Is it time to start more phonics/reading work?

[Ellyndria]

DS (3 years old, will be 4 in a couple weeks) loves dinosaurs...we read many dinosaur books. We checked out a new (as in, haven't read it before) book from the library, and we open it up, and he points to the word allosaurus and says, "That says allosaurus." Um, ok. I realize he's recognizing the whole word, which is ok, but I want him to know phonics too, of course.

 

He knows his letter sounds, he has been recognizing signs of stores even out of context (as in, when they are sponsoring a booth somewhere) for over a year, and last year when he said he wanted to read, we did maybe the first 20 or so lessons in 100 EZ lessons (then the interest ran out for a while so we stopped). One time he said he wanted to read a real book, so he sounded out the first Bob book, which I had on hand for such occasions but had never brought them out before.

 

Anyway. "That says allosaurus." It made me think it might be time, perhaps after his birthday. So d'you think it might be time to start working on the reading thing a little bit more?

[patchfire]

My ds is doing the same type of thing - recognizing whole words, telling us what sound different letters make, asking us what different combinations of letters spell. He'll be four next month, and I sort of have it in my head to do some formal phonics with him starting around then.

 

So, yeah. Sounds like yours is just as ready and raring to go - go for it. :)

[Lovedtodeath]

YES! And jump on it before he starts relying on whole word too much.

[myfatherslily]

Sure!:) My DD was 4 1/4 when we started. If your ds sounded out a Bob book, it sounds like he's off to a great start! I initially helped my daughter put sounds together by making just a few cards with very simple 2-letter words on them (it, at, ad, on, up). Once she was able to do that, we tried a few lessons of Ordinary Parent's Guide from our library, which I liked. But then I switched to Word Mastery (toward the beginning http://www.donpotter.net/education_pages/) and A Beka Letters and Sounds K. And we read Bob books:)

 

Go for it! Have fun and take your time:)

[Jen in PA]

I would go for it. I started doing more formal things with my DD a few months before she turned 4, and it worked out very well. DS (will be 4 in June) just started Get Ready for the Code a few days ago, and is very happy to have his own workbook for school. I hadn't actually planned to start yet, but DH noticed him sounding out short words and I kept noticing him picking out sight words and guessing about words based on the first letter, so we took the plunge. I think the main thing with starting young is to let the child set the pace.

[bethben]

I just started my 4 1/2 year old ds with Alphaphonics. He has known his letter sounds for almost a year and also was starting to sound out words. We do it very informally. If he wants to, I do it. I don't push it too hard. Lately, he's been wanting to because if he finishes up a sticker train track, he gets to go to McDonalds with Daddy.

Beth

[ElizabethB]

I started my daughter a bit after 3 1/2, she was starting to sound out words by sight, I wanted her to sound them out because I've seen the bad results of sight words with my remedial students.

 

Here's why and how not to teach sight words:

 

http://www.thephonicspage.org/On%20Reading/sightwords.html

 

We worked a few times a week from Alpha-Phonics (not recommended if they start guessing from the word families, go across the lines or switch to another method if they start guessing and not sounding out the words from left to right), Phonics Pathways, A Beka, and "Reading With Phonics" by Hay and Wingo (1953.) I also did a bit of spelling with her. At this age, I only worked 5 to 10 minutes at a time, and only when she was interested. However, when I read books to her, I made sure I was sounding out a lot of the words, especially word patterns she hadn't learned phonetically yet, but also some things she had learned for review.

 

Then, for K, we worked through Webster's Speller, doing a lot more spelling. The spelling really helped solidify the phonics she was learning and made it stick in her brain, I noticed a difference after we started to do more spelling. She was writing well, so we did mostly written spelling with a bit of oral spelling when we were driving, but someone who does not write well or fast can do more oral spelling and/or use magnetic letters for "written" spelling. We worked about 10 minutes a day for K, that was enough for us to complete the Speller in 5 months. (I skipped a few of the 2 syllable word s and many of the 3+ syllable words that were way above her vocabulary level, although I taught her a few along with their meaning.)

 

She writes numbers poorly and slowly, I still will write out her numbers with her on difficult math lessons.

[Ellyndria]

Thanks for the advice. I definitely want him knowing phonics, and not using a whole word approach.

 

Today: driving by a gas station with one of those signs that flashes different advertisements.. "That says milk!" It did. Not two minutes later, he points to TJMaxx and says, "That says max just like Office Max." I am not prompting or pointing out this stuff at all. Am I going to have a hard time teaching phonics? When we were doing those first 20ish lessons in 100EZ lessons before, he seemed to want to guess at the words from the first couple letters, not paying attention to the last letter(s).

 

Rather unrelated, but I also find myself saying strange sorts of things these days. Today, standing in the toy aisle, I'm telling DS to pick up the dinos he put on the floor to play with, I say, "Pick up the parasauralophus." Really? Parasauralophus? I've read *way* too many dino books to him lately. (Dinos, while neat, aren't really my thing, I only knew a few basic ones before.)

Edited February 20, 2009 by Ellyndria