Reception children given ebooks

[Santacat]

Our school is issuing reception children with ebooks available via a portal online this year instead of a traditional book. They've changed how they teach phonics and don't have enough reading books.

I'm so sad about this. More screen time, removing the ability to spontaneously pick up a school book to read.

My eldest learnt the traditional way, and whilst it was a battle at the beginning, he now loves a book.

Has anyone else's child learnt to read via an ebook? Looking for some reassurance that it will foster a love of reading!

@Santacat
Sorry, my remark wasn't addressed to you ! I think we are talking about the same phonics scheme !!!
Books are SO expensive but, in my opinion so much better than the e version! But I do understand why some schools simply can't afford the additional costs, it is an ongoing nightmare!

My gripe is that schools were happily teaching phonics, using a range of schemes and materials. Then the government decided that this wasn't good enough and only approved schemes could be used. What's more, EVERYTHING has to match. Word cards, sounds cards, displays and most importantly books. Woe betide you if you use one phonics scheme and use some old books from a different scheme!!! It cost an absolute fortune for us to move over from Letters and Sounds( which used to be considered perfectly acceptable and then disappeared from the list of approved schemes) to Little Wandle.

I'd let them read it once unless they are requesting to read it again, then read other books. Anything DS reads at school he's already memorised anyway. They are your child, you can read what you want with them, use your own phonics books, library ones, picture books, anything as long as they are reading.

I don't like the ebooks my reception child is issued (Little Wandle) but she also gets free choice from the school library and has lots of books at home. I can understand why they do it, a book a week per child is a lot to buy and store.

I like the maths games even less - anyone else have to use numbots?

The government needs to back off imo. They are putting unnecessary financial pressure on schools when there already is not enough money, and then there is the waste of perfectly good books.

All of my children have had a mixture of ebooks and real books. They tended to use ebooks for phonics and learning, then used real books for reading with family or for fun. It's never seemed to cause an issue .
Whether we like it or not the reality is that screens are becoming a staple in life. My daughter is in further education and ebooks are a great way for her to access more and more resources.

Our school uses PPG funding for online books. No it’s not as good as an endless supply of physical books - but not all families have books at home or easy library access. Don’t worry about the screen time - all reading is reading.

DS1 had ebooks due to covid. DS2 has actual books now. I don't think it makes much difference though, as we read a mix of other "real" and "kindle" books regardless.

DS got a kindle eReader for xmas when he was 8, and it has really increased his reading time.

I don't think regarding "screen time" as an evil is helpful. There is a world of difference between reading online, and mindlessly watching YouTube, with a range of valuable and creative screen-based activities in between.

This would be a nightmare for us, as I don't own a laptop or tablet. Only have my smartphone, which would be difficult due to small text. They're assuming that families can afford the devices needed for ebooks.

That's a good point, even a small tablet may be difficult. If they are like the real books with the pictures then that is very different to an adult just reading text on a small device where the font size can be changed.

@gano that's true. The children have to read alongside pictures iirc so a phone won't work. Hopefully they make exceptions in this scenario

As an aside, might be worth checking out the digital poverty alliance for a computer if you're in the regions they cover.

I never understand the angst over ebooks. Words are words. Obviously logistically I agree it's unfair to assume all families have appropriate devices to read them on though and ultimately, more kindle style readers that are better for the eyes would be better.

Dd reads paper books from the library and has ebooks on her kindle. Either way she is getting reading time and stories.

Our school did this for my daughter and I said absolutely not, so they sent books home for her. They know we always give them back. They have now changed back to proper books now as children weren’t accessing the books online anyway.

That is absolutely reasonable and it's the exact thing that our library does when book not returned.

Oh that's terrible! But do get your own books - do the ebooks have illustrations? I'm 61 and still remember the fantastic illustrations from my childhood books.

Life is on screens now. I'm an avid reader but haven't picked up a real book in years. There's nothing stopping you getting her books at home if you want, they're pennies in most charity shops.

It's all we had during covid. The Oxford reading tree ebooks, which infuriated me and I refused to use them as it was all so clunky. Luckily we were in the position to buy a whole collection of books, but it must have really held back some children that wasn't an option for.

Surely your youngest can use both the e books the school want them to use and the ones you bought for your eldest during lockdown. Similarly use library books and get books at home if you want to foster the use of traditional books. In these days of limited resources I can understand schools looking for ways to save money by buying less books but nothing to say parents can't help either by buying books yourself, raising money via PTA or borrowing from libraries. Reading should be about enjoyment not just learning phonics.

Our school does the ebooks thing and I don't love it.

It's just not the same as cuddling up with a paper book and my kids sometimes then ask to play on the tablet or watch videos. It also makes it harder for grandparents and other caregivers to read with the kids as they then also have to have the app etc

With our 7 year old, we mostly just read other books now and just once a week do the assigned one on the app

But with my reception age child, he does need to read the assigned book because he is still learning. I would prefer it if they went back to paper books but I understand the costs issue

Dd has phonics ebooks as well and I’m not keen. The only screen we have available that is compatible with the app is my phone and she obviously doesn’t have free access to that! I’d much prefer for a proper book to be left around for her to pick up more often. She’s learning well, but I’m not pleased with the setup.
to the poster who mentioned numbots - yes, we are persevering with that too along with TT rockstars 🤦‍♀️

Yep I would hate it too. We did get some ebooks but I just ignored those and focused on the actual books.

Now in year 3 it's all getting very tech-y, I can't stand it! It's all games and multiple choices on iPads, nothing of any depth and as you say, more screens to fend off and reward centres to ping.

Our reception child is doing little wandle phonics and with ebooks. They also come home with an actual book each week that we read together for fun then write a comment about that in their reading journal. So far I haven't found the system problematic. We read every night anyway and have lots of books at home and our child seems to be picking up the phonics with no problems. I understand why the school needs a system that doesn't involve the expense of sending lots of phonics books home with the potential to get lost. Whilst I understand the concerns about screen time having these phonics books online does seem more efficient.

I totally appreciate the costs to schools but have to say we found ebooks in the beginning were a nightmare because the DC used to track the words with their finger and then they would press on the screen by mistake and then it would turn the page or move the text etc. It got really frustrating. This was a few years ago now though so maybe they’ve fixed that? Wasn’t so bad further up the school when they were better at reading.

@spriots There's something about reading to grandparents and other relatives on the fly that we'll miss. They inevitably ask the children about school and we've often taken the opportunity to say 'why don't you show xyz the school book you've been reading'. Hopefully it'll feel ok once we've got the app set up on a tablet.

I'm definately not looking forward to the additional pestering for youtube or games after reading!

We have ebooks too but our school sounds far more relaxed about reading than what I read on MN. We have one ebook a week which is what DD has already read in school 3 times. They ask that we read this at least once at home. Then she gets sent home with a physical book that is categorised as a 'challenge' book so a little bit above where she's at - again read at least once. Then the rest of the time, it's just about reading together - whether that's books at home, local library or from the school library. Some weeks we read the phonics books more because DD wants too, other times we just do the minimum. Either way at parents evening the teacher said she's at the expected level at this time and no issues raised.