Teaching my DD (4yo) to read - your methods, help books, etc...

[Theurbanmonkey]

Hi all

DD1 has just started Reception. She is enjoying it and every week she receives a learning pack with letters and a couple of books for me to read with her (Oxford Learning Tree). She is slowly getting to grips with letters and sound formation i.e. the letter a sounds like ants...but here's the issue and my reason for posting..

How do I best approach her learning to read. The books seem to be about picture recognition rather than word recognition. Also we can read one page together with me helping her with sound and 'blending' but when i turn page and it's the same word, she doesn't immediately recognise the word(s), is that normal?

Are there any methods you practise with your DC to help them with reading. It feels like a minefield out there! I would like to help her with at least reading basic books on her own at bedtime. Looking at some of the threads on this section, I'm bit clueless and not sure if I'm behind with her learning.

If anyone has any suggestions with helping her to read and recognise words I'd be grateful. Thanks MNers

Hi, I've used this with mine. Sounds wanky but it's very good.

Or you could have a look at www.phonicsinternational.com There's lots of very good advice and free resources.

There is a programme too, very modestly priced, but no obligation to buy!

I agree with Football - it is a bit dry and the stories are weird but it only uses sounds that they've already gone thro unlike ORT which introduce words of which the child hasnt learned the phonics so has to guess it.

Thanks for the tips, I'll order that book Football and have a look on the phonics website maizieD.

Canella - the ORT books seem disconnected with sounds she is learning, glad its not just me!

Any other pointers? How do you teach your DC to read aside from books, or is that the preferred approach by most MNers?

Thanks

Road signs, road names, supermarket names, supermarket articles, everything around you, names of family members, when going for a walk just pointing to the different things and sounding it out, most of it totally decodable.
Names of car makes, bus and train rides are very good, everywhere you look are the posters with writing on them, IME it does not have it to be a particular scheme or a program, it can be anything that can be read, that is the joy of reading, good luck.

Thoroughly recommend reading eggs - www.readingeggs.co.UK - mine have all loved it and continue to do so. One v keen reader at 3 and one not interested in books at all at 4 but likes to do reading egg each day.

"Also we can read one page together with me helping her with sound and 'blending' but when i turn page and it's the same word, she doesn't immediately recognise the word(s), is that normal?"

That is because she is learning to read / decode rather than recognise words.

I was taught to read with flashcards - I could recognise words but couldn't decode new words.

I found the Jolly phonics resources useful and it was what they were learning at school.
I was v lucky and found a load of books, CDs and workbooks in a charity shop. They really helped ds1.

As to how that relates to her reading scheme....not sure about that one.

Jolly Phonics also worked for DD (age 5). She worked slowly through the workbooks and we used the ORT Read At Home series and she's now a proficient and enthusiastic reader and loves to write.

I'd also recommend Starfall.

Another vote for Phonics International -have a look at their Early Years starter pack (very low cost): www.phonicsinternational.com/Early-Years-Starter-Pack-Intro.html

If you pm me your email address, I'll email you a copy of my booklet on fun ways to learn phonics and spellings.

Agree that it is difficult when the books don't match the phonics they are being taught. If you wanted to get her some more phonic books you could try Read Write inc www.thebookpeople.co.uk/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/qs_product_tbp?storeId=10001&catalogId=10051&langId=100&productId=235207 The early books of this series ( as sold by Book People) are funny but I think the later stages get more boring. You could also try the first couple of levels of Songbird Phonics www.ebay.co.uk/sch/items/__songbird+phonics_W0QQ_dmdZ2?clk_rvr_id=289779345304&crlp=5584307603_228459_228459&UA=WVF%3F&GUID=bc0c7b071320a47a0523faf3fe1c66cb&agid=1825377203&tm_kw=songbird+phonics&siteid=3&MT_ID=11&tt_encode=raw&keyword=songbird+phonics&geo_id=21&ff4=228459_228459

FootballFriendSays - is this ok for England schools or is it very American?

DD also has the ORT books in school and I agree they are not ideal if reading it taught phonetic.

But: DD loves Biff, Chip and Kipper. We bought the box set and in addition to the usual First Stories they also do a phonetic version.

I find it more important that my DD loves the books she wants to read than trying to get her to use the "right books". I struggle with most of the workbooks and find it more enjoyable just to sit down with a nice book and let DD see what she can do and help where necessary.

Babysbreath - there is only a few occasions where it is American (mom, cops, dime) but the rest is just a good teaching of basic phonics. My ds2 started it earlier this year (he was 4 at the time) and to start with could easily go thro quite a few lessons at the one time. It fails a bit toward the end because its a black and white book with very simple pictures and the stories are a bit dry but I'd still recommend it.

I've been teaching DD myself (we live abroad) using phonics. I bought the Engelman book, but found its approach ("Sit down. Tell the child 'Now I am going to teach to you to read'") was unrealistic in our situation. I also bought some first-stage phonics readers (Songbirds etc.) which DD didn't take to at all.

What I've done is to read the RWI Phonics Handbook and the Jolly Phonics handbook, plus material from the Phonics International site linked to above, and I've then taken a very felt-tip-and-paper-based approach to teaching the sounds. We ignored the readers, since she wasn't keen on them, and focused on learning the sounds through writing (i.e. I would write for her and she would have a go too - whatever she wanted to do) playing word games, playing games on the phonicsplay site and, lastly and most effectively by far, treasure hunts in which the clues are made up of words that DD is able to decode (one clue describes the hiding place of another clue etc.).

It's only now that DD feels more confident and competent at decoding a fairly wide range of sounds that she is keen to try and read books herself, so we've started tackling some readers and she enjoys them now.

Our phonics pages in Learning might also be helpful. And these videos and audio sounds. HTH. :)

Ceebeebies do a good range of phonics books/DVDs, really good for teaching parents to understand phonics as well as children. Also English not American which is a big plus. Most reasonable size bookshops stock them.

Thanks all so much for the links and advice, there is a wealth of information out there isn't there? I will have a look at what you've all recommended and try gently with DD.

It's me who needs the help to get my head around it all. Yet another milestone for me to achieve with DD but thanks to your tips I don't feel so panicked.

Thanks again, and sorry for the delay in responding - I've been dealing with the Christmas chaos of kids parties, organising family get togethers and of course DD first school nativity play, lots of proud smiling mums everywhere!

Best wishes to you all .