Can reception children read?

[ReadingGeniuses]

I went to DS' nativity this morning (he's in reception). There were 2 girls narrating the play, they were reading it off a script. I was quite confused. Can some children already read this fluently at that age? They hadn't memorised it, they were just reading. Are they geniuses? Or is this way more common than I realise?

You are not expected to teach him to read. Relax! The teacher will send home what they want you to work on.

This being mumsnet ,all the kids of mumsnetters will be reading classics at five ...
When my son was in infants the nativity was done by ,reception to year two.

My 3 year old appears to read the Gruffalo, she knows every single word just by looking at the page. But she can’t read.

She will be days off 5 when she starts school and I am sure will be reading then. I could read at 4 and she is lapping up books. She can’t run though, so whilst ahead on some things she most definitely isn’t on others!

DGD who was 6 yesterday could read fluently in reception as could her father. Neither coukd read before going to school. DDIL couldn't read till later, and was in school in another country, a daughter of school teachers.

Now she is the one with the Masters degree. ( DS has got an honours degree)

I think some just can, and usually they are children who enjoy reading.

I could read fluently ie the newspaper when I started school. Both my DC could also read before reception. Grandson learnt phonics and taught himself to read by putting sounds together. His sister didn’t know phonics and brought home basic picture books until she learnt to read.

Yep, 'guessing' is part of the process of learning to read.

One of mine was reading at 3, the other was 6!

I have a clear memory of reading a book to my teacher first day of reception. My brother (the actual family genius, im not a patch on him) taught me apparently. He was 2 years ahead of me.

DD could read fluently well before starting Reception. She was miles ahead of most of the other kids when they first started. She's in Y4 now and still the top reader in the class (according to the class chart). She could've read from a script no problem.

DS is in Reception now and is picking it up very quickly. Nowhere near as advanced as DD was, but still fairly precocious. He finds the books they send home far too easy, but I don't think he could read from a script yet.

Dd1 learned to read from the world around her, just by me reading to her whereas dd2 was tricky.

There are usually one to three children who can read fluently at this age, but it’s not expected or the norm.

Nope. My child is in year 1 (6) and still can not read fluently by any means. Still taking her a while to get the hang of it. Don't worry. Teachers are not concerned at all, all children learn at different rates.

Same for my DD. I’d be surprised if there were many reception age children who can pick up a script and read it cold.

My eldest was slow to read (not fluent until year 2) and reads very well now. They do usually even out. If you keep reading to your child the they get all the vocabulary and comprehension benefits of those who read earlier.

Some can, some can't. My two weren't that fluent after their first term but made the leap the term after and were that fluent by the end of Reception year, and they were spring born. It probably helped that they were at nursery from 6 months old and the nursery supported reading for those children who showed an interest.

By Year 3 most of them tend to catch up with the early readers though.

Infant teacher here
Everyone is different. My three all could read by the time they went to school, all their friends ( with exception of those with sen) had caught them up within a couple of months.
Two of my grandchildren could read before starting school, the other 6 couldn’t. They are all on a par now.

I was reading at age 3. Both my kids were reading at age 4. No hothousing or special lessons... I just think some kids have more of an aptitude for matching symbols to sounds. I also recall seeing both my parents reading a lot and being desperate to know what they were doing and how!

I have had children in my class who just catch on to reading quickly. They learn the sounds and can blend immediately. They only have to be told a non-phonetic word once and they remember. It’s quite remarkable. My whizzy reader in my class is already on the green level books (level 5) and it’s quite astonishing. Her parents are certainly not the pushy type either, though they do encourage reading but even they are quite bemused by it!

I could and all 3 of my children could.
Some children can't though.

My reception child was a narrator and read some from a script. We did a lot of work on memorising though. Melchior, Balthazar and Caspar were particularly difficult for them.

April born.

DD's best friend is just over 4 and can read fluently. I was so impressed! I was the same as a kid my mum tells me, a very early reader. I'm very average now although my job is to do with words

It's strange that the teacher would presume there would be children who could read fluently. My dd was 'above expectations' at parents evening a few weeks ago and is still sounding out simple words. My friend's ds and my nephew were both reading chapter books when they started school but I would say that was unusual.

Could they be from an older class? Some children can read in reception (mine couldn't by Christmas of reception and into year 1 tbh). Even if children can read in reception reading from a script seems unlikely surely?

Both of my children could read before Reception , one an October baby and one a July baby. One teacher shoved a printed poem into my son's hand just before the Reception assembly because she knew he'd be able to read it. I wasn't sure how good my local infant school was , so I taught them to read before they started.

And DD's pal (was 4 in June) could definitely read a script. She can read chapter books, labels on stuff, signs, totally fluently. I was amazed when she came round to play, picked up a book and started reading it to DD2 totally fluently.

I asked her mum if they did much learning at home and she said not really but they did read a lot and her daughter played quite a few reading apps on tablet! It has motivated DD1 to try to learn so that's a good thing I suppose.