DD (5.6) has finished blue Jolly Phonics readers. Where to start her on ORT?

[JoannePublic]

Home educator here (please don't eat me!)

DD (age 5.6) has just finished the blue/level 4 JP reading books and says that she wants "books with harder words in them". If we were to move onto the Oxford Reading Tree - how do the schemes transfer across? Which ORT level/band/colour would she be on?

And is she doing reasonably OKish for an end-of-reception child?

[QuiteQuietly]

jollylearning.co.uk/gallery/jolly-phonics-readers-and-book-bands/

Or check out the ORT books on Oxford Owl to see what looks a good fit.

[JoannePublic]

Brilliant, thanks!

[Ferguson]

I was a primary TA / helper for over twenty years. I will give you a couple of ideas that may help; use them in a 'fun' way, when she feels in the mood to read or write. Don't 'push' or insist, try and let her set the agenda:

ONE - Don't restrict her to 'easy' books, but sometimes share between you much more challenging books, including non-fiction of topics that interest her. I give below technique for this (but it was for a boy, so ignore gender change):

?When reading harder books with a child, get him to point to words as he goes along. If he knows the word, or can sound it out, he can say it. If he doesn't know the word, he can hover his finger over it, and YOU say the word for him. Don't stop to analyse or discuss the word at this stage, but try and keep the 'flow' of reading going. Review difficulties at the end, if you wish to.

This way, he has the satisfaction of reading more difficult books, without the fear of getting 'stuck' on words.

TWO - An inexpensive and easy to use book, that can encourage children with reading, spelling and writing, and really help them to understand Phonics, is reviewed in the MN Book Reviews section. Just search ‘Phonics’ and my name.

(I also have hints for Numeracy and Writing, so let me know sometime if you would like to see those.)

[maizieD]

I wouldn't start her on ORT. She hasn't completed her phonics learning yet and the ORT books will be full of words she won't be able to decode (unless you go for the decodable ORT books. In which case you'll need to match them to the correspondences she already knows).

[HarveySchlumpfenburger]

I'm not sure that ORT is particularly good for harder words anyway. They are a bit repetitive.

Possibly the Dandelion Readers or RWI books would be a better fit.

[ReallyTired]

I suggest you look at //www.oxfordowl.co.uk

It had 250 free ehooks and you can try books from different bands to see how your son gets on. I suggest you look at stage 4/ stage 5 books. I have never used blue jolly phonics books, but if they are harder than the green books your child would be ready for the magic key books. Stage 4/5 books will look a lot easier than jolly learning books, but it's better to start off being too easy than too hard.