Letterland

[Ruthierhyme]

A fantastic early letter learning system .

I am still amazed at the speed at which my Daughter (then 3 !!) picked up letter shape & sound from reading the alphabet Letterland book .. & even now .. 10 yrs on we occassionaly communicate with 'No - not that one, C ~ 'Clever cat' !!

The official website has been updated since I last visited and is brill ... LETTERLAND.com

we used to use this, my son - now 13 - really learnt from it also. used to love the videos, he did too!!

other one used jolly phonics, which is also good.

[Chelltune]

Thanks, I will look into those for my son, he is 3.5yrs but really keen to learn the letters now.

might be an idea to find out what programme his school is using, as they are quite different and could confuse the poor chap

[Ruthierhyme]

I agree with Sarah .. whilst we always hung out for Letterland in Playgroup ... Jolly Phonics seemed to be the popular choice with the Yr1 class .. although saying that having an early knowledge of letter formation from Letterland, didn't do my 13yr old any harm ethier !!

[Chelltune]

Originally Posted by cybertwin

might be an idea to find out what programme his school is using, as they are quite different and could confuse the poor chap

He is at preschool so would they be using anything yet?

I just went to www.thebookpeople.co.uk looking for them. They didn't have any but I have come away having spent £24! The postage was free though:rotfl: (code 147FPP for free P&P). I've got 18 books, that site is fab.

[Chelltune]

We were given a huge pile of Oxford reading tree books as my brothers ex works for the Oxford University Press. I have put them out of the way as he would memorise the stories if we read them to him.

Originally Posted by Chelltune

He is at preschool so would they be using anything yet?:

they might be using the same as the school. we dont as a rule, leave it to school! we start off with name recognition, gross and fine motor activitities and recognisning that print carries meaning - i.e. having words up all over the place naming things, providing books and pens and paper for pre wiritng to emerge.
we leave the formal "worksheet" to school and we are all happy with this (school and us) we have a really close relationship with the local school and have liased with them on this again recently as many parents want thier children sitting down with a worksheet far too early.
it is better to play the lotto games, read books etc at this age

Originally Posted by Ruthierhyme

I agree with Sarah .. whilst we always hung out for Letterland in Playgroup ... Jolly Phonics seemed to be the popular choice with the Yr1 class .. although saying that having an early knowledge of letter formation from Letterland, didn't do my 13yr old any harm ethier !!

same as my oldest, he loved his letter land and then did jolly phonics at school and loved that. but younger son really struggled with both!!(have since found out he has a prob with beginning word sounds!! probably why then)

Originally Posted by Chelltune

We were given a huge pile of Oxford reading tree books as my brothers ex works for the Oxford University Press. I have put them out of the way as he would memorise the stories if we read them to him.

it can be beneficial for them to remember some simple stories as it gives loads and loads of confidence in reading and then they are more willing to try it when the time comes