AAARRRGGGHHH! (Frustrated Emoticon like banging head on brick wall!)

[Rhubarb]

dd started her new school this term and I know she is behind with her reading as they do this later in France. She came home with the Biff and Chip books, ones with a green sticker on. We've been listening to her read one every evening and she is getting extra tuition at school, she moved up to the grey sticker ones at one stage but is now back to the green again.

This evening she brought back the very same book she first had from school, so I expected her to sail through it! But no, she struggled to read simple words like 'was' and 'could' and when she did eventually read them, she forgot again a sentence later when they repeated those words!

I just don't see that she is progressing at all. She can read a word over and over but the next day she'll struggle with it. It's as if she isn't listening or concentrating, yet it appears that she is trying.

So what are we doing wrong? I'm not one for pushing children at all, they will learn in their own good time, but I did think that with all this practice she'd be a little better at it by now!

Yr 2 btw. July child so a bit younger that others in her class but not too bad.

AND her writing is atrocious! She can still get her letters the wrong way round and she is not at all neat!

Is there any hope for her?

Cheers mate! I don't know what books the other kids are on and I don't want to know as that might put pressure on her and me. I just want to know how I can help her as she is obviously trying very hard but getting nowhere fast!

Went to a meeting at my DS's school about HOW they learn to read - it was interesting. One thing that stuck in my mind is that it takes at least 30 TIMES for a word to be properly learned (learnt?? looks wrong whatever!).

The teacher explained that someimes at the end of say Reception they will "know" 35 words but when they start Yr 1 they only "know" about 20 - because some were never properly absorbed in the first place and they forget them.

So - frustrating as it is - just keep at it! DS's teacher says that the most important thing is that they enjoy it.

You're right. I just feel under a bit of pressure as I never have the time to give her my complete and undivided attention. Ds comes back from nursery tired and he will not leave us alone to read, I'm also tired and so is dd after a long day at school. She is having one or two problems with friends not being very nice to her and it's all just a bit much. I might have a word with her teacher and tell her that we are finding it difficult. Reading should be enjoyed as you say, but each evening we are finding it a chore and those books are just so bloody boring! She's used to Roald Dahl ffs! Not 'Biff and Chip do a play'. Booooring! Even I lose attention after the first page!

I'll voice my concerns tomorrow to her teacher. It is important to me that she enjoys reading and she can't if the books do not grab her imagination. Most of her comments after reading them are "bit boring" one was even "rubbish"!

I think she needs a break - we all do! These past months have been hard and she is being given too much to do after school.

I never got homework at that age!

Forget this High frequency word and sight learning of words.

If you really want to help get hold of the Jolly Phonics DVD, finger phonics books and the phonics handbook and teach her proper phonics - it is the basis of complete and proper reading of English and essential to learn first. You can do it very fast paced - 6 sounds a week, then 'extended code'.

Do NOT let her guess any words from pictures or inital letter - it makes things worse in the long run.

You may feel you cannot do this but it can be done - my dd learnt it in one term and my ds (then 3) also learnt all the basic sounds from just watching the DVD and looking at the books dd had.

Words like 'was', 'could' and 'there' are not simple unless you know the 'code' - stick to simple CVC (consonant - vowel - consonant)words like cat (c-a-t) to start with.

There are some great resources and helpful hints here

Good luck

Ta very muchly!

I dunno, I never had any of this new technology yet I learnt to read good enough! She does guess at words but isn't that what they all do? I don't know how old I was when I learnt, but I think they all catch up in time so I'm just going to lay off for now I think. Too much for someone so young.

If she is Y2, she is not too young, in fact according to recent research children learn best at 5 - 6, which is why the recent report into reading said phonics should start by age 5 at the latest.

Anyway, it is fun, not work. I have the Cd and play it in the car on the way to school - and usually end up singin it all day at work too! the DVD is great fun with characters the kids love and really relate to - my ds is as stubborn as they come adn will do nothing he does not want to, but they both actually ask for their 'inky' DVD.

A lot of kids may guess, but that is now discredited and anyway it is not really going to help them when there are no pictures to look at.

Get the DVD and see how she gets on, I bet she will be loving it! For sale cheap at WHSmith here

Oh, and they don't all 'catch up in the end' some 20% of children leave school unable to read!

Cheers, I'll have a look at that.

I don't think she is going to leave school unable to read! I wouldn't go that far! She gets encouragement and praise but I do feel they are pushed too much. I never got any homework at that age yet it didn't impair my learning abilities at all! Research shows that homework doesn't help them much anyway.

Californ.... do not worry - the german language is much more phonically regualr than English so takes much less time and effort to learn.

But don't let me stop you on the chocolate and caffiene, and please have some for me - trying to lose 1 stone of excess baby weight (ds is 4!!!)

Rhubarb - you know your daughter and how bright she is - perhaps stepping away from expecting her to read will allow her the time to adjust to her new surroundings and language and also help her not to feel as though there is any whiff of failure in the air... they cannot fail at this age... it doesn't matter in the long run, how quickly she was reading - just that she ends up with an enjoyment of reading

I've had a word with her teacher and said that we are not going to force homework on her. She speaks fluent French and learnt the French alphabet so no wonder she is confused now! Plus she finds the children here very confusing, all the little hierarchies and groups and so on, she's not used to it and I think she is feeling exhausted by it all. I don't agree with homework at this age and so I will continue doing what we have always done which is to praise and encourage her.

How can you STOP them guessing from first letter and context? Ds does it all the time, no matter how many times I tell him to sound the word out. He does know all the JP stuff, but uses it more for spellings than reading.

Good for you Rhubarb - you know her best after all and she is adjusting to lots of new stuff.

Maybe getting her some phonics books and doing stuff wiht her at home that neither of you thinks of as homework may help. There are some Dora phonics books available.

What I am finding frustrating/confusing about the whole reading thing is the mixed messages. DS has a great teacher - she is the best in the school - so I have no doubts there. However she is advocating a mixed learing process - which makes sense to me. But then I read about people saying phonics is the only way to go. But some words just are NOT phonetical. WE have the Jolly Phonics DVD - may get it out again and see how we go.

BudaBeast - ALL words are 'phonetical' if you know the entire code. Its just that most of don't, so we learn the various 'exceptions' as just that.

There is lots of confusion over 'mixed methods' - it is fine for comprehension of the word once you have 'read' it i.e. translated the letters into sounds and made the word.
Context etc is great for comprehension - eg my dd read 'immigration control' when we went away recently. She could 'decode' the words but had no idea what they actually meant. That is where the additional strategies come in, to understand the meaning.

HTH

Don't know if it helps, but I struggled with peter and jane books when I was 7 and remember being sooo embarrassed at school.

Then something just clicked and by 9 I was reading Little women.

I hope my dd1 will be the same.....(please, please, I'm sick of kipper....)

Just a thought (and I might try it too), how about 'learning' a word from one of the school reading books, then playing 'spot that word' in another book, eg Roald Dahl. Might help it to stick, and at least you're not stuck with f*ing kipper 'till they get it!!

Good idea Dreamy!