Letterland

[badgal]

hi pummanuel!


My dd is at halifax too, playgrp class.


I was oso thinkg if I shld let my dd attend montessori phonics class under the blendg part as my dd oredi noes all her single letter phonics sound v well. She learnt them fr the Leapfrog dvd. She can oso recognise all her alphabets be it in small caps or big caps. If next yr (nursery), Pat's is still gg to touch on single phonetic sounds until Term 4, then I must find something more interestg for her liao. Afraid she will be bored , worse still, no longer interested in learning.

[pummanuel]

Hi badgal


You have to make a call as I’m not familiar with Montessori phonics though several have commented that Tamarind’s method adopted part of Montessori phonics and I’m using hers as a reference.

I printed out Tamarind’s blending materials from her blog. For 3 letter words, it’s quite straightforward. However, do note that there are some differences in the letter sounds between Letterland & Leapfrog. I’m not sure about Monterssori. I only used Letterland to teach my DD. For 4-5 letter words which have sh, wr, wh, etc, I will also use Letterland method to teach her the sounds, and then teach her to blend.

My DD just started blending in school this term. According to her, her teacher has started on 3 letter blending beginning with a, i.e at, ad, am, an. The school is using cards, animation games, making little books to teach them blending. She’s enjoying these lessons even though she has learnt them at home. And she enjoys being praised when she can provide all the correct answers.

So I think (bearing in mind, I’m no early education expert) learning earlier is ok as long as we try to sync the outside programs with Letterland’s.

[buds]

badgal:

If next yr (nursery), Pat's is still gg to touch on single phonetic sounds until Term 4, then I must find something more interestg for her liao. Afraid she will be bored , worse still, no longer interested in learning.

Heyya badgal.. if i may jump in here just as a word of friendly precaution.
If your child is ahead of the entire pack all the time, ie. you pre-teach
everything that the school is going to cover in due time aniwaes, your
child will also risk being bored in school. As childcare hours are stretched
in childcare set-up it will be worse... she might eventually find each day
very draggy.

What you can also consider doing is focus on other skills as well... like
introduce thematic readers so that she can pick up some sight words..
practice tracing skills with her to enable her to write neatly and legibly..
There are also soft skills like improving her fine motor skills which are
needed for writing... like cutting along lines... start with straight lines..
zig-zag lines... then curvy lines... working with paintbrushes... and a
whole lot more.

While it is fine to teach slightly ahead of school in certain areas, too much
will only make a competent child bored or distracted. Early childhood
educators these days always have problem explaining to parents the
importance of age-appropriate learning. We need to truly analyze how
much is too much... how advanced is too advanced... in case too much
of a good thing might work against the intended objective.

There is more to early childhood development than just learning how to
read quickly.. JMHO. Parents must also remember that a child should be
learning holistically... not just be extremely good in one area of their
development... every good thing can be done in tandem.

[badgal]

Hi pummanuel & Buds


Thks for ur advice. I will definitely mull over the gd suggestions u have given mi. In fact Buds, what u suggested like teaching her sight words, I’ve juz started my DD on the P&J books a few wks ago. We started wif 1a. I read Tam’s blog. She used phonics to teach her boy the P&J books. For mi, I dunno phonics leh. Last time neber learnt in sch so scared I teach her sa-lah (wrong in malay) then confused her more. So tot can let her go for montessori phonics as an add-on to the single phonics she oredi knew fr her childcare. Then I can proceed more confidently with the P&J books?

[buds]

Parents should not confuse Phonics and Sight Words skills.


Peter & Jane are NOT Phonics Readers.

Parents do not need to ensure their children are phonetically
efficient or phonics trained at all to introduce or start on Peter
and Jane readers. I practically grew up with Peter and Jane..

Yes, i use them for my students and my own children as well. I
did not have to finish the whole set though, cos mine were able to
read way before even halfway through Peter and Jane series.

There are other non-phonetic readers in the market too that you
can consider as well. Sometimes the kindies or childcares may
request parents to purchase through the centres.. here's a link
to some http://www.kiasuparents.com/kiasu/forum/viewtopic.php?t=3082&highlight=thematic+readers

I'm not saying don't go for external phonics pgrms... just hold
the thought for awhile since your daughter is doing extremely
well from your sharings. What you CAN do is perhaps
find out from the sch or the ctr how the phonics pgrm is to
move on from hereon (ie. Term 2 and Yr 2011)... so that
you can mebbe follow up with at home with your child.

Regards, buds.

[badgal]

buds:

Parents should not confuse Phonics and Sight Words skills.


Peter & Jane are NOT Phonics Readers.

Parents do not need to ensure their children are phonetically
efficient or phonics trained at all to introduce or start on Peter
and Jane readers. I practically grew up with Peter and Jane..

Ohhh... Buds, I din noe tat P&J series can be read independant of phonics. heeee. So I dun hv to worie so much abt my DD's phonetic skills nw. Can juz leave it to the sch to teach. Was still thinkg hard abt tis over the wkend whether to send her for montessori phonics. Nw I feel so relieved! heee.... silly mi. kakaka. tks Buds for ur advice

[buds]

You CAN still send your girl for external Phonics

programme, should you still feel (later on) that
she needs it... but i suggest you give her and
the centre some time to progress to the next
level in the meantime..

Yes, P & J can be introduced to children without
phonics skills... as with other thematic readers..

Regards, buds.

[LLTan]

Hi buds,


Can I find out more about this term ‘sight words’ Do they mean words that the children should recognize on sight? And where do I get Letterland books? -If there is such a thing…And I find Peter and Jane books rather boring, perhaps you could give some input on how they help a child. Thank you very much. My older boy seemed to breeze through reading on his own so I did not do much. However, the younger one in K1 seems to struggle more so now I need to get external help.

[buds]

Sight words are the basis behind the whole-word approach to reading

education. They are pronounced without decoding the word's spelling.

You may refer to the Dolch's list or the Fry's list of sight words.

> http://www.learningbooks.net/printDolchlists.pdf

> http://www.usu.edu/teachall/text/reading/Frylist.pdf

You can purchase Letterland books and their resources from :



1. ELM TREE Distributors Pte Ltd

625 Aljunied Road Aljunied Industrial Complex
#06-09 Singapore 389836

Phone: 67497011, 67494540
Fax: 67494178

Email: [email protected]
Website: http://www.elmtreebooks.com

2. Tumble Tots (Asia) Pte Ltd

Contact: Francis Wan
Tumble Tots (Asia) Pte Ltd
BLK 716 Jurong West Street 71
#05-81 Singapore 640716

Phone: 90081997

Email: [email protected]
Website: http://www.letterland.com.sg/

3. From eBay too!

Just to name a few....

I do agree at some point that Peter & Jane can get a bit dry especially
for reluctant readers. There are other ways to work around it... lemme
see if i can dig out some of my old resources to share with you.

[LLTan]

Hi buds,


Thank you! Now I understand more about sight words..I have seen my friend's daughter bringing back homework from Pat's schoolhouse and they have some letterland words. Is the same Letterland, is Letterland a company or a way of teaching. :?