Question about jolly phonics

[Rocketthedoordog]

My ds is just 3 and showing a lot of interest in letters. Pointing out ones he knows, asking what ones are he doesn't know, sounding out the first letter of words 'does button begin with b?' type questions.

I am not pushing him - this is coming entirely from him, and seems to be in line with his peers. But I am happy to encourage/ go along with his interest.

What I'd like to know is : should I just say 'yes, that's a 'b'' or do I look at jolly phonics and teach him that, as I believe that's what he'll be taught once he starts school?

Thanks for any help.

There isn't a right or wrong answer as every child is different.
I would suggest you take your lead from him. If you look at Jolly Phonics go at his pace and only when he's interested.

I'm not an expert at all just answering as my dd started reception in Sept. I would say you can tell him the letter name is b but also tell him the sound as so far that is what they have concentrated on.

Do look (listen?) up the correct sounds for jolly phonics though as I'd been saying some wrong to my dd. For example M is not 'muh' it is 'mmmm' Jolly phonics focuses on the pure sound so there is no confusion when it comes to spelling. Each letter also has an action which my dd has found really helpful especially to help distinguish between similar sounds.

If you have a primary school in mind I would double check what scheme they use for teaching letter sounds and definately go through them with him as and when the opportunity arises. To start with, the school will teach him the sound the letter makes rather than the name of the letter so you'll probably need to familiarise yourself first. This is a wonderful time for you both, he is obviously ready - go with it! Trust yourself, you know your child best and if he is asking questions then you need to have the answers! Have fun.

My 3 yr old loves letters and numbers. She knows her alphabet through listening to us singing the song and we now do it with phonics sounds instead of alphabet letters.

She sounds letters out when out and about and also have a flip chart spelling book she really like.

I also bought the leapfrog magnetic letters game and text thing that sounds her name out, she loves them and they are helping her along!

Here's a good video of how to pronounce the letter sounds!

Here's a good video of how to pronounce the letter sounds!

Thank you so much for the replies. I will watch the YouTube link.

It's really good advice about the pronunciation of the letters eg 'mmmm' and I will make sure I do that.

Thanks again - youve all been really helpful and encouraging.

Or you could the Jolly Phonics site and hear the sounds
jollylearning.co.uk/2010/10/29/hear-the-letter-sounds/
jollylearning.co.uk/2010/11/01/learning-the-letter-sounds/

Thanks mrz for that link.

There are lots of resources on the JP site to support parents using the scheme

Hi Rocketthedoordog:

I came across this website - Mr. Thorne does phonics www.mrthorne.com/ and found it a lot of help (being very ancient I learned to read by sounding out, but this was before it was known as 'phonics' so I didn't have the modern lingo to understand what my DDs were going on about, which is always tricky when they're very young anyway.) I found this website really helpful (to find out more and to use it with my girls - the prologue page of this website tells you more about the sounds and the order they are taught/ learned).

Hope that helps.

When DD started getting interested in letters we taught her the name, so M, not mmmmm. Her nursery does the same, incl. teaching them the alphabet song.

She now started school last September and learned Jolly Phonics. She had no problem switching from one method to the other.

Your daughter is one of the lucky ones many children struggle with blending and segmenting if they are taught the letter names linked to the letter shape too early (not the same as singing the alphabet song)