to think teaching kids to read is a tad infuriating..

[donefornow]

Ok, I know I'm awful for even saying it, we are very suuportive if dds reading and are very patient but at times I feel like tearing my hair out for example we have read the same word about 9 times in the book and she still won't read it, I know she can do it but just can't be arsed!
Not to mention the tedious books and stupid names in said books.. I'm sorry who calls their child biff!
Sorry rant over...

[sillystring]

Ah, the Oxford Reading Tree, how do I hate thee, let me count the ways.

[ElephantsNeverForgive]

YADNBU
I had the dubious pleasure of tying to teach the best and worst readers in the class.

There are only so may ways of writing "awful, still hasn't a clue" and "read beautifully" in a reading record.

DD1 is dyslexic, she learnt to read just in time for her Y6 SATs.

DD2 isn't dyslexic and has a theatrical bent. She reads beautifully and with expression.

You simply couldn't get such polar opposites.

Oh and I knew a Biff (NN for Elizabeth) she was very very very annoying.

[donefornow]

Glad I'm not alone!

[3catsnokids]

Our current reading book has the word 'pat' in. No matter how much I sound out p-a-t my 2 boys still read it as tap! Aarghh!

[Scholes34]

Am I alone in having fond memories of the Oxford Reading Tree books and the humour in the pictures?

[thegreylady]

My youngest dgs has just become a 'free reader' and I will miss Biff, Chip and Kipper especially the Magic Key stories :)

[noblegiraffe]

Biff is a boy's name (see Back to the Future). Every time DS gets one it annoys me. And even after a year of them I still don't know which one is Chip and I keep thinking Kipper is the dog.

[DeWee]

I had an Uncle Biff. It took me till dd2 to work out Biff was in fact the girl.

They tried ds on one Biff and Chip book. After that they found him ones that he found more interesting. In fact I am suspicious they got books in especially for him, or they have a disproportionate number of reading books about planes, computers and science. I don't know what his reaction to Biff and Chip was but it obviously wasn't pretty.

[YouTheCat]

I love ORT .

I am a TA, specialising in dyslexia.

So long as a child has the basics, encourage them to choose books they want to read. They learn much quicker that way.

[Nanny0gg]

I loved ORT too!

And I got very annoyed when school changed the reading scheme to coloured bands so children could freely choose.

That meant they didn't have to read ORT in order! Anarchy as far as I was concerned. There was a storyline that needed following. They need to be read in order.

[SugarplumKate]

I bloody hate biff, chip and kipper. Disclaimer : I have already done it 3 times, 1 to go!

[YouTheCat]

I do it all the time. For 11 years as a TA and for 3 years prior to that with dd and ds in infants.

[wheresthebeach]

We had those D* cats instead of Biff and Chip. Jolly Phonics was anything but.

Torture. Every minute.

[Pipbin]

I taught reception last year. I have actually fallen asleep hearing children read. When you have heard the same book 5 times already that day it is so hard to hear it again.
I love when I get to read with the super able children in my class as they read books I've not heard before.

[LetTheRiverAnswer]

I honestly thought it would be lovely. I assumed my kid would be a natural and it would soon be. shared pleasure . Not so. We're a year in, still on Biff Chip and Kipper level 2 and its erm, not so magical. He tells me amazing stories based on the pictures, and I remind him, over and over again to look at the bloodywords

[2kidsintow]

Isn't the ORT series illustrated by Roderick Hunt?

Dd1 startled me one day by reading that out quickly in a loud voice in a shop...i thought she'd said something entirely different.

[YouTheCat]

Those skills, inferring from the pictures and using his/her imagination, will stand him in good stead for future reading and for comprehending what he's reading.

[MuddlingMackem]

LetTheRiverAnswer Ah, I remember that with DD.

In the end I covered up the pictures and told her she could look at them to her heart's content once she'd read the actual words. It helped a bit.

My blood pressure is much lower now that she reads to herself and I just have to write it up for her. :)

[MuddlingMackem]

YouTheCat Fri 22-Aug-14 22:02:55

Those skills, inferring from the pictures and using his/her imagination, will stand him in good stead for future reading and for comprehending what he's reading.

[Emmie10]

Biff'a real name is Barbara and Chip's is David. Kipper (Christopher) couldn't say them properly when he was little. Can you tell I've been introducing the characters today? 4th year in a row.

[imip]

Dd3 is about to start reception. Dds 1&2 are going into yrs3&2, I'm quite sure I'll find it v frustrating to help another to read. So far dds have picked it up easily, I've been v blessed as I am quite lazy . Dd2 a better reader, but her comprehension is poor. And dd4 starts school in 2 yrs.

Seeing them become in dependant readers is pretty magical though.

Yanbu, glad I'm not alone!

[YouTheCat]

You learn to read using many different skills. Phonics and sight reading is just part of it. If you don't learn to infer you really struggle with comprehension later on.

I know a lot of children who know all their sounds. They can blend beautifully. They can read words from flashcards. They can segment like a dream. But give them a piece of text and they haven't a clue what it means.

[natwebb79]

2kidsintow - that just nearly made me choke on my chow mein .

[webwiz]

DD1 is 23 and I still remember the pain of early reading:
Me: What does "B" "all" say
DD1: Red
I had to cover the pictures in the end for my own sanity.

We had a run of Roger Red Hat and Billy Blue Hat as well as Biff and Chip. Those books were truly terrible.

[Pipbin]

You don't learn to read by looking at the pictures, you learn by looking at the words. And it's reading practice, not art appreciation!

Very wrong.
I know children who can make the sounds of every word and blend them but not understand what they are saying. By looking at the pictures you gain an understanding on what the story is about. Comprehension is a huge part of reading and children should be encouraged to use the pictures if they don't understand a word.
Also talking about the pictures improves their use of language and vocabulary.

TL;DR ? You don't learn to read by looking at pictures but you do learn to understand.