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Original poster

how well can your five year old read?

58 replies

Kelly1978 · 22/02/2006 16:42

I'm just wonderign as I think my dd may be quite far behind. She is recognising a few words now and spelling out words, but still can't read much at all. I missed the parents evening and so I'm still waiting to speak to the teacher.

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Original poster
Kelly1978 · 22/02/2006 17:15

or should that be genii?

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alliebaba · 22/02/2006 17:16

ds is five and in year 1. can read v well, but this has only happened over the last few weeks. it just seems to click. think the biggest part of the battle is keeping their interest in reading. he is very sticker motivated so that's how his teacher encouraged him. he will be 6 in april though so a little older. before this i couldn't get him to look at a book, so she probably knows more than she lets on

lazycow · 22/02/2006 17:24

Sorry - will now get on my high horse about this again - have posted on another similar thread somewhere.

Reading is a complex language skill and can't usually be learned (in any meaningful way) until a child is around 6 years old. Some childen will learn younger but for most normal children it sort of clicks at between 5-7 years old. please note - by reading I mean real reading not just recognising and remembering a few words.

If your 5 year old is having trouble with reading - continue to read to them but don't insist they do something they are physically not capable of as this may just put them off and make it more difficult to interest them when they are ready.

Once they are about 6 or so most of them will learn quite quickly. Obviously if your child is still having problems nearer age 7 then there may be a problem.

My sister who works with kids with learning difficulties and is a specialist in children and language says many (though of course not all) of the children she deals with would have been fine had they not been pushed to learn to read too earlly as they then believe they can't do it even when they can.

singersgirl · 22/02/2006 17:24

Honestly I think they all click at different times. Having listened to readers in both DSs classes for the last 3.5 years (one in Reception and one in Y3 now), the time when that happens varies a lot. And often children will go from hesitant sounding out to reading fluently almost overnight, or so it seems.

For a few it happens in Reception, but for most some time in Y1 or early Y2. I know it's hard not to worry (I practically do it professionally), but your DD sounds as if she's doing fine.

Original poster
Kelly1978 · 22/02/2006 17:25

I agree with you entirely lc that children are being pushed too early, it's just a worry that if they do start to lag behind will they ever catch up?

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LIZS · 22/02/2006 17:37

ds started to read at school aged 5 1/2 (we were living abroad). dd started at just 4 (in UK). 6 months later she is at the point he was within weeks of starting whereas he was pretty fluent after 6 months. At almost 8 he is reading at the same level as his UK peers. I am therefore unconvinced of the "advantages" of UK kids being introduced to it so early unless they are particularly enthusiastic so I don't think you should be overly concerned just yet.

katetee · 22/02/2006 17:44

We had training this week from a woman who promotes synthetic phonics as a method of teaching. She was really angry at the schools who still use the method of learning the 45 most commonly used words, (she referred to it as learning to recognise a word by its shape)rather than by its sounds.

alliebaba · 22/02/2006 18:07

jolly phonics are the best way to learn..

salsa · 22/02/2006 18:09

My ds is in a portuguese school. He is 5 in april and will only start to learn his first letters in sept when he is 5.5

I think England starts earlier than the rest of europe.

Steppy1 · 22/02/2006 18:15

I'm sure that I read an article recently in the national press stating that children in europe do not read until the age of 6, then very quickly take over Birtish children because of the method of teaching ie introducing them to books instead of making them learn...sure it was connected to the discussions relating to preschool children. DS is in reception and I too was worried about his ability to read or rather his worrying about "I can't learn the words mummy" but he seems to have settled in now and is picking up some basic words... still gets frustrated though that he doesn't know all the words on the page... sometimes not quite sure what to do for the best.......

muma3 · 22/02/2006 18:55

no worries kelly .
i have just caught up and saw your post about your duaghter being same level as mine . i didnt take it the wrong way .
if she is anything as clever as my dd2 then you have nothing to worry about .
on a serious note i dont think that in reception year they push them hard enough . dd2 really enjoys reading and i think she wants to progress but cant in this year at school . i think she has gone as far as they will let her at this stage and that i suppose is giving her time now to reflect on all she has learnt and to improve on her skills to recognise the words in different context and stories.
i reall wouldnt worry im sure she will be doing just fine and you never know the teacher may even say she is just a tad above others in her class.
they are all different and even if she couldnt read now i think that she is still young enough to catch up and be on a level that is suitable for her age soon .

hope i have worded this ok im in a rush -if not im sorry in advance

MamaG · 22/02/2006 19:12

When my DD started recep (just turned 5) she could only read very basic words - and they were "recognised" rather than read. When she started year 2 (and had obviusly just turned 6) her reading was at the level of a 10.3 year old! I agree that it just clicks with them - one minute it was cat, dog etc and within a few months it was at this level!

I have a mate with a DD born 5 weeks before mine and she would get her DD to read for hours on end, every single day. I just let mine read if she wanted to, and didn't push her. My mate's DD seemed to read much sooner than mine, but mine has now overtaken her (not that I'm counting )

Please don't worry, they all catch up with each other eventually.

Original poster
Kelly1978 · 22/02/2006 19:34

mama3 - thanks for not taking it the wrong way. I really wasn't thinking when I wrote that!

dd's prev school only memorized words. They had something called fishwords - a fish seperated into segments with common words printed on them. I think they moved onto different shapes as they progressed. I def prefer the jolly phonics approach, it seems to have inspired her far more.

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myturn · 22/02/2006 19:38

Dd4 turned 5 a few weeks ago. She recognises most letters but cannot read and really has no interest in doing so at the moment. I am happy to leave her until she is keen to start.

NannyL · 23/02/2006 08:58

My 5 1/4 year old amazed me when yesturday he was reading to me and he started using different voices and "expression" for the words in speech marks when the different charchters were talking....

I nearly fell off the chair, and he told me how his teacher had told him that was a good way to read...

In all honesty he really can read most words, even long words with lots of syllables. Quite often i find him reading stories to his 3 year old sister (SOOO sweet!)

Sparklemagic · 23/02/2006 09:09

I would definitely say not to worry or compare. I think as long as the teaching is being done, it will come to the child when they are ready so you can relax about it really!

I apparently read fluently by four years old, and I remember getting those reading tests at school and having a reading age of 18 at I think ten or eleven - it was just something I could do (hasten to add not sign of great intelligence, complete dunce at maths and I mean COMPLETE, think they had to invent a whole new set below the bottom set just for me........) So I guess what I mean is don't stress about it because it will come and just because they may be earlier or later readers does not necessarily reflect on how their actual schooling will pan out.

My DS is three and a half and despite me playing 'letters' with him on regular occasions, doesn't really recognise many, certainly less than many of his pre-school contemporaries, so maybe early reading doesn't run in families!

Original poster
Kelly1978 · 23/02/2006 09:12

sparklemagic, I was the same! I was off the scale from the age of 7. I am fairly bright, I have an IQ of 139, but I was just mad about books. I would spend fulld ays sitting reading enid blyton first editions that my mother collected.

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Sparklemagic · 23/02/2006 09:16

Kelly, I think you've hit the nail on the head, it's if you really love it that you sort of take off with it. I was a real bookwormy child, always always reading.

Have to say we even read the same stuff, Enid Blyton!!!! I loved her school stories and bizarrely seemed to cope with living in her world of jolly hockey sticks and then going to my own inner city school full of kids who would threaten eachother with knives during lunch....

Also loved Noel Streatfield and CS Lewis but that's a whole other thread!

Original poster
Kelly1978 · 23/02/2006 09:18

Yep same here, though I read most of her books. Also loved cslewis. I was temtped to start reading blyton to dd but it seems so un pc now, I'm not sure about it. We've started on Roald dahl instead. I'm hoping to instill that love of books into her.

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prettybird · 23/02/2006 09:22

My ds is 5.5 and can "read" qhite a few basic words. However, he has just "learnt" them - as far as I can make out, he still hasn't learnt to read per se. he can sound out all the letters, but has great difficulity blending them together, if it is a word he hasn't "learnt".

Dh and I are going to start doing Jolly Phonics with him it home.

He (is* getting there slowly though - last week, he could tell us that it was "our" bus becasue it said Meribel - not a word he had been taught!

It is frustrating though - you are conscious of not wanting to push them too much and put them off reading - yet you are given books home to get them to "read".

Bozza · 23/02/2006 09:42

Kelly I really understand where you are coming from. I think this about DS sometimes but he was only 5 on Monday and we went to parent's evening on Tuesday and apparently he's progressing well. He can work out most simple 3 letter words. I play with those foam letters in the bath with him and get him to spell words - not every night, maybe 3 times a week. But there is really no point in doing things like cat and dog and big because he can do them all no problem, so last night I had him doing things like swim and shed and chip and he was getting them OK.

fsmail · 23/02/2006 18:42

Hi Prettybird

My son is the same age at about the same level. I was an early ready but my DH was late and had problems. He has a much higher IQ than me and did better in all exams so I think blew out of steam early!

cat64 · 24/02/2006 00:12

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn

Original poster
Kelly1978 · 24/02/2006 18:31

made an appointment for next friday. Need to see her anyway, as we couldn't make it to parents evening. Thanks everyone, you've put my mind at rest anyway.

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fsmail · 24/02/2006 20:43

Kelly, My DS is doing a lunchtime session with a few of the other children in the class that he really enjoys and it helps their development. He has come on a lot since he was doing it although I was concerned at first about them being a bit pushy. They are just trying to teach the less advanced readers more confidence and they play snap with the words and write their own books and do I spy and they made jam sandwiches today from a recipe. I would strongly recommend getting help like this, once you get past the feeling of inadequacy. It's called a club and they use puppets but I have noticed the difference in his reading since it started after christmas. They call it ELC but a teacher may be able to tell you more.

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