4 year old’s reading ability

[SalA123]

Hi, I need a little guidance from experienced mums please. My DS, who is 4 yrs old, started reception in September. He confidently knows all of the phonic sounds since before the start of school and is learning to blend. He can read some cvc words ie cat, bat, rat, pin, bin etc and knows some sight words. My problem is we are 3 weeks into the second term and he is still only being given wordless books. His teacher has said his comprehension is good but his blending skills are not up to speed. I’m confused by this, how is he going to learn how to blend if he is not been given books with words. We have read Ort level 1+ books at home and he blended the sounds to make the words. Should I push for the teacher to start giving him word books? I feel he is not being pushed by the teacher and is therefore not progressing as well as other children.

@CruCru

In Reception, I bought these books and got my children to read through them at home (as well as the school books). Even if your child is only getting wordless books from school, there isn’t any rule against you reading with him at home.

I also got these, DD is 4. She loves school-issued reading books but wanted more than one per week, so we got these and she loves them.

Mine is 5 in Year 1 and just about starting to properly read. She didn't even talk properly in Nursery and had to have speech therapy

Look, I hate that they start so young..... your child will happily say they can spell "cat" for 1.5years 🤦🏻‍♀️ I started learning at 6 and was reading and writing in 3 months

I would ask:

• What should you be focusing on in the wordless books
• What does he need to demonstrate to move up

Yes the teacher knows what she is doing but your DC may not be demonstrating what they know at school. Alternatively they aren't doing something quite yet and you can work on that specifically.

DD hated the wordless books! (An issue in itself about her need for a 'right' answer). She moved on to ones with words very quickly and moved steadily through the bands.

We did supplement with the library and books we bought (mainly due to the lockdown) but it's a lot easier to have ones from school as the main basis.

DS is also 4 and in reception. His reading is the same, cat, mat, Pam sat in the cot etc. He brings home books with such words and sentences in them. How on earth can they learn to read without words in the book?!

Our child finds the school reading books boring as they are so simple so he doesn't want to engage with them. We encourage him to read them anyway so he keeps up with school, but also let him stretch himself at his own pace with the books he has at home. Libary membership and charity shops are great for new material.

Forced early reading is damaging to children. Six is a better time to start learning to read.

Forced early reading is damaging to children.

Teaching isn't forcing.

@MyDcAreMarvel

Forced early reading is damaging to children. Six is a better time to start learning to read.

They’re all different though aren’t they? DS could read at 3. We never ‘taught’ him, he just picked it up - he has an excellent memory and was fluent when he started school.

DD is 4, loves her phonics at school and asks at least once a day if we’ll listen to her read. Why would it be better to start at 6? Loads of kids find themselves interested in it sooner 🤷‍♀️

@Winchestercollege

Forced early reading is damaging to children.

Teaching isn't forcing.

The schooling we are familiar why "forces" children to be at the same level and speed of learning. Yes, some kids start reading at 3 but others are "dragged through the stones" trying to keep up and learn how to read ahead of their natural time

@lostteaspoon though I get your idea (and I see the same enthusiasm with my second), I do think there is so much more the school could be doing instead of insisting on reading. How about learning about gardening? And the name of trees and flowers? And learning about the world and the planets? And, wow! Do I need to go on? Playing music? Just playing?

Oh please don't advise unless you are up to date.

Phonics teaching has changed. Fidelity and consistency key. (OP's school don't seem to be doing the right thing either....)

The new framework is here.

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachmentdata/file/1050849/ReadinggframeworkTeachinggthefoundationssofliteracyy-Julyy2021Jann22_update.pdf

Lizzy

Thanks for the link. I'm a phonics teacher. Is there something specific on the thread that you feel is out of date?

@LizzyPL it seems to me at least most people on this thread are elbows deep in the how schools are teaching phonics and seeing how it is affecting our children.

I said earlier, my daughter spent 1.5years spelling C-A-T and struggling with everything else. Yes, I'm going to use her as an example because she is an bright child, with no medical issues and a very educated family. I always wondered how much other kids maybe be getting frustrated and really struggled when they have less support at home than my daughter does

My DD (16) was slow learning to read and had some additional tutoring when she was 6/7. We also listened to alot of audio books and read to her at home. I thought she might be dyslexic as it runs in DH's family (DH isn't, but other family members are).

Everything suddenly clicked around 7. Now she's in advanced classes at school (we're in the US) and consistently scores in the high 90's in English exams.

DS (13) picked up reading much faster, no tutoring required, but it hasn't made any difference long-term. So don't panic. Keep reading to him at home and I'd really recommend audio books to develop a love of stories.

Lots! @Winchestercollege

The key is fidelity and no mixed messages.

Children should be taught through one validated programme at school. Books home should match.
Books home should be to practice sounds already taught.
Children should therefore read them easily.
There shouldn't be any other skills encouraged or taught with phonics. No 'look at the picture', no cues or context.

Phonics should be part of a 'love of reading' strategy. Books to be shared for enjoyment, interest, vocabulary development. Books read to the child by an adult.

I think it's fine to email the teacher and ask (carefully worded and politely of course) how they can improve blending without books with words.

I'm a teacher (although secondary) and have a child in reception who brought wordless home for the whole of term 1, and I said to myself if he doesn't bring word books home after Christmas then raise it. He brought them home as soon as term 2 started.

Teachers don't mind polite parents who ask questions, in fact we like engaged parents! There's no harm asking.

Those picture- only books really help with the other side of reading. So it's great that he's doing that. It encourages him to think about what's going on in the book rather than sounding- out words. I do wish they sent books home with a few pages of pictures only to talk about and explore the meaning of the story etc and then a few pages of those (pretty boring) sentences with cvc words to sound out. They do seem to be one or the other. But like others have said, teachers know what they're doing. It wouldn't hurt to discuss it with them though, they shouldn't be offended or annoyed by you asking about it.

@thecatsinthecradle

😬 calm down. The teacher knows best. They are a professional who will have spent at least 4 years studying for this. Your kid is 4... catch a grip.

You can train to teach in 9 months (providing that you already have a degree in something else), and if your year of study doesn't include a placement in Reception, it's entirely possible that a newly qualified teacher might not have much, if any experience in this area at all. I'm not saying this is the case, just saying not all teachers have 4 years of training (myself included!)

Op if your child is reading CVC words I'd expect books to be sent home to reflect this. If this isn't the school's policy I wouldn't worry, but it can't hurt to buy some CVC books for home.

My DS was unable to blend properly until he was 6 or 7.Then one day it suddenly clicked.
He’s at university now, having done very well in all his school exams.
Many other countries wait until children are older before starting formal education, for good reason.
Your son is 4. I’m sure he’ll be fine. 🙂

@MyDcAreMarvel

By 6 my eldest was loving books such as the treehouses and Wimpy Kid. The world of imagination, being lost in a book - he loved it. My youngest is in reception and starting to read sentences. He is so proud of himself and loves being able to read. It would have been really holding both of them back to only start reading at 6!

Lizzy

Thank you - always something more to learn and there seems to have been so much debate recently. This is reassuring. I haven't seen anything here really coming up against that though - just parents who want to get involved. But thank you for the link.

God if they're anything like the wordless books my son had they're the most tedious things in the whole world. I'd been reading him fantastic picture books since he was a baby so they were literally pointless. I loathe those books, their only use IMO is if a child has never seen a book before in their life.

My ds lost interest in reading because the school books were so dull and became really reluctant to read, I ended up making books myself and really pushing him so he became a free reader asap (Yr3) and introduced him to loads of great chapter books, took him to the library every week and he's still an obsessed reader now at 16. I read to him every day (and still do) and 'forced' him to read every day to me and it's been fantastic for him - and was important to get him past those boring early books.

I'd buy another set of books if you can afford it or go to the library and find some suitable ones or make some yourself. Just make sure they are at his standard, there's nothing worse for a child that them trying to wade through a book that is too long with too many words they have to decode so they lose the thread, you can take turns to read pages though. The other thing you could do is matching games with pictures and words, get him to sound out the word and find the picture that matches.

@Winchestercollege

Lizzy

Thank you - always something more to learn and there seems to have been so much debate recently. This is reassuring. I haven't seen anything here really coming up against that though - just parents who want to get involved. But thank you for the link.

I think parents are in danger of giving to many mixed messages in their eagerness to support.

The various schemes suggested above are not all up to date. Parents choosing other than what the school uses is also a danger in confusing the child.

Don't stress about it.
Let the teacher do her job in class.
Read with your DS at home.
Doesn't really matter if you're doing things slightly differently at home, your child won't get confused because they're reading story books or not quite the same phonics scheme as they are at school.

For God sake your child is 4!! Im sure the teachers know what they are doing!