probably considered very old fashioned now but I was taught to read via flash cards, from a book called something like 'Teach your Baby To Read'. I'm sure I've seen it around within the last 3 years.

I remember using flash cards and mum kept them in one of my grandads old tobacco tins!

My dd (7) was like this - she is still way ahead of her peers. I think I responded to her clear interest by building on what she recognised, in a fun + unstructured way. eg moving on from recognising her name to spotting other words beginning with the same letter. Before I knew it she was reading simple words/phrases at 3 and reading long books at 3-4 (eg Naughty Little Sister, Milly Molly mandy, poems etc.) Poetry is good as it reinforces the rhythms of language. I also made little signs on coloured card and blutacked them onto the appropriate object, eg "bed", "door". Shoot me down for hothousing if you like, but dd was voracious ! Later, once your dd can recognise quite a few words, you could get some magnetic letters and encourage her to spell out "cat", "dog" etc.
I wouldn't use a scheme, though flashcards can be fun. there are lots with pictures on too.

My ds3 is 2.5 and it looks like he's going the same way. adores books, shouts out letters and numbers from car registrations, can work out that if "b" is for "boy", "b" is for boat, big, boot, etc. i won't be using a scheme for him either.

By contrast, my ds1 and ds2 are/were bright as toddlers, but weren't really interested in reading so early. Ds1 was the last in his class to be given a "real" reading book, but when he was ready it clicked very fast and he rpidly overtook many of thr precociously early readres.

If your dd is doing this so early, she must be bright, but don't panic if there's a plateau or if children like my ds1 catch up and overtake !

Just enjoy her enthusiasm. Good luck to your clever dd.

Ds reads when he is out and about - signs, mail box numbers, shop names, window displays. It's a great free way of learning to read, and it's practical too!

He has learnt the high frequency words in the Hairy Maclary books and will pick them out. He can pick out the same words out of context as well spotting them in a newspaper or on a tube of cream.

He won't have a bar of Jolly phonics, prefering to use the whole word method (see - children don't keep up to date with educational trends).

She sounds very bright and lovely and I'm sure she will teach herself to read.

I could read fluently before I went to school but mum insists I taught myself and learnt most of it from 'sesame street'

My mum and dad tell me that I taught myself too. If you are read to a lot then you will pick it up, just like if you are spoken to a lot you will have better speech.

Read and read and read to her as you are doing.
Let her see the text and answer her questions.
Give her access to plenty of books. Put magnetic
letters on the fridge and tell her which are
which. Let her see you reading and enjoying books
yourself.

If she is already getting the hang of
words and letters the chances are she will learn
to read more or less spontaneously (you could be
describing my dd at that age and she more or less
taught herself to read by 3 1/2 - all I did was
encourage her).

Have to disagree that 'if you are read to a lot, you will pick it up.' It is true of some (often very bright) children, and your son is probably one of them, Threebob. But the vast majority of children simply do not absorb the written word by osmosis, and do need at least some instruction in learning to read. Self-taught readers are pretty rare in the real world, even if it doesn't always seem that way on a message board.

I know plenty of bright children who have been read to extensively since babyhood who have not picked up reading quickly, and a few from that group who have really struggled until given explicit phonics teaching.

I think if you have a child who 'just picks up' reading, perhaps you don't realise that for most people it doesn't happen like that. I (naively) didn't realise that not all children learned their numbers well before they were 2, until I saw 3 and 4 year olds learning them.

Please please forgive the thread crash but I daren't post a new thread for fear of the responses from some quarters on MN.
My Ds is 2.7 as well chocolatepeanut and gets the jolly phonics books out that we bought for dd 6 months ago (this is what they're using in Nursery). Dd's doing well with them and is just starting to read. Ds on the other hand is starting to word blend, just simple CVC but I'm worried about whether we should be allowing him to progress so quickly. He is already through book3 and wants to read the same as his sister, but he won't go to Nursery for another 15 months yet! What can I do? Nursery asked us not to go onto Book4 which looks at 'ar', 'ou' etc, but she wants to do them. We read a lot at home so we're wondering if the interest is stimulated this way. While I'm on how do you stimulate a 2.7 yo who knows all his colours, numbers (30+) and shapes. I've tried to ask a friend but she was horrified that he has these abilities. Now I don't dare mention it to anyone
Again really sorry for the thread crash but I so didn't want to post a separate thread for this, I'm pg again and think really sarky replies will just set tears off.

Sorkycake, ignore nursery and follow what your ds and dd want to do. Nursery are just trying to make their own lives easier by having all the children of a certain age at the same level. You cannot do any harm by allowing them to progress quickly in reading.

Sorry but the attitude of your nursery really gets my back up. I don't have a g&t child myself but I was an advanced kid, as was dh and many of our friends, and so many of us had periods in our lives when were bored, frustrated and thoroughly miserable due to us not being allowed to do the stuff we were dying to learn.

Learning should be a total delight and a joy and if you follow your child's interests and the pace they set, it will be far more of a pleasure for all of you than if you listen to any fixed ideas about what a child should be learning at a given age.
(sorry, rant over!)

sorkycake

Congrats on pg!

I feel awkward about dd's abilities especially as I have friends with children same age and she 'stands out like a sore thumb' and often looks at other children and then says Mummy they are babies.It sounds like you are bragging but really all you want to do is your best for them.
x

sounds bang on like my ds when he was little
he just taught himself to read, I read, he recognised words and asked about some, then one day he just read.. I think he was 3.5 or just over. Very early.
FWIW Dr Seuss, and the Berenstein bears suited him perefctly as well as Thomas books
He did not like the Oxord LT books at all. He did tolerate letterland but not much.
IMHO an early reading ability nurtured is true gift

I taught DS1 to read using whole word Ladybird books pre-school. DS2 was less interested so I didn't push it and he learnt at school and loved ORT. Whole word method works for some - I can remember being bored in phonics lessons in reception as I too was an early reader. However, schools can be a little difficult - DS1 had to work his way through from the first picture books when he started school and DS2 was forced to start from the beginning again on a very old reading scheme when we moved and he changed schools at end of Year 1 and new (not very good school) said he hadn't learnt the words on their list.

Thank you very much, I started the books they want to read today. I'm just going to let them guide themselves as to what they want to do and hope for the best. Chocolatepeanut I'm finding that I'm almost apologetic to people saying 'oh well, you know they all even out in the end' or 'I'm sure he'll be the same as everyone else when they all start school'. Stupid I know as I'm probably unconsciously showing him that I'm ashamed of him (iyswim) by making excuses, but I'm finding these to be awkward situations that I never thought I'd be in. Does that make sense. Piffle, did your son show any other early skills other than reading and did you nuture these, mine loves numbers and shapes but I don't know what else to give him to do in terms of games etc?

I taught DS with "Teach your child to read in 100 easy lessons" by F Engelman (on Amazon, £13). We did roughly 2-3 lessons a week, of 10-15 minutes each. He is a very good reader, though mostly comics nowadays - not too highbrow He's 6.5.

One of the most important pre-requisits for developing good reading skills is phonological awareness. This is the sounds that the letters make. If you want to help your lo concentrate on helpng themin this area. I made little single letter flaskcards for ds as he had such an interest in books and words. Stasrted with the letters for his name and other common ones, when he knew these I'd introduce a few more and so on until by 2.5 he knew the sounds for all the letters in the alphabet. We playedgames with he cards and had a very fun time with them in a relaxed environment, it was never forced and that is the important thing. It is still a game he often chooses when we are deciding what to do, and the crds have progressed now to include word blends (th, sh, ch, ea, etc.) I wouldn't bother with a reading scheme at this age though.

I agree about phonics - works well for all children although boys often manage whole word better because it sues the side of their brain that is naturally easier. Phonics is better in the long run though, according to research i read, as the multi snesory approach makes links between left and right sides of the brain and evens out boys development.

If they do want to look at books the best I found for kids of 3 are Jelly and Bean - my ds loves them. They start very simply but soon move on to more complicated stuff but they are properly phonically based so no confuisions.

I know what you mean about 'apologising' but you are not ashamed of him, just trying not to 'boast' and being sensitive to the feelings of other parents.

I agree with the other posters - teach your children all they want to know. If they get bored and are turned off learning this early it will affect thier whiole lives. Let the teachers worry about it when he goes to school - they can and should differentiate the work for each child.

phonics is much better. My older children now at univesrity were at the tale end of the non phonics phase and contrasting them with my 7 year olds I've found the 7 year olds found using phonics much easier because they are taught the skill of how to sound out the words. The older children did have some phonics but too much - flash card type stuff. My second daughter learned to read at 3 - she was just more interested than the others.

Jolly Phonics - buy the whole thing on Amazon. But she's very young for it.

We went to a preschool session today. The local school has full time nursery places at 3 but as dd is not 3 till nov she wont go till next sept. The school however have two morning sessions every week for the 2-3 to 'get them into the routine' for starting full time next year in nursery.
my dd has been going to a private nursery 3 days a week since 6 mths as i work part time so today was no big deal for her. I thought it would be useful for her to start mixing with those children she would go through school with.

she turned up and stood out like a sore thumb.the teacher said she was ready for full time now and could move up a year,all the other mums were listening and talking amongst themselves and i felt a bit out of it. it happens all the time,when we go to parties people just stare at her

is it just me?

Your daughter is the same age as mine. She'll also be 3 in Nov. We've started her on the Jolly phonics books, although I haven't done any of the blending with her. Its worked brilliantly with her, she loves looking at the books and now will spot the letters around and about town (like the P for parking on the roadside and tell us what the letters are). My personal thoughts were that she could recgonise letters okay, but at not yet 3, I felt she was too young to do any writing or blending, although she can trace her name...
Good luck, its not too young and whether she continues to be good at reading or not, I have to say I have loved every minute of sharing her new discoveries with her!

My ds is a year older - 4 in month or so. He was just the same at 2/3, taught himslef to read whilst dd was learning in Reception. Thankfully his school agreed to take him into Reception in Sep and he is thriving. He really loves it and fits in so well. He gets tired by the end of the week but then dd did at this time.

Do what you can with her and see how it goes.

willowcatkin

its nice to hear that your child has been moved up and is thriving well.i have been doing the read at home books with my dd and she loves them.she can 'remember' most of them now.i also use flash cards for the alphabet which she loves.

she started 1 hour french classed last week and tonight when i gave her a drink she said 'merci mummy!!

now on ebay trying to get a french book (for me, its been a while...)