Finding it hard to squeeze reading practice in for my reception child

[paepatto]

My DD is in reception. She's at after school club until almost 6 pm and we don't get home until 6- 6:30 pm, depending on the day. I used to just practice reading with at weekends, but she's started refusing it entirely pretty much.

I never really tried practicing during the week, but 6:30 seems so late.

Does anyone have any ideas / tricks advice on how to get her to enjoy practicing ? Ideally I would want her to practice reading every day, for 15 minutes or so. I'm sure it's doable, but she flat out refused at the weekend and also this evening..

We only do his official reading book at the weekend. We've started picking out some of the more baby books at bedtime so he can read some of it.

All the posters who didn't read with their child and it turned out fine - don't you think maybe you were lucky? There's good evidence for reading with children, not in a pressured way but for small amounts of time every day as a habit. If we hadn't read with my ds who we now know is dyslexic, I'm sure he wouldn't have the confidence in reading that he does now he's at secondary school.

I just didn't do it. We had bedtime stories but no formal reading practice, the world didn't end. Reception is a lot for them, they're tired, and that's without introducing wrap around care and clubs.

You need to prioritise reading over a club, surely? If there isn't time for both.

It's an important part of learning so I would prioritise it. Even if she's tired in the evening, 10 minutes really won't kill her.

Sorry - after school club, ignore me (apparently I need to prioritise my own reading)

Given your routine, during the week I would do 1–2 pages as part of the bedtime routine. Focus on quality rather than quantity of pages. What is happening in the pictures? What do you think is going on in the story? What might happen next? Could teddies listen to the story, too? Focus on the letters and their sounds. Lots of positive reinforcement.

DD5 reads her Phonics books at breakfast.

Don't do any at all and don't worry about it. You can do little bits when out and about, menus, shop signs etc. Or books/magazines that she is interested in.

But I think forcing her to read when she's miserable lessens the chance of her reading for pleasure or making her own discoveries in stories. I'd take the pressure off entirely.

Edited to add i specifically mean forcing her to read the plotless phonics practice books set as reading practice. We read every day and have done since DC were babies - but led by their interests, they choose books at the library etc.

We used to have to drive to school, so we would arrive 5 mins early after dropping his sister off at childminders and do a bit of reading then. He saw it as a bit of a treat as it was just me and him time without his little sister, and he was allowed to climb through to the front seat of the car to read ☺️

She's 5 years old.
They don't get to refuse.
No tv, technology and any treats until she does her homework.
Doing this for 5-7 minutes a day is much better than longer at the weekend.

She’s out of the house until 6pm every week day? That’s an awfully long day for a child of her age. Is there any flexibility in your work? Can you consider reducing your hours while she’s so small? I agree with others that the morning is often a better time for reading

I didn’t worry about reading practice too much in reception. Just read books of their choice to them every night, encouraging them to read odd words, and did some reading ‘practice’ at weekends. I didn’t want to make reading a chore.

I found that reading clicked into place in Y1 and they just gradually did more and more of it.

But doesn’t that turn reading into a chore instead of what it should be - fun and enjoyable?

This is absurd. Sure, just don't bother getting your child to practice reading; that's the way to encourage a love of reading. OP, the more competent she gets at reading, the more she will enjoy it. If she needs to be in the ASC 5 days a week, you and she will just need to push through a bit to make sure she gets the practice she needs.

With your timings I would do it in the car on the way to school, or home from school.

Honestly reading as many times a week as you can manage will make a massive difference to how they progress through phonics

We use to do it as bedtime story.

Some parents would bow out of parenting completely if they could.

I did 10 mins in the mornings in reception, now she’s year 2 she’s staying up a bit later and we have plenty of time in the evenings. But even just doing extra at weekends, like morning and evening each weekend day and leaving the week altogether would probably be enough.

Flash cards with words on. Select a handful and get her to read those, once she's got them ones perfect swap some for new ones.
My son went up 2 reading groups doing this

Ime , reading a bedtime story is soothing and
eventually worked
the love of storytelling and words , was for my kids , a way to
encourage a great lifelong long passion for books , it took the pressure off it being a chore for all ,

We used to do it in the mornings. DC1 is a hugely enthusiastic reader and basically just taught herself. DC2 is a) very reluctant and b) we were living in another country for reception and year 1 where they start reading much later and so she started year 2 with only a bit of phonic recognition.

By the end of year 2 she was in line with expectations. She's not in top group or anything but is keeping up and moving up groups and we just try and read with her 4 or 5 times a week and she will now read comics to herself etc. So to say- it doesn't matter if they start a bit late or you don't have enough time to do a solid 20 minutes - they will level out if there are no LDs. Just do what you can. They're totally knackered after asc and good for nothing. So much of primary school seems to assume you don't work and have lots of time after school for enriching activities, and I totally agree with you about outside time and exercise.

Schools in England are bonkers about going early because of the year 1 phonics check, which is much more about them than the child. The quick progress they make when starting later shows the current approach is not fit for their developmental level. We're massively bookish as parents but I don't believe in turning it into a pitched battle (see also piano practice...).

We got foam letters to use in the bath and play games where we make words at bathtime. Feels like good multi tasking!

We also like the Orchard games which are to do with letters and reading.

Really anything can be reading practice at that age. Car number plates, billboards, signs. I agree the school books are quite boring.

Always done it right after breakfast and before getting dressed. My kids have always been too tired to do it at the end of the day.

I wouldn't aim for a specific amount of time as it sets you up to fail. Aim to do as much as they enjoy to start with. Sometimes my reception kid does a page or two, sometimes wants to read the whole thing. Even if it's not a book you can sneak it in by writing a word they will defo recognise on a bit of paper and asking them to sound it out.

I'm a Teacher. 15 minutes is too long. 5 minutes of reading is sufficient. What type of books have you received - single words, books with short phrases or sentences?

Reading books for pleasure is just as important. Show your child your interest in books, read to her. Even her school reading book. You can take turns to read each page too.

I tried to repeatedly read with my middle child however he did point blank refuse. He has got additional needs though. Even home books, he'd throw them at you. He had no interest. He was behind until he got to Y5 and is now getting high marks in practice SATs.

Yes we teach it very early. That's a Government issue though. We follow the curriculum.