your baby can read

milliebear00001

Caroline73 wrote: »

So what would you suggest that a parent does with a 4 year old who is 9 months off starting school does with a child that wants to read?

If your child really wants to learn, then take some time to gen up on the correct way to teach letter-sound correspondences. There are loads of internet sites - just Google 'phonics' and play some sound games (I Spy is excellent!) DON'T teach them the old way we were taught, that the letter 't' makes the sounds 'tuh' or 'c' 'cuh/r' - this leads to loads of problems later on, that his/her poor teacher will spend a lot of time undoing.

Your child's existing grasp of the sounds in words is a good guide to how ready they are to learn to read. Can they 'hear' the first, last and middle sounds in a word like 'cat'?

tandraig

If you play I spy then the words begining with T sound like ???? what? they cant sound like tuh - you just told us not to teach them that! or C now what would that sound like????????
and you wonder why parents are confused?

tandraig

oh and we cant do flashcard words - they are banned too

tandraig

and are your methods working??? when the literacy levels are so low?
my granddaughters are nearly five - and are nowhere near my daughter or my sons reading levels at the same age.

milliebear00001

tandraig wrote: »

If you play I spy then the words begining with T sound like ???? what? they cant sound like tuh - you just told us not to teach them that! or C now what would that sound like????????
and you wonder why parents are confused?

The letter 't' doesn't make the sound 'tuh'. If it did, the word 'tree' would sound like 'tuhree' - exactly what some children think it does sound like when they try to read it because well-meaning adults have taught them incorrect letter soundsl.

If you're really interested in improving your knowledge of how to teach reading through sounds, I suggest you Google 'phonics' and listen to some of the letter sound files provided. I suspect you're not really interested in improving anything though - merely in moaning about teachers and schools, which you've done on several threads already. The words 'chip' and 'shoulder' spring to mind.

tandraig

milliebear - if you were taught the 'old way' and you are now a teacher. What exactly is wrong with the way you were taught? you learned didnt you? was it painless? are you able to read write and spell?

milliebear00001

tandraig wrote: »

and are your methods working??? when the literacy levels are so low?
my granddaughters are nearly five - and are nowhere near my daughter or my sons reading levels at the same age.

Reading levels are actually much higher than they were in previous decades. Many children left school in my mother's day (1960s) unable to read properly, even more in my grandmother's day (1930s). in 1997 only about 55% of children left primary school able to read 'adequately', now the figure is around 85% - still not good enough, but a vast improvement.

milliebear00001

tandraig wrote: »

milliebear - if you were taught the 'old way' and you are now a teacher. What exactly is wrong with the way you were taught? you learned didnt you? was it painless? are you able to read write and spell?

Like you, I was lucky enough to have an excellent visual memory, and had parents who loved books and reading, and read to me. I was taught to read phonetically (by sounds) - it's not a new approach. My brother was taught by the 'flashcard' method that was tried out by some schools in the 1970s/80s and did not learn to read properly until he was nearly ten.

That, however, is only my anecdotal evidence. I prefer to look at the real evidence of what works on a large scale for most children.

tandraig

milliebear - you would have a chip on your shoulder too - if you were told throughout school you were stupid! because you didnt understand numbers!
I pointed out that you cannot play I SPY without sounding out letters. do you not understand that you told us NOT to do that when teaching reading?

milliebear00001

tandraig wrote: »

milliebear - you would have a chip on your shoulder too - if you were told throughout school you were stupid! because you didnt understand numbers!
I pointed out that you cannot play I SPY without sounding out letters. do you not understand that you told us NOT to do that when teaching reading?

Hmm - perhaps you need to rethink how good your 'reading comprehension skills' are. I certainly did not say you shouldn't 'sound out' letters at all. I said you should make sure you are sounding them out correctly. 't', does not make the sound 'tuh'.