All About Teaching and Learning Phonics

[maple]

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

Hi Tamarind,
I read that you have this book on 128 high frequency words. Do you mind posting and sharing these 128 words? Many Thanks in advance.

[tamarind]

Hi maple,

All 128 words are in the photos. Can you see them ?

Or you can click these links to see the bigger images.

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_w1nyHWTEh94/Sh066QCq76I/AAAAAAAABHM/i0TneZDWt5Y/s1600-h/DSCF6755.JPG
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_w1nyHWTEh94/Sh07dTgfwPI/AAAAAAAABHc/ghSRk9BKZHE/s1600-h/DSCF6757.JPG

[maple]

oic… silly me… I didnt count, thought this is only a sample of the words. Thanks a lot!

[tamarind]

maple:

oic... silly me... I didnt count, thought this is only a sample of the words. Thanks a lot!

You are welcome

[preciousjam]

its about time that i’ve to start teaching my son, actually i think i’m a little late. He’s already 6 this year. Glad to get some ideas to teach him as I’m totally lost at this. I like that way you teach you kids, learning thru play…Makes it less stressful and they don’t feel they are in a class.

[kylene]

hello,


i enjoyed reading all the tips regarding reading. thanks all!

My son has just turned 13months. I would like to start introducing the alphabets. should i start with A-Z (recognising each letter) followed by the sound each letter makes (phonics) or should do both together? i.e L says ull

[buds]

I personally recommend teaching the alphabets first.

To perfection if possible. Recognition and tracing in
proper fashion, top to bottom and left to right way.

Then, followed by introduction to the phonemic sounds.
This way the child can make connection between letter
and sound. This will also help with blending later on, ie.
listening to sounds in words, with spelling and decoding
of longer words in books.

I would not encourage teaching young children Phonics
before the names of the alphabet… it affects future
writing process in a way.

Just my 2 cents.

Cheers.

[tamarind]

preciousjam:

its about time that i've to start teaching my son, actually i think i'm a little late. He's already 6 this year. Glad to get some ideas to teach him as I'm totally lost at this. I like that way you teach you kids, learning thru play...Makes it less stressful and they don't feel they are in a class.

preciousjam,
It does seem like my kids have learnt to read quite effortlessly I am surprised myself. I only teach my boy less than 15 minutes a day, even less time for my girl. Learning consistently for a short period of time everyday, in the comfort of our own home, is really so much more effective and less stressful, than attending enrichment classes once a week.

buds:

I personally recommend teaching the alphabets first.
To perfection if possible. Recognition and tracing in
proper fashion, top to bottom and left to right way.

Then, followed by introduction to the phonemic sounds.
This way the child can make connection between letter
and sound. This will also help with blending later on, ie.
listening to sounds in words, with spelling and decoding
of longer words in books.

I would not encourage teaching young children Phonics
before the names of the alphabet... it affects future
writing process in a way.

Just my 2 cents.

Cheers.

buds,
My younger boy learnt all the 26 letters by watching the Leapfrog DVD, so he knew the phonics sounds before the names of the letters ! That time when he saw \"c\", he says \"ke\" as in \"cold\" instead of \"see\".

By 3 years 3 months old, he still could not recognize all the 26 letters, he had problems with b and d, even h and n. But when I asked him the individual phonics letter sounds, he knew all 26 of them very well. I lost patience trying to teach him the individual letters, so I started to teach him how to read 2 and 3 letter words. Later I realized that he could recognize letters better when they are put into words. For example, he always reads \"d-o-g\", \"b-a-g\", etc, correctly, because the shape of the whole word helps him. He can read any 3 letter words, and now he can also spell any 3 letter words, and other commonly used words.

But I do agree with you that it is best to know individual letters to perfection first, and parents should always try to do this first. My older girl also knew all the names of the letters and she knew how to write all the letters before she started to learn to read. But in cases like my boy, who has problem differentiating \"b\" and \"d\", putting letters into words is helpful to him.

[kylene]

thanks Buds and Tamarind. I think I’ll start with recognition of the alphabets first then and see how it goes.

[UmmuMuadz]

My boy is 2yrs 7mths.


How do I introduce the alphabets to him?? How many letters can I introduce at any one time? :?

Pls advise.

Thanks