How to start teaching a child to read with phonics?

[Zimbah]

This is probably a really stupid question... I've read hundreds of threads on this forum about phonics and have got myself in a tangle about how to actually go about teaching DD to read. She's 4, knows the letter sounds for the alphabet, and has started being able to separate out sounds within words although this is still a bit ropey. What do I do now - I'm paranoid about getting it wrong and making things harder, I initially started by teaching the old "Letterland" style sounds e.g. Muh for M, and now despite months of me only saying MMM she sometimes still says Muh. Can I just jump in with some reading scheme books? I know there are 44 sounds, but presumably I need some actual books to teach them within a word context, once she's learnt more basic ones?

And yes I realise I can do what I like as I'm her mum but I would prefer to follow a synthetic phonics way of teaching if possible, as that's what she'll do at school next year, so I'd rather that was her starting point.

masha once again can I ask you how many young children you have taught to read? How many reception classes have you taught in? How many KS1 classes have you taught? How many primary schools have you visited?

You are now making unfounded statements about SEN ...people don't become dyslexic, you don't catch it like a cold ... but children are failed by poor teaching.

And I can assure posters and readers of these threads that nearly all their children (unlike the children whom Maizie teaches) will be in the lucky position of needing very little phonics

How do you know that? That's an impressive crystal ball you have there, Masha.

I didn't put the children to bed tonight, my other half did it, and apparently left them alone for a period, got back to listen to our daughter reading her baby sister a book in German. I guess if the language is phonetically regular then why not? (The other half of the family is German.)

MaizieD - I get where you are coming from and I have a lot of respect for your posts generally (and Mrz and others) as you are clearly very knowledgeable about the subject. That's why I was a bit surprised at your "daft" comment as surely you know the best way to encourage people to come round to your way of thinking or accept the evidence is to engage with them rather than shout at them ;)
Anyway, I still don't think you understood what I meant as I was saying some children suit other methods (as I did) but that I fully support phonics being used in schools as they have to cater to the majority! I was referring more to parents worrying about things they don't really have to worry about, tbh. And there was a thread on here illustrating my point at the time (a parent worrying her DS was reading "too well") and the majority of the replies - including Mrz's - agreed that it sounded fine and that her ds was one of the lucky ones who just picked up reading well. Which is basically what I was saying.

I'll shut up now :)

Phonics books are good, but the aim is for your DD to be a fluent, happy, confident reader with a love of books.

What on earth does that mean?

It's practiSing, btw.

Wow, first and probably last time on mumsnet with that type of feedback ! That is the aim of reading - happy, confident children who enjoy reading and understand what they have read Phonics are the building blocks of reading but what you want is the rest. Shame you disagree with that.

I've just had a look at the APP and I'm not sure what the point of it is bran. Could you explain?

I asked what you meant - I didn't say I disagreed with you. I don't understand the 'but' in your post; it seems to imply that enjoyment isn't possible when learning with phonics books.

Enjoyment is definitely possible with phonics, made even more so by great schemes etc. The point of the App is to get children really fluent before moving on to the next stage because often children are taught too quickly and don't retain the information. You don't need an App to do this, it's just another resource if needed. You would be amazed at how many KS2 children (or maybe you wouldn't!) actually don't have the basic phonic knowledge, but with a bit of support can pick it up.

Excuse my grammar in previous posts, finishing a bout of flu and still a bit wonky...

I must be missing something with the APP. It seems to be alphabet flashcards ... is there more to it?

I guess it is, but there is more to it - one new sound learned alongside known sounds (this increases retention) and the timed test, which ensures fluency - if they don't know them quickly they go back to be relearned. It's very simple, but effective. So many apps have American pronunciation and many don't really help teach sounds so this is just another one that people might like. However, I know there are others too so I'm not trying to sell this one - anyway it's free!

Sorry but it only has the 26 letters of the alphabet and there are 44 sounds in English and 175 ways to write them ... it doesn't teach reading

Cambugs Apps have been developed by educational psychologists in partntership(sic) with the University of Cambridge

The rest of the advert sounds like your post, and some words and phrases which are exactly the same.

This wouldn't be your work, by any chance, would it, branflimflam?

Having looked at it carefully I really wouldn't recommend it to parents.

With English spelling being as it is, there isn't a correct, foolproof way of teaching reading that is equally reliable with all children.

The basic idea of sounding out letters or letter strings and blending them into words is simple enough. What spoils this simplicity are the 69 spellings with more than one sound like ou in: sound/ soup/ sought/ should/ shoulder / touch...

With English spelling being as it is, there isn't a correct, foolproof way of teaching reading that is equally reliable with all children.

So you would like us to believe, masha

Stealth advertising on your very first post, Beckysmom! - what are the odds, eh.