Should your child be able to read when they start Reception?

[Ahmawa]

I am really confused as how I can help my DS read - there are so many models and schemes out there I am not sure which one to pick.

I like something clear progression. Would something like the book -Teach your child to read in 100 easy lessons? Or would this conflict with the way kids are taught in school?

[Wolfiefan]

No. Teach them to dress themselves, go to the toilet, wipe and wash hands. Social skills. Much more important.

[EspressoPatronum]

School will teach him to read.

[EllenJanethickerknickers]

They really don't need to be able to read. Schools teach phonics in reception and don't have any expectations. Sometimes it's harder to 'unteach' DC poor methods that parents have used. If they can recognise their own name with a capital letter at the start and otherwise in lower case, that would be helpful.

[dotdotdotmustdash]

My children both started school in P1 in Scotland with absolutely no reading ability. Why would they? The whole class will start from the very beginning and the more able will progress quickly, while the others will need more support. Teaching them before then will make no difference whatsoever.

[SoyDora]

Mine starts in September and can read (basically taught herself) but I’m not sure it’s a good thing. I’m a bit concerned that as she hasn’t learned the ‘proper’ way it’ll cause problems. Wasn’t much I could do about it though, she was desperate to learn and just asked a million questions until she figured it out!
At her pre school there are 2-3 who can read but the vast majority can’t. That’s what school is there for, after all. As above, the most important things are self care (dressing, toileting, washing hands, using a knife and fork etc).

[TeenTimesTwo]

^^ What they said.

If they are interested and asking then tell them the letter sound (not name) when asked, and don't put an 'uh' sound on the end. So e.g. 'm'
is 'mmmm' not 'muh'

Being able to recognise own name when written is helpful though. And if a common name, then also first letter of surname e.g. 'Alfie M'

[grasspigeons]

no - they don't need to read. they start learning their sounds and how to decode in reception.

if you are desperate to do something just share stories together so they know what a book is, how it works and are used to discussing stories with you - what might happen next, why did something happening, why does someone feel like that.

I remember the Usborne reading scheme being the most interesting one I tried out with my children. I did it at home through the reception year - the school taught a phase of sounds and then I got the books relevant to that phase to read

[furlinedsheepskinjacket]

no no noooooooooo :)
my ds couldn't hold a pencil when he started school - according to his assessment

now he has 2 degrees and writes for a living

don't worry :)

[wetsnow]

Reception teacher here - absolutely not!
Read to him as often as possible but def dont need to teach him to read!!!

[SarahSiddons]

“No. Teach them to dress themselves, go to the toilet, wipe and wash hands. Social skills. Much more important.”

This. Honestly teaching them to read before they’re ready and when you don’t know how to teach them is no use at all. Life skills much more important. Read to them often though.

[TheGrimSqueaker]

One of mine could because she was desperate to learn (think she was pissed off the funny black squiggles on the page might be daring to get up to anything interesting she wasn't made fully aware of and this just Was Not Allowed) so I'd helped her when she wanted to learn (I was teaching phonics correctly). The other - nope.

One left reception technically on yellow book band books but in reality probably able to read a bit above that level, the other's on yellow book band books now with one term to go so will probably leave reading at a similar level to the early-reading sibling.

[Soubriquet]

Mine was 4 when she started and is now 5 and she wasn't reading when she started.

She is now just about fluent and has come along so far.

She could write her name and pick out her name but that's about it.

Now we have to be careful even spelling words(such as swear words or treat words) around her as she immediately knows what you are saying

[TheGrimSqueaker]

Now we have to be careful even spelling words(such as swear words or treat words) around her as she immediately knows what you are saying

We resort to Alpha Bravo Charlie Delta etc. They haven't figured that one out yet.

[polkadotpixie]

My sister and I could read by the time we started Reception and I would certainly hope my children will be able to as well

[TheNoodlesIncident]

My ds taught himself to read very young so was fluent already in Reception.

It really makes no difference at all. No employer ever has asked their candidates if they could read before reception, with very good reason.

As Wolfiefan has said, self care is much more important, so being able to manage their own coat, mittens, going to the toilet, reasonable social skills, etc are better areas to work on. Your child will feel more confident if they know they can manage these things and it will make things easier for the class teacher and TAs. (I would have been delighted if my ds could have managed these things, but his developmental stage was assessed as being 16-22 months, so there was no chance of that...)

[SarahSiddons]

“My sister and I could read by the time we started Reception and I would certainly hope my children will be able to as well”

But why? My son couldn’t read at all when he started school only just turned 4 but he loved books and now loves reading (and is good at it). What is the rush?

[lolalotta]

I didn't teach my DD to read before reception, we did practice to recognise letters and I taught her their sounds (not their names) with an alphabet jigsaw. When she started reception in September she was really reading ready and took to it like a duck to water! The letter sounds they taught her in the first few months really consolidated her skills and now she is reading beautifully and in the last few weeks her confidence has taken leaps and bounds and she's reading without sounding out each and every word. She just sounds out words which are new to her. It's lovely to see.

[PeonyTruffle]

My ds is 4 mid Aug and starts reception in September.
He’s been at school nursery since last September, he can write the first letter of his name and is familiar with numbers. That’s it.

Some kids in his class are 5 not long after he is 4 and can draw proper pictures and can write their names and other words, I used to worry but realised that quite quickly that I didn’t want to be comparing him to kids older than him and chilled right out. Their so so little now that I didn’t want to worry (yet)

We read every day and I know the sounding out of worlds (muh instead of em) and causally mention it but I plan to let the teachers do their thing and then fully support his work (and how the teachers wish to teach certain things) at home with him

[minipie]

My sister and I could read by the time we started Reception and I would certainly hope my children will be able to as well

I could read when I started school as well. But in my day we started at age 5 not 4 (I started in 1985). Amazing what a difference a year makes. When did you start school?

[Sprinklesinmyelbow]

I don’t really get the incredulous tone here. My D.C. are in full time nursery- they know how to do the self care described by 3. Nursery taught them a lot more- how to write their name, sign it, draw and cut- no reading yet but the eldest hasn’t finished pre school. They’re desperate to learn. What are you supposed to do then, withhold it? Are my children going to end up in school with children who don’t know how to dress themselves?!

Mini I could read when I started school and I started at 4 - July baby. You used to be able to chose to start anytime after 4. It was a very different sort of reading compared to phonics though, certainly not to the level of comprehension children have now

[RBBMummy]

My son taught himself to read with the biff chip and kipper books and alphablocks

[yikesanotherbooboo]

No need whatsoever. Some children will learn by themselves and that is fine but your child has so much to learn about the world and themselves that I can't see why you would use your time doing something that professionals are about to do anyway.
Spend your time with DC learning things about the world ( and how to manage in it) that won't be covered by schools.

[trilbydoll]

Sprinkles - yes, in fact if your dc can dress themselves 100% successfully I would say they'll be in the minority based on what comes out of school on PE day! I'm hoping summer dresses have less room for error than the winter uniform

[BackforGood]

Of course not.

Others have already given you things that will really help hi when he starts school - reading isn't one of them.

[TeenTimesTwo]

The OP's question was should the children be able to read. The answer to that is that no, it is not needed.

Of course some children will be able to read, but it is not a necessity and as many PP have stated, the self care and socialisation sides are more important.

So a child of a 'not interested in learning to read yet' child should not stress about teaching their child to read before reception.

But on the other hand if a child is 'eager and able to start learning to read' then there is no reason not to feed that interest, provided you know what you are doing and don't do stuff that will have to be 'unlearned'.