School providing e-books and no paper books for Reception

[Mummyoply]

My DS is in reception year and the school provide his reading books via an app and ask that children read them on an electronic device, iPad, phone or e-reader.

I have been purchasing the books, if the library don't have them (which they usually don't). This is too costly and also causes a delay, as by the time we get the book my DS has been moved on to another.

I guess my AIBU is, AIBU to refuse to allow him to read on a device and just provide books of the same level (from the library) so he can read a real book? I have emailed the school and message his teacher directly but had no response from either. I've even drawn a blank from the PTA.

@HiJenny35

Don't talk rubbish Ozanj, what do you think we do with a children who have a vi and need all texts enlarged, we use screen readers for everything, it makes no difference to their ability to study for exams, concentration or motor skills.

You’re comparing apples and oranges. A child with a VI wouldn’t be able to learn at all without screens (or it would be more difficult). For a child without disabilities learning on paper is easier than screens and develops other screens too.

This explains it

www.scientificamerican.com/article/reading-paper-screens/

Paper based learning to read can help develop IQs. So by getting rid teachers are ruining the futures of kids whose parents can’t afford to buy the paper books to supplement their education. It’s so unfair.

develops other skills

Unfortunately, this is what happens when school budgets are cut to the bone. This is why you should really speak to your MP.

I agree with you, I wouldn't want my DC mainly learning to read from a screen. Besides other issues, you don't want your DC having all that blue light before bed, which may be the only time some have to read. It really doesn't sound ideal for 4 year olds.

At my DD's school prior to Covid they always had real books. But they didn't mind what the DC read at home, or even were just read to as long as books were being shared 3x per week. You can get some phonics books like Songbirds where there is something like 4 stories in 1 book so cheaper. Or get books from the library - I wouldn't worry about it being exactly what is sent home from school.

Since Covid no books have been sent home which has been since Y3 for my DD. I'm not sure what was happening in Infants classes. They are just expected to read their own books from home or the library. They used to use Bug Club in the younger years where a book was read to them and they answered comprehension questions on it. We did it on a laptop maybe once a week. I wouldn't have liked it to be instead of real books.

I hope you get some answers from school and I hope your fundraising is successful.

This is a very bad teaching practice. Reading on a screen is not the same for kids and it's a bad way to teach them to read.

Mind you the whole teach them by having them memorize words approach which is what a lot of these reading approaches do is not very good either.

My own approach would be to ignore what the school is doing, get a good phonics book to work from, and use your own or library books. There are lots of options that a parent can use that are inexpensive, or your library may even have a few you can at least look through.

[quote Nix32]@OfstedOffred Not mrsz, but . . . English does conform to the structure of phonics. It's simply a series of codes that you need to be able to crack. The issue comes with the complexity of the code. All words are decodable, but you need to know and understand the code. How else do you approach new or complicated longer words other than by using your knowledge of phonics?[/quote]
I have never understood people who claim that English reading isn't phonetic.

What the heck do they think we have an alphabet for? Learning to read English is nothing like learning to read an ideographic language.

Your DS is 4. By the time he is at the peak of his career we will be in the year 2068. What will the world look like then? Move with the times seriously 😂

@MangyInseam they are not teaching them to memorise words, they are teaching them phonics. But buying books to fit the phonics scheme is expensive, and most schools are struggling to replenish their libraries due to funding

Do the tech executives educate their children this way?
Last I heard it was no tech or lo tech for the early years modern day mini-aristocrats.

I have never understood people who claim that English reading isn't phonetic.

It is phonetic, in that it isn't ideographic, but it's not truly phonetic in the sense that every word is decodable, so if you know "ea" makes and "ee" sound, you should be able to decode words with it in, and yet you get "I read it once, I will read it again".

"The bandage was wound round the wound."

"After seeing the tear in the clothes, I shed a tear"

The same combination of letters don't always make the same sound and it doesn't really make sense. Why is tomb pronounced completely differently to bomb? It doesn't make sense, simply looking at the letters.

"Poem" should be pronounced like "pohm" if you know that "oe" makes an "oh" sound, as in "toe".

That's what I think is meant when people say it's not phonetic, because that is the way many non-linguists understand and use the term.

Of course, what they mean, is the orthography of the language is not phonemic.

I said "not truly phonetic", that isn't what I meant. I meant what I said at the end. Should read "isn't truly phonemic".

These children and digital natives.

AIBU to not want my child to buy shop bought clothes and want her to sew her own?
AIBU to not want pre sliced bread?
AIBU to not want a spinning Jenny in the house and to weave things by hand?

Times move on. The future is digital.

You can still go to the library with him once a week for paper books to read at home.

*are digital natives

Our school started to do this during covid. I have kids in y3 and Y6. For the past 12 months they have all been given their own ipad and they do ALL of their work and reading on there.
It's good that it saves paper etc but parents were not consulted about this at all. The children are now on screens for most of the school day, plus whatever they go on at home.
There has not been a good response by parents, and most (myself included) have refused to read the ebooks. They sent out letters every week trying to force us to do it. I think they have given up now and just accepted that parents aren't happy about it. I know many people expressed their approval at the parent consultations.

It's an objection to the use of technology

Then you're just going to hold your child back. We live in an age of technology. It's an important thing to learn how to use and most careers will require skills in it. Most of his subjects will require skills in it. He'll be held back in every subject at school and his entire life until he starts learning to use technology.

I find it really quite funny that people object to ereading because their kids get enough screen watching TV and playing video games. It's like saying you can't afford rent because your TV subscription costs too much. Prioritise. And ereading isn't even the same thing as video games.

You're making a rod for your own back, and it's not the schools responsibility to pander to your nonsensical refusal to let your kid use an ereader.

The concern with screens and eye strain is the time spent doing them, not the screens themselves.

People who spend a lot of time reading close up are equally likely to have issues with short sight /eye strain - as have embroiderers, artists and writers over the years.

So the issue is around how much time is spent on close up vision tasks, rather than how much time is spent on screens. Make sure children are able to look at things far away (outside is best) regularly. If you're doing this, you won't have any more issues with an ebook than you do with a real one.

I think using the ebooks are a smart financial decision for lots of schools who can't afford to keep replacing the books and you'd probably have more joy trying to fund devices for those families who don't have one than trying to reverse a decision which the school will have made in the light of government and Ofsted as has been pointed out.

In ten years time, we're likely to have a device for every child in every classroom to support them in their learning. In the light of this, I think your concern is maybe a little of the old fashioned dislike of the new.

I find it really quite funny that people object to ereading because their kids get enough screen watching TV and playing video games. It's like saying you can't afford rent because your TV subscription costs too much

There's nothing wrong with watching TV or video games in moderation. But those activities are, by their nature, screen-based activities. Reading is not. Children aren't going to struggle with technology just because they don't use e-readers. Plenty kids grow up with a love of reading and videogames etc. I've never used an e-reader because I have real books, and don't see why I should involve a screen in an activity that doesn't require one. So, I'm not sure I should have to cut out videogames in favour of e-readers, when non-screen reading exists. If I want to cut out technology, the obvious choice to me would be e-readers, because there is a viable non-tech alternative which doesn't apply to other tech-based activities.

That said, if it's just going to be 10-15 mins a day reading books on a phone or Kindle or tablet, it's not too bad.

@TheDuchessOfBeddington

Your DS is 4. By the time he is at the peak of his career we will be in the year 2068. What will the world look like then? Move with the times seriously 😂

How do you know that paper books will be out and e-books will be in in 2068?

How do you know that paper books will be out and e-books will be in in 2068?

I don’t, but I do know OP’s DS4 will be living in a very different world than this one.

With all the energy shortages and shortages of key rare metals needed for all devices, I wouldn't write the obituary of books on paper just yet.

I'd do a quick read of the school books on the device but supplement this with a subscription to reading chest. I used it for both my dc as the school didn't change books often.

Do both.

It wouldn't even have occurred to me to object to this tbh. My dd is 16 and we bought her a (basic) Kindle when she was 5 or 6, mostly because she'd take umpteen books on holiday and get through them all in a few days. She still reads paper books as well and always did.

I'm a teacher (mostly secondary but some primary). Children are exposed to screens all the time in school from day 1- a lot of teaching is done using interactive whiteboards, plus the children often use individual iPads or laptops. There is no avoiding it.

Everything is technology. Technology is just equipment created through scientific knowledge. A knife is technology, a wheel is technology,printing on paper is technology. Embracing new technology doesn't mean you can't also continue to use older technology.

If lock down has taught us anything its that familys are tech poor . Our school has all the latest tec and we still hadnt got enogh to share out to our tec poor familys in lock down.
Along side all our tec we have an early years library a ks1 library and a ks2 library . Were in a area of high deprivation but we have a very driven Head and leadership team. We have no buget for our libraries its all achived through grants , donations,sponsership ,fundraising and our familys.

@Mocara I assume you will also get quite high pupil premium funding

@TheDuchessOfBeddington

How do you know that paper books will be out and e-books will be in in 2068?

I don’t, but I do know OP’s DS4 will be living in a very different world than this one.

Yes, it's likely to be different, but I wouldn't assume that that means more "tech".