Learning to read first books

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I am looking at starting off teaching my son the basics of reading and was wondering if anyone had any good book recommendations as starter books?

Any helpful tips welcome if anyone has any.

We went for the Oxford reading tree ones that they use at school.
Once I had taught my son the alphabet in phonic sounds (so ah, buh, cuh rather than ay, bee, see) it was really easy for him to break down the first words.

The books are really simple at the lower levels and get progressively harder.
He picked it up straight away (he was 4 in February)

How old is he OP?

Reading any and every book with a young baby is the first step, and absolutely vital!

These are great: www.jollylearning.co.uk/shop/uk-shop/phonics-resources/finger-phonics-books-1-7/

We enjoyed the Finger Phonics books that were thick cardboard and the letters can be traced with a finger.

It was a long time ago mind. Mine knew their letter sounds well before reception with these books.

We then progressed to the Oxford reading tree. I purchased the entire collection quite cheaply as a box set.

I have been looking at the oxford tree ones as I wanted to use the ones they do in school (although not sure if they are used in every school in every area) but thought it would be a good starting point.

I have looked and some say they are picture ones, so I wasnt sure if it was the pink or lilac I should go for.

He knows his alphabet so can identify all his letters but I taught Ay, Bee, See, Dee and now I have been advised he needs to know the letter is bee and its sound is Bu.

He keeps asking can he learn to read himself so i wanted to get some books to see what they are like.

I'm trying to find some good phonics info as well, so I can learn what the new way of teaching the sounds are, and then teach it to him.

It's very different from when I grew up, so any recommendations would be appreciated.

Hes 3 in August.

You can download the government's Letters and Sounds pack which is used in a lot of schools.
www.gov.uk/government/publications/letters-and-sounds
It takes you through the phonic phases. There are lots of resources online to support this. Easily found with a quick Google.
I used Julia Donaldson's Songbirds books with my DD.

DS liked Julia Donaldson's Songbirds set - she manages to wring a surprising amount of story out of a few very simple words.

Brilliant the finger phonics book look great as S,A,T,N,I,P was mentioned as a starting point for the phonics part. I have ordered the 1st one.

I taught both my girls starting with letterland. Then moved onto Biff and Chip.

Dipped into songbird phonics as well. And both girls enjoyed the puddle lane books to help with confidence in high frequency words and "sight" reading as well as phobic decoding.

My 4 and a half year old has finished all our Biff and Chips now and is loving "Frog and Toad" at the moment which has limited vocabulary but longer fun stories. We also dip into Dr Suez as well who has restricted vocab.

You will get mixed responses, some people are really against teaching children to read before school but personally I really really love teaching my girls to read so it was something we enjoyed together as part of their day.

I would strongly recommend getting familiar with how schools teach phonics and all the phonic rules and sounds as schools are really hot on this and it will give your child confidence when they start reception.

Phobic decoding lol. PHONIC decoding

Oh god, I feel an awful parent reading this! My child has just turned 4 and doesn’t know any phonics! I’m very impressed your little boy wants to learn to read op at his young age, that’s a great start. Am going to have a look at those finger phonics books recommended above. Good luck!

@LurkyMcLurcker we are the same, we love reading together and he knows most of his books off by heart but as you say, I need to get up to speed with how the school do it and how to sound the phonics.

From the ones I have heard the noises at first feel a bit alien, so need to get to grips with the actual sounds. I don't want to be hindering rather than actually helping

Find out which phonic set your choice of school uses. Our school uses read write inc, you can buy the packs of amazon but there are daily you tube videos at the moment. Usual a small number of sounds are taught first, “m, s, a, d” and then children are taught to blend cvc words.

Watch alpha blocks on ceebies too.

We had the Julia Donaldson songbirds phonics set which was good. Have a look on the website Book2 door (or possibly books 2 door ) I think they have some starter sets.

You can actually get lots of the Oxford reading tree books free online at the moment - go to the Oxford Owl website, you have to sign up but there are loads of ebooks and resources. I prefer hard copy books myself but might be useful.