Reading and Phonics for under fives
Children start to make sounds from soon after they are born. This is in imitation of the sounds they hear around them. Even as young babies, children learn to say Ma-ma-ma and Da-da-da, so they are already using and making phonic sounds.Through nursery rhymes and songs this process continues subconsciously. Gradually, as the children grow up, their vocabulary increases and so does their phonic learning.
Wondering where to start? Help your child with phonics and words.
Super new Usborne series to encourage reading - see below.
When the time comes to start learning to read this sound process has to be referred to paper. Some children will already recognise some letters maybe even the letters of their name.S a m M a y B o b T i m P a t. If you use alphabet cards you can continue this learning process.Ask your child to name each letter by saying its name.Sometimes younger children know the alphabet by singing the ABC song.It helps if you sing the song slowly and clearly with the flashcards raised for each letter as it is sung.
Talking to your children increases their vocabulary. Videos, television, DVDs and books can also encourage increased imagination, vocabulary, concentration and reinforce all learning curves. You and your child will enjoy using our pages on nursery rhymes and these will help your child's communication skills. In most schools children are taught to read by Phonics. There are a number of different forms of Phonics. One very successful method is by using Jolly Phonics.
Synthetic phonics. On 1 December 2005 Ruth Kelly announced that schools are to adopt a phonics style of teaching reading. Click here for more information.
Phonics
See the links in the right hand menu for all our pages on phonics.
Share our nursery rhyme pages with your child.
Usborne Books have brought out a great new series - Very First Readers. Each book in the set of 15 builds on material from the previous books. There is one page, with a larger type face, for the child to read and a second for the adult to 'flesh out' the story. There are superb illustrations in a range of different styles. The Parents’ Guide to the series is a brilliant introduction which shows parents how to use the books. This series is ideal as an introduction to reading at the start of school or perhaps beforehand to give them a head start.