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Original poster

How do you teach a child to read?

108 replies

littlemissbossy · 22/11/2004 16:48

ok, this may be an obvious question, but how do you teach a child to read? my ds, aged 4, started reception in September and only knows a few letters of the alphabet but is expected to read (and I mean read the words himself!) at least two books a week (Oxford Reading Tree). When I spoke to the teacher about this at parents evening, she explained that they have no time to do individual reading in class so it must be done at home(which I understand) but I'm not a teacher ... and I'm not thick but I really don't know where to start and he's really struggling. So are there any mumsnet teachers who can give me some lessons on how to teach my son to read ... please??
TIA

OP posts:
sweetheart · 22/11/2004 16:52

My dd has been reading these books since starting in September.

We are teaching her to learn the books by heart but also to point to each word as she says it. This way she learns to recognise the words as she reads them.

We also brought the keyword from the yellow moon website and a magnetic board and she has learnt about half of the reception key words now.

Another good tool is her magnadoodle thing. She loves practising her writting on there and also elc do the Jolly Phonics books and videos which we have found a great help too.

HTH

jude2105 · 22/11/2004 16:53

My DS has just started reception. We get books sent home twice a week - but at the moment, we read them to him if they have words (if word repetition we point this out) or they have no words and the idea is that they have to discuss what is on the page - they do Oxford Reading Tree reading books at school.
He also has a "word tree" with 8 words on which he has to learn (including names of characters in Oxford Reading Tree stories), and once he's confident on those he gets the next tree and so on (so some have more trees than others - depending on how they get on - no pressure). Could use flashcards to reinforce basic words?
Are the school expecting him to be able to read it by himself?

zephyrcat · 22/11/2004 16:54

I'm quite surprised that they are expected to properly read 2 books a week and also that they dont do individual reading in class?!
My dd is just about 3 and I am currently teaching her tha alphabet using one of thsoe wooden boards whereyou turn the little blocks over and one side is a pic the other side the letter. I also try to teach her the letter sounds and show her how the sounds work together in short words like cat, bat, hat, mat etc etc. She seems to be picking it up quite quickly and I make a point of doing a little bit every day.

Branster · 22/11/2004 16:58

I am absolutely shocked by this!!! How can they possibly expect 4yrolds to read 2 books per week. Are they mad???
All this early education crap makes me sooooooo angry!!!

Also, why does a 5 yr old need to know how to write?

They are so young!

I come from a different country and I started primary school at 7 and started learning writing after 7.
As it happens I could reead since I was about 5-6 but only because it was something of interest to me as a little girl. other children of my age could do other things earlier than me. We were not expected to read &write until 7.

I have a really nice handwriting (so did 97% of my school colleagues), absolutely loved reading as a child and still do (so did the vast majority of my school colleagues again) and 99% of us went onto studying to at least degree level , with lots of us doing postgarduate studies as well. No, it was not a private school, we were just left to play when we were very young and not bombarded with early requirements. And never got second chances on exams, we just had to to well all the time if we wanted to get somewhere.

So all in all I am really worried for when my DD starts school here especially as I'm not quite sure what she's expected to know or do.

Sorry about the rant. I'm going now....

spacemonkey · 22/11/2004 16:59

I absolutely agree branster, it makes my blood boil. Little children are natural learning machines. If they see other people with books they will naturally want to read without any coercion in their own good time.

dogwalker · 22/11/2004 17:01

I think the idea LMB is that the child begins to recognise words as a whole rather than having to sound them out phonetically. You will probably see that there is a lot of repetition in the books. Why not find a list of high frequency words or get them from your ds's teacher, cut them up and blu-tac them around the house, ie on the fridge, kitchen door etc. This way he is seeing the words all the time and should be able to pick them up pretty quickly.

zephyrcat · 22/11/2004 17:03

Must say though - I teach dd the alphabet and little words etc so that she is comfortable when it comes to doing it at school and she isn't suddenly confronted with something she doesnt understand. Also I just started her at the local pre-school playgroup and the teacher there told me that these days in the first couple of years at school they dont teach them any reading or writing at all they just let them play!!?! I'm guessing from your experience they must just mean the school here?!

LIZS · 22/11/2004 17:19

Not a teacher but can share knowledge I've gleaned from a friend who is.

ORT is based upon a phonic system so you get a lot of repetition of words with the same sound in. The individual phonics are applied to each word to blend the sounds together and read the word. There are also "sight" words such as "the" and character names which are used so often that they should become second nature and "context" words which are specific to that story and less common.

Until your ds recognises the basic phonics it is going to be really hard for him to read those books. Presumably this is done at school ? You could use a scheme such as Jolly Phonics yourself to reinforce it, as at least it is structured for you - there are videos, books and flashcards etc.

At the very first stage the ORT books only have pictures so that you share the book by looking at the pictures and telling your own version of the story - this encourages looking for cues in pictures and text together. The next stage has very simple text with loads of repetition. It sounds as if your class may have missed this stage out in home reading but that it would suit your ds better. Could you have misunderstood the teacher and are expected to read the book for/with him whilst they cover the basics in class. Can you clarify what they are covering in their Literacy Hour so that whatever you choose to do fits in.

It seems utter nonsense to expect your ds to read 2 books a week which are evidently beyond him at the moment and I'm sure you are not the only parent in this position.

Good luck

Original poster
littlemissbossy · 22/11/2004 17:20

Thanks for your comments so far and I agree that he is supposed to recognise the word as a whole rather than by letter sounds IYSWIM, but with words like "everyone" and "eyebrows" it isn't easy for a 4 year old is it? his writing isn't great either, but he's left handed, so pen control is difficult. BTW zephrycat, they are most certainly not allowed to just play, although I was under that impression too... and don't get me even started on the homework he brought home at the weekend

OP posts:
LIZS · 22/11/2004 17:27

lmb,
what level ORT is that? Have you looked at the website which gives a rough guidelines as to the age appropriateness of each level as that sounds like something ds who is 6 would be reading, not a new reader. ORT Reading Ages

zephyrcat · 22/11/2004 17:30

homework????? at 4???????????

Original poster
littlemissbossy · 22/11/2004 17:35

Thanks lizs, I think you may be right! I'm going to check with his teacher tomorrow
and yes zephyrcat, history homework to be exact!!

OP posts:
spacemonkey · 22/11/2004 17:36

is this a standard state primary school or a private school LMB?

Original poster
littlemissbossy · 22/11/2004 17:38

our nearest state primary school

OP posts:
spacemonkey · 22/11/2004 17:39

wow, I am astounded that a 4 year old is given homework

aloha · 22/11/2004 17:43

How utterly depressing this all is. Talk about setting our kids up to feel like failures when they are still babies Feel immensely sad about it, to be entirely honest. It's SO premature. It's normal not to read at four, IMO. I could, but I don't expect ds to. Thank God he's a September baby and will be the oldest in his class.
Personally, I'd just read him the books and hope he keeps loving stories and so when he is able to read he isn't heartily sick of the whole idea of it.

spacemonkey · 22/11/2004 17:44

completely agree

cab · 22/11/2004 17:45

Littlemissbossy I'm not a teacher, but thought about it a year or so ago. Your question might be better put on the site 'Tes staffroom' (Google it and it should take you straight there). It's aimed at teachers but you can post too as long as you register (it's free) . Look under early years probably. Do a search on Jolly phonics there too which is useful - they reckon a phonics approach is a much better way to 'teach' than whole word recognition - but ORD is based on WWR I think so the two might not work well together.

Original poster
littlemissbossy · 22/11/2004 17:59

I think the homework situation has arisen because ds is in a mixed age class i.e. the reception class and year one in the same classroom (we live in a small village), therefore some of the work they do overlaps IYSWIM. As for his reading, I'm going to write in his reading record that as these books are too difficult for him, not to send them home just yet - it won't do his confidence any good - and to be perfectly honest I couldn't care less if he can't read yet, he enjoys looking at books with me so IMO that's good enough for now. Thanks for your comments anyway.

OP posts:
PuffTheMagicDragon · 22/11/2004 18:05

LMB - sorry, I've got to go and serve up tea, BUT had to post something!

Reading books at home (if not read by an adult and shared) MUST be appropriate for the child's level. This is soooo important when young children are learning to read - they need to feel success and be able to build on it.

The books are inappropriate and will do nothing for her confidence. A rule of thumb I used when sending reading books home was that only approx 10 - 15% of the text would be new or unknown.

Honestly though, at her age I'd have thought the focus would be on letter sounds and matching those sounds to the appropriate letter, perhaps sounding out some simple cvc (consonant/vowel/consonant) words eg cat and perhaps some basic sight vocabulary words eg look, said etc.

Make an appointment to see the teacher (I know its a hassle) to discuss this. Find out what she is doing in school - I can't believe that she is being asked to attack the level of text you are describing.

Jolly phonics is really good, but it doesn't sound as though they are using it in school - you need to know what's going on in there.

HTH

PuffTheMagicDragon · 22/11/2004 18:06

Sorry - its your ds and I'm saying she!

coppertop · 22/11/2004 18:20

It sounds as though ds is being given books that are way too advanced for him. My ds1 is 4yrs old and started Reception in September. His word recognition skills were pretty good even before he started and he is on Stage 1+. This has words in it like "we" "can" "see" etc.

He doesn't get homework at all. He gets a new book each which he can read at home if he wants to (and usually does). His teacher or a TA listens to him read once a week. Doing homework at 4yrs old is mad IMHO.

coppertop · 22/11/2004 18:22

That should be "he gets a new book each week".

singersgirl · 22/11/2004 22:05

When my son (now in Y2) started in Reception they first of all brought home books with no words in, just pictures, and they were supposed to tell the story to you and discuss the pictures. After a few weeks of this they progressed to very simple books with just 2 or 3 repetitive words/phrases per page eg "The socks", "The pants", "The trousers", "The jumper", "Now I'm dressed", with the idea being that you would focus on one sight word like "the" and on the initial sounds of the other words using picture cues - they weren't really 'reading' IYSWIM. This was done in conjunction with Jolly Phonics and whole word recognition at school.
When they seemed to know a few sight words like "a" and "the", they moved them on to books with a short sentence on each page eg "Jane likes books", "Jane likes dolls" etc.
Sounds like these books are frustrating for your son and you should chat to the teacher about it.
Good luck!

tortoiseshell · 22/11/2004 22:20

I've just started doing reading with ds, ONLY because he absolutely demanded that I did. He's starting school next September, and I had no plans to start before then. We learnt his letters a while back, and he has been able to recognise the letters of his name for a while. So we are just looking at words and learning them, then putting them in various sentences. e.g. 'Here' 'is' 'Daddy' then read 'Here is Daddy' 'Daddy is here' 'Is Daddy here?'. We're also using the Ladybird keywords books, which he has really taken to. But I must stress, I'm not pushing him at all - it is all led by him. And I think that is the key.