All About Teaching and Learning Phonics

[tamarind]

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The above chart is from the http://www.ladybird.com website. It can be used as a rough guide to know which level the kids should be reading at what age. The \"Key Words\" series refer to the Peter and Jane series. Remember that every child is different. Some children may love Peter and Jane very much and are able to complete book 12 before the age of 5. Most children around the age of 5 to 6 should be able to read books 3 and 4, if they have started with book 1 since 4 years old.

It is important to start from book 1, because the child must learn all the 100 key words before he or she can read fluently.

Read this webpage about how the book works.
http://www.ladybird.com/adviceandresources/learningtoread/keywords.html#howitworks
Quote:
‘Key Words’ are the most frequently occurring words in the English language. Research has shown that very few of these key English words form a very high proportion of those in everyday use.

The Key Words with Peter and Jane books are so successful because each of the key words is introduced gradually and repeated frequently. This builds confidence in children when they recognise these key words on sight (also known as the ‘look and say’ method of learning). Examples of key words are: the, one, two, he.


Also remember that the Peter and Jane series are only \"starter\" books aim at teaching children to read. After completing the series, children should go on to read a wide range of children's classics. Here are some examples:
http://tamarindphonics.blogspot.com/2009/02/great-books-for-confident-readers.html

[smurf]

Hi Tamarind,


my boy is reading book 5A (where we go) now.but he simply hates reading!! even when I'm sitting beside him, he reads it monotonously(spelling??). how to make him interested in reading? but thanks to phonics, he can recognize words, but simply hate reading. :?

[tamarind]

smurf:

Hi Tamarind,


my boy is reading book 5A (where we go) now.but he simply hates reading!! even when I'm sitting beside him, he reads it monotonously(spelling??). how to make him interested in reading? but thanks to phonics, he can recognize words, but simply hate reading. :?

Hi smurf,
Peter and Jane are \"study\" books, it is OK to read monotonously The important thing is to make sure that he can read and recognize the words.

It is important to let him read other books. For example, if he loves dinosaurs, find books about dinosaurs for him. Here are the dinosaur books which my boy loves :

http://tamarindphonics.blogspot.com/2009/05/books-about-dinosaurs-intermediate.html

You can also try to get some pop up books for him. My kids love pop up books and will read them over and over again.

Here are some examples:

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_w1nyHWTEh94/R-mzJnW-isI/AAAAAAAAAXU/zngmSeqJtEU/s400/big+rig.JPG\">


http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_w1nyHWTEh94/Sg19MWuU5KI/AAAAAAAABEk/r-AxIMCsKuU/s400/DSCF6653.JPG\">

[apple79]

Hi tamarind,


I have PM you. Not sure if u have seen.

[hquek]

hi Smurf, I think kids tend to read montonously - mine does that too, but he loves to read (or have me read to him).


Perhaps you can try Dr Seuss books - quite tongue twisters and I like that he rhymes his book. I only don’t like cos it’s quite nonsensical and I don’t know how to explain the weird characters to him (without appearing dismissive).

My son is very interested in dinosaurs, and we love to raid the library for all things dino related. This interest helps particularly in pronouncing. Once he cleared parasaurolophus (spellcheck needed), pronouncing words will not be a problem.

[vfong1]

tamarind:

Spelling


I started to teach my boy phonics and reading since Jan 2008, but I have never made him memorize the spelling of any words. I also did not make him practice writing any words. Since he is only 4 years 8 months old now, I thought I will let him practice writing words when he is older.

Yesterday I thought of testing him. I have a book of 128 high frequency words. I read out each word, then asked him to tell me how to spell the word. I am surprised to find out that he can spell all these words with a tick in the photos below !

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3639/3569583155_cc55a5f518.jpg\">
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3632/3570398804_c58c2a64aa.jpg\">

My boy has a very strong foundation in phonics, and I think that really helps him to spell phonetic words. He has been reading the Ladybird Key Word series everyday, and he has read the common words hundreds of times already, so he can spell many non-phonetic sight words too. Phonics and reading consistently really make spelling very easy

Checkout my blog for more information.
http://tamarindphonics.blogspot.com/2009/05/spelling.html

Wow, that's impressive, where did you buy the 128 words high frequency book, the dinosaur books & dr. seuss book?

[tamarind]

apple,

I have just replied you. Sorry I don't have a habit of checking my inbox in this forum :oops:

vfong1,
I bought the high frequency words book at Popular bookshop. It also comes with colourful flash cards for all the 128 words. I did not use these flashcards to teach my boy, I only used them to test him once or twice He has learnt all the high frequency words from the Ladybird Peter and Jane series.

The cover looks like this :
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_w1nyHWTEh94/Sh0_h0shczI/AAAAAAAABHk/ST2YS2sIfDY/s400/DSCF6736.JPG\">

Dr Seuss books can be found at Kinokuniya or Borders. I think Popular should have some of his books too.

BTW, Popular having 20% discount now.

As for the dinosaur books :
http://tamarindphonics.blogspot.com/2009/05/books-about-dinosaurs-intermediate.html

I bought them from http://www.amazon.com.
http://www.amazon.com/Pop-Up-Dino-IQ-Pop-Up/dp/0312500467/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1242398069&sr=1-3

http://www.amazon.com/Picture-Pops-Dinosaur-Roger-Priddy/dp/0312493436/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1242397991&sr=8-1

I saw the Pop up Dino IQ at Page 1 at Vivocity, not sure if they still have it. The second book Picture Pops Dinosaur is not available in Singapore.

[tamarind]

hquek:

hi Smurf, I think kids tend to read montonously - mine does that too, but he loves to read (or have me read to him).


Perhaps you can try Dr Seuss books - quite tongue twisters and I like that he rhymes his book. I only don't like cos it's quite nonsensical and I don't know how to explain the weird characters to him (without appearing dismissive).

My son is very interested in dinosaurs, and we love to raid the library for all things dino related. This interest helps particularly in pronouncing. Once he cleared parasaurolophus (spellcheck needed), pronouncing words will not be a problem.

Hahaha I also don't like Dr Seuss because it's nonsensical. I don't understand why both my kids like his books. But I cannot deny that the text is really good for children to read.

My boy also likes to read all the long long dinosaur names

[apple79]

Hi Tamarind,


Thanks for your reply. Strange that the inbox show no new message but when i went in i saw your reply.


I saw a bulk purchase in SGmotherhood forum selling Dr Seuss books at $8 each which i think is cheap as its selling like USD8.99 in amazon.

[smurf]

Hi Tamarind,


will try other interesting books.:)

Hi hquek,

have tried Dr Suess, but he doesn't like. in fact, he hates reading! any kind or any type of book. ask him to read is like feeding him poison. but ask him to play game, he is number 1! hahah. now, I'm cutting down computer time. Playing game really kill interests in reading. :x