Can anyone recommend online reading programmes?

[Sops]

I'm looking for an online reading program for my 4yo ds as although he is a big book lover and loves to be read to he has become reluctant to read his school reading books saying they're too boring and too hard. I am sure that he has the skills needed to make more progress if we can just tap into some motivation so I was thinking maybe something we do online would help.
I've looked at headsprout and that looks OK but very expensive. Does anyone know of any good ones? We have an ipad too so any apps for that which could be useful?

How about just letting him play games on the cbbc website - they're free and he'll need to use his reading to work out what to do, without it being "reading practice" as such? Also try starfall - not a reading programme as such, but he might like it. My dd also likes education city but you do have to pay for that one.

Have a look at www.phonicsinternational.com -the 'early years starters pack' would be ideal for a 4 yr.old, it's UK based, inexpensive and designed by an early reading specialist who really knows her stuff.

I agree with maverick phonics international is excellent. You could also try the games on here
Personally I don't like headsprout - American accent/spelling issues but I know other forum members love it

My ds loved Headsprout

Thanks everyone, that's really useful. ds has tried the trial episodes of headsprout and really liked it also done a few of the free games on phonics play. Are the ones you pay for on phonics play better than the free ones or pretty much the same?
Neither headsprout or phonics play work on the ipad cos of flash incompatibility. Deos anyone know anything that would work on ipad?

Reading Eggs

It's amazing. I'm a home edder and it's the best I've found. I've recommended it to 5 people and all of our children are now reading. My child begs to play his 'computer game'. We've also bought the supporting materials (not necessary IMO, you can download the PDF for each lesson).

For the month of January the Direct Instruction online reading programme Funnix is available free.

www.funnix.com

Malaleuca - is Funnix any good? Does it complement Headsprout or follow on from it well?

Funnix is a quite separate programme from HS. It is a Direct Instruction programme. There is quite a lot of information on the website.

Both HS and Funnix are programmes for beginners so neither one would follow on from the other.

Thanks - not much to lose if he does not take to it. What was your personal experience of Funnix if you don't mind sharing this?

Headsprout was fab.

Got dd reading fluently in a month or so.

Moondog is Headsprout expert if you put a callout for her!

There are actually only 7 words in English that can't be sounded out once a child/adult is taught the code.

Anyone who suggests that the English language cannot be sounded out doesn't know much about the English alphabetic code.

Take any page of text and look through it - what is there that cannot be sounded out once you know the actual alphabetic code!

There are thousands and thousands of words in the English language and the vast majority of these can be decoded by applying alphabetic code knowledge to blend the sounds together - or build up the word pronunciation.

If we don't teach children the English alphabetic code thoroughly enough - then children can only decode some of the words and the rest will have to be recalled word by word by word - or the child takes a guess at the word (and often guesses incorrectly).

Phonics is also important for teaching spelling. It is very easy to dismiss the spelling side of things by suggesting that some children are just good spellers and others aren't without doing our best to teach spelling systematically according to the English alphabetic code.

It is very worrying indeed that reading 'experts' go around saying that only words with single letters, like 'dog', can be sounded out when this is totally incorrect. What about 'ship' and 'photograph' and 'eight' - all these words and thousands of words with different 'code' can be sounded out.

So, think of your children not only for reading and not only for the short term - but for the long term for reading and spelling and don't be persuaded by people who suggest, in their ignorance, that only a few words can be sounded out.

www.phonicsinternational.com/unit1_pdfs/The%20English%20Alphabetic%20Code%20-%20complete%20picture%20chart.pdf

This is not 'all' the English alphabetic code - but the code on this chart addresses most common words in the English language.

You can add to this chart when you find words with more unusual code. So, in the word 'giraffe', the end grapheme is -ffe and this is code for the sound /f/. There are few words with this grapheme so it is not added - but you can add it if you want or when your child needs to spell something or read something with code not addressed on the chart.

What you do is say the spoken word aloud, slowly. It sort of naturally splits up into its component sounds. Then tally those single sounds to the letters you know spells the word - match the sounds to letters. Then this will give you the 'code for each sound'.

In 'eight', for example, there are two sounds /ai/ and /t/. Thus, the code for the /ai/ sound is 'eigh' in this particular word.

For spelling, then, it is good to group similarly spelled words such as 'neigh, sleigh, neighbour, weight, eighteen' and so on for the child to associate those words together to sort in his or her mind the words spelled this way.

It is this grouping of words which is underestimated for spelling purposes. This is not needed for reading purposes. The child just needs to know that 'eigh' is code for /ai/ for the sounding out and blending.

Very interesting responses to my post. I'm glad that I've managed to stimulate a bit of debate, which is always good for learning. (Though I believe it is better in a civil debate to avoid calling those with whom I disagree 'ignorant'.)

There are over a million words in the English language and the vast majority cannot be sounded out. This is hardly a controversial assertion.

Let's take the "at" sound combination for example - which is one of the first sound combinations taught in English. In phonics the "at" sound is typically taught via sentences such as "The cat sat on the flat mat" and so on. It was only fairly recently that an actual study of English was conducted that revealed that "at" only sounds like the "at" in "cat" 25% of the time. The rest of the time the "at" sound can have many other sounds as seen in the following words: ate, water, watch, beat, and attend. How is a child to know which one to choose?

And that's one of the simpler sounds in English. How about the word "rough"? To explain that the letters r-o-u-g-h are pronounced "ruff" you tell a child that the ?gh? combination sounds like ?f.? But that "rule" only goes so far. For example, when you add a th to the front of it. the word becomes "through". Slip in another "o" and it becomes "thorough". (The "ough" combination can have other sounds as well.)

Here are a few other examples that show the changing sounds of letter combinations in English:
car - care - career
real - realm - reality
hear - heart - hearse
face - facet - facetious

The sounds that letter combinations make in English change in ways that are unpredictable for a child. In fact, in English, irregularity is the rule. And for a beginning reader, reading English can be incredibly confusing. To put it simply, if phonics worked as advertised it would be spelled "foniks."

Phonics education attempts to deal with the irregularities of English by teaching almost 600 rules that children are expected to memorize. The problem is that these rules are both impossible for children to memorize and riddled with exceptions.

I appreciate the passion Ms. Hepplewhite has in promoting reading education, and learning the sounds that letters and letter combinations make is a part of learning how to read English. But learning to read requires more than just knowing the sounds. Before criticizing my post I would recommend at least taking the time to do a bit of research on the ingenious work of Dr. Marion Blank (who received her PhD from Cambridge University). You can read more at:
www.readingkingdom.com
and you can also obtain her book, "The Reading Remedy" from Amazon. It is a very enlightening read.

www.amazon.co.uk/Reading-Remedy-Essential-Skills-Reader/dp/047174204X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1295109888&sr=8-1

Here are the links again:

Reading Kingdom

Reading Remedy Amazon UK

Reading Remedy Amazon US with reviews

I stopped when I got to " at is one of the first sound combinations taught" since we don't teach clusters any more! "a" and "t" are seperate sounds, "at" is not a grapheme.

There are over a million words in the English language and the vast majority cannot be sounded out. This is hardly a controversial assertion.
actually it's highly controversial and totally inaccurate as is most of your post

Dr. Blank's work speaks for itself. She is an internationally recognized expert in literacy and is the Director of the Light on Learning Institute at Columbia University in New York.

You can read testimonials from some of the parents and educators who have used her work here:
www.readingkingdom.com/testimonials/

I highly recommend learning about her program.

yeh right!

cjcjcj (Though I believe it is better in a civil debate to avoid calling those with whom I disagree 'ignorant'.)

Having read your post it would perhaps be fairer to say you demonstrate an ignorance of phonics.

mrz, based on your posts here I feel that you are someone who is very committed to children's education. If you are interested in finding out more about Dr. Blank's innovative methods please provide your email address and I will purchase the electronic version of her book "The Reading Remedy" and email it to you.

"There are actually only 7 words in English that can't be sounded out once a child/adult is taught the code."

I wish these words could be put up in every primary school.

cjcj: Columbia University has been at the forefront of the Whole Language movement which resulted in so many children being unable to read sufficiently well in order to access the secondary curriculum - left on the rubbish heap.

In years of teaching children diagnosed with dyslexia and other reading problems I have never encountered any who have difficulty in understanding the alphabetic code. They have had no difficulty in understanding that there are few words that cannot be decoded.

If you've time, have a look at the 7 minute video we made of a 4 year old just on the cusp of reading - via the decoding route.

He's typical of the sheer enjoyment and satisfaction little children can have in learning to read. These books are popular with many 4-5 year olds just beginning to read as they are sequenced so carefully. However, they are not for the parent who only likes glossy books with lots of pictures!

yes words can be sounded out using 'the code' assuming children remember it.