a b c or aaa bee ceee ?

[mooshy]

Ds is 3 and dont want to confuse him before he starts school.
DD1 was taught a b c (a,bu, cuh ) dont know how to express it on here but hopefully youll know what i mean .Am sure threre a posh word for it
dd2 was however taught a b c ( a bee cee ).
Both teenagers now so whats the done thing for my ds please ?

synthetic phonics is the thing now.. like a,bu, cuh for DD1

for a bit of guidance look at jollyphonics website

Thanks twiglett.

you're welcome

I just taught ds both of them - one is the name of the letter and the other is the sound it usually makes. Same for capitals. Most kids can grasp more than one thing at a time, IMO.

Yes I taught both too - I would say the name of the letter is Bee and the sound it makes is Buh. She caught on quickly - I don't think it confuses children if you explain clearly.

I think it is better to teach letter sounds first and when the child has learnt to blend the letter sounds then teach letter names. I decided that knowing the diagraph sounds was more useful to be my son than knowing letter names.

No one ever expects their child to be a struggler and some of the brightest children struggle with learning to read. It is a common problem for less able children to mix up letter sounds and letter names. Many children do learn letter names and sounds together, but why risk confusion by teaching them together?

My son started school without knowing any letter names, but knowing all 44 letter sounds and diagraphs. He has learnt the letter names easily at school and can read nicely.

I agree that letter names are important, but Rome wasn't built in a day. At the age of three there is plenty of time.

I taught letter sounds first, and then blending sounds. Have only more recently started doing letter names (DD is 4) as not been necessary. Doing it now whilst doing the alphabet order.

letter and blending sounds are more useful when learning to read.

My two also learnt sounds before names and both are excellent readers for their age - dd at 5 is already on Stage 12 ORt books and devouring everything she can get her hands on; her spelling is also excellent. She started learning the names in the alphabet song and is just beginning to use letter names most of the time now. There has been no problem in her not knowing them properly before.

Ds is just 4 and also reading well, but he only knows the sounds and not the names at all. It has been hard enough for him to 'get' the concept of digraphs without confusing him with names, and a letter saying its name sometimes!

dd learn the sounds first . Loved the abc song and just picked up the names. Early on I think the sounds are most important. Having said that their is no problem learning both as long as she is clear that every letter has a name (abc )and a sound (a bu cuh), so when she's older she doesn't have the problem of mixing sounds and names when learning to read and spell.

Please teach sounds first - he will pick up letter names quickly and easily later. I do have some children who learned the letter names first and are rather stuck in their reading as a result because they are trying to figure out why 'beee' 'ay' 'tee' means 'bat' as opposed to 'buh' 'ah' 'tuh' meaning bat. (do forgive the 'uh's' - I miss that bit out when I say it - just difficult to synthetic phonic typing!)

Sounds first.

MIL taught my niece A, B, C and now she's in reception she is struggling. While we were there recently ds1 wrote 'mum' and she said 'M-U-M, what does that say?'.

SHe will have to 'unlearn' her A, B, C in order to be able to read.

As JS said!

This is a cow and the sound it makes is 'moo'.
This is a dog and the sound it makes is 'woof'
This is a cat and the sound it makes is 'miaow' etc....Then....
This is an A and the sound it makes is 'a'
This is a B and the sound it makes is 'b' etc

This helped my sons understand when they were starting to learn to read, after their playgroup had taught them just to recite the ABC.

It's exteremely important to teach synthetic phonics first. Jolly phonics is a great scheme with lots of fun songs that make it part of everyday learning. Letter names have their place but phonemes, diagraphs etc. first.

Must stress though it should all be learning through play. Sometimes parents inadvertanely with the best will in the world don't teach the scaffolding skills of reading correctly and children then become unstuck as their reading progresses. My advice really is play, play, play. learning to read and mark making will happen soon enough at school.

This is a cow and the sound it makes is 'moo'.
This is a dog and the sound it makes is 'woof'
This is a cat and the sound it makes is 'miaow' etc....Then....
This is an A and the sound it makes is 'a'
This is a B and the sound it makes is 'b' etc

You have to admit that the idea that some markings on a paper is a bit abstract. Most five year olds arent ready for abstract thinking. (Maybe Steinermum's children were older than five when they learnt so had the thinking skills).

If you look at Piajet's theories

www.funderstanding.com/piaget.cfm

It suggests that five year olds arent great abstract thinkers. It is obvious to a five year old that the cow in the field says "Moo" because they can hear it. You do not directly hear letters making a sound in the way that a cow makes a sound.

Some children can understand the difference between a letter sound and letter name at five, but they are lucky. Why risk it, if your child does turn out to have learning difficulties. A bright child learns the letter names extremely quickly.

Sorry, yes they were six when they started being taught to read, but because they'd gone to a not very enlightedned playgroup, they were confused about why letters made different sounds to the name they'd learned to recite in the alphabet song etc.