Reception phonics

[vera16]

My 4.5yr old DS is starting reception next week. He knows all letter sounds and can read any words made up of simple letter sounds. He seems keen to move on but needs to know the two letter sounds and tricky sounds (? not sure if terminology as all new to me). Wondering if I should show him or just wait for school to do it? Looking at the syllabus it seems like he might have to wait quite a while for this to be covered.

Phonics is usually grouped so children will be assessed (after settling in) and then put in an appropriate group. Feel free to start teaching him if you want but it isn’t necessary! Reception and full time school is such a huge change you might find he won’t be ready for more learning just yet (but obviously you know him infinitely better than a random primary school teacher on mumsnet haha).

There's no harm in teaching him, I'd find out what method the school uses though as while the sounds are the same, they can be taught in a different way (Little Wandle, Read Write Inc etc).
And make sure you are actually teaching them correctly, there was a poster a few weeks ago saying "I'm teaching mine luh - ee - tuh - tuh - ee - err" which isn't phonics and isn't going to help the child at all!

I would say not to because the school will have their own methods and terminology that they will use. He's so close to starting now; why not just wait and then support him to read the books that he gets sent home using the methods they advocate?

You could work on comprehension by enjoying some fun, new books and asking him questions about what has happened, what might happen next and why he thinks that.

My DC is 4 and about to start reception next week too. She knows quite a few of the phonic sounds but no where near where your DC is at the moment. I wouldn't worry... let the school do it in their way and support him as they work through it. Enjoy the rest of the summer holiday😊

Like @MoonBat says it's frustrating for a child who has been taught that a sound is 's-uh' to be told its 'sss' at school.

I'd be surprised if he was the only child who knew his sounds though. Some children will have been to a nursery. The teacher will be completely used to children being at different stages.

There will be so much going on in the first few weeks for DS that I wouldn't worry. He will pick it up easily when school starts teaching it.
Also there are many different versions and you need to be sure you're the same as the school or it gets very confusing!! You can ask the school, but unless you have a parents session I wouldn't bother them in this frantic period.

When mine started reception last year we had an open evening thing where the parents could go in and the teachers when through all the phonics stuff. So things like how they would be teaching it, what resources they are using and how you could support them at home. I'd wait for something like that. My primary teacher friends had told me that it's harder undoing incorrect teaching by parents than starting with a child who knows nothing beyond the alphabet so I didn't teach mine anything before they started. They weren't held back at all because of this so I wouldn't worry about racing through everything to get ahead. Mine really loves reading and has taken to it like a duck to water, this was quickly spotted by the teachers and suitable adjustments made - I'm sure the same will happen for your child if they need it.

If there is a week to go, just enjoy this week having fun. Life will be very different once they are at school for both you and them (even if they have been to nursery or pre-school)

Thanks. Some useful info here. If they are split into groups that sounds ideal. My main concern is that he would have to wait a long time, like months, to get on to the next stage. He learned his letter sounds in pre-school, so I assume taught correctly, and they had just started to teach blending at the very end. I certainly am not pushing him to 'get ahead' but he seems excited about suddenly being able to decode some words so on the other hand I don't want him to lose enthusiasm. The most we do at home is the foam letters in the bath type of thing.

My dd could read and write when she started school and they did one sound a week at her school (not in the UK and actually in reality it was one letter a week!) but wasn't bored at all because there are plenty of other things you can learn about in a reception classroom that aren't anything to do with reading and writing.

I echo what other people have said, don’t push it too far as the schools have their way.

Like your son, mine knew all his letter sounds before starting and could blend simple words in nursery.

Our school uses Little Wandle and basically the whole class seems to be taught the exact same content at the same time. I was worried about a lack of progress and him getting less excited by reading if it was too easy for him, but he loves the phonics lessons they do and they cemented everything.

I’m not overly impressed by the progress at school (he left reception on Stage 4/yellow band equivalent books), and home he can read to approximately green fluently and with comprehension. That said, I’m happy with his overall learning and appreciate that the school’s hands are tied in the curriculum and that the extensions have to come in his school library books rather than the prescribed phonics scheme.

@vera16 was the pre-school attached to the school, as would assume they would use the same scheme. The phonics scheme the local schools use splits children by ability rather than age, and includes writing, comprehension not just learning to say and read the sounds. The books they receive also follow the stage they are at.

What I used to do @vera16 if we were reading a book or out and about I would sometimes point out letter/word that I knew DS knew and ask him what it was

If he's up for it, I would go on to teaching digraph (two letters 1 sound) I would also take some time to think about different ways he could apply his skills in a real world context (help write the shopping list, or label things). I teach reception and always have a few who are ahead of their peers. He will be getting differentiated work during lessons, and teachers will make sure to pitch work work at his level. Maybe have a look and see what scheme his school uses and have a think how you could adapt it for home.

The school should have info from the nursery about his attainment. They really should assess his capabilities quickly. We were before phonics (so DD steamed ahead) and enjoyed poetry, rhymes, easy books and did her 121 breakthrough words well before her 5th birthday. If children want to read, they need to be able to do it. Schools should facilitate this.

I'd say read up on phonics (digraphs etc) so you do it right, then teach him. Some schools are willing to support able children to learn faster, ours was one pace class pace so if he was at DC's school he'd be waiting till well into year 1 to cover some basic digraph correspondences.
When they want to read they want to read, not hang about reading CVC words for months on end.

That's exactly what I don't want. I will read up. We also have a parents evening/workshop next week when I assume they will go through how phonics is taught. I could ask then but I don't fancy raising it in the Q&A.

If you go onto the schools website it should tell you the scheme they use. Lots of schools will do a parents information evening where they cover how to teach phonics and the pure sounds.

It's definitely worth waiting for this as mixing schemes and methods causes confusion which can be difficult to unpick, leading to very able children that are unable to progress through the scheme at the pace they otherwise would have.

@vera16
After your interesting post I started to look at recent research into phonics and it’s benefits. The research seems to suggest that synthetic phonics alone is not a benefit. The quality of teaching and breadth of reading experiences matters. Phonics suits the medium and slower learners but others need more. I agree that schools must allow brighter DC to push on. It is so important not to dim enthusiasm.

Phonics is way too slow of a teaching method for my (admittedly bright) son. Before school he knew his letters but I purposely held off teaching anything more.

I’ve pretty much filled the gaps to having him fairly confidently reading any children’s books in the summer between reception and year 1. He seems very astute at either contextual clues or just having recognised words, irrespective of how, he can read relatively complex texts well above the Phase 4 books he’s technically on with relative accuracy.

The phonics system does not benefit him at all as the full class are forced to work at the same level, but he enjoys the lessons so that’s good. I also take the view that because he has a bit of an easy ride in phonics he’ll be more mentally fresh for any other new content in the day that’s a bit trickier for him.

On the other hand, there’s a parent of a similarly good reader kicking off at the school that her daughter isn’t catered for and I do empathise with that viewpoint too, being forced to read “easy” books might demotivate a studious child!

It's tricky. Systematic synthetic phonics is government prescribed but schools are free to sign up to the programme they feel suits them best.
Some schemes use ability grouping schemes (read write inc. etc) but this has a very high adult demand so doesn't necessarily work for smaller schools. If you're ever in a RWI school at phonics time it feels like half of the school is suddenly relocating 😂.
Whole class phonics follow a keep up catch up approach which doesn't necessarily support the more able who feel bored. But they are generally cheaper schemes to invest in from both a staffing and resource perspective. They all vary massively

@pinkberet interesting. Do you know if Jolly Phonics has ability grouping?

@vera16 I'm afraid I've never worked in a jolly phonics school so I can't say for sure. I did look around a JP school seven years ago when my son was starting, however this was before the mandatory systematic synthetic phonics deadline so lots of schemes have had to change to adhere to the guidelines that were issued as a result of the Rose review.
Back then I believe it was whole class but I can't be certain. I wasn't in love with the school so I had almost switched off by this point of the tour!

Just in case it helps anyone, the school my son is at uses Little Wandle (one of the new “approved” schemes). It’s whole class teaching.

The books themselves are pretty decent, after the first few weeks of SATPIN forced stories which would always be terribly dull.

I think the religious following of phonics can lead to not being able to choose library books. We used the library to broaden reading books and the school ran its own library. From YR, DD chose what she wanted. She couldn’t always read the books (Ladybird version of Samuel Pepys Diary!) but we discussed them and did some paired reading. So the books broadened knowledge. Phonics is limiting.

There is a difference between reading a " phonics" book to develop reading skills, blending and segmenting etc and sharing books for pleasure. Once a child has developed basic reading skills, the two may merge! But both are equally important. Our children read their Little Wandle book to consolidate their learning in school and develop fluency in the phonemes taught, but also take home sharing books- which they may not be able to fully decode- to share with parents and enjoy! If the school don't provide sharing books, the library will!