3 yr old and letter sounds

[training5]

Well, I have an unusual problem. My 3yr old knows the sounds letters make but not the names! We love starfall.com here. Is this so much of a problem for learning to read? Should I teach him the letter names first before starting to teach him to read? My concern is he will forget the sounds then. Any opinions?
Thank you.

[WTMindy]

In fact, in sounds like your child is ready to start sounding out words! :-) As long as your child is having fun, I say keep pressing forward with it. I had an early reader also.

[sclisa]

It's not necessary to know letter names in order to read -- only their sounds. Ruth Beechick is an advocate of doing things in just this order, and I believe there are other 'experts' who also endorse this method. Your ds will need to know the letter names eventually, but it's not necessary to begin reading, imo.

Lisa

[training5]

Thank you both. This is my first time teaching a child to read as my oldest went to a specialized private school and my second taught himself by this age. Not bragging, I promise! I am a little nervous. it is the only area I feel that way about. Thank you both again.

[Canada_Mom]

Just thought I'd let you know that this is how Spalding (Writing Road to Reading) encourages learning. That each "symbol" (letter) represents a different phonem and to not necessarily teach kids the names of each letter.

I may be remembering this a bit *off* as it has been a while since I read this part of the textbook but I do remember reading somewhere in the text to not teach the child the letter names initially. I remember this b/c dd already knew her alphabet when we started Spalding and I wondered what that would mean for us...

[Myrtle]

I succesfully taught all three of my children to read without teaching them any letter names.

I taught the names of the letters about a year later when we began formal spelling.

[whybenormal]

That's awesome! I'd say you are at a real advantage here! Half the work of teaching reading is done already.

[Lisa in the UP of MI]

I'm just teaching my 3yo letter sounds as well, though she is picking up a lot of letter names on her own.