Does she need to be able to read before she starts school??

How should i teach her??
Should i start with flash cards with word and a picture so she recognises the words and associates them the the picture??

She can recite the alphabet but can't really write it, i guess i should work on that too.

What other things does she need to know before starting school???

She doesn't start until T2 of next year but i want to be prepared.

the best thing you can do with your child to get ready for school is read to and with them. If they are showing an interest in the words then run your finger underneath as you read but you do not need to teach them to read before school.
However teaching them by getting them to copy writing their name is fairly useful for once they get to school.

there will be a HUGE variance in ability and interest of kids starting school.

The most important thing to do with a child, above and beyond everything else, is to talk with them. (note the with, not at). A child who can partake in conversation, and initite conversation has so many valuable tools there to apply.

It is so important that there are definite measures of success in relation to the number of words spoken with a child before they are 5, as an indicator of future learning sucess. Liljay should know the figures, this is a real area of passion for her.

otherwise, twitch is right - print exposure as in reading to and with- is the best predictor of future reading success. pointing out reading is everywhere is good - like signs, labels etc, so they really understand that print has a meaning.

If you really want to work on something, AND she is mega keen, go for letter sounds.

TBH though, what a teacher REALLY wants:
-toilet themselves
-dress themselves
-take out and put into their school bags their belongings


Independent behaviours will help them get through the day emotionally, a HUGE help!

Unless you are really sure that you know correct letter formation, avoid it - obviously she might want to experimetn with writing and I would never discourage that. But I would be wary of teaching something if you arne't teaching it right, expecially letter formation, as that is really hard to undo.

I agree with Twitch and felicis, there is nothing really special you need to do but you can follow your child's lead.

Children should have about a 1000 books read to them before they are 5 or something, sounds like heaps but include repeats and would mean about 3 books a day for a year or 1 a day for three years.

You can buy alphabet books and counting books. You can talk about thigns around you. Let her explore her own environment and talk about what she sees. Let her participate in every day activities like baking or washing because she is learning about stuff like measurement and volume intrinsically which will help her later on. Let her run and climb and throw and catch as gross motor skills help the development of fine motor skills like holding a pencil.

Things like ollowing instructions, being able to manage ALL clothes and going toilet independently are super important. Being able to manage a lunch box and drink bottle. Being able to sit on a mat. Definitely help with holding a pencil properly, using scissors, throwing a ball. Encourage her own drawing and writing and to try something she can't do.

Does she go to kindy or preschool? At my kids preschool they do some school prep and a lot of their routines are about being independent.. so they come in, they unpack their bag, they put their fruit and drink bottles in the right place. They have their name badge which they recognise and when they turn four they do more prep for school stuff with a bit more structure and mat time and things like that. They do 'story writing' and 'reading' which is more about getting the children familiar with doing that stuff and some kids take off and some kids don't but they're all doing it. DD1 who is 4 has just started doing some 'homework' which is mainly writing her name and doing things like shapes and whatnot. SHe is very motivated as she has a big brother who can do those things and she wants to do, but its all her so we're encouraging that.

DS is pretty average and by the time he started school he knew a lot of the alphabet, recognised a few basic words and could count quite well. We hadn't done anything special, just followed his lead really and he did whatever he did at preschool as well. By 6 he'd met or exceeded the 'national standard' with just us doing his reading homework and encouraging him to write sometimes in the holidays.

Some children are really into 'schoolwork' and will really want to learn, I think if that is the case by all means, follow their lead and do more things (getting guidance from people regarding correct stuff, like use lower case alphabet, how to hold a pen and form letter, our preschool gave us a sheet with it on) but if she's not looking all that interested I really wouldn't worry, it'll come in her own time.

She can write her name, they do that at kindy on the sign in sheet.

She can do the 3 things you mentioned Felicis.

She loves to 'read' and takes a pile of books to bed with her every night, we also read a couple to her at bedtime.

Thanks for the advice, will just continue to read to her and talk with her and will avoid teaching her how to write incase i do it wrong.

RD - if you wanted to do writing practice and she is keen ask the kindy teacher for a sheet on how to form letter or go to your local primary school and ask. I am sure they'll have something.

Yeah, I woudln't avoid it if she is keen. I wonder if I can find a link that shows the formations schools teach...

http://www.tki.org.nz/r/literacy_numeracy/pdf/teaching-handwriting.pdf
the net really does have everything!

I do have some numbers actually .... Much research has shown that there can be a 30,000,000 (yes that's MILLION) word age gap in receptive (inward/heard) language between children who are regularly spoken and read to and those who are not. That's between the ages of 0 and 5! Receptive (in) language needs to develop before expressive (out) so the more they hear the better their talk will be... Children with higher oral language skills have proved to be those who more quickly pick up other literacies such as reading and writing

And with my Year 1 teacher hat on, no they don't need to be able to read but read TO her lots. Recognise name, write some letters, maybe attempt to write name, know abc's (not just sing the song, but KNOW some letters), count (to 10 or even 20)...

TOTALLY Those would be more important than being able to read or write. And dressing includes putting on shoes!

KNew you would have the figures!

I have more, but it would put you all to sleep

She can do all of that, she know all of the letters we have an alphabet puzzle she loves doing. She can count to 15 and sometimes can get to 20.

She recognises her name and can write it down.

She got a couple of card games for xmas and she loves playing them, she has an amazing memory. We have the cars fish game and she doesn't look at the pictures (cause she can't hold the cards how you normally hold them she holds them in a vertical line so she can only see the names) she has memorised the names on the cards and gets it right everytime.

She LOVES puzzles and reading they are her 2 favourite things oh and singing she loves to sing.

Sounds like she is on track, we will just keep talking to her and reading to her.

Thanks for that link Felicis, i have bookmarked it!

She sounds so clever RD You must feel so proud

DS is 4.5 and I'm doing things a bit differently with him than what we did with DD. I read to both kids a lot and I'm not focusing on him reading just yet. He has picture books that we read before bed and I also read a chapter a day of a longer book to both kids. We're reading Robin Hood ATM and he loves that.

He plays Reading Eggs games on the computer every couple of days and through that he's learned to recognise the name and sound of each letter and a few basic words. It's one of those things I'll set up for him if he asks and if he's not interested then that's fine.

He's started to be really interested in writing, he draws for a couple of hours a day and he's started getting magazines or packets and copying the text onto his drawings. I'm not sure if I should be now teaching him the proper formation since he's doing that?

DD started school reading very well (mostly self taught) and according to preschool DS is much the same as DD in that way, but this time around I'm focusing more on reading to him, talking with him, lots of art and creative play and problem solving instead. They'er v different personalities though, DD would have learned to read on her own no matter what I did.

I would be encouraging proper formation pudding - fine line between encouraging and putting him off, soo try and get in between it, lol.

Its a great website isn't it? DS loves it too. We did the trial, must sign him up!

I've read lots of Marie Clay in the last year Felicis so I'm in the let them play with words and letters camp and leave them be without putting them off with corrections and this is how you should be doing it lessons (even if subtle!)

My two cents worth ...

As well as reading to a child (and talking with them) I would be playing with words and spoken sounds: rhyming words, playing I spy (by the SOUND not the letter name), blending sounds together: say words like 'c-a-t' and see if she can say the word: 'cat' and visa versa: you say 'cat' and she segments it: 'c-a-t'.

All of these things can be fun and done informally, but they are really important.

That's good to know None We do I spy with the phonetic sound rather than the letter and games where we all have to come up with a word with a particular letter (sound) at the beginning.

DS's preschool is really good at incorporating text into play as well. They have things like playdough muffin making with the recipe written up on a big poster.

DS is going to love it when he learns how to read, he gets quite frustrated being the only one not reading in a family of readers and can't quite understand why he isn't able to do it yet.