We are starting the journey of learning to read... concerned with reading book instruction

[kiwidreamer]

DS is two weeks into his school career, barely 4yrs old but settling well so far knocks wood Friday saw his first reading book sent home, v exciting!! However I'm a bit concerned with the 6 key words we have been instructed to help him learn 'spot these words in the reading book and in the world around them. The foundation team will check child's progress and re-new the words ever few weeks' the words this week are - I - the - to - no - go - into -

This isn't how phonics works is it???? We have a parents meeting on Wed night to explain to us how the school teaches reading so I'm being impatient I guess, does a good phonics program exclude all forms of HFW / sight learning or can the two approaches compliment each other?

Sorry DameFanny didn't mean to ... but at least the phoche version is slightly more plausible (except for the "o")

By being told that 'i' sometimes makes an /igh/ sound.

Learning by sight means learning the word as a whole, without looking at the sounds at all. Which means that a child learns to read one word, without being able to apply any of the knowledge to any other words. It's a time consuming way to learn the entire English language.

And how r we supposed to help when we don't understand all this terminology :o

Which terminology? Can we help?

Lots of schools have phonics evenings where they invite Reception parent in to explain how they can help - we're having ours next week.

parentS, obviously

And also if there's only a small percentage who don't learn using what methods then what do those teachers do with them ?:) given that schools clearly cater for the majority. Again a genuine question!! :) I ask because in my dd's class she is in the minority of children who do not enjoy the school books and there has never been an alternative for her :(

Ours did have one but I was unable to attend due to work :(

I fully understand phonics teaching, and obviously as children progress in their phonics they can be taught that 'i' somtimes makes 'igh', but I have never met a 4 year old that has not already learnt that 'I' goes 'igh' long before they learn about long vowel sounds in their systematic phonics lessons. Children very easily learn 'I' and 'the' before understanding the phonics behind those words, much in the same way as many four year olds can recognise and write their own names and 'mum' 'dad' 'love' etc before being taught any phonics. Phonics is essential to being able to read and write, I agree, but sometimes it is ok for children to learn from the top down, really it is, because this is what many children do naturally long before they have been taught or been able to retain the phonics they needed.

I agree isabelle learning is learning and if the child is coping then it's gotta be better than being held back and bored. I understand that some kids struggle and I'm genuinely sorry that those children find it so hard. But it's just as hard being onthe other side where a kid is prevented from learning new words as " they haven't covered it yet" or whatever. Still results in the same boredom and frustration :( and with thirty in a class the teachers can't spend time individually accommodating each child as much as they would like :(

^By being told that 'i' sometimes makes an /igh/ sound.

Learning by sight means learning the word as a whole, without looking at the sounds at all. Which means that a child learns to read one word, without being able to apply any of the knowledge to any other words. It's a time consuming way to learn the entire English language.^

Surely, telling children that 'i' sometimes makes an /igh/ sound, introduces an unnecessary level of extra complication in the case of the word 'I'. There is only one sound to look at and the sound is what the whole word says. No-one is suggesting applying this to the entire English language.

But why not talk about the 'th' in 'the' (which they will meet in a few very short weeks anyway) - what possible use could it be to say 'look, the is the. It just is' which is counter productive to the phonics teaching at that moment, when the sounds that 'th' makes will be helpful to decode so many other words?

The 'igh' sound is also taught very quickly in Reception, btw.

The thing is, new research and recommendation of particular methods are coming along Frequently. It seems insane to me to completely ditch one method because a new research suggests another one is better.

Surely the best thing to do is a mixture of methods. Like isobelle suggests many dc will learn plenty of words by rote. It seems a bit daft to not encourage this along side phonics.

And also if there's only a small percentage who don't learn using what methods then what do those teachers do with them ?

Those children usually have severe learning difficulties, and often lots of other problems too, with involvement and guidance from outside agencies. We are talking a very, very small percentage here. The only 3 children I have ever encountered all left our school in Y6 to go to special schools.

It seems insane to me to completely ditch one method because a new research suggests another one is better.

Phonics has been the method taught over hundreds of years - sight words were a relatively new concept, introduced in thousands and thousands of schools with not one shred of evidence to back up its effectiveness.Scandalous, really.

Surely the best thing to do is a mixture of methods

Really? Are you willing to gamble that your child won't be one of the one in five who are confused by the mix of methods? That's a hell of a gamble to take. I know I wish I hadn't taken it with my ds - it's taken months to undo the damage to his reading esteem.

It may be scandalous but it works for many Dc. Mine started reading by this method.

I'm just really interested as to why it would br frowned upon to let the dc learn a few easy words by sight, if they are able to.

Sorry have to go now now but will check back later.

agree isabelle learning is learning and if the child is coping then it's gotta be better than being held back and bored.

Why on earth would a child be held back and bored? Given that a child learns s, a, p, i, n, t in 2 short weeks, how many words will they be able to read already? It's actually much faster.

Whereas teach them that 'I' is 'I' and 'the' is 'the - that's just 2 words. Which when taught as wholes will not help the child read anything else. (Or just 6 words in the case of the OP.)

Holding back would suggest that the child is not taught those words at all. Who suggested that? Phonics teaching suggests teaching children those words using the sounds within them.

It may be scandalous but it works for many Dc. Mine started reading by this method.

I'm alright, Jack, eh? My child learnt like this, so sod the other 20% who don't.

Around 80% of children taught using sight words only - the method is unsuitable for learning around 2 and a half million words singly - they worked the alphabetic code out for themselves. Lucky them! Of course, now we actually teach it so that the other 20% get it too.

I'm just really interested as to why it would br frowned upon to let the dc learn a few easy words by sight, if they are able to.

Of course, some children will do this on their reading journey anyway. But it won't help them read other words, so it's a strange way to teach.

By held back and bored I meant no new sight words sent home. And stuck with easy boring books as they "havent covered the sounds in the others only to discover they weren't in them anyway dd hasn't covered any sounds since a few weeks before they broke up for the summer :( all the new words she's learnt since are from previous phonic teaching or just remembering them from the books we read at home.

I disagree that learning words by sight doesn't help children learn to read any other words.

As a child of the 70s I was taught very little phonics and my teacher used the look and say method using Peter and Jane books and a huge pile of flash cards. Of course, I don't have a photographic memory, I worked out the phonetic code myself from the words I learned and applied them to new words. I was always a good 'reader' at school as were most of the class.

When I started teaching I used the ORT look and say books, alongside phonics teaching. There wasn't the emphasis on phonics that there is now, but children learned to read all the same.

I am now working in a school that does employ systematic and intensive phonics from Reception, but also teaches the 'tricky words' alongside. I do feel this is useful as the children learn these words earlier than they would if we waited until they came in the phonics scheme, especially for 'the', which is really quite irregular as the 'e' makes an 'ugh' sound.

There will always be children who struggle with reading, no matter what method is used to teach it.

I'm not sure u can even stop it either. Kids just learn from tv or music or cereal box/ toy packaging etc. and many just guess and fill in the blanks in the sentence they are reading.

But, Isabelle, as I keep saying, the instruction from Letters and Sounds - so since 2005 - has been to teach 'tricky' words as decodable with a 'tricky' bit. So they aren't 'alongside' anything.

There will always be children who struggle with reading, no matter what method is used to teach it.

Not in my school - what a crappy attitude from someone who works in a school.

When I first started teaching 20 years ago, I was ashamed that any children left my school unable to read. I made it my business to learn how to change this as soon as possible (I certainly didn't learn how to at university), and by the time I became Literacy coordinator we had adopted a phonics scheme and applied it throughout school.

I find the attitude of teachers/TAs who say 'well, we do it this way, we've always done it like that, there will always be children who struggle' absolutely unforgivable. And it's always from schools who have never used phonics only instruction. There are schools who don't shrug their shoulders and say 'some children struggle whatever the method - go and find out why!

I'm not sure u can even stop it either. Kids just learn from tv or music or cereal box/ toy packaging etc. and many just guess and fill in the blanks in the sentence they are reading

That's fine. But not as a method to be taught explicitly in schools.

As a child of the 70s I was taught very little phonics and my teacher used the look and say method using Peter and Jane books and a huge pile of flash cards. Of course, I don't have a photographic memory, I worked out the phonetic code myself from the words I learned and applied them to new words. I was always a good 'reader' at school as were most of the class*

Good for you! But why not have all of the class taught the code - not working it out for themselves - so that all can read instead of 'most'?

So, what if a kid points out a word and guesses correctly or asks what it is, is that allowed as part of encouraging children in expanding their word knowledge or does it count as supporting sight memorization and discouraged?