to be a bit frustrated by dd's first reading book NO WORDS!!!

[littlebylittle]

Okay - health warning here, I am hormonal!! I am also a teacher (clearly not reception!)and should know the theory behind this. But...dd has just brought home first reading book after five weeks in reception and there are no words!! She know all letter sounds (initial) and has grasped all the phonics at school so far (ie they have seen her understand phonics). She also knows a good few words by sight. She'll also talk happily about stories and predict what's going to happen. So I am just a little peeved that there are no b**y words in this book. After this rant I will calm down and share the book she is so excited about and realise that yes IABU. But for five mins I feel like throwing the book at the wall! Any experience of learning to read confidently and quickly starting with wordless books?

our school's early years dept is rated outstanding by ofsted, and i agree with that wholeheartedly

yet they only start bringing home books at the end of reception for the child to actually "read" - they bring home library/story books to share all year - at the age of 7 my DD had a reading age of 12.3 so don't worry about it!

to the poster who said "

Oh poo, I hit the wrong key

to the poster who said "Surely children are used to the concept of books"

• sadly there are children who start school who have never been read to at home, never even had a baby book, don't know which way they open, never see an adult at home reading for pleasure, never been to a library etc etc

sounds unbelievable if you are from a background where you assume all that is normal

sadly many of these kids go on to see reading as "work" and struggle (Ive taught y3/4)- often they are not encouraged and helped at home - its heartbreaking to see their reading diary empty week on week

yes, perpetually, that's why I said I thought it was sad. Makes me want to cry.

These books are used as "picture walks", apparently it helps child form rational sentences that follow on from each other. As a previous poster said you can choose to follow a story or make up questions like "does the little boy look sad/happy etc"

The education board on MN has loads of useful info in Primary Education.

I don't see the point in the wordless books. Surely they could still have a simple sentence beneath the picture?

My DD1 is in school nursery and she is learning to read (not through school I hasten to add!) but I know that no matter how capable she is next year, she will come home with the picture books.

I take comfort in the fact that if DCs are capable, they will move on from these wordless books pretty quickly. They just all have to start at the same point.

my 4 dcs have learned to read in 3 different primaries, and i've never known anyone IRL bring home reading books without words!

They have them at our primary- I was a volunteer there last year and was a bit when asked to listen to the kids read, and one came with a book with no words!

We were warned by the head at DS's school that this would happen and he explained they do it regardless of a child's Reading level. The idea being to get them to examine the pictures for context and cues which will help them further down the line.

To my surprise DS really enjoyed making up his own story and I felt that is was worthwhile doing. It didn't last for very long though.

My DS school does read write inc and he bought home worksheets with letter sounds to read and write and then words and ditties. He then moved onto reading 'books'. They all had phonetically read words but the negative side was he never really learnt high frequency words.

Every one of my children have come home with word free books and they have really enjoyed telling me the story from looking at the pictures. They all read above their age now.

Thats how they start to teach about narrative. So YABU. Chill the hell out!

My DS is in reception and I have the same problem. I understand the value of wordless stories but DS is bored. He wants to read words. He can READ a few words and wants to know more. He can't be bothered 'reading' the books he brings home because he is not interested in them. I think it is a shame that he is so keen to read and is not being given the chance. I do it at home but I did hope that they might support it at school too.

I am also a teacher

Even when ds could read fluently, he still often chose a wordless book as his other choice- they had one scheme and on non scheme book choice a day in reception.

He loved the wordless books because he could make up his own story, using the context clues, and talk to me about what he thought the characters were thinking, what might happen next etc. I loved them too, it was fantastic to hear him making up the story for himself, adding more detail each time.

Mechanical reading is all well and good, and very important, of course, but these wordless books were great for comprehension IMO.

Enjoy it!

I am chilled now - although it is fair to say that dd did prefer the book with words, I preferred the wordless one as more scope for imagination. I think the narrative thing is fair enough although I do think sharing stories also does that. Guess it doesn't if you read the words quickly sometimes to accelerate relaxdownstairso'clock! .

I'm with Phish. Why can't they give them books with simple sentences and nice pictures so that they can expand the story with whoever they are reading with? At least then there is the opportunity for them to 'absorb' what some of the words are without actually learning them iykwim. That's how DS learned to read. I think sometimes people are too focussed on 'teaching' things at appropriate stages rather than just presenting opportunities for information to go in.

The other thing that occurs to me is chicken and egg syndrome. Some children become interested in narrative through being able to decode and give them more access to independent reading? Maybe Grockle's ds good example of progressing in narrative perhaps breeding more interest in the narrative. As long as it isn't a decoding race up the levels. The first books with words also give lots of scope for adding the story - after all the stories there have a very few words.

littlebylittle, we have a meeting next week at DS school where the teachers will explain to parents what they teach, why and how. I have a list of questions that I have promised myself I will NOT ask . The meeting is at 1.15 but that is another matter. Rant rant

Sounds like a great idea to me, I'm looking forward to it.

Yes, you CAN expand a regular story but IME it's too easy not to - I always end up reading it quickly if I'm tired. At least the wordless book will force me to be more imaginative and/or let DD take the lead!

But I also find it utterly heartbreaking that a 4 year old wouldn't know how a book works :(

Ooh what questions are they grockle - why don't you vent them here :o

Yes, it is a very sad though Freudian :(

I just don't like the way there is a 'one size fits all' approach to reading. Yes, some children may need to start with pictureless books but what about those that are reading already and enjoy it?!

Freudian, my questions include exactly how they assessed the children on entry to Reception, how often they read with an adult in school, how they teach phonics (Letters & Sounds or what?), what their topics are, do they do show & tell etc. But I will not ask them because ime, teachers tend not to like teacher parents being too teachery

Oh well they'll hate me then! I'm not a teacher though I'm hoping to teach KS2 one day. But I'm really interested in all this stuff and firmly believe that I should know how my kids are being taught!

That's it Freudian... I have NO idea at all what DS is doing in school. He just says 'I dunno. Can't remember. We did nothing. I just waited to go home'

Because I work full time, I am unable to drop him off or pick him up from school and since they don't send any info home and do not respond to comments in his reading diary, I have no idea at all.

Good luck with KS2. Tis fab!