To wonder where your kids are with reading at Reception?

[Putupafuss]

DD started Reception in Sept and is one of the oldest in her class, turned 5 last month. She is going to a local state school which is quite academically focused. Started phonics on the second week of school and introduced the kids to quite a lot of 'tricky' words, as they call them (his, her, pull, put, the, as, and...and so on).

DD has done phonics since the age of 3, but as soon as we finished the stage 1 I stopped that and let her enjoy her time before starting school. Ever since she started school she's revised all the graphemes and digraphs and is very good at writing the tricky words.

Now she comes home with books to read and yesterday the kids got their school diaries updated with how the kids did at reading. One girl came out with a well done sticker and her mum shared that she read a book to the teacher confidently so obviously she is quite ahead of everyone. DD's message said she segmented and blended well (so no mention of actual reading). I thought DD was quite advanced as we do this at home, but clearly the school seems to expect more.

I know we should probably be doing more at home but DD is not interested. We go through the school book and half way through she gets frustrated and bored. Plus the way she 'reads' is just by segmenting at the moment, apart from the tricky words which she usually recognises.

I grew up in a different acountry and we started school at 6 and 7 yo. I find that this is quite a lot for little ones at this age and DD is even the oldest, some kids have just turned 4 in the summer.

AIBU to ask how are your DCs doing with their reading at Reception? And how much reading do you do at home?

Hi Op, my DD started reception in September too. She will be 5 next Spring. There are no signs of her being able to read yet & I think it varies hugely at this stage. We do read with her every night & sometimes she repeats the story (from memory, not actual reading). I honestly wouldn’t get too worked up about it as I don’t think comparisons are very helpful. I do agree however that some schools seem to be pushing this very hard in reception which seems early. An NCT friend who has a daughter in reception says her DD is getting homework already!

Does the school actually expect more though? 1 girl is ahead and got a sticker, that's great. It sounds like your DD is ahead too. There are probably others in the class that don't know all the graphemes yet, let alone blend sounds. There is a huge range of normal at this point.

You don’t know what’s going on in the background with the well done sticker it’s not always the best/brightest. This is all very early on for reading.

the best thing you can do is read to your daughter and ask questions around her understanding of the books you read to her. I say that as a mother who had a very advanced reader in reception to a child who was not but is now at a very advanced reading level. Because we instilled the love of books and reading by reading to them.

I’d be interested to know more about the general range in reception but I do know it’s broad.

Some dc are reading / writing and others I assume will be learning sounds? Not sure what the starting point is

To be honest I don't know what the school expects. They have no homework or assignments, just a book once a week to read at home.

I think you’re fine.

Where I live in Canada, the teacher told us on curriculum night that she is “old school” and teaches syllabic reading, but that it isn’t actually a requirement at all at this age. Almost all of the focus is on emotional regulation, cooperation, responsibility, and physical health / outdoor play. To be honest, at <6 that makes a lot of sense to me.

My DD is 5.5 and by all accounts is meeting all the milestones expected of her in nursery and now school. She can sort of read consonant and syllable combinations (Ma, Do, Tu, etc.) but certainly can’t read a sentence in a book yet. She’s surprisingly good at writing (she likes sounding out the names of all the kids in her class, and typically gets them right, even longer names like Victoria, Rumaysa and Jeremy), but honestly getting her to read is like pulling a hen’s teeth. It seems like the understanding of sounds is broadly there, and she can create a decent written output, but truly barely manages reading inputs. I’ve been told by parents with older DCs (who are reading very well!) that this is normal and not to worry.

I'm on my 3rd reception child now. My first wasn't blending well until Easter but once it clicked, he quickly blasted through the reading scheme, free reader by middle of year 2. Writing well by year 1.

Second was blending by first half term, again, once it clicked he quickly went up through the reading scheme and was free reading by end of year 1. Writes brilliantly now in year 2.

My 3rd has started to really blend well the past week or 2 and I can see her doing the same as her brothers. Her writing is brilliant already. I find once it 'clicks' there is no stopping them.

My 4 year old is an august baby so young for the year and is reading books with proper sentences - but he is ahead of nearly all the class and the teacher told me some students can’t recognise sounds still, let alone words. So I think it’s a real mixture!

We have always read a lot of books to her, have over 400 children books at home. She always loved books. But never pushed her to read as such. She does enjoy learning from nursery/school rather than us, which is not unusual, so we let her go at her own pace and do it on her own terms.

Happy to hear about your DC.

Well, everyone is different and everyone learns at their own pace. Some kids take a bit longer to start with and then it falls into place for them and their progress starts to make bigger advances. Some struggle with it and keep on struggling for a long time. It doesn't really matter if other posters' kids are a similar level to your DD's (some will be) or further ahead or further back, what matters is that your DD is making progress and hopefully enjoying learning. It doesn't sound like she is enjoying it much, does it? I would ask the teacher what you can be doing at home to help support your DD's learning and make it more fun for her. There will be other resources available that make it more game-like and fun.

Your DD will know that other kids in her class are picking up the concepts faster than her - the children always know who is ahead and who needs more support ime - and she might need a little reassurance that she is doing okay and with more practice she will improve sooner than if she doesn't.

The range can be huge with children still struggling with the basics at the end of the year to children who started school already reading, and everywhere in between.

This time last year my DS got his first books with words, he would throw himself on the floor and shout that it was too hard. So if your child is even looking at the book and having a go at it she's miles ahead of where DS was.

Sounds like DD. She loves writing and gets most of the words right, wrote a sentence the other day, but with reading is a bit slow, doesn't seem quite so excited.

www.twinkl.co.uk/teaching-wiki/elg-early-learning-goals

These are the Early Learning Goals for the end of Reception. At this stage recognising letters and attempting to blend is great. My DD couldn't blend at the start of Reception. By the end, she was reading books with several sentences per page.

Thank you, that's helpful.

I have a summer born boy. I can’t remember exactly what he did when, but he was only just reading basic sentences at the end of Reception and was quite ‘behind’ the other children at that stage.

He soon caught up though and had a reading age assessment aged 11 which put him at age 15-16. He is 13 now and in the top sets for pretty much everything.

My point is, don’t worry about it. They will soon find their place, and how they are reading now is not an indication of their future academic achievement.

Thank you.

Great to hear about your son doing so well.

DD3 was still on pink books in year 1. She just would not try to read if she couldn't do it perfectly. Now in Secondary school and her reading age is in the top age band that their test goes to. Don't worry.

My advice is not to compare with others .Every child is different. Some race ahead and then pause and others take longer initially and then catch up

I have three children who all developed differently academically at primary school and have all done really well and have decent degrees.

Really try not to worry.

My son couldn't read until 6 - just letters and a few words. He seemed really behind to me, especially since he was very eloquent with a huge vocabulary. However when he did learn to read he caught up and overtook his peers and now is 11 with an adult reading age (according to school). I wouldn't worry too much at this stage - just make sure she enjoys books, sees you reading, reads with you at bedtime etc.

Thank you, this is very helpful.

Can I ask you how much communication do you have with the school/teacher? I usually don't manage to get anything as the teachers is always busy, we only had one parents meeting in Oct which lasted 7 min in which she told me DD was doing great!

Stop now!!!

Do not make comparisons or you will spend the whole of her school career doing this and make your DD anxious.

Just let her enjoy her childhood - keep school work in school, and fun home life at home. It will all pass in a flash and you will wonder where the time went. Just have fun with her and take delight in her.

Read to her, cuddled up on the sofa. Nothing more is needed as regards reading - nothing at all.

Did you worry about dyslexia since he was already 6? Did he have any assessments or you just let him go at his own pace?

From what I hear from parents of older children, schools get involved if the kids are behind by end of Y1? Did he have any support at that stage?

I know, I know!!!

I'm glad I posted here, it's good to hear from other people's experiences.

DD is my only, I'm from a different country , grew up with a totally different schooling system so it's all new to me.

I have two children who I didn't do any phonics with before school at all. So don't forget there will be children in the class who are learning that A is 'ah' and b is 'buh' etc. If your daughter is already segmenting and blending then it sounds like she's well on her way. Equally though I wouldn't worry about where she is. It can take.some children longer. Both my daughter's really started to get it by the end of year 1 and start of year 2. my eldest is now year 5 and reading at 2 years ahead.

Our school is quite keen for children to read 5 times a week. It's the only "work" they get ,so we do aim to do that. The more you can do at home the better but honestly just reading the book the school give you is fine. However it's not all about being able to read the words on the page it's about comprehension too. So when she's reading to you, look at the pictures, ask questions about the text etc (most books have questions at the back) and get her to get involved in the story that way. These stories are often very basic so I can see why she might be bored but if you try to get her to talk about what's going on e.g. "what do you think is going to happen next?" Or "how do you think this character is feeling about what's just happened? That might help to engage her.

We have our first word book- currently working on nip, sip, tip, nap, it.
We read stories lots but I'm taking it at her pace.