Need to boost dd's letter recognition/literacy

[Pawslikepaddington]

Anyone know any good websites/teaching resources? She is flying in maths, but really lagging in English and it is pulling her confidence down, poor little mite!

How old is she, Paws? Lots of reading to her is often the answer if she's still wee (under 7 or so).

She is still wee, but very frustrated as she wants to write secret diaries, signs, books etc, but can't read or write! She will try writing in her diary, but gets stuck and upset, so I spell things out to her, but she doesn't know how to write the letters that I spell out to her. She then goes back to her secret diary and cannot read what she has written, so gets absolutely furious and demands to be able to read and write! What it is to be 5!

Awww. She sounds very sweet. I'd just tell reassure her that it will come in time rather than doing lots of practice, personally. I think readiness to read is developmental and she will suddenly get the knack. Maybe you could have a joint diary for the moment and she could dictate her thoughts for you to read back to her? Or get her a dictaphone/cassette recorder so she can do an oral diary?

Ooh that is a clever idea SM-he he he!

Will bump websites list for you

Thank you vicky xx

bbc.co.uk/learning is good, they have stuff for all ages on there.

Jolly phonics stuff is excellent. The DVD is great, the CD excellent for car journeys and the books are good too. I found that getting those and the jelly and bean books gave the best combination with lots of really good, simple books for practice.

My 2 learnt to read that way (I do not say write because ds hated writing even when reading fluently) very quickly at ages 3 and 4 so your dd should be very well placed to make the most of it (I say 3 because that is when ds taught himslef - we were focussing on dd in reception and he just picked it all up too).

Good luck and have fun

Is she in YR or Y1? If Y1 you'll probably find she'll race away with it at some point. You could get her to tell you the more tricky words she might want to use and you could write them on some cards for her to copy? That way she gets help but still gets to write for herself.

My dd's in Y1 and has the opposite problem, she's a whizz with words but struggles with numbers.

She is reception, so has loads of time, but think I need to put a bit more work in front of her!

If she's YR then I wouldn't push it too hard if I were you. It will click when she's ready.

What's she doing in maths?

She is counting backwards in 3's, adding numbers like 372+87, currency, 2, 3 and 4 times tables, and minus numbers to -20. I have done none of it at home with her, it is all school's doing-I am terrible at maths! She cannot however recognise the letter e, which is an area I can do!

So she must be hugely G and T at maths?? Not wishing to sound discredulous (lucky you for having such a bright dd) but really surprised at reception doing such maths with your daughter. 372 + 87??

I'd echo the Jolly Phonics. I bought most of the range as DS could not attend the pre-school full time and it really helped although I mainly used it last year when he was in reception as it backed up homework etc.

The songs are good and a great way of learning, the finger phonic books helped with writing the letters and there are lots of other items to choose from.

She can do them, I promise . She comes home and does sums at the table while I cook etc (she writes them out on blank drawing paper, I just provide the paper and the pens)-and gets them right which is the shocking thing-I thought she had just seen the sums and liked the look of them so was pretending to do them herself.

Could it not be that she was just finishing the reception work in class and then doing the year 1 stuff? Is this year 1 maths? YR and Y1 are in the same class at her school, so it is perfectly normal for them to do that if they finish quickly, and there is sometimes Y2 work for the Y1 children who finish early. The teacher has said she is very bright, but more in defense of the fact she gets in trouble sometimes for not being able to sit still, and getting really upset if someone talks to her when she is concentrating-G & T (always makes me think of gin and tonic) has defo not been mentioned!

Will go and grab some JP stuff today, ooh!

That's more like year 3/4 maths plus, I'd say. I'm not confident my nearly 10 year olds could count backwards in 3s without a lot of thought, tbh.

Oh no, I feel really guilty now! Like I have been a crazy pushy parent or something! She just latches on to certain areas I think-she will probably take 4 years to learn her 4x table, but just happens to be able to count backwards (she does whisper the numbers in between) she just doesn't get letters at all, so maybe it is just how her brain works.

Can't wait to get cracking with the jolly phonics! Xx

Gosh I'm amazed they're even teaching things like that in YR! In dd's group there's a maths 'genius' boy and he wasn't doing that in YR I don't think. Haven't the teachers talked to you about her maths abilities being off the usual YR scale?

Or try making cartoon picture books so to help pencil accuracy which helps letter forming, AND she can "read" them back to herself.

www.starfall.com excellent for letters/phonics and early reading.

Your DD sounds brilliant at maths, very impressive!