BABBLING BOOKS

Tigerlily · Posted: Tue Jun 24, 2008 11:33 am Post subject: Teaching your kids to read

I'd be interested to know your opinions and experiences on this...

Charis is 3 1/2 now and I'm wondering if there's more I should be doing to get her reading for herself. We've loads of writing/maths/phonics exercise books we do together. She can more or less write her name unaided in huge letters!

Should she be able to recognise a few words by now? I know she recognises words such as cat, a, I, and is getting to grips with phonics, but there's no way she is able to read for herself. She knows the alphabet and how each letter sounds. She has another year of nursery from Sept and starts reception next year when she's nearly 5, so it's ages away til she's taught to read properly.

Is there anything more I can do? Flash cards perhaps? Or should I leave it so's she's not ahead of her classmates? She's a very bright girl and will pick up reading no problem when she is taught it at school.

Are you teaching or have you taught your children to read, or left it til they were at school? Can you recommend any teaching techniques, activity books to get us started? or should I just chill out and not rush it?

Thanks

PS I didn't attend school til I was 5 1/2 and I can bet you I wasn't taught to read at home

But I picked it up really quickly and was soon on higher level books than the other kids in my class, and asked to read to class and in assemblies, so really there is no rush.

_________________
Reading: Miss Smilla's Feeling for Snow by Peter Hoeg
Reading Challenge 2009: 8
2008: 4
2007: 10

eightlegs · Posted: Tue Jun 24, 2008 1:44 pm Post subject:

I can understand exactly where you're coming from Glynis. My son was also very bright and having a September birthday was one of the older ones. Having Zoe when he was 2 limited the time I could spend teaching him but I did consciously decide not to try to teach him to read. He was very shy so I spent more time trying to give him confidence socially as I knew this would be his weakness. He did very basic phonics at pre-school and learnt to write his name and the alphabet but did not learn his alphabet per se.

During the summer before he started school I did use some flashcards but only the ones that were purely phonic eg cat, ant, egg etc but only for fun activities. When he started school he very quickly learnt to read, though for the first year was behind one boy who had older siblings at the school and had been started off at home. Now however he is the top reader in his class and had a reading age of 12 yrs 3 months at 8 yrs 4 months (though I know these things are a bit forced) which I am more than happy with. And finally this past year the has started to enjoy reading for himself, managing such things as Stormbreaker and Harry Potters 1-4.

I think I would say don't worry about formal reading, do educational activities across the board including colours, counting, recognising shapes, sorting things, building things, comparing - longer, shorter, smaller, in front, behind etc and just enjoy books!

Have fun!

Tigerlily · Posted: Tue Jun 24, 2008 4:19 pm Post subject:

Thanks so much for that Sarah. I've been teaching her all sorts through play. She is great with numbers, shapes, colours, so will continue doing what we have been doing. I'm sure she'll pick up reading no probs. She is great at maths. I was and still am terrible at maths so that's something.

Your son has done extremely well, you must be proud and pleased.
_________________
Reading: Miss Smilla's Feeling for Snow by Peter Hoeg
Reading Challenge 2009: 8
2008: 4
2007: 10

heathera · Posted: Tue Jun 24, 2008 7:18 pm Post subject:

I have found myself wondering these exact same thoughts Glynis. Laurence sounds very similar to Charis, he knows his numbers, colours, shapes, alphabet (names and phonics) and I've begun teaching him the sounds two letters together make such as sh, ch, oo, ee etc.

Like Sarah said, I also find it hard to have the time to concentrate just on Laurence as Kiran is now 14 months and desperate to join in with anything.

I've now taken a view point of making learning as fun as possible without him realising he's learning. So we count lots of different things, talk about shapes in the bath, read letters from sign posts on the way to pre school etc.

The other point to bear in mind is that when they get to school there will be lots of children that don't know half of what other children know and the teachers have to start everyone from the same point. A friend of mine taught her daughter so much that by the time she got to reception class she was way ahead of her peers and as a result totally bored in class. This led to her being quite naughty for the first year of school. When my friend asked the teacher if her daughter could be given harder work they said no as they didn't have the time to dedicate to just one child out of a class of 30. Therefore I'm thinking that Laurence needs to have lots to still learn when he gets to school.

With all that in mind I'm trying to channel his energies into other areas. I have a piano here and can play myself. Laurence is showing an interest so I picked up a really basic book today and I think I'll teach him some of that as and when we can. I've also got him gardening, swimming, out with friends and going to preschool 4 mornings a week. A hectic schedule!!
_________________
Currently Reading:

The Moonlit Cage - Linda Holeman

1001 Book Challenge:
2009 - 4
2008 - 14
Books Available for Swapping on RISI

Tigerlily · Posted: Wed Jun 25, 2008 1:21 pm Post subject:

You're right Heather - you could educate your children to the point that when they start school they're ahead of their peers and bored. I asked our head what would happen if a child is ahead of their classmates, and he said they would give them challenging work rather than them being bored. It's been known for gifted children to sit in classes with the older kids but they don't like doing this too much as of course a child needs to be with his/her peers, and I agree. At the moment we're learning a word a day and seeing where we can spot it around the house, in books, magazines and out and about. Today's word is 'the' and we've got a collection of magnetic words on the fridge. It's just to get her familiar with them.

It's interesting what you say about the piano, Heather. I'm going to ask if there's a music or dance class/club Charis can attend. I've caught her trying to play Twinkle Twinkle Little Star on her keyboard a few times and I'm impressed with how well she's finding the notes. She loves music and dance, like most kids, so really want to encourage it. I'm teaching her how to paint and draw. She's got the flair!

How lovely to be able to play a musical instrument

_________________
Reading: Miss Smilla's Feeling for Snow by Peter Hoeg
Reading Challenge 2009: 8
2008: 4
2007: 10

Tigerlily · Posted: Sat Jun 28, 2008 2:03 pm Post subject:

Just discovered a series of learning to read books - Letterland. The books are apparently used in nursery and reception classes. Here's a link:

http://astore.amazon.co.uk/readin...e-21?%5Fencoding=UTF8&node=99

And if you look at the navigation bar on the left, there are loads of books aimed at teaching youngsters to read.
_________________
Reading: Miss Smilla's Feeling for Snow by Peter Hoeg
Reading Challenge 2009: 8
2008: 4
2007: 10

sirg1006 · Posted: Sat Jun 28, 2008 2:45 pm Post subject:

I'm sure I started looking after Sasha when she was 3 and now 7 so amazing how far she's come in that time. I had the most trouble trying to learn the baby alphabet (had to keep asking her how she pronounced U, W etc

).

When reading with her it was always good to have lots of pictures to help her understand the words - I think with some books she'd memorised the story though rather than reading it. At school they usually get a list of 5 words to learn and the early ones were 'the, I, and, a' etc - remember she took a bit to get to grips with them.

She really liked playing computer games and even now both the kids go onto websites that they use at school to count money and play learning games they did there. Had her on Big Brain Academy the other night on the DS and she wasn't the fastest to get good scores but could answer easy ones.

Remember when I was at playgroup and having to write Deborah (why did I need such a long name!!). I'd taken AQBIAngels with me one day when she was at Girls Brigade so when she got in and saw me reading she had to go find one of her books and read too

D

_________________
I'm an auntie! Kelvin

eightlegs · Posted: Sat Jun 28, 2008 2:53 pm Post subject:

Tigerlily · Posted: Sat Jun 28, 2008 5:09 pm Post subject:

That's interesting to know Sarah, thanks for letting me know. That'll teach me not to believe everything I see on the web!

I really like the CBeebies magazine too. For the writing practice, tasks and reward chart.

At least I don't have to feel pressured to go out and buy lots of new books to help my little one to read.

_________________
Reading: Miss Smilla's Feeling for Snow by Peter Hoeg
Reading Challenge 2009: 8
2008: 4
2007: 10

Welcome to Babbling Books, Guest. We Hope You Enjoy Your Stay and Wish You a Merry Christmas!