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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

Phonics (reception)

27 replies

louisejxxx · 17/09/2014 16:11

So my ds has just started reception and is halfway through his 3rd week (2nd of full days). On Monday he brought home a phonics exercise book with 2 sounds to learn, complete with the actions that go with them: 'e' and 'l'. He knows his sounds pretty thoroughly, but am happy to go along with things as the school see fit, especially as he doesn't know any of the actions that they do along with the sounds to help.

My question is...when should I expect more sounds? I was hoping for more today but alas there are no more in his book. How quickly should they be working through these sounds? Is 2 a week a bit slow? Will they be doing other sounds in class?

I'm not trying to be pushy I just genuinely don't know how quickly things should progress as ds is my first.

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LeMousquetaireAnonyme · 17/09/2014 17:15

DD2(4) has been in class for 3 weeks too. No sign of books or phonics. I am not worried.
Does he have fun? Is he happy?

Original poster

louisejxxx · 17/09/2014 17:38

He is happy and having fun. No books here yet either (other than ones for me to read to him) and I'm not bothered about that. I'm mainly asking because we haven't really given much info about how often and when we'll be getting this sort of stuff.

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HarveySchlumpfenburger · 17/09/2014 18:15

The speed of sounds and when they start teaching them can differ from school to school. Any where between 2/3 and 6 is probably fine. How they teach phonics is probably more important.

'e'and 'l' would be an odd set of sounds to start with. Is it possible the school have actually done more than this but this is just the 2 sent home for homework?

HarveySchlumpfenburger · 17/09/2014 18:18

Sorry I just saw where you asked the question about whether they would be doing other sounds as I pressed post.

They could be, but I think you might have to ask the school. 'e' and 'l' aren't sounds that are the start of any of the schemes I am aware of, so they might have taught other sounds.

Original poster

louisejxxx · 17/09/2014 18:56

Yes I thought they were quite odd ones to start with too! I think it's Jolly Phonics they're using. I suppose they could have a shown him more sounds from the earlier stages and these are the ones he wasn't competent at? I have written a note in his reading record anyway asking how often to expect new sounds.

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Hulababy · 17/09/2014 18:58

The scheme we use at school do 2-3 a week iirr, with learning the sound at the carpet one session, and the following day's session completing a worksheet.

mrz · 17/09/2014 19:24

In Jolly Phonics /i/ is the 4th sound taught and /e/ the 8th seems odd to send them home together. I think our reception children are working on their 2nd set of sounds (so 8 sounds taught so far)

omama · 17/09/2014 19:41

We've had one sound per day so far this week. Seems like they practice it in class then come home with a short worksheet to practice saying the sound, doing the action, read some simple words containing that letter & writing it. We havent had those letters yet though.

mrz · 17/09/2014 19:48

Jolly Phonics did recommend 6 sounds a week (we found 1 a day more manageable when we followed JP) but some schools take it more slowly.

HarveySchlumpfenburger · 17/09/2014 20:01

I think it's /l/ not /i/, mrz. Still no where near each other though as /l/ is the 16th sound.

Can't think of anything where those two are together and at the start.

mrz · 17/09/2014 20:05

Sorry my eyes on iPad mini ??

Iggly · 17/09/2014 20:27

Homework?! In reception?!

My ds started last week and has had nothing. Apparently he doesn't do any learning in class

Original poster

louisejxxx · 17/09/2014 20:32

I've managed to have a chat with him and I did the actions for 'a' and 't' and he told me what they were straight away and when I asked if he'd learnt at school or nursery he said school. So looks like they have been doing the first batch of them in class.

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EauPea · 17/09/2014 20:56

Dd's school are doing read, write, inc.

'Homework' has started this week, one sound per day, reinforcing what they have done in class.

Books seem to be chosen books at the moment, rather than any form of reading scheme.

Blondieminx · 17/09/2014 21:07

DD has been doing full days for a fortnight & tells me that they've "done letters". But not which ones. So far we've only had library books home. They're so tiny, I'd be worried if they had homework!!

shockedballoon · 18/09/2014 22:09

DS is in his 3rd week - which is also his first week of full time. He's come back with one of those tedious (IMHO) biff & chip books with no words, which we 'read' for two nights, filled in his reading diary and there was a new one the next day along with another book which had some actual words. We have read both but not filled in the diary yet. When they've read 100 books they get a voucher for Waterstones.

They've also been given a blank document file which gets added to each day with a double sided worksheet about the letter of the day. We haven't done anything on these yet. If we were told we had to them every night I'd be saying something as I think it'd be a bit much. I'll probably sit down with him on sat or sun and go through at least one of them with him - he generally has a bit of drawing/doing some letters type thing anyway so it'll just make this a bit more constructive.

chocomochi · 18/09/2014 22:13

DD has been in Reception for a week, but has no signs of phonics or reading yet.

Original poster

louisejxxx · 19/09/2014 10:37

Well I got my answer: when he has learnt the current ones then they get new ones bi-weekly, we're doing 'e' and 'l' again as he wasn't confident with it. They have done 's' 'a' 't' and 'i' this week so I think they must be sending the more difficult ones home as they take more practicing.

With books we are still getting ones for me to read to him, which I'm pleased about as I don't think he's anywhere near attempting to actually read the sounds he's currently learning yet.

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maizieD · 19/09/2014 11:49

With books we are still getting ones for me to read to him, which I'm pleased about as I don't think he's anywhere near attempting to actually read the sounds he's currently learning yet.

I'm puzzled. Aren't the school using the 'sounds' he's learning to sound out and blend (and spell) simple words during the phonics sessions? The whole rationale for learning letter/sound correspondences is to use them ASAP for reading and spelling. JP starts with s,a,t,p,i,n because those letters can make lots of 2 & 3 letter words to practise on.

Original poster

louisejxxx · 19/09/2014 12:09

Time will tell! Maybe they're waiting until they are all the way through the first "group" of letters?

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maizieD · 19/09/2014 12:20

Well, it sounds odd to me. They're clearly well through the first set of letters. Even at only 2 per week they should have got through satpin by now! At, in, it, sit, sat, pin, nip, pat, pit, tip, tap...

Original poster

louisejxxx · 19/09/2014 13:19

They only started doing them in class this week as far as I know (same with sending sounds home for parents to do with them), and they've done s, a, t and i in that order.

Just wish there was a bit of clarification on where we are heading with it all, but don't want to keep asking the teacher all the time.

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maizieD · 19/09/2014 14:18

Ooh, sorry, I was misreading your first post! I thought he'd been learning sounds at school for much longer - think it was because you said He knows his sounds pretty thoroughly.

Original poster

louisejxxx · 19/09/2014 16:59

It's probably my fault for your confusion. I have taught him most of his sounds at home, although I have been a bit lax with him saying them with an UH sound at the end e.g. buh and duh.

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CharlesRyder · 19/09/2014 19:08

DS has been full time for three weeks. He has read to his teacher every day and brought home a new reading scheme book every day for the last two weeks. He was on pink sight reading books until yesterday when he switched to red level phonetic books with mainly CVC words.

I was hanging around for a bit in the classroom at drop off yesterday and saw that the phonics session was set up for ai.

He has also chosen a library book and learned to recite a simple poem each week.

He was only 4 last month so it is a bit full on but he seems to be keeping up OK and enjoying it. He is keen to read his school book at home anyway.

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