To think that reception children should be given reading books in september

[ReallyTired]

Most reception children cannot read and do not know any strageries for decoding new words. My daughter has been given a reading book which is a lovely book, but way beyond her ablity at the moment. I feel strongly that I do not want her to randomly guessing at words.

Sharing books is important at the age of four. Surely its better to share a high quality story book than an Oxford Reading Tree book. I would prefer to help my daughter learn her letter sounds and how to blend before being set loose on the school reading scheme. I feel that children should learn phonics initally before attempting to learn any other strageries for reading. I like synthetic phonics because it starts off very simply and complicated words are introduced later when the child has developed confidence.

My son did Jolly phonics in reception and he loved it. Good phonics teaching is not boring. He got his first reading book after christmas and enjoyed the buzz of sucess. I feel angry that my daughter's teacher is not using the same method.

"Just to add for a point of interest. Not all children are able to decode easily. They are not suited to synthetic phonics and learn through looking at the shapes of the words and making meaning with pictures etc. The top-down model. "

Pure synthetic phonics works for a higher percentage of children than any other method of teaching reading. Many children get utterly confused when multiple methods of teaching reading are thrown at them at once. Primary school is seven years and there is plenty of time for introducing other reading strageries later.

Prehaps a proficent reader does use a range of methods to decode words, but it could be argued that a proficent mathematican has a good knowledge of calculus. In maths children start of with the basics and I feel that it makes sense for children to start simply with reading as well.

"Fostering a love/shared interest is really difficult. Especially in homes where there are little books/newspapers/text of any kind. It is the children in those homes I feel for."

I agree with you that sharing books is important. Many parents make the mistake of stopping the bed time story as soon as their child can bark at print.

My son loves reading and he was taught by pure synethic phonics. I know plenty of children in book rich homes who do not love reading. I believe that pressure to read something too difficult and failure can put children off reading for life.

Rereading some posts I missed earlier, there have been a lot of valid points raised. I think one issue to remember is that the teacher in question is not going out of their way to provide a 'bad' education. I think if you have concerns then take them to the teacher or the new management so they can justify - or not- their teaching methods. Stay positive.

I think that some children struggle with phonics, some pick up phonics naturally, and children develop the skills needed to learn phonics at different rates.

However, having difficulty learning phonics techniques (hearing the order of sounds in a word, identifying the sounds you can hear, remembering some spelling rules), is often a sign of a wider learning difficulty that needs to be addressed. I don't think you have to panic because your child doesn't have these skills at 4, and I don't think schools are always best able to sort out these problems given class sizes and all the demands on the teacher's time.

However, for many (most?) children, reading (and writing) doesn't 'just sort itself out' if they have a significant difficulty with phonics.

I think that it's impossible to generalise. My summer-born reception DC was started on the pink level, so had words. She had done and got on well with phonics at nursery but I wouldn't have described her as 'a reader' before starting school. She has subsequently progressed through the levels and is now on blue, which she reads and comprehends well - we discuss the stories after reading at home. This isn't a boast, I'll well aware that progress can slow and more advanced readers are often 'overtaken' later on but just to illustrate that a one-fits-all approach isn't the answer.

Dd is in reception and has not bought a book home yet.

She brings the phonics sheets home, next step is a word box then the reading book.

My guess is by around Easter she should get a book based on her progress so far.