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Join our Primary Education forum to discuss starting school and helping your child get the most out of it.

Join our Primary Education forum to discuss starting school and helping your child get the most out of it.

Primary education

anyone know about reading books?

21 replies

susia · 22/01/2009 22:27

Hi I am concerned about my son's reading. He is five, year 1 (august birthday). Basically he does struggle alot with reading, the teacher's comments in his book are that he is doing well but at home he seems to have problems with most words and I don't think he is anywhere near the level of most in his class.

His book at the moment is New Way, easy start Pink level 'The Race'. Does anyone know whether that is about right for his age/year?

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cory · 22/01/2009 22:31

There is no right for his age/year as children vary enormously in how early they develop. My dd was struggling with reading when she was 5 and in top set for literacy by the time she was 7; it just suddenly clicked when she was about 6. Ds took even longer- didn't really start reading until he was 8.

cazzybabs · 22/01/2009 22:35

boy...august birthday...you can't compare to the rest of the children... unless they are also boys and august birthdays.

I teach year 1....I have some children who have a reading ago of over 8 and others who can barely word build simple CVC words.

Does he like reading? This is the most important thing...New way are grim books but they do have nice phonetic words in them. Does he see you read and your husband? Do you still read to him.

Go and talk to his teacher if you are worried. Keep practising all his sounds, play eye-epy etc.

susia · 22/01/2009 22:36

thankyou, but do you know about the actual books as there seems to be a chart and these books don't seem to be on it?

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cazzybabs · 22/01/2009 22:36

Year 2 is a great leveller BTW.....most children leave year 2 at a similar level unless they are exceptional or there is a problem. Year 1 they are still spread out depending on a whole range of issues.

cazzybabs · 22/01/2009 22:37

New Way are old....in my school most children (not my august boys though) will have read them in the 1st term....other schools may have different systems.

cazzybabs · 22/01/2009 22:38

ohhh sorry 1st term of year 1... but my 2 boys august birthdays are not there yet...

susia · 22/01/2009 22:39

thank you cazzybabs, yes he loves being read to and sees me reading alot. He doesn't really like it much himself but will read a few pages every night.

It's interesting to hear from a Year 1 teacher, I have spoken to his teacher, she says he's fine so I'm not really that worried. Just interested in the books as it seems quite a low level?

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cazzybabs · 22/01/2009 22:42

honsetly I wouldn't stress (I have just been stressing about my dd's spelling so I don't take my own advice).... but I am sure it will just click.

I send home some simple CVCC words to practise word building and some tricky words...you could ask his teacher for some if you want.

And reading is only a tiny bit of the whole picture of your son...what about his writing, fine and gross motor skills, maths, social skills....I don't think you can develop all these things at the same time....

susia · 22/01/2009 22:43

I appreciate your comments. He's doing well at school generally - loves PE, interested in the rain forest, other cultures, penquins etc. His writing is slowly getting better...

I had another boy home for tea last night (also 5) who was reading the ingredients from the cook book I had open!

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susia · 22/01/2009 22:45

funnily enough his spelling is his best thing! I find that a bit bizarre as he can't read the words but can memorise them and gets almost 20 out of 20 every week! I had a good memory too once...so maybe he's inherited it from me!

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cazzybabs · 22/01/2009 22:46

My dd is a great reader...crap speller great reader and I never forfet in Year 1 she went home with another girl...anyway my dd sat in their car and read a charlie and lola book, whilst their dd was no where near reading it...she was still in simple books...anwyay to cut a long story short...now in Year 2 they are both reading very similar books.....

cazzybabs · 22/01/2009 22:47

ohhh I hate him...see we are all different...if he can spell and everything else is OK the reading will click...or I'll eat my hat

susia · 22/01/2009 22:52

cazzybabs, you've made me feel much better. When he went into year 1 I said to his teacher that I didn't think his reading was very good (or his writing) and she said it was ok his reception teacher had already told her. Up till then I'd thought he was maybe a bit below average.

It is difficult when they are August birthdays. It's strange for him because he is just 14 days older than his one cousin and 16 older than his other and they are the year below!

I won't worry about it, I'm sure he'll catch up.

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cory · 22/01/2009 22:58

Even if he is below average at age 5- that doesn't exactly mean you have to worry about him.

a) Someone has to be below average, that is in the nature of averages, not necessarily an indicator that anything is wrong; even if all the children were gifted, somebody would still be at the bottom

b) Just because he is below average now doesn't mean he always will. My ds was in the bottom group until Year 3, has now been moved up and I wouldn't be surprised if he moves up further later on.

maverick · 23/01/2009 08:15

It sounds like he's having problems because he's being given whole language books. I presume his teacher is using synthetic phonics in class? Whole language books are totally incompatible with synthetic phonics in the early stages.

www.aowm73.dsl.pipex.com/dyslexics/resources_and_further_11.htm

optimisticmumma · 23/01/2009 08:39

If his teacher says he is fine then I'm sure he is. Children progress at very different rates. As a teacher with 3 teenagers I've seen children whose parents delighted in telling all that their child could read The Times at 5 . Trouble was that that child peaked there! Another was special needs until Year 3 and passed 11+ with flying colours. So don't worry. Just beware the mother mafia at the school gates and keep having lots of fun with books with your DS

Feenie · 23/01/2009 09:05

Maverick, New Way (although ancient) isn't a whole language scheme, it's phonetically regular.
I would second what other posters say regarding children developing at their own rates. Also, Pink New Way is roughly equivalent to Oxford Reading Level 2, which indicates to me that your ds is reading very well for his age group.

mumstheone · 23/01/2009 09:28

Don't worry at this stage yet. Wait until year 2 and then if there no improvement then speak to his teacher. If he is struggling with the reading books then I think that the teacher has moved him on too quickly. He may need to read more paralell books to re-inforce and drill basic words before he moves onto the next level.
Try making flash cards with high frequency words on them and do 10 cards per day. Make verbal sentences with the words, break them down into syllables and repeat repeat repeat. Most importantly make it fun and do these exercises for no more than 10 minutes per day.

maverick · 23/01/2009 10:20

Feenie, phonically regular, whatever that means, isn't the same as decodable, culmulative text. I see that the book he has now is 'The Race'. Well, has he been taught the GPCs a=/a-e/ and ce=/s/ yet? I somehow doubt it, and that's just the title!

Real decodable books can't be levelled into Bookbands -which is based on Reading Recovery whole-language -they are two completely different kinds of reading scheme.

Feenie · 23/01/2009 10:37

Which is EXACTLY why I said roughly. The op wanted to know "Does anyone know whether that is about right for his age/year?"

I do, and it is.

By phonically regular, of course I do mean decodable, cumulative text.
And actually, yes, I would think that a-e would have been taught by now, since it is one of the 42 sounds - certainly our Reception children will have come across it.

Katiestar · 23/01/2009 14:23

At our school New way Pink books are read at the same time as books in the 'yellow book band' of reading recovery.So that would be about the same as stage 3 ORT books

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