Letterland

[pummanuel]

GTGT:

Hi Pummanuel


My boy is in Pat's Schoolhouse too. He is at Halifax - playgroup.

Which branch is your child at ?

Hi GTGT, she's at Serangoon.

[pummanuel]

buds:

While many centres promise these enrichment lessons...
it is wise for parents to check up aniwaes that the lessons
promised ARE indeed being delivered.

Hi buds

I agree with you that parents should check out the enrichment lessons when they can. I enrolled my daughter in the extended classes in Apr this year as being the only child, she yearned for company.

I went earlier to observe the classes as well as asked my daughter on the content of the extended classes. Though the school delivered what they promised but I felt the extended classes were a mapping of what they did in the morning. Perhaps the am's curriculum was very well designed already.

As a SAHM, I felt that I should spend more time with her, so after 2 weeks, I coaxed her to stop her extended classes and had my own personalised enrichment classes. However, I do know of several parents, both FTWM & SAHM, in her school who like the extended classes very much.

buds:

I agree to a point that the stories can slow the reading progress but it can
still however be shared more for story-fun-sake instead of for actual
learning requirement.

Indeed, the stories make interesting reading on its own. I read them to her as well as played them in the car. The letterland materials I bought were equipped with CDs (alphabet songs, handwriting songs, digraph stories) which I found very useful. We turned them into audio stories when travelling. Afterall, the materials are not cheap too, so the more we use them, the more worthwhile it is. :lol:

buds:

My girls didn't even go that far into Bk 10 of P&J as they were already
reading ahead with other books, so it is not necessary in my opinion to
literally finish the entire set. More important to inculcate the love for
reading... so once the reading skills take off, parents can diversify
the reading variety tailored to the child's interest and one or two
that they would like the children to try/attempt.

Like what buds said, it's not necessary to finish the whole series. Likewise, Tamarind opined book 9 is sufficient for a child to advance to other books.

I continued with P&J partly coz my daughter likes the series very much. She sees them as her friends. We are doing 11b now, and she was every excited by what the kids were doing for the carnival. She wanted to dress up as a fairy like Jane and went to do a wand - cut the post it note into a star and sticked it onto a straw. The other reason is because I bought the whole set of P&J...haha...and the accountant in me is more than happy she wants to read further. :oops:

But I have to admit I used P&J like a textbook initially. It was when we hit the rocks at 7a that I started to introduce her to other story books as per Tamarind's advice. And it was during this phase that I began to understand my daughter's topics of interest - fantasy, animals and lately, reproduction. I bought 'Where Willy Went' and she loved it. It's much easier to encourage them to read when they are interested in the books.

And buds, thanks for starting this Letterland thread. Several of my daughter's schoolmates' parents got impatient with the school's decision to start blending in Term 4 of N2 and started them on external phonics courses. I'm worried the children would be confused with both Letterland and other phonics courses. I hope with your thread, parents will be more informed on Letterland.

[buds]

pummanuel:

Hi buds


I agree with you that parents should check out the enrichment lessons when they can.

The centres call it by different programme names. A couple i do know
of call it their PM enrichment programme. These centres are usually the
ones that offer cc afternoon programmes. Hence the enrichment part of
it is to entice new customers who aren't keen on care part of a childcare
set-up but yet find the longer hours helpful. The hours can be from after
the staff lunch which by then all the full day children are all asleep to a
few who start a four hour programme from 3pm to 7pm. The PM-only
programme are also popular with SAHMs who work part time PM.

You are right in a way to say that it is kinda of an extension of the AM
programme, at least that's from what i know from personal experience
and encounters with some centres. Unless the centres employ 3rd party
providers to run enrichment programmes outside from what the centre
may be able to provide... for example a third language course... or an
arts programme... an IT programme... kids yoga... speech & drama...
(etc).

For the extension of AM thingy, it is like a fun revision of what is done
during the day for the full day children but a new activity for the PM
children. Hence, while the lesson per se may be a revision based one
for the full day children, the craft... the worksheet... the activity may
be a little different from what was done earlier in the day. This means
children who stay on full day will get extra enhancement. And
also a new group of friends to interact with.

pummanuel:

As a SAHM, I felt that I should spend more time with her, so after 2 weeks, I coaxed her to stop her extended classes and had my own personalised enrichment classes. However, I do know of several parents, both FTWM & SAHM, in her school who like the extended classes very much.

Yup, i agree. Some SAHMs i know even had options to do flexi extended
programmes from some centres who had space availability for their PM
sessions. PM sessions are generally quite quiet..

Nothing beats personalised lessons with mommy though.. :celebrate:
I did my own as well.

buds:

I agree to a point that the stories can slow the reading progress but it can
still however be shared more for story-fun-sake instead of for actual
learning requirement.

pummanuel:

We turned them into audio stories when travelling. Afterall, the materials are not cheap too, so the more we use them, the more worthwhile it is. :lol:

Agree. Same here.. :hi5: We made it our music and movement session
during the afternoons and a chance to play with puppets we made
according to the Letterland characters.

pummanuel:

The other reason is because I bought the whole set of P&J...haha...and the accountant in me is more than happy she wants to read further. :oops:

Children relate better when we bring out the meaning from the books we
read into practical stuff which they find more tangible. Kudos to you 4
the extra effort. I'm sure your child is reading extremely well. :salute:

And yes... once an investment is made... it'd be good to see through to
the end and make it worthwhile... value for money. But not to
worry too, once you're done... you can always put up your entire P&J
collection up at our Trading Post as pre-loved books. They are rather
popular even as pre-loved.. :evil: You can then invest the $ for new
books for your child.

pummanuel:

It's much easier to encourage them to read when they are interested in the books.

Very true. Especially as they get older, they tend to have a personal
interest in their choice of books.

pummanuel:

And buds, thanks for starting this Letterland thread. Several of my daughter's schoolmates' parents got impatient with the school's decision to start blending in Term 4 of N2 and started them on external phonics courses. I'm worried the children would be confused with both Letterland and other phonics courses. I hope with your thread, parents will be more informed on Letterland.

You are welcome and the pleasure is all mine. While i have less time these
days on the forum, i try to keep myself updated as and when i can and do
catch up on back-reads. I also try to reply as and when i can these days.. :oops:
Confusion may not be so much after the children know all their letter sounds,
but i suppose they will miss out on the fun blending stories. Term 4 of N2,
in my opinion is good time to start as their more mature. Other centres i
know of start only in K1. When children are more mature and have longer
attention span, the concepts can be taught and understood much better &
definitely much faster.

[buds]

For parents who are keen to start their children on Letterland introduction

and have no time to comb the entire thread, here's the link to the intro.

http://www.kiasuparents.com/kiasu/forum/viewtopic.php?t=3962&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=60

[buds]

concern2:

Hi Buds,


My DS's childcare uses Letterland and I have to say that it has been effective in developing his reading abilities.

I am very happy you shared, concern2. :celebrate:
I suppose your DS has a great teacher.

concern2:

At 6 years old, however, he is still pretty much into picture books, and doesn't seem to fancy reading books like Geronimos, Beast Quest, Ronald Dahl, Enid Blytons... Do you think there is a need to 'upgrade' him to non-picture books?

Seeking expert advice...

I'm honestly no expert and different children have different preference
for books. Between my two DDs, they are poles apart. Their voracity
for books are also on different levels.

While DD1 has moved on to Geronimos and Rainbow Magic fairy stories
at similar age... and can now upgrade to black and white illustrations in
chapter books... DD2 still can't. While DD1 reads pretty fast especially
when she is feeling the flow of the stories, DD2 would rather do some
thing else. DD2 still likes baby books too. Hehee.. That's what i call
the picture books. :lol:

Mebbe what DS needs is a kind of book that he can relate to. It doesn't
matter if the books he reads are still in colour. Upgrade as he moves
along rather than just dump the books you want him to read.

For me at least, i do not think you have to immediately upgrade him to
non-picture books. But that's only my opinion. :hugs:

I dunno if this might be his thing or if this might help... I went to Popular
@ CCK Lot 1 a couple of days ago and chance upon a Horrid Henry's 1st
single... in fully coloured illustrations. I think it was titled Horrid Henry &
the Football Fiend. I personally liked it. If you can find it, mebbe you
have a go for DS with it. There was only that one title available though.
I do not know if the rest are available here yet. But here's the link if u
are keen to check the books out. If i recall correctly, the coloured ones
are from their Early Readers level.

http://www.horridhenry.co.uk/pages/books/index.asp?id=10

Some children need a little shove to upgrade their reads and it can help
if we now what interesting stuff we can shove them with. I started
reading 'with' DD1 before she willingly embarked on her reading journey
on her own. It gave us some quality bonding time in between the waiting
for the school transport.

For black and white chapter books, i find The Magic Treehouse pretty good.

[pummanuel]

buds:

Agree. Same here.. :hi5: We made it our music and movement session
during the afternoons and a chance to play with puppets we made
according to the Letterland characters.

This is an interesting idea...to act out the roles with puppets. I should try it out one day with my finger puppets.

For us, we took turns to re-enact the roles, I'm Peter Puppy and she's Harry Hat Man. She will take take a photograph of me and I will pant like a dog, with my hands in front of me, and go 'ffff'. Or I'm Oscar Orange and she's Walter Walrus and she will splash water on me and I'll go very crossed and said 'oh' and 'ow'. It tickles her no end. Then we will switch the roles. One day, she asked me, 'I thought Mr O is supposed to protect Oscar Orange. Why didn't he come to his rescue when Walter Walrus was bullying OO?'

buds:

Confusion may not be so much after the children know all their letter sounds,
but i suppose they will miss out on the fun blending stories. Term 4 of N2,
in my opinion is good time to start as their more mature. Other centres i
know of start only in K1. When children are more mature and have longer
attention span, the concepts can be taught and understood much better &
definitely much faster.

Oh, perhaps this is why her school starts blending at Term 4 of N2. I've just proposed bringing forward basic blending to Term 3 in their annual feedback form. If different programs won't confuse the children who are already familiar with the letter sounds, then it seems alright. Thanks for the enlightenment.

[buds]

buds:

Agree. Same here.. :hi5: We made it our music and movement session during the afternoons and a chance to play with puppets we made according to the Letterland characters.

pummanuel:

This is an interesting idea...to act out the roles with puppets. I should try it out one day with my finger puppets.

Our puppets are bigger. Hand puppets and face masks.
So each of us get to be the Letterland characters itself.
When they were younger, we would act out the words
while the CD was playing. We had large hollow-letter
templates to trace and match to the face masks as
we sang the songs to the handwriting CD.

pummanuel:

For us, we took turns to re-enact the roles, I'm Peter Puppy and she's Harry Hat Man. She will take take a photograph of me and I will pant like a dog, with my hands in front of me, and go 'ffff'. Or I'm Oscar Orange and she's Walter Walrus and she will splash water on me and I'll go very crossed and said 'oh' and 'ow'. It tickles her no end.

You are creative too and pretty hands-on as well i must add. From your
sharings, i can visualize how much fun the both of you were having
together! :celebrate:

Word of caution though : Do watch out that Peter the poor puppy says its
sound (letter sound) instead of the 'fffff', while 'fffff' itself isn't wrong as
that would be the actual cute puppy sound. One may also re-enact the
puppy saying soft \"p-uh' sounds in a sad whiny voice with a sad puppy
face.

Why the word of caution? Cause i have had parents who came to us and
shared similar woes of confusion when trying to do home reinforements
with their children. Amidst the fun of learning through play, the objective
of the reinforcement may not necessarily be met if at the end of the home
activity, the child is still not able to voice out the sound corresponding to
the characters or pick out the letter shape that makes the letter sound tt
was being reinforced.

It is fine to play with animal sounds but when parents can sense a wee bit
of confusion between the animal character sounds and the letter sounds...
you may rephrase the sounds you are asking for.

ie. Animal sounds : woof woof... baa baa... meow meow... (etc)

Example :

Yes, you're right hun... a puppy does make that sound. (woof woof.. or aaarrrfff)

Can you now; give mummy the letter sound Poor Peter the Puppy makes?
And when you pose that question, make extra emphasis on the /p/ sound
to get the objective across.

pummanuel:

Then we will switch the roles. One day, she asked me, 'I thought Mr O is supposed to protect Oscar Orange. Why didn't he come to his rescue when Walter Walrus was bullying OO?'

You have a bright kiddie there... thinking outside the box!

pummanuel:

Oh, perhaps this is why her school starts blending at Term 4 of N2. I've just proposed bringing forward basic blending to Term 3 in their annual feedback form. If different programs won't confuse the children who are already familiar with the letter sounds, then it seems alright. Thanks for the enlightenment.

Most likely reason i can think of. Another is also to allow new students to
catch up and also to ensure the whole class / level is on the same level
with each other so that the teacher does not have to repeat or back-teach
once blending activities come in. The idea is to make sure the single letter
sounds are solid before moving on to blending.

If children are already quite versed with the Letterland stories and also the
characters, parents can double up reinforcements by ensuring that they can
say, pick out/point to the letter shape, trace... with just yourselves saying
only the letter sounds... yes... without the Letterland characters. This way
if parents are planning to outsource phonics lesson to speed up, children
will be less reliant on the Letterland characters. Even if parents do not have
such intentions, this will still help with the moving on to the next level with
the children getting older & going into the blending process.

[pummanuel]

buds:

Word of caution though : Do watch out that Peter the poor puppy says its

sound (letter sound) instead of the 'fffff', while 'fffff' itself isn't wrong as
that would be the actual cute puppy sound. One may also re-enact the
puppy saying soft \"p-uh' sounds in a sad whiny voice with a sad puppy
face.

Thanks Buds for the advice. It didn't occur to me that she may be confused between the sounds the animals make vs the letter sounds.

I guess we didn't have this problem as

(1) I started to teach her digraphs this year after she had spent a year in school on letter sounds, hence she's very familiar with the letter sounds.

(2) And I've read and explained the 'ph' story to her beforehand, so she knew that when Harry Hatman takes a photograph of Peter Puppy, instead of saying the humanly 'cheese', Peter Puppy says 'fff'. So when Peter Puppy meets Harry Hatman, i.e ph, it sounds like fff.

Phew!!! Actually being untrained in early childhood education/phonics/etc requires me to read up a lot on how to teach a young child. Lots of trials and errors, but it brings me immense satisfaction too. Once again, thanks.

[buds]

buds:

Word of caution though : Do watch out that Peter the poor puppy says its sound (letter sound) instead of the 'fffff', while 'fffff' itself isn't wrong as that would be the actual cute puppy sound. One may also re-enact the puppy saying soft \"p-uh' sounds in a sad whiny voice with a sad puppy face.

pummanuel:

Thanks Buds for the advice. It didn't occur to me that she may be confused between the sounds the animals make vs the letter sounds.

I guess we didn't have this problem as

(1) I started to teach her digraphs this year after she had spent a year in school on letter sounds, hence she's very familiar with the letter sounds.

(2) And I've read and explained the 'ph' story to her beforehand, so she knew that when Harry Hatman takes a photograph of Peter Puppy, instead of saying the humanly 'cheese', Peter Puppy says 'fff'. So when Peter Puppy meets Harry Hatman, i.e ph, it sounds like fff.

Yes it is definitely fine for advanced learners ( like yours! ) :celebrate:
and if they gao tim all the single letter sounds concretely. The
word of caution does not apply to the digraph stage where all letter
combinations make different / special sounds.

The confusion usually happens during the single letter sounds stage where
children are beginning to understand the differences between letter shapes,
letter sounds, animal sounds, special combination sounds.. (etc)

pummanuel:

Phew!!! Actually being untrained in early childhood education/phonics/etc requires me to read up a lot on how to teach a young child. Lots of trials and errors, but it brings me immense satisfaction too. Once again, thanks.

I will ditto the immense satisfaction part! :hi5:

You're doin' extremely well for an untrained one.. in future you would
have bright opportunities in the early childhood industry, cos you're soo
creative and very ONZ! :salute: All that research has served you well & your
child is very fortunate to have you as her personal enrichment teacher.

[pummanuel]

Thanks for the compliments.


I'm really far from what it takes to be an early childhood educator, esp when I see my daughter's teachers at work. But for SAHMs with no bonuses, promotions, etc, compliments keep us going! :celebrate: