'Using picture clues and context are great for developing comprehension'

[Sleeperandthespindle]

This is the response I got to asking for decodable books from school for 4 year old in reception who is guessing from pictures when presented with Biff and Chip.

I don't agree. I can ignore the books sent home and give him others, I know, but he is clearly being taught to 'guess' in school.

The school are unlikely to change their mind, I realise, but older DC (in the same school) is struggling very greatly with literacy and the general approach seems unhelpful.

Thanks cant, entry info there. Need to be at the computer, though, to access it. Too difficult from my phone ;)

Yes! Irvine, that's exactly what happens to me. I do it the same as your son. I think to myself that the word doesn't look right and change it until it looks okay, then check it with a dictionary when in doubt.

DS1 is a great speller despite never practising for his spelling tests or at most spending one minute looking at the words, and I think it is in great part due to having a good visual memory.

Remembering improves with reading and writing the word over time. A few lucky individuals will remember after decoding/encoding a word once but most need multiple opportunities and a few need it reinforced over and over many many times

A good visual memory certainly helps and good teaching of phonics for spelling will support that.

Unfortunately I suspect too many schools are still pushing look, copy, cover, write check and not teaching children how to look at a word properly which is causing issues. Especially when they get to the KS2 spelling lists.

"we had to choose between this week's words, i.e. a grand total of 7 or 8 (should, would, routine, coupon, sing, and a couple more " a great example of a confused list of words to learn

Well, the phoneme is "ou" as in "could", so some of those plus three common words: open, song and hard.

This is the pattern of word selection we've been getting for the past couple of years.

These are the spelling lists our school use.

www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/239784/English_Appendix_1_-_Spelling.pdf

Did you mean phoneme or grapheme there? Is the sound represented by the letters 'oul' in should, would and could the same as the sound represented by the spelling 'ou' in routine in the local accent where you are?

The spelling for the phoneme /oo/ (as in book, cook, look etc )is spelt oul in should is not ou. The ou spelling in coupon and routine is the sound /oo/ as in moon. spoon, balloon etc. Throw in three unrelated words suggests a confused teacher

The list is a tool Irvine but it doesn't tell the teacher how to teach spelling and if teachers merely select random words from the list to send home to memorise they may as well not bother.

Mrz, I really don't care about the list tbh. Linked it just for reference for Arkadia since she's in Scotland.
We get words from the list every week, but as Rafa says, they suggest look/copy/cover/write/check, which my ds doesn't follow.
He doesn't need to learn those words, he already knows.

My point is that lists are all well and good but unless the teacher actually puts some thought into it they end up sending home lists like Arkadia received. Your link is perfectly fine 🙂

Basically it says teach every single possible word in the English language ...

I think there's a possibility the /oo/ in book may be the same sound as the /oo/ in moon where Arkadia is.

In my accent, that list does look totally bizarre and like the teacher doesn't really know what they are doing.

Ok the /oo/ in foot and stood and wool rather than the /oo/ in zoo or shampoo

Well, I was confused myself by this list, like last week with /ea/ as in break and breakfast which to me are completely different sounds. In general though they are almost always consistent (a couple of times there was something shaky).

In any case, I believe the list are pre-made for the teacher to (randomly?) select. DD1 and 2 get the same lists of words (not at the same time), so it cannot be the teacher making them.

The spelling ea can be /ee/ as in seat or /e/ as in bread or /ae/ as in great. Sending home a list of words with the ea spelling and getting the child to sort them into the sound groups would be useful but lumping them together just because they look the same to memorise for a spelling test isn't.

OP I have tried to follow the various responses, but basically going back to your original post I think I would do more at home in your shoes. DC's school is superb in some ways but not in relation to reading, and dc1 and I have literally done 5 or 10 minutes at night before I read a story with the Biff and Chip and Floppy books I mentioned and he has done brilliantly. We started at level 1 even though he could read a bit, because it was easy and he got into it quickly, and we have progressed through. I think dc is developing good habits, I don't let him guess and we talk about the different sounds, such as how the "ou" in different words are pronounced differently. Just an idea, given that it is unlikely that the school will change in this respect!

It's a national scandal. I saw Patricia Metham (lead HMI for English at the time) at a conference pre-new curriculum and she promised that schools not adhering to the new phonics only curriculum would be in serious trouble. I'm not sure that's happening - there are teachers on this thread, for example, who don't even know the new (2014!) curriculum, let alone follow it.

Just awaiting ofsted report for DCs school. I wonder if it was noticed, but I doubt it.
Unfortunately, literacy lead is the foundation stage teacher, so bad habits are ingrained early.

Thank you to those of you who know and understand the National Curriculum. I have been reading the thread but, as it has mostly moved away from my OP, haven't responded.

Doing 'more' at home isn't a possibility I'm afraid. I am doing as much as I can, under our circumstances.

The spelling lists! I have posted about this before - apparently dyslexic DD (who can't spell 'the' correctly every time) MUST learn the (randomly selected) words from the list because 'it's in the curriculum'.

Op, doing more doesn't need to be a lot of work. Like mog said, doing a short 5 minutes if you have a bit of time at breakfast etc., will add up in the long run.
My ds learned phonics from poster hanged up on the wall, where he sees everyday. He learned it without being sitting down and learning it properly.

To be fair I am a sahm, and so extremely fortunate in terms of time. But having said that, outside school we do playing and the only formal learning thing at the moment is the reading. I read them books anyway, and it is just a matter of getting them upstairs 5 or 10 mins earlier, has made a huge difference.

I have been perusing the spelling list, and although I do recognise what they are trying to say, I can safely say that it is NOT being followed in my school. Probably the difference is down to the different curriculum. But, not... Schools over here don't go at all into all that detail.

I do reading with him! I read him his choice of picture books at bedtime and usually his school reading book. Which he can't read as it isn't matched to his current phonics knowledge!