ANY GOOD ALPHABET AIDS OUT THERE?

[hifi]

dd is 4?

[hifi]

anyone?

[AnnieAreYouOkAreYouOkAnnie]

I'm not sure what you mean, but DS is 3.6 and loves the Letterland stories, and can recognise letters already from that.

[seeker]

The best possible alphabet aid is to read her stories. Just read books to her - she doesn't need anything else.

[hifi]

we do read to her daily. wanted something with more interaction.i will look at letterland thanks.

[lilolilmanchester]

I liked letterland too. There used to be a jigsaw as well as a book containing the letters and individual books for each letter. We also had some foam letters which stuck on the tiles at bath time and could build up into words later on. Our DCs loved them and it wasn't like work, just fun at bathtime.

[RubberDuck]

I like Starfall although be aware it is American, so be prepared to have to explain the difference between Zee and Zed

[MollieO]

www.sparklebox.co.uk has some fab literacy (and numeracy) resources. It has alphabet books that you can print off.

My ds (also 4) first learned the alphabet with Letterland characters and still enjoys playing the computer game they do. We also play 'knock, knock' with the Letterland flash cards which makes learning his letters fun.

He started with Letterland at nursery and moved on to Jolly Phonics which I must say I find a bit tedious (silly actions imo).

We also have magnetic letters on the fridge.

The other resource his nursery used was www.sweetcounter.co.uk

[MilaMae]

I second Seeker.

I would check with the school too they will have their preferred method.

Approach Letterland with caution. A lot of primary teachers (me included hate it). A lot of schools are going down the Jolly Phonics route. The actions maybe annoying(I'm currently reliving them through dtwins) but they work.

Jolly Phonics also ensures you pronounce the sounds correctly and has no distractions ie letters with faces on etc. Letterland just clutters the child's brain when it should be focusing on the letter and it's sound.

I just read 100s of quality picture books to my boys and we looked at a quality alphabet picture book once,that seemed to do the job. We had foam letters in the bath too. They just turned 5 last week,have never done flash cards etc. Their excellent teacher now sends all the more complex Jolly Phonics sounds and actions home so we do that as we've been requested to.

[Sawyer64]

We use these

[MilaMae]

I'd check that they hare pronounced correctly eg mmmm NOT muh.

[hifi]

thanks for checking with teacher tip, bright minds looks good.

[seeker]

Reading should be interactive too - reading WITH rather than reading TO! Lots of discussion of the pictures - what do you think's going to happen next? Can you find a big Buh or a Duh - look that cat's called Tom - that's tuh oh mm - can you find that in the story? And so on and so forth. I really think using books is much the best way to go.

[FrockHorror]

I would definately second Sparklebox. It's all free to download now too!

[MilaMae]

Sorry to sound pedantic but try not to put 'uh' on the end of sounds,she'll just have to re-learn them all. It's fffff not fuh iykwim.

[MollieO]

I found Letterland easier to learn than JP (!) which meant I got the letter sounds write. I find the actions with JP a bit odd - eg turning your head from side to side for 't' as if you're watching a tennis game. I don't know many 3 yr olds that are avid tennis fans! The Letterland charcters introduce both the sound and the way of writing the letter which I found worked really well with my ds who seems to have a very visual memory. JP works well for children who need to be doing an action to make the letter sound stick. My ds will only do the letter actions under protest and I've had to start using the resources from Sparklebox to maintain his interest.

I hadn't used flashcards before this term (ds just started in reception) but he seems to have lost confidence in literacy (won't do cvc words at school and won't show them what he learnt at nursery). His NT suggested the knock knock game - we take it in turns in inviting Letterland characters (hidden on the reverse side of a plain letter). The more letters he gets right the more characters can come to the party. Seems to keep his interest more than JP.

[AlexanderPandasmum]

As a reception teacher, I would say the best you can do (if possible) is to find out what they will be doing in school and support that in some way.

There is a book of 'Jolly Songs' and even if your child's school uses Jolly Phonics and sings the Jolly Jingles, the Jolly Songs book and CD isn't generally used in schools but will support it iyswim?

[seeker]

Sorry - I didn't know how to write the sound without the -uh!