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Can anyone help with phonics? Very much beginners!

7 replies

KinderBoris · 07/03/2014 10:36

DS has started doing phonics at school and I'm looking at getting him some flash cards to practice at home.

He has some cards from speech therapy which we use to practice sounds and these look like a similar sort of thing.

I remember one of the cards at his school having a ship on it which according to Google, Jolly Phonics doesn't so I think there must be several different schemes, even if the sounds are mainly the same. Are there many differences between Jolly Phonics and the Usbourne ones for example? Which are good?

His teaching assistant said they just followed the general scheme when I asked but I don't want to confuse him by showing him different pictures to the ones they are learning at school. Will this matter so long as the sounds are the same?

I have asked for a copy of the cards they use in school but they haven't been forthcoming so I'm wondering if perhaps this isn't something they encourage. Or perhaps I'm overthinking and they have forgotten and I just need to ask again!

Is anyone in the know? It was Letterland in my day so I'm feeling very behind the times.

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LittleMissGreen · 07/03/2014 10:50

They've probably forgotten, but if you ask, they could probably tell you which phonics scheme they use - jolly phonics, read write inc, letters and sounds etc most of which are fairly google-able to be able to download the way that they learn the particular sound I think.

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columngollum · 07/03/2014 10:55

The general scheme doesn't exist. There are lots of schemes but they all have names. If you want to follow the school scheme then you need to find out its name. If (for some strange reason) the teacher and TA won't tell you its name then ask the Reception teacher from the class next door. The name of the scheme isn't secret. And there's no reason for you not to do it at home if you feel like it.

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KinderBoris · 07/03/2014 10:56

Thanks LittleMiss, just Googling those to see if they look the same as the cards I have seen! I might just ring this afternoon and ask, if it's something like the above I can probably print out or buy the cards myself.

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KinderBoris · 07/03/2014 11:00

Thanks Column, I probably just caught the TA at an inconvenient moment and she has forgotten. I will ask again then, was wondering if maybe there was a reason behind it, perhaps they didn't want me getting involved and confusing him but that's good to hear! I'm obviously just paranoid! Grin

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maizieD · 07/03/2014 13:25

I wouldn't bother trying to get the same flash cards, just use flash cards with the letters on. That is the ultimate goal of phonics teaching, to promote automatic association of sounds with the letters that represent them, not remembering them by way of a picture clue. You won't be interfering with the school's teaching by using plain letters. (It has even been known for children to be confused rather than helped by picture clues)

Have a look at this website: //www.phonicsinternational.com Lots of advice on supporting your child with its phonics learning and some free resources.

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Isthatwhatdemonsdo · 07/03/2014 14:16

Look at Alphablocks on the Ceebebies website .

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mrz · 07/03/2014 16:48

Schools are free to teach phonics without using published schemes which could explain why the TA said a general scheme ... we used our own (nameless) scheme for years. I agree she has probably forgotten your request but as maizie says you don't need picture cards (in fact the pictures can be a distraction).

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