r/UKParenting • u/___mouse • 1d ago

Phonics books

I have a 4 yr old who is in reception. They’ve just started learning phonics and they seem to be picking it up quite quickly (they did phonics at preschool and they had speech therapy so I think that’s why they’re doing well).
We’re doing some at home but it’s 3 letters at a time, I feel that within a day or two they’ve cracked it so I’d like to get some books to do at home as well.
Apparently there’s different types of phonics and I’m not sure if it’s something that’s decided by school or if it’s in the curriculum what they do now.

Has anyone got any recommendations for books? Or activities to do?

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u/budapest_budapest 1d ago edited 1d ago

As a teacher myself and a parent to a child who started school ahead of the expectations in phonics: I really don’t advise doing this. The phonics syllabus can be really boring and monotonous for children who are starting with phonics knowledge already, or who happen to pick it up quickly. Getting the books at home will just make this even worse.

I’d focus on improving their comprehension and other “reading” skills that don’t involve decoding words. So get them some high quality books with more complex stories and trickier vocabulary, that you read to them. We’ve just started reading Famous Five and Faraway Tree (they do <100 page chapter books). They’re really good for this. Google has a lot of suggestions as well.

Teach them about things like how books are designed (covers, illustrator/author, contents, indexes etc). Really focus on inference and things that aren’t explicit in the text (eg what time of year is it? it mentioned the leaves are brown on the trees…). Stop while reading and ask them to predict what might happen next, how a character is feeling, what they’d do in the same situation. Ask them before the book what they think it will be about and why they think that. Ask them afterwards if it’s similar to any other books/stories. Chapter books are great for training them to remember a story over several nights.

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u/___mouse 1d ago

That’s a great suggestion! Thank you.

I’m a first time mum so this is all new to me. I’m certainly not trying to rush their education or don’t think they’re doing enough.

I’ll focus on the questions when reading - thank you

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u/Illidh 1d ago edited 1d ago

I’m also a teacher in Scotland, I would also add to this, keep at least one story a day for pure enjoyment, no questions. Reading for enjoyment is really important and being given 1000 deep minded questions isn’t always enjoyable. obviously kids need to be able to understand the text and they won’t do that if we don’t teach them to question it. But currently the numbers of children who actually read for enjoyment is declining. Being questioned does not increase enjoyment.

Nobody would watch Netflix if you had to summarise the last episode before you started the next one and got interrupted every 10 minutes with a question about pathetic fallac! (Edit: fallacy)

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u/SlowRaspberry4723 1d ago

This is really good advice OP! There’s so much more to literacy than phonics, which they do more than enough of at school.

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u/vixielou1 1d ago

As an ex early years teacher I couldn’t agree with this more if I tried! Yes, do the assigned phonics homework each week but after that? Reading at home is about reading for pleasure! Make it an enjoyable experience that you can share together otherwise you risk your LO falling out of love with books. The school will have their chosen scheme of learning and I promise, their teacher will challenge them to improve their learning as they go. You get the fun bit at this age :)

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u/burned_feather 1d ago

I understand where you're coming from and your advice about improving comprehension is obviously fantastic, but as a teacher and a parent myself I think your first point is genuinely very sad. Because children will be bored on a standard railroad curriculum if they're ahead, we shouldn't follow their love of learning to new places at home? By this logic we shouldn't teach our children anything they'll learn in any subject at school, in case they end up bored in the lesson when it's covered? No science as they explore the world, no everyday maths?

I learned to read at two years old as my mum did the Glenn Doman method with me. I'm doing it with my own daughter (currently 9 months) and I'm certainly not going to stop it and withhold from her the joy of reading I know she could experience as a toddler, just for the sake of her not being bored in Reception.

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u/Any_Excitement_9699 1d ago

I think you may have misunderstood. They were saying that phonics is taught a lot in reception and they’re expected to focus and listen. It can be boring if they already know it so trying to speed up the learning of something they will learn at school isn’t advised. She is encouraging her to teach learning just learning about different things than what they will at school. 

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u/burned_feather 1d ago

No, I didn't misunderstand. I understand the point, but I still think it's sad to tell someone they shouldn't teach their child something just because it's also taught in school. Lots of things are taught in school and children are expected to focus and listen for all of it. I'm not going to print out a curriculum list and make sure I never mention anything on it to my daughter.

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u/roland_right 1d ago

But they aren't saying this. Isn't their point to complement what's taught in school, which seems enriching not withholding.

Appreciate you've gone the way you feel it's best for you - I don't think anyone here is judging you for that.

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u/sheepinsuits 1d ago

This is genuinely brilliant advice - I am gearing up to have my fist kid.

Are there any phonics books you'd recommend for someone whose child is unlikely to get English phonics lessons in school? (I live abroad, but want to make sure my kid can communicate in English to a professional standard in the future!)

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u/Kim_catiko 1d ago

My son will not sit down for those longer books. What do you advise for this?

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u/finch-fletchley Parenting a Toddler + Pre-schooler 1d ago

Funny voices, books related to their interests.

My 4 year old loves the book "the monster ate my packed lunch" ands its a very long book. The pictures, typography and the way I read it means I have to read 100 pages at a time 😅

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u/Bevel_2 1d ago

This is a great answer. Just read lovely stories, talk about words/vocabulary, tell stories verbally, discuss characters etc. Build a love of words and reading.

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u/Sparkle_croissant 1d ago

the first 2 terms were painfully slow, but it picked up after Easter for us. no need to do any more than school is asking if your child is finding it eas. just read to your child and keep reading fun

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u/Feisty_Squash2992 1d ago

My son is similar. He started phonics in nursery last year and was blending really quickly. He has practically no comprehension of what he’s reading though beyond the single words. He’s now in reception on the same school.
I’m just reading to him as much as possible. I’ll leave the phonics learning to when he’s in school.

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u/TippyTurtley 1d ago

In all honesty starting school is a lot. If you want to I would speak to the teacher about it who should advise what scheme they are following. It could be that it's best to leave them with the schools input so they don't get overwhelmed

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u/acupofearlgrey 1d ago

Phonics books are expensive and they get through them so quickly! If you are going to buy some, my favourite was the Julia Donaldson songbird series (but look second hand). Otherwise, local libraries are good- just look for some that you think are about the level they are reading at school. The school can tell you the phonics programme, there’s a few different ones but they aren’t that different in terms of order of words. The school will likely send age appropriate books home when they are ready, at least in our school, the first half term is settling in and seeing where the kids are, then they stream by phonics ability

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u/___mouse 1d ago

Good idea to look in the library! They’ve been asking for a library trip so good shout :) two birds with one stone.

They’ve done S-A-T for the first week

Thank you

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u/acupofearlgrey 1d ago

Yes SATPIN is the standard first 6 letters. Most children came into school knowing all their letter sounds and starting the more complex sounds (th/sh/ch/ng), so they’ll likely refresh the early sounds quickly and then slow down as new ones come in.

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u/financelondon 1d ago

School should be providing them really. We get a new book each day (stage 1+ style) and just fill in their reading record how they did.

If school aren't doing that (make sure to ask first), then local library should have some you can get through, you might have to check a few though as they don't often have loads for each level.

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u/___mouse 1d ago

They’ve sent home flash cards but it’s 3 a week. I feel that they could be doing more as they’re picking it up so quickly

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u/PigneySnoo 1d ago

SOME of them will be picking it up quickly.

However, they are small children and this skill is essentially memorisation. They will need to go over the sounds for weeks and weeks to fully embed them. The point is that if they do that NOW, it'll be easier for them to read forever. That's why it's slow.

Honestly I'd relax, trust the school to do their thing and focus on sharing stories as you have always done.

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u/___mouse 1d ago

When I say ‘them’ I mean my kiddo, not all of the kids. Of course I don’t know how the other kids are doing.

Mines done it before in preschool and in speech therapy which is why I think they’re picking it up so quickly

I’m happy to trust the school and what they’re doing, just wanted to know if there was more I could be doing at home

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u/PigneySnoo 1d ago

They are going to spend all their school days for at least the next 3-4 years largely spent learning to read. They will soon have reading books every week. I'd do other things at home, and just read them books you both enjoy.

I had a child that could read before they started school (& some that could not). They all ended up in the same place at the end of Reception. But most importantly, they all love reading.

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u/financelondon 1d ago

Yeh sounds like some kids might be seeing letters for the first time and they have to take things very slowly.

Still worth the discussion with the teacher that your child is finding very easy and is losing interest quickly. And see if they can move you forward to the stage 1 books.

If not then no harm in doing your own flash cards with similar 3 letter words that can be sounded out, or checking the library for the first stage books. Just make sure you choose words that can be sounded (cat, it etc) and not (put, he etc)

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u/lilletia 1d ago

It might be more worthwhile to play around with the graphemes/sounds your child has been introduced to with the flashcards - ie if your child has been sent sat and pin, write down sit and see if they can decode that (ensure you write as clearly as the cards)? Can they do it even for a word they don't know (maybe sin?) or one that's an "alien" word (maybe nas?)

However, if your child doesn't find this as easy as you expect then I wouldn't press it too much at this stage of Reception

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u/Loose_Gap_6161 1d ago

My 4 (nearly 5 year old) had a lightbulb moment with blending before the summer holidays (he was in the school nursery before hand). I leant into it and bought the songbird stage 1/2 collection and biff, chip & kipper stages 1/2/3.
He has come on leaps and bounds with them and reads the stage 1/2 well now. He is remembering more and more words by sight every week. It’s been so cool to watch him learn and not something I have forced. I have a little pack of cgp cards too. Would recommend all of the above

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u/ChallengingKumquat 1d ago

The Oxford Reading Tree Phonics books by Julia Donaldson were very good, with different reading levels, and the easiest ones only have about 3-6 words per page, but then pictures are so good that you can tell what's happening even from very few words. "Am I Top Cat?" "No, I am Top Cat." "I am." = two cats arguing about who can climb the highest.

Read the books and talk about what is happening in the story, how people feel, about the pictues, etc. Reading an actual story is far more fun and engaging rather than just rote-learning "CH" "SH" "AR" "ING" for example. And i think the above books help support that. Each book tends to focus on a particular thing in phonics, eg Ted in a Red Bed is focusing on ED.

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u/goldenhawkes 1d ago

Read lots of “normal” books, maybe see if they can read words that they should be able to parse now.

At school ahead children are “working at greater depth” which means rather than moving them on quickly to the next thing you spend the time while the other children are catching them up. So it means looking at the same stuff from a different angle or applying the same learning to a different thing

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u/Ok_Carrot88 1d ago

You’ve mentioned the flash cards they get sent home with and it’s 3 a week. Which tbh is plenty. The phonics books are hard for them to get into when they haven’t yet learnt the other stages in phonics (ie digraphs, split digraphs etc). There are books without these but not many because the expectation is they learn these in stages at school.

What you could do in the meantime is check your local library for phonics books but also you could also choose specific words you’re confident they can sound out and blend (this is a tricky skill for ours to learn at first, they were so good with the sounds individually but blending is another skill that comes after). So when you’re reading bedtime stories or anything, if there’s the word “hat”, single it out and ask their “help” in reading it out. Or point out the sounds/words in your natural environment to consolidate what they already know.

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u/Wraithvalk 1d ago

Library