Help, where do i start with a daugther who wants to read?

[kistigger]

My daughter is nearly 3 and desperate to read. She is a very clever little thing, knows her colours, numbers, shapes and some of her letters but still wants more. She wants to pick up books for herself and read what they say. I want to point out I am not pushing her but more being pulled/dragged!
She won't start school for another 18months and it's difficult to tell her she has to wait that long to start reading. They also don't teach any variety of reading/phonics in her two mornings she goes to nursery.
She can already recognise yes and no, so clearly has the abitiy to learn to read.
The libraries have nothing basic enough.
I am feeling totally lost in a sea of reading schemes, methods etc and just don't know what is the best option.
(New to this site so don't know all the jargon and don't know if this is even the right area to be posting, sorry lost, lost and more lost!!!!)

Any and all suggestions would be good.
Also where I can get the books would be good.

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One of my friends has a dd like this, she loves the Jolly Phonics stuff, she got a cd of the songs. I'm rushing out now but will check in later with some more suggestions.

Thankyou dilemma456, site is great.
I'd hoped to find something with UK English spelling and pronnuciations.
Any other suggestions?

lurking with interest as ds1 is 2.7 and exactly the same... he can recognise the whole alphabet in big letters, most in small and some numbers.

i've bought him an abc book to start with but need something a step further as just pointing to the letters and naming them won't entertain him for long

totally out of my depth with this, dd is 4 and not at all interested in letters(although has a knack for memorising short books and 'reading' them to ds1!)

ELC sells a range of jolly phonics stuff. My DS1 was never interested before school, apart from his "own" letter, but my DS2 (2.10) is very keen on learning his "sounds" and wants to read. So we look at letters and say their sounds. Mine both love the hardback book which contains all the stories for the sounds. You need to make sure you are sounding them out in the same way they will be done at school or it will be confusing for her, so I would get a jolly phonics DVD if you can't find a decent website.

Poor you Pink Tulips. I've at least had most of this reception year to learn how to help DS1 to read, so I know I'm doing things in the same way the school does. If you'd given me a jolly phonics book a year ago I think I would have thrown it in the bath!

why can't you just look at normal childrens books with her? nursery rhyme type ones or simple books like 'spot' or ones with a few words per page - they use those sort of books at school
Otherwise try here - UK downloads

i'm not even sure they do phonics in school here, have never heard anyone discussing it and the playschool are teaching dd the regular ay-bee-cee style alphabet song on the rare occasion they do anything of that nature which is very rare.

phone your local school and ask what reading system they use.. good luck go for it

Jolly phonics all the way! My DD learnt to read at 3 using JP and loved it because it is so interactive. We used to look at the letters together, and then spot the 'S' sounds on the page say, and then in real life. Once she had got the hang of that, I then got her some really simple books (from ELC) which had one word per page for the child to read (Series with books like Jen the Hen etc). Once she could read simple CVC words, we then started on some very simple phonics books (I think she was an older 3 by this stage) and she just read. Took to it like a duck to water, but it was driven by her. And contrary to what people will tell you on here, she won't necessarily be bored in reception - my DD is now 5 and in reception and reading year 2 books on average - the teacher differentiates appropriately for her, and she loves every aspect of school. HTH

Why does she have to wait until she starts school to read? Just continue reading to her/with her at home and point out words on signs and all around you while out and about - and let her take the lead. If she is interested, you won't be able to stop her.

We read to her all the time at home and find things with letters when out and about but she wants to read like her brother does.
She is learning letters but with her birthday coming up I was hoping to get her some first reading books.
The books I read to her don't have very big print in and often very complex words which children can understand but not read for quite some time.
I haven't had a chance to have a look at the Jolly Phonics reading books yet... my next task... but I've not been that impressed with their choice of pictures and actions for some letters(my 1st used this system with school). The books he read at school last year in reception were dire and so boring that he now dreads reading. So we are desperately trying to find decent stuff for him too! They did Kipper/Chip/Floppy books from stage 2 or maybe 3 onwards and some random collection of books for the earlier stages.
Currently looking at 'Read at home - oxford reading tree', 'Read with me - old ladybird scheme', 'Key reading - ladybird', 'Vowel readers - Letterland', 'Read with ladybird' and obviously the Jolly Phonics.
Does anyone have any advice on which of these are good or terrible??

I play lots of games:
make words with magnetic letters on the fridge
lots and lots of 'I spy' - very helpful for hearing the beginning sounds of a word.
see how many 'the's and 'and's we can find on a page in a book we are reading
sit at the computer with a blank document and try sounding out very simple words that you type in (also do this on paper, but they seem to enjoy the computer more)
see what letter words in signs and notices begin with when we are out and about

I also look in all charity shops for easy and appealing books - there are always early reading books in there of all types and it is a lot cheaper than buying some new to try out only to find they don't work for your child.

how about these or these though i think your choices sound good!!

Put labels on things around the house eg.chair,doll,book etc.Use RED marker pen-quit wide and only lower case letters.Tell her what they say and ask her to bring you the one that says eg 'chair' then one of the others.show her them and talk about which is which then ask her to put them back on the right places.Dont work for longer than 5 minutes and let her decide if she wants to do it.Build up numbers of words till she knows maybe 10.Then introduce idea of colours,adjecives etc.Soon you can start 'making trains'on the table eg 'big blue ball'.This is an extension of a 70s scheme by Glenn Doman 'Teach your baby to read'.My dd was reading simple books by 2.5 and reading fluently by 4.They teach phonics at school so kids have something new to learn whilst still being able to enjoy their reading.