Learning letters / early reading skills

[onceipopicantstop]

Hi ds age 4 is just getting interested in letters and words. He can recite the alphabet and so I thought the next step would be to start recognising the letters. He can identify the letters (only 3!) for his name.

Silly question but I'm just wondering how to describe the letter to him. Should I say it as if we were saying the alphabet, or as if it was being used at the beginning of a word? (Sorry there's probably a much better/technical way of phrasing the question!)

I have bought some flash cards - partly because dc2 is due any day and I thought it was something we could look at together whilst I'm feeding. (I do have other less educational activities planned too!)

you could say this is the letter and this is the sound it makes e.g. letter A makes the sound 'ah'. For reading they need to know the sound the letter makes so they can blend more easily. You could google for phonic sounds so you know the sound for each letter

Thanks. That's pretty much what I've been doing, just wanted to make sure I wasn't going to confuse him!

If you get this DVD it will teach you DS how to say the sounds!

Thanks for the dvd recommendation. Something else to occupy ds whilst I'm breastfeeding!

Agree with the above but above all enjoy sharing books together. A love of books is generated by the pleasure gained from that closeness of a loving adult sharing a favourite story. Discuss stories and gradually draw the child into the content and gradually into the written word. Later on do not insist children read to you as you will limit the extent of their reading. They will enjoy reading to you if it is in a relaxed and happy atmosphere. Take turns reading - perhaps a page each. The story will proceed in a more fluent manner and the child will benefit from hearing the book language of that particular book. (Book language is not the same as spoken, one of the reasons that reading to children is so important).

Forgot to add to above - beware of jumping too far ahead and end up teaching a child that reading is difficult.

Thanks for the tips!

pocket phonics app is good if you have a smart phone.

Make sure you don't add vowel sounds to the ends of consonant sounds S=sssss, (like a snake's hiss) not suh. I have seen children struggle to combine S and N for instance, when parents have taught them "Suh, Nuh" rather than "SsssNnnn".

Magnetic fridge letters are fun. You can start them far apart and drive them closer together to have the sounds bash into each other and create real or nonsense words.

My children used to think it was amusing to make weird combinations of letters and get me to read the unpronounceable silly words.