Montessori Phonics - Introduction To Single Letter Sounds

[enzoelize]

Thanks Buds!


I guess I have abt 4 months to prepare my resources for teaching her phonics when she hit 18 months.

[mamii]

buds:

Heyya there, mamii! :imanisland: Ya, our last conversation was via PM a few months back but that was for Math, right? Niwaes, this thread will always be here or for easier access can just bookmark, if u want.

Hi Buds, yes that's me ! gosh, I did not know you replied as I relied on the email notification but this time there was none, wondered what happened. Just checking the thread and saw your reply. Thanks for such detailed reply, and here goes mine. By the way i can't figure out how to use the \"quote\" function for different part of the message so hope you don't mind my reply as it is.

I meant, he learnt his 26 letters sounds from Leapfrog, but not the blending. He attends ICL. So I will revise the lesson with him daily. Yes, I agree concrete and hands-on learning are the way to go.

1. yes he can single out all the letter sounds very well when i got him the Letter Factory.
2. yes, he can do the 3 letter words, but not all the time, but he is getting better
3. formed words ? you mean sight reading as in memory ? he does not automatically do blending when he sees a word, I have to cover part of the word like “park” – I will cover “p” and ask him to sound “ark” then show him “p” then ask him to sound “p” then ask him what is the whole word – at this point, sometimes he get the word sometimes he will mis-blend the word – instead of “park” he may say is “pr-ark” or “pl-ark” or “ pn-ark”.
I have noticed that he will sound out the “letter” that is not in the word like in the case of “park” he may add “l” or “n” etc. or vice versa, not sounding out the letter in the word.
He also has this problem with “s” at the end of the word eg. “sits” he can read “sit” but he cannot read “sits” when the extra “s” is added to the end of the word
4. I am not sure if he is doing sight reading. How can I confirm this ? I have a Pink set of Montessori 3 letter word phonic. I will do 1 set of words at a time After the cards I will ask him to read the short story with the same letter sounds. He is able to read the cards and the story without problem. Is this what you mean by sight reading

He attends full day childcare. Once a week he goes to ICL, 6 per class. 1.5 hours. He will bring the worksheet from class like if they are doing blending of 5 or 6 blends we will have the worksheet for revision eg. “bam, clam – back, black – flap, clap” there are between 3 to 5 words for each blend, word family. There is a short story for him to practise reading (eg. Gus has a bus – phonics story)

both cc and enrichment does not provide the list. I am looking for the information on the internet. Yes sometimes he asked for starfall.com as he like to see the animation.

I am not familiar with phonic so I can only do simple phonic with him like blending. You hit the nail – grabbing his attention is an issue and he does not like to repeat the same learning process for too many days so I need to think of different techniques
These 2 days I used the wall chart and word bits card. He likes it but will ask, what else is new ? do we have new things ? I need to keep it “fresh” for him to engage him. I can recycle the techniques but I need to change it every few days.
So basically i am still doing the boring way of showing him the word cards and asking him to read each of them. sometimes we take turns, sometimes i show him pictures after reading the words or if getting him to look for a \"door\" in the room etc. nothing much and i know he finds it boring. What kind of games can i use for language ?
For math i can still get materials from Growing Fun and I DIY the word cards and also write simple sentences for him to read. I know he can read these words. I want to show him that he is learning and he can do it and also to boost his confidence. He used to get angry when he can't read a word, but after reinforcing it is ok to try again and again, he does not get angry now.

Sam has a plan
The plan has sand
The sand is big
The big sand has crab, fish and clam.

Each sentence is on a page and each page I would make a simple drawing.

What do you mean by reading program ?
By better I mean crossing the blending hurdle – after reading your reply I started to think maybe it is the way I did the revision. I concentrated only to get him to read the words provided by phonic teacher, I should include more words for him to try – I will start doing that, I will also focus on 1 or 2 blends only instead of learning all the blends.
He is getting better at focusing, if he wants to ! He is an active boy, I do not expect that to happen within a short period of time I will have to learn to manage that.

The phonic teacher said he is ok in class with focus, maybe cos there are other kids there. He will refuse to go to cc and enrichment, sometimes will cry and pretend to be sick, but after lesson starts he is ok and also happy when we pick him up.
I have raised my questions to her but I am disappointed at her reply. She said he may not be ready to read yet (that was about 2 months ago I think). She did not give any suggestions just said read more to him. I am looking for alternative teacher under the same course. Maybe she is not suitable for DS. I have spoken to a few parents and they are satisfied with their kids progress with her.

I want my kids to love reading not end up hating it. There will be term break for June holidays so I am going to try to maximize those time with DS. Any suggestions how I should engage him as I need “fresh” ideas to keep him interested.

you have been a great help, thanks so much !

ps : sorry for such long post, let me know if i should post shorter ones.

[mamii]

mypiggee:

I have the same experience!My son is in K1 now...and just finished learning his letters phonics...He still cant get the essence of forming a word. So in a nutshell, he can't recognise words.

Trying to revise at least 5mins per day...which is already a challenge as he will always said he's tired or give all sorts of excuses.

He studies 3hrs class in Kindergarden and we sent him to a 2hrs montessori enrichment class too. The montessori class teacher feedback to me that she had to pronounce very CLEARLY then he's able to form a word. Till now, she's trying to get him to understand the essence of it.

Now looking into Chinese enrichment class for him too...

My MIL always asked me not to stress him but he already skipped Pre-N. I tried not to stress him but he only attended 3hrs class daily.
Enrichment is just 2hrs class for English, then 1hr45mins for Chinese if I go for Berries...
5 mins simple revision....30mins on Sat....the rest of the weekend is purely play time

Hi mypiggee, DS is K1 too At least your DS gets it when the teacher pronounce it CLEARLY, my DS sometimes still can't get it. I think he gets confused when the letters start to blend. DS can recognize some words but he may not recognize the same word he had read before !!! Then sometimes he surprised me by reading out a word.

I feel that quality is important, 5min maybe short but if he understand what it has been taught to him it will stay with him. I can spend 30mins with DS but half is asking him to \"sit up\" \"don't rock the chair\" \"stay focus\" \"stop jumping\" etc another few min is him talking and talking, then he complained \"why so long, are we done ?\" :mad: :mad: sometimes will try reward system

off topic, for chinese I am using si wu kuai du at home, you can search in the forum for more info.

He attends ICL on saturday so I do not do any revision at all for weekend.

[buds]

enzoelize:

Thanks Buds!


I guess I have abt 4 months to prepare my resources for teaching her phonics when she hit 18 months.

Don't rush into the process of trying to get child to read. Reading is but only one of the many skills a child has to learn in life. Enjoying reading and sustaining the reading interest for as long as they can is the key.

18mths can start single letter sounds. Better if they oredi know all the alphabets by hard (by then) la.. both letter names AND letter shapes.

[buds]

enzoelize:

Thanks Buds!


I guess I have abt 4 months to prepare my resources for teaching her phonics when she hit 18 months.

Don't rush into the process of trying to get child to read. Reading is but only one of the many skills a child has to learn in life. Enjoying reading and sustaining the reading interest for as long as they can is the key and the challenge some parents face...

18mths can start single letter sounds. Better if they oredi know all the alphabets by hard (by then) la.. both letter names AND letter shapes.

[tantart]

Hi, my girl is 4 years old and just started her phonic class with MMI.

She can idenify all upper and lower alphabets. At times she get confuse between the sounds, the letters and the pictures. How should I explain to her?

[happypoppy]

Hi Buds,


How do I teach DS (who is 4 this year) how to differentiate the "a" in pan and "e" in pen? What I mean is when he word builds, how will he know whether the word "pen" is spelt with a "e" or "a" since both "a" and "e" sounds pretty similar?

Likewise, when he word builds the word "cup", how should I explain to him that "cup" starts with "c" and not "k" since both "k" and "c" sound alike?

This issue has been troubling me for a while so it’ll be great if you could provide some insights. Thanks in advance!

[iLoveChubby]

Hi happypoppy

My DS used to have this problem too.. he doesnt know how to differentiate and doesnt know when to use \"a\" and \"e\". He was spelling words like \"cat\" to \"cet\" as both sounds,to him, were the same. However when he started to learn blending eg \"-at\" ==> cat, pat, sat... \"-an\"==> can, pan, man, he could slowly understand the correct spelling of the words.

To me, there isnt a hard and fast rule on this, kids will naturally learn all the different words - be it thr' phonics, thr' lots of reading, thr' sight words reading, even thr' memory as well.

However this is just my 2cents' worth.... I believe our dear Grand Master, buds, will provide better insight to this.. :rahrah: :rahrah:

[enzoelize]

Hi Buds,

Yes, I do know reading is just one component to the English language.
DD seems to be able to listen to instructions (listening)… She’s blabbering some words (speaking)… She should start with learning reading before writing isn’t it?

I have been getting her to listen to the ABC song and have bought those alphabet magnets to play with… I hope this is enuf for her to learn the letter names… When you mentioned her knowing letter shapes, does it mean she has to write it?
I am in the midst of making the sandpaper letter… started with small caps…
Bought the foam sheets but gotta be done with sandpaper first… Lotsa cutting…

I am also trying to read a short story to her every day, if not once in two days…

Hope to find more time to work with DD…

[happypoppy]

Hi IloveChubby,


Thanks for your inputs. I’ve spoken to DS teacher and her reply closely mirrored yours and she also gave me some pointers as to how I could help him differentiate between the "a" and "e" better. I guess at the end of the day it really comes down to exposure.

Hi Buds, hope to hear from your end when you have the time.