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Primary education

Join our Primary Education forum to discuss starting school and helping your child get the most out of it.

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Original poster

Reception Sight Words - advice from teachers please

40 replies

FlirtyThirty · 18/10/2013 22:44

My son is in his 3rd week of Reception. He loves it! He's pretty bright and is enjoying the first steps in learning to read.

He started school knowing his alphabet - sounding them out in phonetic style - but not able to read ( bar the odd word; cat, his name, Dad)

His school use Jolly Phonics and histeacher has commented in diary that he knows his letters well and is 'ready for blending'. He received a set of sbout 15 red words and learnt them fast. He was tested, got them right and now has the second orange words.

The new words include:
He
She
We
My
Look
And
Is
In

Anyway...my question is:

what is the best way did me to teach 'he' , 'she', 'we'? He has learnt (originally from

me) that the letter 'e' has the sound /e/ as in egg. So should I now be saying, sometimes this letter makes the sound /e/ as in bee? Or should he just be learning it as a Sight Word? Recommendation from the more informed?!

also, in similar vein, what's the advice for 'my'?

Thanks so much for any advice!

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blueberryboybait · 18/10/2013 22:47

We taught my daughter they were tricky words - they look like they should sound a certain way but they are playing a trick and have a sound of their own so can't be sounded and you just have to learn how they look and match the whole word.

SoundsWrite · 18/10/2013 23:30

FlirtyThirty,
The words 'and' and 'in' will be easy because your son will be being taught one sound/one-letter spellings. So, /a/ /n/ /d/ 'and' and /i/ /n/ 'in' - easy!
With 'he', 'she', and 'we', say to your son that in the case of 'he' and 'we', the can be /e/ as in 'egg' but it can also be /ee/ as in 'see'. This isn't a difficult concept to grasp even for young children. Young children can get the idea that things can symbolise other things - for example, a child might 'ride' a stick and pretend it's a horse! You might also need to tell your son that you can spell a sound with two letters , like the one in 'she'. The is two letters but it's one sound. It's /sh/.
With 'my', you need to say that the is the sound /ie/ , as in 'night'. With 'look', you need to say that the is b/oo/k, as in 'book'.
However, your son's teacher is bonkers! Why, because giving your son all of these complexities of the alphabet code so early on is simply stupid! Tell your son's teacher they need to learn how to teach phonics from simple to complex over time. Teaching all the complexities of the code is simply likely to confuse your son.
Hearing this kind of stuff makes me want to weep! Good luck!

nickelbabe · 18/10/2013 23:36

yes, i think you can tell him that /e/ makes eh or ee
because it happens an awful lost - especially in very common words like me, we, she, he, be, (it seems to be mostly short words though)

and my is similar - y is a consonant but it's also a vowel. (Jolly Phonics does recognise this and teaches it) so, yes, in my it's the sound "eye"

ClayDavis · 19/10/2013 08:52

You say the teacher says he is 'ready for blending'. Can he blend at the moment or not?

If so, teach that the /ee/ sound can be written as 'e' and blend he, she, we. I'd also introduce me and be at the same time, even though it isn't on the list.

Do the same for the /ie/ sound, explaining that it can be written as 'y' at the end of some small words. Introduce 'by' at the same time. Perhaps look at other words where this happens e.g. cry, fly.

They should teach 'oo' soon if going at a reasonable pace so either leave it or teach it yourself if you want and blend as normal.

And, is, in - Should be decodeable at this stage if he can blend. You might want to explain that the 's' at the end of 'is' might need a bit or tweaking to be pronounced as /z/ but that will help him to read 'his', 'as' and 'has' as well.

mrz · 19/10/2013 10:03

So should I now be saying, sometimes this letter makes the sound /e/ as in bee?

Children will happily accept that letters can represent more than one sound so simply saying that in these words (he, me, she, we, be ...) the sound /e/ is spelt and in my, by, sky, fly ... the letter is the spelling for the sound /ie/ and the letter is the spelling for the sound /z/ in is, has, was ... is all that is needed.

mrz · 19/10/2013 10:06

I'm not sure why some teachers persist in teaching high frequency words as sight words most are easily decodable and I agree with Sounds~Write the teacher is bonkers sending home that list in week 3!

ClayDavis · 19/10/2013 10:21

I agree. There's a lot of new learning in some of those words. I might choose 1 (more if the words follow the same pattern me, be, he etc), not a whole list at a time. And if he can't blend yet I don't think I'd go there at all.

Have they done 'sh' and 'w' yet? I doubt they have if he's only been in school 3 weeks. That makes it even more bonkers.

Original poster

FlirtyThirty · 19/10/2013 10:49

Thank you all so very much! These replies are invaluable.
I am (reasonably!) literate so happy to take time to explain/help my son to decode.

It did seem a little baffling to me that words like 'she' were being included at this stage when they have clearly not done 'sh' as a sound. I have explained this but there seem to be a lot of new ideas/information to take on board in this particular list. They are only the second group of words he's ever had to learn.

I guess I'm as yet still unsure where the balance is between phonic decoding and simply memorising words...

It's parents' evening next week....is there anything specific I should ask about their method? any problems I may encounter but haven't occurred yet?

OP posts:

Original poster

FlirtyThirty · 19/10/2013 10:57

Mrz -
"I'm not sure why some teachers persist in teaching high frequency words as sight words most are easily decodable"

....this is exactly why I was baffled with this list choice!! Decodable words but my son just doesn't have the relevant knowledge yet.

We will see his we get on!

OP posts:

SoundsWrite · 19/10/2013 14:40

FlirtyThirty
It did seem a little baffling to me that words like 'she' were being included at this stage when they have clearly not done 'sh' as a sound. I have explained this but there seem to be a lot of new ideas/information to take on board in this particular list. They are only the second group of words he's ever had to learn.
You hit the nail on the head here! Why would 'she' appear when the children haven't yet covered /sh/? And, as you say, there's a lot to take in. In fact, this doesn't just betray the fact that the teacher doesn't know how to teach phonics; the teacher also doesn't know how children learn. Children should be presented with no more than two or three new items at a time and then they need lots of practice using those items.
You shouldn't necessarily blame the teacher though: often teacher training is so poor that NQTs come into the profession with a very low level of knowledge. Still, your child has only got this one bite at the cherry! I'd talk to the key stage coordinator and ask what's going on.

pollypocket31 · 19/10/2013 15:44

I am a reception teacher, and some phonic schemes will require children to learn words by 'sight.' Yes, these words can inevitably be decoded once your child is further along with their phonics, and you can say s snd h come together to make the sound 'sh,' or you can say its a tricky word that needs to be learnt by sight. The reason she is sending them home is probably because most early reading books contain these high frequency words so the quicker they learn them, the quicker they can access the books. Remember every school is different and the teacher will only be following what her literacy and reading coordinator want her to do. Check with her teacher if she wants them to be learnt by sight, or if she wants you to explain how to decode each one.

pollypocket31 · 19/10/2013 15:45

soundswrite I am very offended by your comments about teacher incompetence. Are you a teacher? If not, I suggest you check what you're talking about before writing such offensive nonsense about teacher training.

mrz · 19/10/2013 16:09

pollypocket words don't need to be learnt by sight ... and confusing high frequency words with sight words is very very worrying ... if the teacher does indeed want them taught by sight I would question her understanding of phonics teaching.

mrz · 19/10/2013 16:12

I would also suggest that a child who is not yet blending shouldn't be given an early reading book ...pointless!

unlucky83 · 19/10/2013 16:35

Not an expert...but
I was thrilled that my DDs were taught by a mixture of phonics and sight reading ...
I was told (years ago by an expert in this field) that 70% of children can learn to read by sight alone and 70% by phonics alone... both methods if followed strictly will fail 30% of children.
I was told the problem with teaching purely by phonics is children get bored and lose interest -(more complicated than that - but that's the general gist )

So...I would teach your DC those words are a bit tricky ...don't follow the easy rules ....and get them to learn them as they are...no blending ...by sight.
Think of it as allowing your child to learn the best way for them...

(and think about how you read as an adult - you sight read -but use phonics to help if there is a word you don't recognise ...)

pollypocket31 · 19/10/2013 16:37

Im not saying I do this, just saying SOME schemes do do this e.g. read write inc which have red words known as tricky words. Some schools still also teach through mixed methods of look and say and phonics (unfortunately) Im not saying its right, just trying to cut the teacher some slack as she may be following what her school has told her to do. Its not up to us to judge what the teacher is doing when we know nothing about her school. NOT ALL SCHOOLS do a completely phonics approach...whether or not this is old fashioned or not, it happens and thats the end of that. Talk to the teacher rather than trying to get muddled advice on here.

mrz · 19/10/2013 16:38

All the research shows that mixed methods (balanced literacy - combination) fails more children

unlucky83 · 19/10/2013 16:38

Mrz - I thought the general consensus was 'reading' anything was a good thing - and can't do any harm...

pollypocket31 · 19/10/2013 16:47

Mrz....well then she'll clearly need to move her child to a new school because if that's their approach, then nothing this woman says to the teacher is going to make the slightest bit of difference. It's NOT the teacher's fault. She will be delivering the scheme given to her at her school. I find it really disheartening that people are so quick to criticize what a teacher is doing when we don't know what her management are asking of her, or what results she may achieve with these children. Really sad...I don't think a debate on mixed methods are worthwhile - I think we should encourage the lady to talk to her teacher - she will have more insight then.

unlucky83 · 19/10/2013 16:49

I don't think I mean 'balanced literacy'
I think teaching phonics but also some high frequency words - so they can start 'reading' books and feel like they are making progress...
Today if I said sight reading was the best method of teaching to read I would be shot down in flames...whereas 20 years ago phonics was the dirty word.....
(I think a lot of it is common sense and doesn't need over thinking)

mrz · 19/10/2013 16:50

no unlucky83 the general consensus is that children should not be expected to independently read scheme books before they can actually read and prior to that they should be exposed to lots of books and stories at home and at school.

mrz · 19/10/2013 16:51

teaching phonics with sight words is mixed methods/balanced literacy

mrz · 19/10/2013 16:52

As you pointed out pollypocket we don't know if it is a whole school policy or not

Feenie · 19/10/2013 16:59

I am a reception teacher, and some phonic schemes will require children to learn words by 'sight.'

pollypocket31 · 19/10/2013 17:01

Mrz is correct about mixed methods, however it still doesn't mean this is a BAD teacher - merely someone trying to deliver a different approach to what is the norm. You would be surprised how many schools deliver this approach despite the research about phonics, as many maintain that some children cannot learn to read by phonics alone, therefore by giving children more strategies to read with, then hopefully something will sink in. And yes, it is true that 20 years ago sight word reading was the 'done thing.' However, I'd also like to point out that in the 'letters and sounds' scheme, it advises teachers to refer to words such as 'the' as tricky words with sounds in them that we don't know yet and tells teachers to practise them until children can say them by sight, without attempting to sound them out.

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