Are lots of pre-reception 4 year olds reading ?

My DD is just coming to the end of reception and although she could recognise some words before she started school, I wouldn’t describe this as “reading”. She knew her letters and sounds - although not the way school taught them. She is now confidently reading her school books, which all year have been focussed on the sounds that they are learning at that point. I took the view that the teachers were the experts in this (I’m also a teacher but not primary so absolutely no understanding of teaching someone to read!), so I needed to stay out of it and let them do their job, I supported them/her by listening to her read and encouraging her, but I was also very careful not to do anything that would impact on the way her teachers were teaching. They were also very good at sharing resources to match what they were teaching at school.

I would use this time to focus on the stuff that isn’t their job, like table manners, toileting, dressing etc and read to you DD lots and encourage curiosity and a love of books and let the teachers teach the actual reading part once she starts.

readiness at this age doesn’t mean academics. It’s about separating easily, mostly enjoying their day at school, engaging with activities, play with other kids, being able to manage own emotions; some basic skills like eating with utensils on their own, put jacket on, correct shoes (mostly)

Going against the grain - I taught DD to read before she started school and it was hugely beneficial for her. It's easy enough to read up on phonics so I don't know why people make such a fuss about teaching "the wrong way". DD knew all the letters and their sounds, so we just got the Julian Donaldson songbird books and did it in a low key way from age 3. It was very easy to teach her and it boosted her confidence hugely, as she felt she was good at reading and found it fun. By the time she started reception she was reading independently and for pleasure. She still reads voraciously and in year 2 has a reading age of 13 (the school tested her). Now, she is pretty bright (she loves maths and also picked up musical notation very quickly) but I don't think she is a child prodigy by any means. Perhaps she would have picked reading up quickly anyway, but as a summer born child the confidence it gave her really helped.

I agree. My eldest could recognise few familiar words but couldn't attempt a new word. My youngest could genuinely read a chapter book he had never seen before and answer questions about it. He was definitely the exception though and we hadn't intended to teach him, he learnt listening to his sister reading.

As others have said, to be ready for Reception, a child ideally needs to:
Be fully toilet trained including knowing when they need to go and wiping their bottom
Put on their own coat and zip it up
Feed themselves with cutlery
Recognise their name and make an attempt to write it
Be able to sit and listen to a story
Generally be able to share and tidy up

Not all children can do all these things, often with good reason, but it helps if the majority can do most things.

No my DS wasn't but he was reading pretty quickly after starting, you'll be amazed how quickly they pick it up.

I wanted him to be taught the correct way as I didn't want to teach him how I felt it was correct and then he get confused when he started school.

Both mine could read by the time they started in reception as could a couple of their friends so it isn't that unusual. We had a basic reading scheme which they both worked through at their own pace so it wasn't a matter of familiarity.

DD by 5 could actually read a lot more than we realised which we discovered when we stopped for breakfast one morning at a diner. There was a board of specials at the entrance and when I said I was going back to look at it, she reeled off the contents from memory. She was right too.

But she loves it! She’s a bright little thing who sees it as a real challenge and is massively motivated by her own progress and wanting to be like her older brother.

She goes to nursery part time and has a nanny and is cared for by me and DH for the rest of the time so has a very wide range of experiences and other play and learning opportunities. All of the social and personal development stuff is also nailed. She is a very lucky girl. If she’d been born 2 months and a few days earlier she’d be starting school in September and would be expected to do quite a lot of formal learning. As it is, I will continue to do 10 mins per day with her and she will have a flying start at school.

DD starts school September, she's an August baby. she hates books, she hates been read to and refuses point blank to look through books, shame really as I'm an avid reader. She can only count to 10, can not add or subtract and can just about write and spell her name.

However, she was doing zips age 2 and buttons shortly after, she can use a knife and fork and cut food. She can use toilet independently, dress independently put on shoes and socks, open packets and pots and generally has really good gross motor skills and logic.

She's 3, she will learn things at her own pace. If she still isn't reading and counting past 10 when she's 15, then I may worry

Welcome to the batshit world of competitive parents OP. You will get a lot of this when your child starts school. As others have stated, take with a pinch of salt. Some kids are naturally good at reading, others get there slower, but they all get there. Stay away from these parents for your sanity.

No

My child couldn't read at all but is keeping up perfectly after year 1

Don't stress

Let the teachers teach

I'm sorry but my DD could read at 4. She was one of the older ones in her year but she'd shown a huge interest in learning to read before starting school so we got the alphablocks reading programme and made a start. She could read simple sentences and read all the 'pre-readers' school gave her by herself even though they were ones the parents were supposed to read to them. She's year 2 now. Still an excellent reader but things have levelled out and she doesn't hugely stand out. I'm not bragging but your post is incorrect in my personal experience.

I could read at 3. Some children read early. There's a wide spectrum, but it's not accurate to say that no 4 year old can read.

Been there done it with dc1, saw the benefits, doing it again for Dc2.

We do loads of other things together. The learning to read takes about 5 mins a day.

It's an area of discussion in dyslexia education. Sight words/red words/non phonic words like the, are recalled by Rapid Automatic Naming, most other words are at least initially learned via phonics and new words we need to tackle as we grow older are also mainly tackled through phonic tools like we know we have two choices for o in old - short o (hot), or long o, we then try stuff out and see what might sound right.

Phonics is widely held to be the best method (lots of scientific research) to teach children to read. I have a hunch that some people like the good doctor here, have very good brains for pattern recognition and word recognition. I was taught (80s UK) look and say/whole word and learned to read fine. Never remember having any phonics input at all. But phonics does make breaking the cod easier for the majority of children or even adults, learning to read as it explicitly links sounds and letters/groups of letters to show the relationship. Some children would pick this up implicitly like me and the doc did but some children won't - they may need more structure to help them pick up the building blocks of reading and writing (including children with dyslexia who it can help a great deal as their processing of language appears to be a bit different - again, still a topic of discussion for the psychologists).

This - if you were to watch my 3 year old (tomorrow!) DD at bedtime you’d think she could read - in fact we’ve read the same 3 books* every night before bed and she knows them completely so it looks like it’s reading but it really isn’t.

*other books are available but she’s just so very attached to the hungry caterpillar now 😂

This

Don't worry about reading. There are far more important skills to learn before starting Reception.

@Neurodiversitydoctor sorry I meant that it means reading by sight rather than the phonics method - or rather learning to read the "wrong" way - as the school put it as it when obvious my daughter had mostly learned by sight recognition than phonics.
Personally - I don't think which way matters if you get there in the end.

It's probably better if they can't
I was a very early and fast reader who could understand and it caused me nothing but issues at school
Being told I hadn't read things properly, I was lying, sitting bored because I had already read the book when being told to read the first 2 pages
Even now I use the library because a chick lit type novel takes me less than an hour to read

To answer your question OP - Honestly? I very much doubt very many children starting each reception class can read. Take with a pinch of salt.

This is very true and happens a lot!

Library visits - yes. Get her interested in choosing her own books. What does she like to read about, look at pictures about? School readers can be a bit dull so having plenty of choice is a great gift for any budding reader.

Mine are dyslexic but no they didn't really know any letters before starting school

My friends daughter could read fluently before school. Like, anything. She had the attention span to read longer chapter books.
My dd couldn't blend even three letters. You know, 'c-a-t', what does that say? 'potato'. That kind of thing.

They can both read now. It's ok if your child can't read before school . Of course, if they want to learn, teach them. But most kids I think can't.

The majority of 4yo won't be reading when they start reception. Keep in mind some may only just turn 4yo in August before starting reception.

However, many children will recognise their own names from pegs and draws, self registration etc and probably their friends names too. Some may be showing interest in learning early phonics.

Some children naturally love books and will absorb words by being read to. The most important step is pre reading which is looking at pictures in a book and recalling and predicting the story, being aware of written words on the page and knowing they have meaning so developing thir curiosity in wanting to know what they mean, as well as simply fostering enjoyment of a good book.

DC1 no interest in reading by themselves before school and has never really enjoyed practising with us at home but loves books and was reading long chapter books aged 7. I was going to say if they enjoy reading fine to do some with them but I wouldn't see it as necessary and also I wouldn't be confident in the best way to teach reading. Probably just reading them lots of books is the best thing to do