Fun ways to help with reception reading

[BusyMummyof3]

My dd started reception in September and even though she knows some of the letter sounds she just doesn't seem to get blending the sounds together to make a word. E.g. c-a-t = cat. If we sound them out she just picks a random word out e.g. c-a-t = tree!

She gets very frustrated quickly and if she struggles with something she gives up so I was just wandering if anybody has any suggestions on how to help her read in a more fun and perhaps less informal way. The school only have reading homework but she is still on level 1 books without words and will only start progressing onto other books once she has started to form basic words. I want to help her along but I'm not really sure of the best way.

Any help will be much appreciated!

Oral blending as a game? Ask her to stroke the c-a-t (or the d-o-g)or some other task, can she blend those sounds together and get the right word? Lots of praise and cuddles if she can. This is really just to check if she can blend. If you know that she can, do as much as possible subsequently with letters

Card games; cards with a simple word on one side (obviously using the letter/sound correspondences that she knows)and a picture of it on the other; she reads the word, turns it over to confirm with the picture if she is correct, she keeps the card if she is, you do the same (prize for the winner, so make sure you lose!)

A friend of mine uses a puppet which the children help to read the word correctly...

Get her to 'help' you to spell words using the letter/sounds she knows; once spelled they have to be read to check that they are correct.

I'm not brilliant at this, it's just an idea or two to get you started.

Make sure she is using 'pure' sounds, no /uh/ on the ends of consonants. The /uh/s distort the sounds and make it difficult for the child to recognise the word they are trying to blend.

Please don't worry about this too much, just have lots of fun practice - don't push whole books too much, it will be too much for her at first; simple two or three word phrases will be fine when you think she'd be happy with them.

She'll get there. I work in with poor readers in KS3 and I have never met a child who can't blend

Another variation: find objects representing CVC words eg cat, pan, hat, peg, jam. Write the names of the objects on cards. Spread the objects out at one end of the room, then give her one of the word cards and she has to go across the room and place the card next to the correct object, and then return for the next card. Moving about (instead of sitting in one place) makes it more interesting.

Here's a page of simple games:

www.aowm73.dsl.pipex.com/dyslexics/resources_and_further_5.htm

Hi Busymumof3,

My ds (4.6) is in reception and loves the new Alphablocks show on Cbeebies www.bbc.co.uk/cbeebies/alphablocks/, it has helped him a lot with blending and it's fun as well. I would say that maybe she's not ready to read yet. I would carry on enjoying books together, it will click when she's ready - 4/5 is still very young. HTH

There are some online games here -

www.familylearning.org.uk/Phonics_games.html.

My ds (5 next week) started in Sept too, and he can't blend yet. He knows most of the phonics sounds well but struggles with the long vowels (ar, er, ue, oa, those ones!). They've just started teaching him the sight words and now he is confused about what is a word and what is a sound.

I've got parent's evening tonight so I'm going to ask what I can be doing with him at home!

They'll get there in the end.

Thanks for your replies. I will have a look at some of the links that you've all posted.