To ask what we should be doing

[elephantmarchingin]

DS if my first child. He is now 3 1/2, he has not yet started nursery however will be going for 2 days per week come January.
We have been to visit some schools this week and with one the head teacher said that she would expect children to be able to read somewhat before they started and be able to write their name.
So how the hell do I teach this. We read books, we sing songs, we draw pictures he is good at navigating his kindle to play his games (mostly numberblocks and toy story!) And he is good at counting but I have no idea how you teach these things

Can anyone help here or tell me what I'm supposed to do, it's really panicked me!

Yes I'm shamelessly posting for traffic!

Children DO NOT need to be able to read before they start school. That is literally what school is there for!!! Recognising and possibly writing their name is probably useful but not essential. The vast majority of children will not be able to read at all before they start school. Ridiculous thing for the head to say!!

I second this. In fact when in reception mine started with books without words!

DS attended nursery from 1, he could not write his name at the start of reception, never mind preschool! He is very bright but didn’t have the fine motor skills. I think she is expecting a bit much.

PS I’m a teacher and my 3 year old would hardly hold a pencil before she started pre school. I had suggested it but no. I didn’t push it admittedly as I knew it wasn’t essential at her she. Her colouring was just scribbles, no attempt to stay in the lines or select a colour based on the picture. She now goes to a fairly formal pre school setting (mixed with a school reception class) and within weeks they had her writing her name, teachers can get kids to do stuff in a way parents (even teacher parents!) can’t.

Thank goodness!!

We really really loved the school it's our favourite we've seen but the should be reading worried me

That's bollocks. My eldest picked up reading really easily but he wasn't reading before he started school. They need to start from scratch in Reception.

Are you in UK OP? If so then the HT is talking nonsense!
Children are NOT able to read when they start school. They spend the first year learning letters, sounds and words.
Many children can recognise their name but that's it. My kids had literally 1 child each in their class who could read.

Tsk! DS was translating War & Peace into Mandarin before he was weaned! He'd read the entire works of Shakespeare while in the womb. Wrote a 300,000 word dissertation on Homer's Iliad while I was having the 20 week scan.

The head is being ridiculous, don't worry. ☺️

I see many pre schoolers as part of my role - lots can write their name, never, in 12 years, have I a met a pre-schooler who could read. Some will name letters and recognise their name. Some will "tell the story" very accurately, when sharing a book.

Some kids can read and write a bit at 3.5 but no school that I have heard of expect that. The Head is talking out of rear end. Your son sounds great. Teach him to write his name and to recognise words in his books as you read to him, he'll be fine.

If you want to, there was Ruth Miskin phonics on YouTube (over lockdown) which we used with our preschool and then reception kid.

There's also an excellent iOS app 'Teach Your Monster To Read'.

You can also get the flash cards which match the Ruth Miskin system.

Anything you can do to help your kid with reading will benefit them later.

Both my DC started school unable to read. I never even taught them the alphabet. Ds 14 is in top sets and dd12 is an avid reader.

Ours could but each went to a nursery attached to an independent school and the nursery staff taught alphabet/very simple words and how to write names before foundation year to assist the foundation staff.
our daughter went on to the independent (a girls’ school) but our youngest didn’t. He went into the local state primary which suited him well and he was one of three in a class of 28 who could. It really isn’t expected, please don’t worry.
(Will just say though, depending on the nursery, you may be surprised by just how much he comes on before he starts school).

At that age he should be getting help with his self-care, emotional regulation and social skills. He should also be outdoors a lot, developing his spatial awareness, physical skills (large and small motor) and experiencing the world using all his senses. He should also be learning songs, rhymes and listening to lots of stories. I haven't mentioned reading or writing because it's not appropriate to his stage of development. This headteacher is stealing a wage and shouldn't be in charge of a boarding kennel, let alone a school.

@elephantmarchingin

i think it's fabulous she said this, you know which school to avoid now!!!

People learn at different ages. I could read before I started school but that was because I had an older sister who would play 'school' when she came home, and so I just learnt when she did. It didn't actually help much though as when I started school, the teachers started everyone with flash cards and I never bothered responding to them as I thought they were for those who couldn't read already.
I stupidly assumed my own child would be much the same and I'd be able to teach him from an early age. But no. He wasn't interested until he was good and ready (and in his case that was MUCH later)

My two year old 😭(25 months) can read about 15 words and 5 numbers. I could read fluently before going to school. I don't think this is unusual.

What do you mean by read? Can recognise the words by memory or actually has some understanding of phonics? Seems very unusual. Most just turned two year olds are just starting to speak..let alone read

@Comedycook she's knows it's unusual. She just wants others to tell her so.

I don't think reading before school is unusual. I've learnt I have a few friends who could too. For now DS recognises words in different books / contexts and says them. I learnt to read this way, not through phonics. I'm going to start him with letters this weekend - I've downloaded that teach your monster app that a pp recommended.

So it's not quite "reading" then. I mean it's great you're doing that, but your just turned two year old is not reading. If you point to a word in a book as keep repeating "cat" or whatever, your DC will copy that.

Sorry quoted the wrong post there

Wow! My DS is the exact same age, in his second year at nursery (work full time) and can’t yet write at all. Baffling why they’d expect that so soon! Don’t worry about it OP.

Fuck that.

Thats what school is for.

It’s not like they’ll never read if you don’t teach them before school. Adult literacy rates are at over 99%, totally unnecessary for you to ever have to teach them.

My DS’s didn’t attend the school nursery as it was 2.5hrs a day only and I worked, and I was worried as they were a fair bit behind when they started, phonics, name writing. DS was also an August baby and tiny. Needn’t have worried, he’s just started Uni and left with 3 A stars, so needless to say he caught up!