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Primary education

Join our Primary Education forum to discuss starting school and helping your child get the most out of it.

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Original poster

Jolly Phonics in Reception year - what's worth buying to help at home?

22 replies

Blatherskite · 22/09/2011 13:55

DS is 4.5 and has just started reception. We had a "curriculum evening" last night to talk about what they'd be doing this term and we've been told that in the next few weeks they're going to start learning Jolly Phonics.

DS is really beginning to become interested in reading now and I'd really like to help him at home too (which the School obviously encourage) but one quick look at Amazon and the Jolly Phonics website brought up so many options of things to get that I'm really confused now!!

I'm going to as his teacher too but I wondered if anyone could share with me their recommendations of what is and isn't worth getting - we've not got loads of spare cash so I want to make what I do spend as useful as possible.

I was thinking maybe the poster? He's going to be doing 3 sounds per week at first so I thought that might help remind him? Are the games and CD any good?

Thanks

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thetasigmamum · 22/09/2011 13:56

My DCs had the videos when they were little. They were good.

MurunBuchstansangur · 22/09/2011 14:01

I got mine the board books, but he's had them since he was about 2.5 so he had a lot of use out of them. If you have a younger child they are very good, and he likes to 'read them' and make up stories out of the pictures etc. They were about £20 so I wouldn't bother at this stage TBH.

There are also some workbooks that we've had a while, but DS has started to ask to do them now. (just started reception) They were about £7 IIRC and have writing practice and colouring.

The best thing I've got are the Read Write Inc cards. much better than jolly phonics IMO. and were about £4. I don't know school's opinion on it.... He hasn't been confused by the 2 different 'systems' BTW, it's all working well :)

dearheart · 22/09/2011 14:02

Don't bother - just go to the library and get simple books out. Phonics is just a method of teaching the mechanics of reading; parents should concentrate on enjoying books with their kids. And to do that all you need is stories.

brawhen · 22/09/2011 14:07

I got a pack of the workbooks of amazon for about £7 - DS1 (4.5) enjoys them and is asking to do them - so if you have keen DC I think they are worth it. They are well laid out and usually obvious what to do on each page, so he can do it without full-on supervision. They include colouring, lots of space to practice letter formation (with & without guidance lines), some other pencil control exercises, and some simple games/worksheet type activities.

I also bought the CD of songs - it's fine quality and everything but I think not really needed and we haven't used it much.

Original poster

Blatherskite · 22/09/2011 14:07

I have a 21 month old DD too so we will get 2 uses out of anything we get.

I have a house stuffed with story books and everyone has a library card, so we do enjoy stories together a lot, I'd just like to give this a go too

OP posts:

brawhen · 22/09/2011 14:08

btw - the £7 set is for all the workbooks (about 7 of them?) - so I can see them lasting us all year

Chestnutx3 · 22/09/2011 14:09

Be careful about the workbooks - I bought some but DC doing joined up/cursive writing from the start so the workbooks are not valuable. You can have a set?

Imjustagirl · 22/09/2011 14:10

We have jolly phonics cd rom and i honestly think it is one of the best purchases I have ever made! I can not stress enough how useful it has been to us. My son is 6 and my youngest 3 and both really enjoy using it. They dont even realise how educational it is as they really enjoy playing the games. My 6 year old is the youngest in his class and has made very slow progress. However, the cd rom has really helped him with confidence and enforcing the phonetic sounds. I bought mine from amazon for about £20ish pound. I also recomend the jolly phonics singing cd and book. Thats under £10. Most schools use jolly phonics and play the song cd. The book lists the song and action for each sound. Its invaluable for parents as if you dont know all the sounds and actions, it will be very hard to teach your child.

Original poster

Blatherskite · 22/09/2011 14:21

The teachers said it was important that they learn the right place to start and the right way to form a letter so that it can join up eventually but they didn't say when they would start doing cursive. I'll check, thank you Chestnut.

DS always seems to want to write his letters backwards at the moment, starting at bottom right!?

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Original poster

Blatherskite · 22/09/2011 14:22

He's also a big fan of the computer so the CD Rom might be perfect for him

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Imjustagirl · 22/09/2011 14:41

Honestly its brilliant. There are 3 levels, easy, medium and hard. It introduces the sounds in the same order the school will. (SATPIN) are first sounds. It has a writing game and lots of games including my kids favourite; they are a big black ant chasing red ants out of their nest. Everytime they catch a red ant they must spell a word to proceed. In my opinion the song book is also a must as otherwise you wont have a clue how to teach the sounds. I.e, for A you have to brush ants of your arm and sing "a a ants on my arm....."

You can see I am a big fan! I just love seeing the progress, especially since reading has not come easy to my 6 year old.

Original poster

Blatherskite · 22/09/2011 15:50

Right, teacher suggested the work books and the poster and Imjustagirl is selling the CD Rom to me. Might have a look for the CD too...

OP posts:

mrz · 22/09/2011 17:40

Truthfully you don't need any of them. The school should send home a sound book containing the sounds that have been taught to practise and possibly the worksheet which explains the action and that is honestly all you need. The songs are fun and easy to pick up the video is dire avoid like the plague! Workbooks limited value... CD rom ok but not essential ...
I've used JP since it was first published and I am a huge fan and it does work but most of the additional materials aren't needed.

yellowsubmarine41 · 22/09/2011 21:24

That's a relief to hear from a teacher, mrz. I decided to outsource all those irritating songs to the school when dd learnt her letters, and I'm glad that I haven't got to to revisit that decision!

I only know the basics of JP, but it seems a great way of engaging the whole range of learning styles.

Original poster

Blatherskite · 22/09/2011 21:45

He'll be getting a homework book that they'll be putting the sounds he's learning in. He can get very stubborn when he's not sure though and will just insist that he can't do it rather than try so I wanted to be able to give him a range of materials to learn from while we get started to give him some extra confidence.

OP posts:

extremelychocolateymilkroll · 22/09/2011 21:51

There's so much info online you probably don't need to buy any resources. Alphablocks on CBeebies is a good place to start.

chickenlickin · 22/09/2011 21:52

We have the cd and use it in the car! I am learning the sounds also! We have also got an app on my iphone which is great as DD thinks she is playing but learning! Also loads or stories and playing i spy etc

chickenlickin · 22/09/2011 21:52

hophophippidtyhop · 23/09/2011 11:37

blatherskite My dd's teacher explained the backwards thing - it's with letters that have a round bit that are written anti clockwise - d, a,g, etc. If they are right handed the brain has trouble drawing when they try to go to the left, anti clockwise, as it's crossing over to the left side of the brain from the right, it's something their brain has trouble processing initially, that's why they write them round the other way as it's easier.

Original poster

Blatherskite · 23/09/2011 14:04

Ooh, that's interesting. He does lines bottom to top too, is that the same thing?

Or is he just weird

OP posts:

maverick · 23/09/2011 14:46

Sorry, but the left/right brain thing is bunk
www.tlrp.org/pub/documents/Neuroscience%20Commentary%20FINAL.pdf
p16. ''For example, some texts encourage teachers to determine whether a child is left or right brained.
It is true that some tasks can be associated with extra activity that is predominantly in one hemisphere or the other. For example, language is considered to be left lateralised. However, no part of the brain is ever normally inactive in the sense that no blood flow is occurring. Furthermore, performance in most everyday tasks, including learning tasks, requires both hemispheres to work together in a sophisticated parallel fashion. The division of people into left-brained and right-brained takes the misunderstanding one stage further. There is no reliable evidence that such categorisation is helpful for teaching and learning''

voices.washingtonpost.com/answer-sheet/daniel-willingham/willingham-the-leftright-brain.html
Willingham: Left/right brain theory is bunk.

MonsterPhonics · 31/08/2014 10:03

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Message deleted by MNHQ. Here's a link to our Talk Guidelines.

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