Is Alphablocs how phonics is taught now?

[RedRobyn24]

My daughter started reception last week and she says they watch lots of tv throughout the day, apparently a lot of this is alphablocks and numberblocks

Is this how children are taught to read nowadays? If you’re a teacher is this what they do in your school? If your a parent is this what your kids are doing?

IL NOMBRE! WRITING NUMBERS IN THE DESERT SAND!
superb

My DD watched tonnes of alpha blocks aged 3 during lockdown and it pretty much taught her to read

When DS was in Reception, they had 10 minutes of phonics every day in small groups. They also watched alphablocks but it was always a supplement to the lesson. When they’re so little, they can only really learn in short bursts so I think the TV was a way to reinforce the lessons through a different medium and one that the children consider to be fun.

The first series of alphablocks are 3 minute episodes, if they were really watching it a lot they'd have run out of episodes by now 😂

What about on the website? Have they got any info on the class pages? Ours also has a whole heap of info about the curriculum on there for parents inc the phonics info.

Also did your DD attend nursery or preschool? Mine started phonics there so we already had it all before school and my DD was already reading (but she is a Sept born so naturally a bit further along).

If there’s nothing on the school website either I’d be thinking that’s all a bit strange really. Did they not mention it in the school tours when you looked around? You’ll just have to ask I think, ask which reading scheme they use and what info they can give you about phonics teaching so you can support at home.

How about reading folder? Have they gor one yet with sounds cards in? We got a reading book and Sounds cards - every time they learnt a new sound or a tricky word it was added to the reading folder for home practice until you have the full set. It was all a bit unnecessary for us as DD had nailed it in 2 years of pre-school but I appreciated the approach as it worked for the much younger ones - some in the class are 50 weeks younger than DD.

And also males traditional normal methods boring and unacceptable.
Who wants to write or do exercises when they could watch cartoons instead. Why should they ever make an effort.

Because they're inspired by their learning?
Genuinely, my kids watched Numberblocks then would go and write out examples of what concept they had discovered. They asked for base tens and units for birthdays and would play with them trying out the different methods. Particularly the Step Squads. They were fascinated about how it all "worked".

The only maths they found boring in the classroom was when it was too easy.

I still think about “wordy” and the magic pencil when I’m writing and I am 47 🤣
Creepy fucker www.bbc.co.uk/cult/classic/lookandread/intro.shtml

I’m pretty sure I would watch it and cringe at the cultural insensitivity/ dodgy accents now but oh how I loved it!

I was at primary school in the early 60s and we had radio programmes! I vaguely recall there was a nature programme we listened to every week. There might have been a book to go with it, I'm not sure.

Then later the school set up a small room with a tv and we were taken along there once or twice a week to watch something.

It was a convent school, and when Pope John XXIII died I remember the class being taken along to watch something about the conclave.

My ds learned to read aged 2-3 watching Alphablocks as well as through reading books and counting together. Alphablocks is brilliant. They only watched it at school as a fun learning aid, though, not as the main teaching.

If she's reception then some schools have only just got them all in and some are still getting up to full days.
They might not actually have started on the phonics schemes yet.

It continues throughout school years. Most schools use bbc bite size as well as ready made teaching resources e.g twinkle

I'm in my 40s and would say we 'lots' of TV at primary school. Words and pictures and the magic pencil and Look and Read. We also watched slightly weird and sometimes a bit random/odd drama programmes as well like Geordie Racer, Badger Girl and Through the Dragons Eye.

As most people have already explained, it won't be how they actually teach phonics. The episode of Alphablocks will simply be reinforcing the learning in a fun way. Just like we watched the odd educational programme when we were at school. Anyone remember the Look and Read stories? We'd read the chapter together in class, then watch the episode. That featured the magic pencil during the 'ad break' if I remember rightly, which would teach spelling rules such as 'magic E' (as it was known back in the day - split digraph now).

At this time of the year, it can be very hard for Reception staff to grab a quick comfort break while the children are still settling in, as you're 'fighting fires' on all fronts while they're choosing in the continuous provision. If they're all contained on the carpet for 10 minutes watching something educational, the teacher and TA can both take turns to have a quick toilet break and make a tea or coffee in the staff room (bringing it back to class in a travel mug with safety lid). It's not like they're leaving them in front of Peppa Pig.

Once they children are more settled and understand the rules, staff can usually grab a quick break each while the children are not so 'contained' but, right now, this is the safest way.

It’s an excellent learning tool. Not all screen time is equal.

I volunteer twice weekly at my kids infant school so see a lot into the classrooms. The reception children are taught phonics every morning, and maths some afternoons, by sitting on a mat in front of the teacher and she writes on a board or holds number / phonics cards up and they have to shout out the answers together. Or she picks one to give an answer. They have one to one reading three times a week with the teacher or TA.

alphablocs or numberblocs is used sometimes but only to reinforce the mat learning. Often at the beginning of a session to pull the class together and gather attention, or at the end when they have done their 15 mins of carpet learning and the teacher uses it as a way to reinforce what they have just learned. Most children that age can’t concentrate on a difficult, new subject for more than 15 mins so it’s a way of increasing the learning time in a different way that holds their attention.

I don't know why you were told children learning phonics before they go to school is a bad thing. It's just learning the letter sounds so they can start to sound out easy small words like mat rat cat dog then 4 letter words like frog. They start by sounding out loud then when confident do it in their head. I did it with my 4 over 20 years ago before they went to school.

Apparently because different schools have different methods for teaching phonics it can confuse the child if you teach them a different way to school. Also I’ve been told a lot of adults sound the letters out incorrectly

No, we don't use them to teach.

We do whack them on 3x a day though. At snack time, so they sit and eat, rather than run and eat at playtime (safety issues).

Before lunch, while the whole class takes turns washing their hands at the very limited sinks.

While they get ready for home time, to help keep them calm and sat while I hunt for the same jumper I've already found 6x that day and try to speak with parents as needed.

It has it's uses at school, but they are not as formal teaching. Just talk to the teacher, without accusation, and find out what's actually happening.

It is quite likely they are watching more now than they might later too if some of the new starters are finding it difficult to settle - I wouldn't worry about it at this point. Most schools seem to have a parents evening around October so I'd use that as a chance to ask about it for reassurance:)