For those with school age kids....Letterland?

[Lucy]

Girls,

For those of you with school aged kids, did they all learn to read through using the Letterland programme at school?

When do they start?

Kindy? Or not until prep/reception?

For anyone that uses Letterland, what are your thoughts/experiences?

Does anyone have Letterland stuff at home? The books or the CD's?

Any insights would be great.............

[Astrolady]

Lucy, having had Kam already go through kindy and about to start school on Monday, I have never even heard of it.

Love

[Naomi]

Sorry Lucy, I've never heard of it either and Nick is in kindy and starts school in february

[monnie]

Hey Lucy

I've heard about Letterland...the Occupational Therapist I used to work with talked about it a bit...

If you want, I can ask her a bit more about it...let me know!

[~Jo~]

My two eldest kids used it from kindy and loved it. They have little songs to sing and stories to remember. It does seem like a long time ago though so cant remember too much about it. Livvy didnt though, so not sure if it was being phased out or it was because she was at a different school but I havent heard of it again.

Jo

[Tracey]

Maddy is in grade 3 now & I too have never heard of it, she started to read in Prep, but was given extra work as she was way over colouring & pasting, painting etc after doing it at home, 3yr old kinder, 4 yr old kinder & then in Prep, so they started her in prep on an accelerated leraning programme at the beginning of Term3...

[AmandaJ]

My 7yr old and 5yr old have both used it and are using it, in Qld they start it usually in kindy, they've both loved it. I'll try and photocopy some of the stuff and sent it to you, if you like. Just let me know .

hugs xoxo

[anney]

Lucy,
MY dd goes to an ABC childcare centre and is doing her kindergarten year there this year (and was also in the same room last year although she was not quite kinder age). A few other kids we know that go to different ABC centres sing it too, so must be the ABC curriculum (?sp) They started learning the letterland song last year and certainly when she first learnt it, it was just as a "song" but a few months ago she actually connected that the letters she was singing about did connect with a letter in a word! I was really pleased when the connection happened. she is 5 tomorrow, and when we did the school tours early this year, I did not see any sign of it, so I don't think the state schools in victoria use it. Does anyone know?
She loves the computer games they have at ABC to support it and I have found a magazine which she rally loved and I thought was fun and a card matching game. I would love to hear some "professionals" opinion of it but it seems to be doing a good job with my dd.

[Ursula]

Must say I've never heard of it, as a studying primary teacher I've come across the Reading Recovery program but not the Letterland progam - off to google it now.

[Trillian]

Lucy, it will vary from school to school what program they use. Our school uses THRASS, DH's old Boarding School uses Letterland for their Pre-Prep (Kindy/preschool) and I assume they would carry it through to the Prepatory school too. What program does the school you're thinking about use?

[belgodfrey]

Hi Lucy,

Janae's daycare uses letterland, and she's learnt heaps from it. I don't know much about the program though. I know she's got very good at associating the letters with words, same as Anney's dd.

I don't THINK they use it at her kindy, but then I haven't heard her come out with anything different than the letterland stuff, so maybe they do.

[Patooties]

Lucy - my daughter is in prep this year and has just started visiting Letterland this term. Previously they were learning about numbers by visiting Numberline Lane. She has brought home 2 little books that she coloured in - for the letters A and B.

[Lucy]

Interesting. Thanks girls, I really apprciate all your comments and feedback.

The reason I asked is that Olivia has started coming home from childcare (an ABC Centre) singing the songs etc. She is already writing (just simple stuff like her name and our names) and her teacher suggested we use Letterland at home to encourage it.

So I was wondering if it was used in schools and what other benefits there are.

I am a bit confused, because being a child of the '70's, I learned how to read and write without phonics!

Plus I looked at the website and there was so much stuff on there (and all quite expensive!) that I am fearful of buying into a whole load of stuff that is a marketing ploy, IYKWIM?! (LOL, call me a cynic!)

Amanda, thank you so much for the offer of the photocopies, I'll let you know! (I may be able to charm Olivia's kindy teacher at our ABC centre to run me some off too!)

Anney....its interesting to see your DD loves it.........so does Olivia, which is why I am tempted to run with it..........

I really appreciate your feeback girls.......I am off to phone Olivia's potential primary schools now to find out how they teach literacy!

[Indadhanu]

I'm an early childhood education student and reading support tutor, and have never heard of letterland! So i went a googled it....

I tried a few demo's on the website, flicked through some research...

I probably wouldn't say it was fantastic, but it seems to be adequate. Though I DO think the stories they have to teach letter blends like 'ch' and 'sh' and 'th' are really good, as this is the biggest problem with beginner readers (e.g. saying 's' and 'h' seperately, instead of the 'sh' blend).

A question for those with children who use the letterland program - do they really remember the songs? I just wondered if they actually remembered the songs for writing the letters. I would have trouble remembering the writing songs, because there are so many!

[Lucy]

Alisia.......thanks.......& good luck with the giving up on the evil weed!

[DrGirl72]

I know you've had lots of responses but thought I'd add my 2 cents in. My DSs are in year 1 and 3 and have both used and enjoyed letterland at school (their kindy and childcare didn't though). My younger one, who is a bit of a reluctant reader just loves it and although they use it alot less in year one he still really enjoys it and likes listening to the cds etc. The older one who is more academic didn't really get into it but he does enjoy THRASS. I think the letterland purchases are great for a child who is otherwise unsure/reluctant in this area, however, they are very expensive.

[RogertheEducationalist]

Hi Lucy,
I was searching the web to gain people's opinions on Letterland and came across yours. I joined this forum so that I could reply.
I am a retired ex headteacher of 3 primary/infant/nursery schools and an ex OFSTED (UK) schools inspector. I came across Letterland as a student teacher in the early 70's and adopted it immediately. I have used it in every school I taught and introduced it into the 3 schools I headed. It was fantastically successful and soon early year teachers and special needs teachers from other schools were visiting me to find out the secret of our reading success. It conforms with the latest reports on the best method to get child to read using 'synthetic phonics' and helps children associate the sounds with the letter characters, as well as help them form letters correctly and aids their spelling. I really can't praise it enough. However the only difficulty you may face is choosing what you can afford and what is manageable for your life style in terms of quality time available with your child. The First Reading flashcards are the most essential teaching aid along with the Letterland ABC book and Early Years Handbook. Start from there if your child is ready for reading. Is your child ready for formal reading? You need to find out by searching on 'Reading Readiness' and see if your child has all,or most, of the skills to begin. Then little and often, learning the associated sounds with the characters using the flashcards until they know them all against a 30 second timer. Lots of praise and always finish on success. Success breeds success. Don't let them blend non phonetic words like saw or 'was' or 'one'. Have a go and good luck. Roger
PS I don't work for Letterland just in case you were wondering!

[Lucy]

Roger, thank you for your input.

I ended up purchasing some Letterland items: namely the Letterland ABC Book, the flashcards and also the music CD's.

The book is a delight for all 3 of my children (3.5, 2.5 & 15 months). The CD's are a regular favourite, partticularly in the car. And for Olivia, she and I regularly have fun with the flashcards. She is reading & writing as a result of our fairly easy going approach.

Even my husband spells things out using Letterland characters!

I think, for us, the "little and often" habit is what has worked.......we use it simply as another form of play.

I hadn't checked the 'Reading Readiness', but I just Googled it, and she is definately ready......

Thanks for your input Roger. We are totally sold on the concept. I am glad to read it was so successful for you in schools........