Would you expect to have covered annie bleedin apple by the 2nd term of reception ?

[Hideehi]

Seriously surely they should have the alphabet done and dusted by now and be sending home books ?

we have books e.g "who is on the mat?"

Message withdrawn

Yes that's what i thought, my DD went to a good nursery and knew the lots when she started I have tried so hard to grit my teeth and not be a pushy Mum but this is beyond a joke now, they are on Sammy bloody Snake {angry}

Not necessary, the focus more for young children now is 'play' and less time on activities such as phonics etc.

Don't worry the school will be working their way through the phonics nice and slowly and won't rush the children until they have fully grasped the idea.

Letterland is largely outdated as a phonetic teaching medium because kids see the characters before the sound. Depends on the child I suppose as to the pace of learning the phonic sounds and how much reinforcement is required .

My ds also in reception and no reading books yet. Fine by me.

Alot of schools are tending to use Jolly Phonics and have done for a while now.

Message withdrawn

Actually DS didn't get a reading book until the third term of reception. He was reading tonight and managing words like "detergent", "gentleman", "dynamite", "policeman" etc so I think he is doing OK, just 2 terms later.

And pruni at 3 DS knew the entire alphabet basically self-taught from a jigsaw puzzle. It didn't really cause us any trouble once he started school.

Message withdrawn

seems I'm alone on this thread - ds2 was bringing books home in the second half of last term - not through any propmpting from me I hasten to add.

And no he could't read and wasn't too sure of his alphabet before he started in Sept

Letterland is done very slowly - a letter a week, where are Jolly phonics has all the common sounds done and dusted by the end of the 1st term - so this may expain why you are still on s!

myermay - unfortunatley in too many cases the teacher does not have time to notice a child who can already read or knows his alphabet so yes, they will be made to do it all again, but hopefully they will not get too bored in the process.

My ds was 4 in Nov so does not start formal Reception until september but he can already read - heaven knows what will happen to him next year, i forsee a year of him not bothering, just hope it does not colur his whole life in future if he learns to switch off so early ...

I would say that there is a hell of a lot to learn in reception besides reading. A lot to do with teacher's expectations, behavioural norms, socialisation etc. DS used to come home exhausted. Still does by the end of the week/term.

Sure, some of your children will run into problems re not being stretched but I'm sure there will be plenty to keep most of them going. At our school they do jolly phonics in reception which is as much about the sounds as about the letters IYSWIM. I was always getting told off for saying "se" (as in rhyming with the) and not "ss".

Well I would say there is a huge difference between knowing the alphabet and being able to read.

depends on the teacher surely? DS1's class have done all the phonics sounds and they all take home a reading book now. They seem to be very good at encouraging the ahead ones

there is a set pattern for learning letter sounds, They learn them in groups of sounds.

I'll try to find a link to explain it all.

The first group I seem to recall are: s a t i p & n. But this was using the jolly phonics system.

But reception classes now are very much more about play and very little about learning to read and write.

this site has some useful info

On the BBC parents board there is load of info on phonics, one of the posters is a very knowledgeable infants teacher! phonics thread

We taught dd letterland whilst she was at nursery and now she is using jolly phonics. We switch between the two. She was bringing home books at the end of the first term and is now starting to pick the odd word out when in the right mood.