Phonics

[DreamQ]

Hi, would someone be able to recommend a phonics app/ website that can be used for a 4 year old?

We are watching Alphablocks but, he sees that more as a tv programme ans he doesn't repeat after it.

TIA

@imustlearntocook The Spelfabet article mrz linked to explains in some detail why Reading Eggs does not teach synthetic phonics effectively.

But you wouldn’t know because you haven’t read it, have you?

You don’t need an app. You can just practise 1 or 2 sounds a week (and words with these sounds) and read books together. Your dd will be more enthusiastic about reading if you show enthusiasm. Don’t sit her in front of a screen.

@Feenie Yes I did read the Spelfabet article from the link. And that one lesson the author participated in while responding to the activities in the way she believed her pre literate self would have, is not representative of how my child responded.

Completing just one lesson does not give the author of this article enough information to predict the entire content.

My daughter has completed 60 lessons with me by her side. So, I am going to evaluate Reading Eggs based on what I have seen and experienced with my child. Not on an article by someone who only competed lesson one. And while the authors credentials as a speech pathologist is impressive, I am very surprised that she made an assessment based on such limited information.

60 lessons compared to just 1 lesson. Hmm I wonder who would be more familiar with the systematic progression of the lessons?

Also, nowhere did she mention actually observing any children using Reading Eggs.

If some parents and their children find that they don’t benefit from Reading Eggs, that’s fine. But, I’m only sharing with others mine and my daughter’s experience.

Parents are very capable of making good decisions for their children.

@SnowyQueen I’ve been reading to my daughter from when she was in my womb. We love books. We love singing, dancing, playing musical instruments, arts and crafts, playing, gardening, swimming, exploring, cooking, talking, sensory play, kite flying... Well the list goes on. We also like tv shows, movies, video games etc.

You don’t need more than one lesson to see that if it a)teaches onset and rime and b)refers to words that cannot be broken down into smaller parts then it 100% categorically is not a synthetic phonics programme. It just can’t be.

Jolly phonics app

Segmenting and blending sounds

Reading Eggs phonics lesson example
Engaging, interactive activities allow students to practise segmenting and blending sounds.

Lessons teach students how to hear, segment and substitute phonemes.
Activities with onset and rime help students to see patterns in word families.
Decodable books help students to practise new skills.

Onset and rime has no part in synthetic phonics teaching. That’s just a fact!

@ImustLearn2Cook

Segmenting and blending sounds

Reading Eggs phonics lesson example
Engaging, interactive activities allow students to practise segmenting and blending sounds.

Lessons teach students how to hear, segment and substitute phonemes.
Activities with onset and rime help students to see patterns in word families.
Decodable books help students to practise new skills.

Onset and rime are features of analogy phonics not synthetic phonics. It puts addition demands on memory and adds to the cognitive load.

@Norestformrz

I'm afraid Reading Eggs is one I'd avoid along with Teach Your Monster to read.

Reading eggs launched a new “Fast Phonics” which is UK curriculum compliant. I agree about the old version but the new one is excellent. Teach your monster to read doesn’t have enough repetition for many children.

The Spelfabet article is about Fast Phonics.

The new version still includes sight words and onset and rime

By no stretch of the imagination is that UK curriculum compliant!

@Norestformrz This probably isn't the place to ask but I don't know where else to ask....
What happens with words that don't sound like the blended sounds? For example today ds was looking at words in a book and sounding out and blending a few. He picked the word fire and knew the letter sounds so we did f i r e and tried to blend but I could not make the letters sound like how we pronounce fire. Will he learn that by sight?

He'll learn the ire sound: f-ire, s-p-ire, h-ire, t-ire

Thanks rambling, that makes sense. I hadn't even considered they'd learn groups of letters as sounds (we're on single letters still).

No, he’ll learn (in Y1) that is an alternative grapheme for /igh/.

I think, on reflection, it’ll depend what scheme the school uses (the above is Floppy’s Phonics/No Nonsense Phonics. But he shouldn’t be learning anything by sight under the National Curriculum in England.

As Feenie says the spelling i-e represents the sound /ie/ so fire has four letters but is only three sounds /f//ie//r/.
Point to the i and e (I use my thumb and index finger to make a curve) together and explain that this is a way to spell the sound /ie/ then help him sound the word correctly.

Jolly phonics and Geraldine giraffe

I think RWI might call a sound fir some reason Feenie

I did a bit of Googling and found the same. I wonder why? Makes no sense.

For

Unless Jolly Phonics has changed recently ire isn't considered a sound.

[quote Hercisback]@Norestformrz This probably isn't the place to ask but I don't know where else to ask....
What happens with words that don't sound like the blended sounds? For example today ds was looking at words in a book and sounding out and blending a few. He picked the word fire and knew the letter sounds so we did f i r e and tried to blend but I could not make the letters sound like how we pronounce fire. Will he learn that by sight?[/quote]
That's a split digraph or can be called a magic E. The e makes the vowel say its name not it's sound. So f eye r. That's taught in yr1.

Phonics play has some free games :)