[robothamma]

Hi All,

I was just wondering what NZ's equivillent to UK's Biff, Chip, Kipper, Floppy Books is? Does anyone know? my reason for asking is 2nd eldest has only just started school here in the UK and can now recognize these words but I thought it would be a good thing to introduce them both (6yrs & 5yrs) to the characters in NZ's books before we go. That is if NZ's primary schools follow a set of characters. (When I grew up it was Roger Red Hat, Billy Blue Hat etc... anyone else remember them? :laugh :laugh )

Whilst I am on the subject is there anything I can do now to prepare them for school in NZ?

Any Help would be appreciated! :nice1

[marcia]

Another thing to try and find out is how they teach the alphabet - is it Jolly Phonics or letterland or another scheme?

[Carol]

Letterland is common.....but....

with GREAT sadness I have to tell you Biff Chip and the wonderful Kipper haven't made it into the hearts and souls of kiwi schools generally - despite my BEST efforts at promotion.

My honest and serious advice.....buy as many of them as you can - bring them - use them - sell them to me when you're done!
:nice1

[Tanya]

Buy them online before you get here

http://www.oup.co.uk/isbn/0-19-845011-7

£6.00 - £18.00 depending on the series for a set of 6 from the UK or

http://www.fishpond.co.nz/product_info.php?products_id=177463

$72.00 :eek :eek from NZ!!!


Tanya

[Tanya]

In fact there are quite a few of the sets on www.ebay.co.uk - might be cheaper that way too!!

Tanya

[Wannaway]

Hi there,
my son had just started school in UK before we left and I bought my ORT books with me. I still have my UK bank account and recently ordered a load of ORT books from Tesco.com when they had an offer on. My advice to anyone who wants their kids to learn phonics etc is to bring all the books with you. Books generally are much more expensive here, especially compared with earnings. When we do a trip back to UK next year I shall be stocking up on books to bring back. Luckily we have a very large library of books for the kids which we amassed in the UK before we came and I am glad we did as I cannot afford to buy so many books out here.

The school my son attends do not teach phonics or letterland - in fact I am not sure how they teach the kids to read. My son's teacher likes phonics and has been only too happy to accommodate his way of learning as well.
Nicky

[Carol]

The phonics debate interests me..... it would have failed at least 6 of the children in my class if that is all that they had been taught.
They are right brainers - who process words as pictures and constantly amaze me by their ability to learn to spell and read words using a photographic picture of the word. (They can also spell a word backwards much quicker than I can - I was a 60's child - phonics taught!!)
I would have thought a well rounded approach using all available methods rather than just one has to be the way forward.
Equally - leaving one method out completely (eg "the school does not teach phonics" ) would leave a certain gap. But as the children are undoubtedly learning to read - they must be doing something right musn't they?

The attraction of The Oxford Reading Tree to me is the high interest generated by the books for kids. THey can't get enough of them!
So that practice - particularly of the regular sight words - has a huge impact.

[upandrunning]

Local library in Browns Bay has a stock of ORT lots of stages 1-5 not many after this. You can also take out 35 books at a time!

The home readers here are generally american and not as good as the magic key stories which worked well with my 6 year old.

Keep on top of the reading here though, reading recovery starts in year 3 and is only available to children with big problems.

[Carol]

Local library in Browns Bay has a stock of ORT lots of stages 1-5 not many after this. You can also take out 35 books at a time!

The home readers here are generally american and not as good as the magic key stories which worked well with my 6 year old.

Keep on top of the reading here though, reading recovery starts in year 3 and is only available to children with big problems.

Reading Recovery starts in year Two in our school.

[baboonworld]

WE USED TO HAVE RED YELLOW AND BLUE BOOKS

DO THEY STILL HAVE THESE CAROL??

[Simon & Emily]

This is going to be a really stupid question, but can anyone explain what the phonics system is, and how reading is taught if phonics is not used?

I've tried to search on the web, but cannot find anything that explains the how / why of the system.

Please feel free to keep it as simple as possible :laugh :laugh :laugh

Thanks,

Emily

[debnjohn]

This is going to be a really stupid question, but can anyone explain what the phonics system is, and how reading is taught if phonics is not used?

I've tried to search on the web, but cannot find anything that explains the how / why of the system.

Please feel free to keep it as simple as possible :laugh :laugh :laugh

Thanks,

Emily

I 'think' phonics is spelling words the way they sound, as opposed to memorising letters. I seem to remember having different letters as well (like Carol, I was at Primary in the sixties and had a brush with phonics).
BTW Carol, do you remember the 'Janet & John' series ? I always thought it was special because one of my friends (a farmers' daughter) was Janet, and my name is John !!!

John

[marcia]

Heres a link to the 'jolly phonics' website - may help you understand what phonics is!
http://www.jollylearning.co.uk/

[jo b]

just ordereed 6 wrens books for little Kurt


£4.99 + £2.99 P+P off ebay

Jo

[Simon & Emily]

Thanks for the link

Emily

[Tara Sage]

I read the Janet and john books when i was at school :o