Phonics at nursery or just letter sounds

[MNersanonymous]

ds is not quite 3 yet but very into letters and seems to want to learn to read words. He knows his letter names and most sounds so I asked his nursery if they do phonics in the next room up and apparently they don't - they just do letter sounds. So as far as literacy goes he already knows anything he will learn there in the next year and a bit which seems a bit odd. I guess he won't get bored as he can just have fun at this age (which is of course more important!)

Is this a problem ....?

So my questions are:

• do all nurseries take this approach and not start phonics?
• should I look to change move to a pre-school if that would be a better combination of learning and play?
• should I just not worry about it, do anything more at home and see nursery as a place to play rather than a place to learn AND play (although I'm sure he learns other stuff at nursery - educational and social skills)

Personally prefer a play-oriented pre-school environment, preferably with absolutely no formal learning. It's about developing social skills, beginnings of independence, forming friendships etc. I wouldn't push it at 2 - they will spend a year on phonics when they start reception anyway (if is hasn't been superceded by another theory of reading by then but that is another thread)

Letter sounds are the same as phonics...the sound each letter makes. My DD's nursery have a 'letter/number of the week'- she loves the activities connected with the letter. I think they spend 10minutes a day on their letter of the week and then á lot of the activities are based around that letter. E.g. last week was the letter E- lots of Easter stuff, Eggs, Elephant things. They also went Exploring the school grounds which she loved. DD loves the craft side of school.

They will repeat the letter sounds/phonics again next year (she will still be in Nursery) and then again in Reception and then revise them again in Year 1.
DD has known her phonics and letter names, (capitals and lower case) since she was 15months old. I am not worried about her repeating the same stuff again ...maybe by the 5th repeat she will get bored but at the moment she is lving everything connected with school.

We purposely chose her school to keep her an all rounder- she would take the academic route in a flash but we wanted her to have fun, make friends and enjoy going. She loves playing outside everyday, doing PE daily, haivng music etc.

Sorry- think I have gone off on a tangent! lol

The Rose report recomended that all children start a programme of synthetic phonics before thier fifth birthday, prior to this activitys should be used to develop thier phonological awarness. This is reflected in the EYFS. Are you sure they said they did letter sounds or did they say "letters and sounds"? Letters and sounds: principles and practice of high quality phonics is replacing Progression in phonics and playing with sounds, it is a phonics resource which takes in to account the findings of the Rose report and you can get a copy from www.teachernet.gov.uk/publications At his age it is more important that he can blend and segment the sounds that make up words, so maybe you could play games related to this with him when you need to keep him occupied!

it depends on the nursery I would guess. Is your DS at a day care nursery? IME, these are not so hot on the phonics teaching - which is fine if that's waht you want.

My DSs went to nurseries which were part of a school - much more "educational" IYSWIM but DS1 was certainly reading by the time he left his.

If you want him to learn his phinics, your best bet would be to get some resources yourself - ELC have Jolly Phonics por you can get them direct forom the Jolly Phonics website

At Talking Tots we look at phonological awareness in the pre school year... this is really important as a pre cursor to literacy. Through fun games the children learn skills such as rhyming and initial sound awareness. At that age children may be really ready to play with and manipulate sounds.
Regards,
Lisa

I agree with sinclair. The nursery I often work at does do letter sounds with the children but in a very informal way and they are introduced through play.

DD's day nursery did no formal learning at all. It was a purely learn through play environent, and it was fab!

DD went to school knowing her letter sounds and knowing that they put together would make words, but that was it - all picked up through play. Within the first couple fo days she had grasped the idea of sounding out to make full words, and quickly moved onto reading properly.

You don't need to have formal learning before school age IMO.

nice plug for your business Lisa....

My daughter's preschool encourages phonic awareness through things like nursery rhymes, songs, stories etc. They need to have this awareness before they can start learning to read. It is basically just awareness of sounds - through rhyme, rhythm, alliteration etc. There is nothing technical or academic about it and you can do it at home just by singing nursery rhymes!

Letter sounds are not actually taught at my daughter's preschool but if they do know them the staff will acknowledge it and spend a bit of time doing letter sounds with that child, but it's not what they're there for.

You could introduce him to letters and sounds at home, if he enjoys that, and he will soon learn to read simple words. But you can't expect a preschool to do formal teaching.

My daughter (4.2) knows her letter sounds but hasn't got the attention span to read more than 1 word at a time!

You have to start by using the small letters (not capitals) because this is how they will do it at school. Introducing capitals too early can cause confusion.

Preschools tend to believe that children don't need to learn to read before they start school, they should just enjoy sounds through nursery rhymes, songs etc and they will learn because it's fun.

Nurseries may not "teach" but your children do LEARN!!

Of course thet will do letter sounds & recognition -they have to have the same standards for OFSTED as a pre-school just in a less structured school-ish environment, which for very young children works better IMHO (but then being a nursery owner I am a tad biased!!)

Plenty of time for him to learn phonics at school in reception/Y1.