How can I help my DS read

[doero]

My DS will be 5 in January.

He started reception in September. He's able to sound out words and blend. So essentially he can read by sounding out.

He's able to sound out in his head too and then read the word out loud.

He's struggling to read several words at once and to recognise words quickly in order to increase fluency.

Should I make loads of flash cards with words on them to try and speed things along for him ? Or is that just silly ?

Flash cards aren’t a bad idea but you need to make sure he likes it and thinks it’s fun. Loosing his love of reading at this age would be detrimental.

He sounds like he’s on track for his age, so I wouldn’t be too worried.

You could try something like Reading Eggs, it’s an online app / game for maths and reading.

Do you read to him? Does he have books that you enjoy together? Take him to the library... sound out signs, menu items..

He sounds like he's doing quite well? He just needs to practice. I think flashcards would not really help as he'll just recognise the shapes of the words rather than reading them

The best thing is to read to him.

Please don't make flashcards, it sounds really boring and might put him off.

Read to him over and over and over and over again.

Get him to join in, encourage him to read to you too but only if he wants to.

There is no need to try to 'speed things along' - he is fine. Make reading fun.

I would relax if I were you. What you have described is exceeding expectations for this point in reception.

The trick is to read to him and track the words with your finger as you go. Reading to him will help build his vocabulary the same as if he were reading to himself. You want this to be pleasurable, we always sat down with a warm drink and a couple of biscuits, I'd read to DD whilst she drank hers, then she'd give it a go whilst I drank mine.

What you don't want to do is make it stressful. So if your DC enjoys playing games, you can make up a load of high frequency word cards and use them to play 'pairs' etc but if he doesn't like that sort of thing just keep reading low key and part of day to day life.

He’s at the correct stage this time of year for Reception. Focus of fostering a love of reading, enjoying stories together- you reading aloud to him, talking about the story and the pictures, anticipating what could happen next etc.

He's doing fine for reception. Just relax, worst thing you can do is force it

He loves when I read to him, but I feel like he likes to look at the pictures and not really the words.

I read to him every day. How much should I read ?

He's finishing his first term at school. He is doing fine. Just hear him read regularly, and read to him eg at bedtime.

I hear a lot of readers in Y1 and Y2, and it's the ones who aren't starting to have some fluency at the end of Y1 that you need to start to worry about.

And I've known dyslexic children not 'get it' until some focused help in Y4, and go on to do vv well at SATS.

So don't panic.

He is reading! Calm down, you’ll be amazed at what he’s doing by the end of the year & in another year or so. This sounds like normal progression to me (ks1 teacher).

DC4 can read fluently and flashcards were a huge part of that. Look up the philosophy behind word recognition in books like Peter and Jane. The idea is that a huge percentage of what we read are made of the same few words (and, the, it, is, but, etc). Learning to recognise them speeds up reading immensely and boosts their confidence.

They still can use phonics to sound out new words but recognising some core words really helps.

We used these ones:

First Words Flashcards: Ideal for home learning (Collins Easy Learning Preschool) amzn.eu/d/6gDMtFv

The trick is to make them see what a wonderful super power being able to read is!
Join a library and make a trip there a treat.
Read to him every day and re-read his favourites over and over. Talk about the words, the illustrations, the author etc so he learns the conventions of a book. If you can afford a trip to a beautiful book shop, that's great
Above all, open up the wonderful universe of books, always make it fun, praise prolifically and never make it look like hard work.

He's doing exactly what he should be doing at this point.

I think you're overblowing this quite a lot. He's four years old. He will learn to read at school with someone qualified in phonics to teach him. Just concentrate on daily reading to him – 10 minutes is enough – and then follow whatever phonics support the school gives you.

He'll be absorbing more than you realise. Just read a picture book eg The Gruffalo. Do the silly voices. Make it loads of fun. As he gets to know the story, start to run your finger under the line as he reads.

A book at bedtime is plenty. If you both enjoy it, more is fine.

But honestly, IME a child who is heard reading regularly at home will almost always nail reading by the end of Y1 - by which I mean, they will be reading two syllable words, sounding out more complex words readily ('It was a gi-nor.... girnormous pumpkin!') and moving steadily through whatever reading scheme the school has.

The exceptions will be DC with issues like dyslexia. It doesn't sound as if you have this issue so just keep it fun and light for now.

Please relax OP. He isn't struggling, he is learning at (the top end of) a completely normal pace if he can segment and blend already. He has only been doing it a few weeks! He doesn't need to be sped along at this stage. Just have fun, let him read words in the books that you're reading together, point out words on road signs etc. One thing when one of my kids got a bit behind in phonics, we looked at what phonics sounds she was learning (eg 'oa' in boat, goat, toad, foal etc) and I'd draw pictures on one sides and the words on the other for her to match (by drawing lines from the words to the picture). Sometimes with a couple of letters missing when she was more confident. It helped when there were specific digraphs and trigraphs she was struggling with and she loved it for some reason

Remember in some other countries they dont atart formal schooling til 6 or 7

That's a perfectly age appropriate level of reading. Just make sure that after he's (laboriously!) spelled out a sentence, that he goes back and says it again, ideally with a bit of feeling. Eg "ch-i-p w-a-s s-a-d. Chip was sad!"

Reading at home should be all about fun. Please don’t worry about flashcards or phonics, certainly not yet. One thing my mum used to do, which had us all rolling around in hysterics, was change each word in a story that began with an ‘s’, into the word ‘sausages’. So, ‘the boy ran along the street’ became ‘the boy ran along the sausages’! We all became desperate to have a go at reading aloud, and change the words into other silly words ourselves, and things just rolled on from there.

Thanks everyone, just trying ti help him along, I know he's doing pretty well actually. But I think the flash cards could be fun. He really likes doing the phonics flash cards and doing a few with those very common words we always use, may be fun.

I'm 100 percent not pushing. I just want to be involved and support as much as I can from home. We just read a book and then tried to read another and he didn't want to and then I just leave it. I was also asking him to recognise the words in the book and he said ' mum just read it ! ' so I did. I am very cautious not to push too much and take the fun out of it.

My advice from experience would be take the pressure off. Make sure it's fun. If he doesn't want to do it, don't push it.

It will come. He's only been in reception 2-3 months.

My son didn't like it, but now in year 4 he's the best in his class.

Hi, he’s doing well for reception.

I have one that really struggled with reading and was still on reading bands in year 4 and another one that was one of those early readers smashing through all the levels.

One thing that is really important isn’t just reading but comprehension. It sounds like your son is enjoying the story and looking at the pictures because he’s taking in what’s actually being read to him. This is a really important skill.

Let him enjoy being read to, seeing the pictures, going to the library, reading signs, making shopping lists etc. This is all reading and it’s all going in.

Flash cards are great if he enjoys them. Otherwise I’d make labels for some things around the house with simple words like ‘pens’, ‘toys’, ‘books’ etc. I did this for mine and it really helped.

They all go at their own pace and all have different strengths. He’ll be absolutely fine x

Just read to him. Lots. It's easy to put them off at this stage. And let him see you reading. More importantly, let him see his dad and other men in his life read-a lot of boys are put off reading early because they see it as something girls/women do.

I read in school as a volunteer and there's a significant proportion of year 2 children who are at that stage - please don't worry just keep reading the school books regularly with him. Little and often will improve fluency naturally.

Also read to him regularly and ask him to follow the words along to model fluency.