Reading and Year 1

[WinkyWinkola]

By the end of Reception, do you think most kids would be able to read words like 'the', 'is', 'at', 'but' with no problem?

What level is expected by the end of Reception, please?

there are 100 words that most are expected to be able to read by end of reception, including the ones you list above

however, many can't - sometimes it clicks a bit later so i wouldn't worry too much until end of Y1.

Depends on how they have been taught. Personally, I'd expect them to be able to read 'is', 'at', 'but' and many more simple words that use the most basic phonic code. 'The' is a little more difficult but it comes with time (or should I say, more reading).

I'd be concerned that 1) your child isn't being taught very well or 2) is having a little difficulty. Either way some reinforcement from you would help. I would get some materials to work eith your child to make sure they know the basic letter - sound correspondences and also practise blending to read. The new ORT Floppy Phonics books are quite good

www.familylearning.org.uk lists the 45 reception high frequency words and you can print them. lots of ideas for games too.

It varies dramatically, but yes, reception children should be able to read basic sight words such as those you describe. As amidaiwish says, it would be a good idea to have a look at the 100 key words printed. I am sure the school should be able to supply this. And it really does vary on teaching methods - Letterland phonics is a good scheme to use at home. My children loved using them. I started using them at an early age and now my son, just gone into year one, is reading chapter books. But don't worry, I teach and some children just find it clicks and then they catch up so quickly. But I do believe that the more support and time you give at home, the better they will do. Not easy I know! Good luck [smile[

WinkyWinkola, can you give us some idea of what prompted your question. For some children, what is said by previous posters will be WRONG! It is not unreasonable for a child not to be able to read at the end of Reception. It is, however, inconvenient for the school and may cause them to create problems for the child.

I have electively home educated (EHE) my DC. One started to read between 2 and 3yo and was independent by about 6. Phonics did not work for her at all. She is now preparing for university to read law and thinks that she probably still cannot 'do' phonics. DS did not start to read until about 8yo and was independent within a year. Other home educators report the "normal" (untutored) range of ages for starting independent reading to be between 2 and 12.

I know of one EHE girl who was withdrawn from school aged 8 with a diagnosis of sever dyslexia and a prediction that she would never read. She did not start to read until about 14 but now reads voraciously, has done Open University courses and is at college.

I was out for dinner with a friend. Her dd has just started Year 1. My friend thought she should review some words with her before school started and was shocked to find her struggling to read the words I've mentioned. Her dd had to be really pushed.

I didn't know if this was ok or not - as all kids are different - but what I didn't think was ok that my friend was shocked by her dd's reading. Surely the school should have communicated what they expect from the kids at this level or if there is a problem with my friend's dd's ability to read.

I didn't really know what to say or what is expected of the kids at her dd's school.

My friend is clearly very worried and is now considering private school. I just listened.

Surely it will vary wildly from child to child, if only because of the age range in the class? ds1 has just started in p1 (reception equivalent) in Scotland and after a month he's able to sound out quite a few words from his blending lists and is starting to read a few words he sees when we're out (I hadn't done any practice with him at home beyond letters as they came up in conversation, and I don't think he'd done much more than that at nursery either). However, he's nearly 5 and his cohort are mostly older than him because of the way the cut-off works here, but in England, lots of children will be almost a year younger than him at this stage, so I wouldn't expect them to be doing anything like as much as this.

One other thing that I would say is that the words you give as examples 'the' 'is' 'at' etc are all very abstract - I do think it's easier with more concrete terms like 'cat' or 'see'. DS1 reads words like 'is' and then says 'but what's an 'is' mummy?'. Even though he uses it all the time, he doesn't really separate it out as a 'word' iyswim.

Winky, how did your friend not notice that there was a problem for a whole year?

Well, I think she didn't really know what to think or to expect. She just had this possibly unfounded expectation/assumption in her head that her almost 6 year old dd would be able to read some words by now without any problem.

She reckons that hardly any of the kids in her dd's Year 1 class can read much, if at all.

She's going to find out more from the school teachers - who she feels doesn't communicate with parents very well but then given they have classes of 32 kids, she understands why that might be tricky.

I'm just surprised that the parents aren't asked to practise reading/writing with the children at home.

Varies hugely - there are some children in DD's year 1 class who are reading one step up from the picture books whilst others are reading Harry Potter.

Very unusual for the parents to have not been asked to read every day with their child by the end of reception.

So it sounds like they are behind where most other kids are and that they are not doing daily reading....

However if the school is the problem it does not mean you need to go private. There are excellent state schools out there.