P1's Scotland, Reading & Phonics.

[tommyg]

DS is in his last year of preschool. I want to make sure he is ready for P1.

I'm hearing tales of from the first week of starting school P1's are given reading books, words and letters/sounds to learn.
Is that your experience?
How phonetically decodable are the books they are being given?

My logic has it makes more sense to learn the letters/sounds before starting on 'tricky words' or reading books. Am I over thinking problems that don't exist?

 

[AP]

I don't remember it being like that in the first week but it was pretty soon. Alex was given letters to trace with a wipe-away marker through a plastic folder, but I am not sure if that's just because it was her and she needs the extra help. However if it's any reassurance, she picked up the reading books incredibly fast.

The first books she got were the Biff, chip & Kipper range and they were pretty easy even for her, they were actually the same as the first stages you get on the iPad/iPhone app if you wanted to look.

It sounds scary - but it was actually not as worrying as you think.

 

[suzib76]

Definitely overthinking.

Lana had a wee book with the individual letters then at the back it had oo, oa etc and they did a few at a time. It came with a sheet showing the sound and action they learnt to go with each letter. Reading book was parent read with one or two words read by the child. They progress incredibly quickly, but initially they don't have as much as you have been told, not at all. It may vary location wise but in terms of time my 14 & 12 year olds were taught this exact way also so I wouldn't expect too much difference

 

[kanga]

There's an order of events. something like
- letter and sound recognition
- cvc words
- digraphs
-tricky words

you can find loads of info on the internet. I would not stress as I'm sure the scjool will lead you

 

[Natasha2605]

Hm completely different in my daughters school. We are in Edinburgh.

Every week she comes home with a book for us to read together - NOT a reading book.

Number cards - this week was 0-20 to order, match, count with etc.

sound cards for the letters they have been learning this week. Usually four or five letters.

They use a new learning scheme. I'll try think it its name. But it's all about teaching the sounds/tricky words BEFORE teaching them to read so the transition is easier.

 

[alibaba24]

The stuff in p1 is really basic. They get little sound cards etc so work on the sounds and very small basic reading books with sentences like "the cat is big" they really don't have expectations in p1 and they all start from the beginning. Trying not to worry

 

[CaptainMummy]

Paige staryed p1 in August. Every week, she gets 2 new sounds (letters) to learn and 2/3 simple words that usually contain one of the sounds.

So far she has learned 's i t n a p m r d & e' and pretty much all of the words have been easily sounded out with these (in, an, and, at etc) and also a few words that they just have to remember (the, he, me etc)

She gets a book every few days, but they started off as stories with no words in at all, so we could discuss and make up the story. The last two books have been picture books (one was shapes, another insects)

Honestly, my daughter didnt have a clue about phonics when she started (she recognised a few letters etc but didnt have a scooby about puting them together or anything) but she can now spell and read most simple words, as long as she knows the sounds that are in them (she doesnt know what all sounds look like yet)
I wouldnt worry at all, I dont think they have very high expectations when they stary!

 

[tommyg]

So far she has learned 's i t n a p m r d & e' and pretty much all of the words have been easily sounded out with these (in, an, and, at etc) and also a few words that they just have to remember (the, he, me etc)

That the bit I'm worried about learning he, me, the, etc, before learning the letters h, m, th, etc.

Thanks for the assurance that the initial books aren't intended to be read by the child. It did have me confused that kids were coming home with books before learning letters.

I am dyslexic and struggled in school and frightened that he could be the same and get over whelmed with the speed that schools go at.

 

[CaptainMummy]

Yeah, I was also a bit sceptical about it, but Paige seems to have remembered them okay. I think they are given them because when they do start getting books with some words in them, then these words will probably appear quite frequently so it will help to know the words already.
It is crazy how quickly they learn though!