I could really do with some advice with teaching dd her phonic sounds (reception)

[bigpinkbear]

I have 2 dc. Ds is now in year 2 and learnt all his phonics very easily. Dd picked up the one letter sounds easily enough, but seems to be struggling to remember the 2 and 3 letter sounds (apart from sh, ch, th, ng, oo, ee and qu, which she remembers). We go over a sound and within a few minutes she has forgotten it. Tips would be most appreciated.

Hi bigpinkbear :). I am a Reception teacher and hope I can offer a few tips. I find doing each sound with the Jolly Phonics action helps the children to remember them. We also use the Jolly Phonics songs in mu class. What system does your DDs school use to teach phonics and what has been sent home yo help her practice at home?

My to*

what about using letterland? they have a character for each letter, and show in story form what happens when the letters join together.
ask in your local bookshop for Beyond ABC, isbn 9781862093980.

example: Clever Cat belongs to Harry Hat Man, his hairy hat makes her noise tickle, so instead of her usual C sound, she sneezes : ch.....!

Letterland confuses lots of children

yes, it does, but it works for others - especially if they're having trouble remembering why a sound changes.

the sound hasn't changed it's a different sound

i meant (not good at explaining things) that a letter on its own makes one sound, but when it joins together with something else it make a different sound - in that respect it changes.

That's certainly part of the problem with Letterland

i feel like you're trying to get at me for some reason mrz.

i found letterland was the only thing that made phonics make sense to me.
but then i'm an adult.

No I'm just pointing out that Letterland is very flawed and confuses those children who struggle the most.

OP have you spoken to your DDs teacher - maybe they can suggest something that will enhance/compliment the teaching in school?

okay. i'm probably being too sensitive.
i thought it might work as a different approach.

really it is just drip, drip, drip repeat, repeat, repeat until it sticks

My DD was slower at picking up digraphs too - single letters were instant but digraphs were harder (especially those with two vowels like ai. She tended at first to read them as two separate phonemes, but she is gradually getting there! We just keep going over them on their own.

She does still have trouble spotting digraphs in words though, eg will say o u t instead of ou t - hoping practise will help that too.

it sometimes helps to write the digraph as a joined unit

Ooh that's useful thanks. DD has finally started to enjoy writing now - watching Wile E Coyote cartoons a worthy wildlife documentary the other week she just decided to draw and write a 'net' :o first time she had ever written a word willingly at home other than her name! Progress!

Thanks for the replies. All i have from school is a list of the sounds they are doing that week (4 each week). When i ask dd about them she seems to not remember what they have done! fuzzPigwickPapers, she sounds like your dd in that she reads the sounds as 2 letters, except for sh, ch, th, ng ,oo and ee which she gets now.

Ask her if she sings any songs - if she does, it will more than likely be the Jolly Phonics songs which help the children to remember them ( in my experience - may not be the case for everyone).

thread hijack here, but related

mrz - whats your take on cued articulation ? They use it at DD's school (typical really after I had been starting with basic phonics since she was 2 and interested!) To me it seems much better than jolly phonics but have no school based experience of that one?

My only experience is seeing it used with children with speech difficulties and EAL pupils

I think thats how it started at this school, they have in the last few years introduced it across the whole school - working really well from what some of the 2nd time mums have said in comparison to their first children (but maybe the jolly phonics teaching just wasn't great!)

From my very limited experience it wouldn't be my first choice

we used reading eggs for ds2 really helped him.

Probably just needs a bit longer and more practice. As she comes across the sounds in her reading they will stick more- well that's my theory. It's very hard to learn something for it's own sake. Much easier in context.

Just wanted to thank everyone. This week i have done 10 mins a day of showing dd a sound, getting her to write it, and then getting her to write words with the sound in it. Then the next day a new one, plus checking she remembers the other ones we've done by getting her to write words with sounds in with no help. Since last Sat she now confidently reads and writes sh, ch, qu, ng, th, oo,ai, ee, oa, ie and ar in words, and her confidence has really grown. I feel amazed and a bit relieved. It sounds a bit pushy, but has hardly taken any time, plus she has been actually enjoyed it. Thanks for your encouragement.