All About Teaching and Learning Phonics

[tamarind]

Hifive:

Hi Tamarind


Need your advice:

I am teaching my DS2 phonics at home. There are a few ending sound like \"ct\" and \"xt\" which I am not sure of how to teach him.

Pls help. Or is there any resources or references that I can refer to? Thanks in advance.

Hifive,
I actually did not teach \"ct\" and \"xt\".

I only taught up to Stage 3 as described in my blog :
http://tamarindphonics.blogspot.com/2008/08/how-to-teach-phonics.html

Then I move on to teaching sight words using the Peter and Jane series. Personally I do not think it is necessary to teach any more than the 3 stages in my blog My boy is able to read and spell effortlessly after I have finished teaching him phonics, and also after lots of practice reading the Peter and Jane series. My kids are able to read all those words ending with \"ct\" and \"xt\", because they learn them as sight words. For example, I just point to the word \"fact\" and read the whole word for them. It makes sense to them, because they automatically breaks up the word to \"f-a-c-t\".

If we teach kids too many phonics rules, it is very difficult for them to remember all the rules. But most kids below 7 years old have the ability to learn sight words, so it is more efficient to teach by combining basic phonics and sight words.

[tamarind]

Dear all,

Check out my new page about how to motivate your child to read.
http://tamarindphonics.blogspot.com/2010/07/how-to-motivate-your-child-to-read.html

[Hifive]

Hi tamarind


Thanks for your advice! Really appreciate that…

My DS1 attended Montessori Phonics enrichment class when he was younger. So I have his worksheets at home. I have used the Leapfrog DVD to teach my DS2 letter sounds and now I am using DS1’s worksheet to teach the rest of the blending. I was quite concerned for a while when I couldn’t figure out how to teach some sounds.

Thanks once again for your advice. Will continue to teach DS2 the rest of the sounds + reading Peter and Jane books.

[tamarind]

Hifive,

You are welcome

[pummanuel]

tamarind:

When they were reading these books at 4 years old, I did not ask them to read other books out loud to me. I give them the freedom to pick up any book they like from our home library of a few hundred children's books. They can read whenever they feel like it. They usually pick books that are of a lower reading level then the Peter and Jane book that they were reading, so they have no problem reading those books.

Hi Tamarind,

I'm glad I asked you. I misunderstood that when your children were reading P&J, they were reading aloud other books to you too.

For my daughter, when we hit the rocks at book 7a, and I introduced her to lower level picture books, she took a liking to reading these books. Often, I would find her reading by herself. But I thought since we were progressing in P&J, she should be progressing in the other story books, i.e from P&J Book 7 to Book 8, her picture books' level should increased from Book 4 to Book 5. So I tried introducing books of higher levels and requested her to read aloud to me. She resisted such efforts, though it didn't affect her interest in P&J. I nudged for a few days and stopped. Now, she will read as and when she wants.

Today, I told her after P&J, when I'm cooking, she could read a book of her choice. If she encountered any words she didn't know, she could come to me. I would just tell her (by blending if it's phonetic) and not make her blend, which is what we do for P&J. After that, I gave her cherries and brought her to the playground. She was very happy. Think I shall continue to do this till it becomes another routine.

Many thanks for your help, Tamarind.

[pummanuel]

tamarind:

Dear all,

Check out my new page about how to motivate your child to read.
http://tamarindphonics.blogspot.com/2010/07/how-to-motivate-your-child-to-read.html

Thanks for another insightful article. It is a great summary for parents who are keen to instil in their children a love for reading. I found the article \"The Power of Reading Aloud to Children\" very compelling.

Children do enjoy 'reading-aloud' sessions with parents as it's the time when parents dedicate their time wholly to their children. And indeed, somehow, many parents just stop doing so when the children reach older grades, i.e. the stage when most children are able to read independently. The journey does not end there.

It has never occurred to me to read books like 'The Pilgrim's Progress' to older children as it seemed so 'un-children'. This point has opened up another perspective on reading with children for me. Both my husband and I like to read finance-related books and biographies. Now it suddenly dawned on me I can read such books with my daughter when she's in her pre-teens.

Also, I've never done any parallel reading with my child as when she's around, I'm always busy with her or housework. I normally read when she's asleep or when I'm on the bus/mrt alone. It's a very refreshing point for me, esp this part, 'This allows you to demonstrate your own love and respect for reading.'

Indeed, in any relationship, love and respect are essential. So when parents try to forge a relationship between the child and reading, we have to bear these two values in mind.

[tamarind]

pummanuel,

Both my hubby and myself have read and enjoyed all the wonderful children's literature that my kids have read, especially the Story of Doctor Dolittle, House of Sixty Fathers, the trumpet of the swan, Gulliver's travel, etc. My hubby even thanked me for introducing these books to him He reads very widely, from Roman history to computer science, but when he was young he read only the Secret Seven series and jumped straight to Lord of the Rings. He did not know that there are so many wonderful children's books around.

I have just finished reading Momo by Michael Ende, a fantasic children's book about time. Momo is a masterpiece and I highly recommend all parents and children to read this book, especially those parents who always complain that they have no time It can be read by a child of any age, so long as she is matured enough to understand a complicated plot. For example, a child who can read and understand Charlotte's Web should enjoy this book :

http://www.amazon.com/Momo-Puffin-Books-Michael-Ende/dp/0140317538/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1281072019&sr=1-1

I read that according to Michael Ende, this book is for children ages 8 - 80

[starz]

hi tamarind,


my girl is reading level 4b right now. I find its too easy for her age 4 yrs old. cos i was so busy that we delay almost a yr to restart P&J again. its like overdue. shall i skip to the next level? but which level is recommended? also issit a must to buy both book A and B?

else what is the most basic n easy simple chapter books to start off with? i dun wish to bore her with chapter books, just want to lightly introduce to her.

[cherrygal]

The topic is very helpful.


If I buy the Leapfrog DVD from amazon.com, can I watch it with a normal DVD player? Sorry to ask this. I seem to have seen this question asked somewhere but now cannot locate the answer.

My son learnt reading at 4yrs from Zoophonics (1 year). I sent him to Zoophonics as he was resistant to reading books by himself. After he was confident in reading, I took him out of Zoophonics. He's now 6 and can read Enid Blyton books, newspapers and ingredients from food packages. So which level should I start my son on with Ladybird series? He will enter P1 next year.

I now intend to use Tamarind's method to teach my daughter when she reaches 2+ and also to help motivate my son to read more extensively. I will also tell my son tonight that he can have ice cream at swensens if he finishes more books. Great idea!

[buds]

laughingcat:

Hello experts :rahrah: I do have a query and hopefully can get some expert view and suggestion. :salute:

Hi, laughingcat.

Received your PM with regards to the query below.
Apologise for the delay as i've been rather occupied.
I am NO expert but i will try my best to guide you where
i can, okie?

laughingcat:

All along I have been teaching my boy the short vowel first. Now that I need to move to teaching long vowel because of some advanced blending.

Yes, i suppose you are on the right track, dear.

Beginners to Phonics will begin from learning the sounds of
letters first (single letter sounds)... move on to wordbuilding
(listening to sounds in words :eg. t...i...n...) then to 3-letter
phonetic words family blending (eg. am, an, at ag, etc)...
followed by double consonant blends (bl, cl, fl, sp (etc)...
triple consonant blends (eg. spr, spl, etc)...

After which, children can move on to other combination
sounds, long vowels & special letter combinations & so on.

An effective phonics programme must be supplemented with
books or readers. Phonics should not only serve the purpose
of decoding words or learning how to spell, but also not forgetting
the whole intention of assisting the child with fluency in reading and
reading effectively. Children should progress from learning to read
short simple words to short sentences and move on to longer words
and longer sentences. The inclusion of sight words will be extremely
helpful in helping children to make sense of sentences in words, as
complete sentences will be made up of both phonetic and sight words.

laughingcat:

Can anyone advise me how do I go about teaching long vowels in order to avoid confusion? :?

You should ensure that you gao tim the blends first prior to introducing the
long vowels. There are blends that do not have long vowels in them like in
the words bl-ack... bl-and... and also in words like spr-ing... spl-en-did. Try
to avoid words like bl-oo-per-s... and br-oo-m... or scr-ee-ch... for starters.

Once you're assured that your child understands the blends, i can guide you
further with the long vowels. As usual, you're always welcome to PM me your
doubts. Will try the best i can, k.. with whatever time i have here.

Regards, buds.