How do I teach a 4 year old to read?

[Sachertorte]

I don´t know how to go about it basically and don´t like the look of phonics, does this really help or just make the process more complicated? Are there other ways to teach reading? I´m not sure DD would like a very structured approach with phonics, I think she would prefer to learn individual words by heart...

Definitely focus on the letter sounds - there's no point to begin with in knowing that "c" is "see", "a" is "ay", and "t" is "tee" because most of the time when you meet them joined up into words they don't make that sound. If you spell out see-ay-tee it comes out more like "seat" or "settee" than "cat". You need to introduce the letters with the shortest possible version of the sound they make - so "c" "a" "t" - try to avoid even making them sound like "cuh", "ah", "ter" - that way she'll see (when it clicks, which may not be immediate) that they blend together to make something that sounds like "cat".

It may take a while before she "gets it", I'm sure there's people with teacher training who can explain why that is, but I think their brain just has to reach a stage where it's ready to deal with the concept, and you may feel like you're banging your head against a brick wall if she just doesn't get it. But it will make sense to her when she's ready!

The advantage of phonics schemes is that they work through the simple letters first, getting them used to the sound and the letter together - but you can do this yourself, thinking of all the words that start with a "c" sound, or drawing things. Then later move on to the letters which are trickier, and combinations of letters.

Thanks for that, things are much clearer! So I start with pictures relating to single letters big a and pictures of apple, ant, etc. . throught to z. I concentrate on the shortest possible sound each letter makes, put in context with a word.

Then I blend 2 letters together, and show what sound that gives, then 3, and the unusual combinations.

I guess there is a sensible order in which to introduce the blended sounds (and even the alphabet, where x and y and z are least used, but what are the most common ones..?

I guess what I mean is, what letters and what blends come up the most often, so should be studied first?

Is learning to write integrated with the reading normally or can this be done separately later. What is best?

Many thanks!

Hulababy, I couldn´t download letters and souns.. I have to pay?! Is it worth it?

Try the list of downloads at the side - phse 1, 2, etc. They dwnload for me without asking me to pay.

The document shows you what happens in school regards literacy.

Yes, the letter order is on those documents. The documents have suggested ways of teaching and going about doing it all. It is aimed at class teaching but many of the ideas can be used at home.

Summary from looking at the documents

Phase 1 is all about listening to sounds, rather than identifying real letters.

Phase 2 teaches 19 letter sounds and some of the first tricky words.

Order:
Set 1: s a t p
Set 2: i n m d
Set 3: g o c k
Set 4: ck e u r
Set 5: h b f, ff l, ll ss

Tricky words: the to I go no

Phase 3 teaches another 26 sounds:

Set 6: j v w x*
Set 7: y z, zz qu*

Graphemes
ch chip ar farm
sh shop or for
th thin/then ur hurt
ng ring ow cow
ai rain oi coin
ee feet ear dear
igh night air fair
oa boat ure sure
oo boot/look er corner

Phases 4-6 take it all further again

Hi Sachertone
We live abroad and are home educating our DD5. I worried about teaching her to read too and I sent for Jolly Phonics books from the Uk but DD didnt take to them.
We read lots and lots of lovely books together and she was learning the phonetic sounds of letters but I felt I needed something more structured (for my own peace of mind )

I found
www.readinglesson.com

This, you have to pay for, but it is reasonably priced and it has been so worth the money.
It allows you to download a set of 20 phonetic reading lessons that you just print off as you need them. Step by step,the lessons introduce new letters, sounds and words. Each lesson has stories, and fun activities. It sarts off very simple and gradually builds up. I must admit I was a little sceptical, but DD loved it. It took us around 10 months to get through the 20 lessons, you just go at the child's pace. DD was reading fluently by the end of it. Mind, she still prefers to be read to, and we read lots and lots of lovely books together to build on the reading skills she already has.
You can also print off certificates and stickers at the end of each lesson.
I think it cost around 27 dollars for the twenty lessons, but for us it was so worth it
They also sell cd's and story books, writing lessons etc, but I found the twenty lesson reading e.book was enough.It has given DD the confidence to read anything.
You can buy the book in black and white or color. I bought the black and white (by accident) but I'm glad I did as DD could color the pictures in as we went along.
Have a look at the web-site. You can down-load the first lesson free.

We also love, www.starfall.com
Its our favourite and DD learned all her letter sounds and blending. And..it's free.

Good luck.

Muminscotland i do understand that learning letter sounds are a key to being able to disifer words howver in the school where I work reception children(who are ready) are give groups of words on flashcards which are the common words that they need to know by the end of reception. Some of our children can not recogonise all the letters and the sounds they make, they are making headway into learning their flashcard words.

Here is the reason for getting your child to read before they start school:

When I went visiting a school the other day there was a little boy sitting outside the classroom with an assistant reading a book about Knights and Castles. He was reading this great little story aloud and managed all the words like an expert. The teacher then took me into his class where the rest of his class were all sitting in the dark, staring at an OHP, chanting out phonics as a group. I thought that one little boy is filling his head with fairy tales and stories, feeding his imagination, while the rest of the class were on abc. I'm desperate to get my 4 year old to read and be like that one little boy who had such a head start. Not just from an educational angle, but for the sheer marvel of being able to enjoy books as soon as possible.

To be fair spaceman, that is definitely NOT how I have seen phonics taught either at DD's school or at the school I work at.

Children can still enjoy books way before they can ready them.

And learning to read early is nothing to do with intelligence either.

My DD knew all her letter sounds and some graphemes before starting school and was making an atteot to blend sounds to make simple words. She could also sound out simple CVC words. But she couldn't read but it didn't hold her back at all. She was reading her first books the very first week of school and two years later you cannot tell the difference between DD and the girl int he class who could read fluently when she started school.

That's where reading to your children comes in surely?

To me the fact that little boy was immersed in a real story while the other children were looking at an OHP was really prominent. I didn't say it was anything about intelligence did I? My DD began 'reading' books when she was about sixteen months old . I still want her to be able to read properly as soon poss though - not so she's good at school, but so she can then start to really expand her own mind. I don't care about looking good in front of the teachers or getting good test marks - it's for her own personal enjoyment.

No you didn't. Didn't mention you did. It is just something some people think and as part of rest of my post(s) was just reiterating this fact.

TBH I would have way more concerns over a child being isolated and working alone for any period of time at this age and also of a class of childrne learning phonics ina dark room with an OHT than anything else. Reception is learn through play and shouldnot be having hilren "learning" in this way.

I agree books are really important in any child's life. My DD has had books from birth and has been taking them to bed with her since way before she turned a year old. But I still do not feel she was hindered from learning by not being able to read on starting school. Just my own personal feeling about this.

If a child is really really interested and pushing to do it themselves, fair enough - some children do learn on ther own very early on. But unles that is the case to em it is not something I would spend a great deal of time pushing. As said in my earlier posts, I think at pre school age the pre reading skills are far more important.

Well sitting chanting things out from an OHP sounds very different from how DS was taught phonics, they spent time colouring in the things which started with "c" in the picture, singing songs about "c" words, drawing things, then later underlining words or letters, or finding them in word searches. All lots of fun.

I think if I was a 5 year old boy having to be taken out to sit in the corridor and not doing the same work as the rest of the class, I'd have very mixed feelings about it, however much fun the book was.

Because of us moving, DS did reception in a school in England then started P1 in Scotland. I thought it was more important for him to be with his proper age-group, and not being pressured as reception doesn't cover as much as P1 does, so we didn't get him put up into P2.

But he could already read, so when the new P1s were starting at the beginning of phonics he did his reading with the P2s. In his case, it wasn't a horrible isolating experience, but that was largely because he was in a composite P1/2/3 class, where they moved between different groups for different subjects. If he'd been in a purely P1 class, I think it could have been much more difficult for him, and I don't think the enjoyment he got out of books would have been that much of a positive.

www.sparklebox.co.uk/cll/alphabet/space.html

Spaceman just because you saw one child was outside reading to a teaching assistant while others practice their phonics doesn't mean that most of the other children aren't capable of doing the same. I imagine the TA was hearing individual readers one to one while the teacher taught the rest of the class (a good phonics/reading/spelling lesson involves a daily revisit to all the sounds before introducing new learning). As a reception teacher this is the way I work in my class. When you consider there are 150+ ways of writing the 44 sounds in the English language there is always something new to learn and remember.