DD (4) is totally obsessed with reading or learning to read....advice

[simpson]

Hi

Not sure if this is the right place to post so apologies

DD (4) is due to start reception in sept and does come home with reading books from nursery (jolly phonics books which have one word to decode and then you lift the flap to see the picture iyswim).

Anyway she finds these books really easy (although is happy to read them). I have got some reading books from the library which she loves and seems to be reading them pretty well by herself (to me) tbh. The book she read tonight is a yellow stage 3 book (but not ORT - its by an author called Jillian Powell).

Her nursery school (attached to the school she will start in sept) have said she is gifted in reading and comprehension. Although its not a very academic school if that makes sense. IMO her reading is very good but not exceptional but her ability to pick new things up is very quick and she taught herself a lot of the phonic sounds.

My question is what do I do now?? Keep doing what I am doing?? Although am running out of books as some days she will read 5 (and once she has read them a few times she knows them off by heart) or do I speak to the nursery to see if they can give her proper books with a vague/basic story line in them iyswim??

We have exhausted the oxford owl website too as she is not yet ready for the next stage of books.

I have not had a DC so obsessed with wanting to read, it kind of over whelms me (although I know its a good thing!!)

Amazon market place do good offers on oxford reading tree book sets - so you can get all of them from stage 1 to stage 6. We like the ones by Julia Donaldson :) Also Reading Eggs is quite an engaging web site.

I would recomend the Usborne Phonic Readers. There's 10 in the series: "Frog on a log", "Big pig on a dig", etc. Dd loved them.

Thanks for the suggestions. My mother bought her a ORT set by julia Donaldson from amazon (top cat etc) which she loves.

Richmal - we got those books from the library!!!

Will check out reading eggs. She loves alphablocks on tv too.

Don't forget the Dr Seuss books- there will be loads in your local library! She can work her way up from Hop on Pop through Green eggs and ham, the Cat in the hat and onwards.... They are funny, colourful and great for early readers.

Oh I forgot about about Dr Seuss, I think she will love those

If she likes alphablocks have you looked at this range?

www.pearsonschoolsandfecolleges.co.uk/Primary/Literacy/AllLiteracyresources/PhonicsBug/ISBN/PhonicsBugPhase3SingleTitles%28Print%29/ZapPhase3%28Fiction%29.aspx

Take her to the library and let her choose the books she wants to read. I was like this and the books you will get from school, sadly, will be nowhere even close to adequate. They aren't adequate for an average reader, IMHO, never mind a quick and interested one!

And although you say she isn't ready for the next stage, the next stage won't hurt her because she is such a motivated reader she is not likely to be put off by a few words she can't read

Colditz - that is very true re the next stage. She does choose her own books at the library and they have a fab range of books that although are NOT school type books are colour coded to fit in with school reading schemes iyswim so it's much easier for me to tell what level they are.

Today she has read all 4 of her school books and her word boxes and her tricky words and STILL wanted to do more!!!

Wiggly - will check out that link thanks. She LOVES alphablocks and we got the characters in little disk shapes free in a magazine which was how she learnt her vowels (for magic e). She plays with them all the time (making up words etc) as sadly her writing is not as good as her reading and she has zero interest in writing.

They are also sold on amazon.

Follow her passion and enjoy it for as long as it lasts.

At 4, my DD was like yours - she loved the challenge of learning to read and whilst I never pushed her, I always provided her with as many books as she needed.

By the end of her first term in reception she was put on Purple reading level, and could read the simple Enid Blyton books (I found Amelia Jayne particularly good for a four year old as the storyline is so nice, and appropriate for a 4 year old). She also liked the 'mrs wobble the waitress books' too.

Unfortunately once the challenge of learning to read went, so did her passion (there were other factors involved here too). Nowadays she'll devour a book when she's supposed to be doing something else (like tidying her bedroom) but she rarely sits down to read for pleasure anymore. I find it sad, because I love books... but she has a new passion - competitive gymnastics, which she spends every minute of the day doing and which she prefers because there's always a new challenge for her to master. I guess its more her.

So enjoy it whilst it lasts, and I hope it does last!

I don't really understand the problem? Just carry on letting her choose her own books and let her read? There are a million gazillion early readers books available at every library...

You don't need nursery - you just need to go to the library, which you already do. Most nurseries are not allowed to encourage reading because they are not qualified teachers, and the LA prefer that reading is taught by qualified teachers in schools, so nursery just concentrates on pre- reading skills.

Why does it matter what reading level the books at the library are? Let her look at them, flip through them, if she wants to take them out, let her. When I used to try to select appropriate level books for my preschoolers they would never read them - they wanted to pick their own, and always chose a goodly mish mash of levels.

Levels is school nonsense. If she sees a book with fabulous pictures and two words on a page, and another one with a beautiful cat front cover and loads of text, let her get them both. Surely she is just picking up the books you have at home, anyway? I knew I had to go to the library more often when they started reading my masters level texts over my shoulder whilst I was working on essays!

Readers will read whatever is around, so just let her choose what she wants. Early reading isn't any sort of problem. It's all good.

Just teach her what she wants to know- that's part of our job isn't it? I think that sounding out words (thank god) if the method they favour these days.

She does have a qualified teacher at her nursery (the same one who will go to reception with her).

I guess the problem is that she reads books sooooo quickly that the library does not have that many basic reading books for a child learning to read and there may come a point that there is nothing much there for her (it's only a tiny library with pretty old books).

I just thought the nursery teacher could give me some books (not bothered about them being "school" ones iyswim).

But tbh I had not thought about getting out baby type books (ie spot the dog etc) so we can do that too.

She has been totally into reading since about sept and loves doing it (long may it last).

I guess the other thing is my son is in the same school (yr2) and has not had the correct reading books (or went weeks without one) so don't want the same thing to happen, but guess I should chill really!!!

Not had a child reading before school before and the school taught DS with little help from me (apart from reading his school books in the eves) so I guess this is new to me iyswim.

But if she's read all the early readers, why not just move on to the next shelf? Dn't forget that the library can order stuff in as well - but tbh just let her roam about and choose.

I'm appallingly lax about these things! But I think you'd be surprised about what she can cope with - if she's finished the early readers she can just get on with it, really....

I wouldn't stress about the reading before school thing - it's all fine. And if she's doing it, there's no need to 'teach' her, iykwim? Just let her get on with it and pick up what she wants...

Library have ordered quite a bit in for me and I have 4 books to pick up next week.

I guess I am worried about pushing her too much and if she does have a book that is too hard she will give up (she has done this a few times) but I guess it's a question of just going back to the library and getting another instead!!!

Oh yes, it doesn't matter a jot - and if she doesn't fancy the books she's chosen when she gets home, no worries. You can just take them back next time and she can choose some different ones. I'm not sure why you feel you are pushing her though? If she's choosing her own books and choosing when she wants to read them, there's no pushing at all? It's all her choice?

She is the only child in the nursery class who is reading (out of 35) and although I don't think it's unusual it does seem to be for the school DD is at iyswim.

I have had a couple of comments from the other mums when they came to lunch once (with their DC) about how much work I must be doing with her etc etc ( totally NOT true - but they did not say it in a nice way iyswim).

Her nursery teacher also gave DD (back at Xmas time) some extension work which she still gets from time to time and one of my friends asked me what it was (I was holding it) and I was a bit shocked to be asked so just told her it was some reading work for DD and she went storming to the teacher saying her DD was being discriminated against for not getting the same work ((sigh))

So I guess she is at a school where reading at her age is unusual and I guess my friends there don't understand she does it because she wants to iyswim, so maybe their comments rub off on me a bit!!

I think you need to get away from this idea that everything has to be exactly right all the time.

She loves to read, she tries different things, sometimes she finds something too difficult or doesn't enjoy it so she moves onto something else- absolutely no harm done.

Most older avid readers read like this, moving from one thing to another to find what they really enjoy.

Cory - you are right I guess I don't want to get a book that is too hard for her and it will put her off reading altogether but that has not happened yet , so I need to chill out about it really.

I love listening to her read and reading to her so should just keep doing what I am doing I guess.

Yy, that's why I've never bothered to discuss reading with nurseries, totally pointless. Just let her do her own thing at home.

We had a bit of peer-parental angst in yr r, and I got a wee bit stalked by one over enthusiastic mum when it came to light what dd was reading. (she was über competitive and had assumed her Ds was 'the' gifted kid iykwim, it hadn't occurred to her that any other kids would be on par, let alone years ahead. So when she found out she was a bit of a pita and used to sidle up to me in the playground and ask me in hushed tones what dd was reading. Nutcase.)

And tbh, although I mentioned in passing to the school when the kids started that they could read, I knew that it would be ignored until they found out for themselves iykwim. I suppose because they had taught themselves to read quite competently, I wasn't too bothered about what school thought - it wasn't relevant? They assess them all in the first couple of months weeks of yr r though, and so they were Sussex pretty quickly. I don't honk either dd2's nursery or ds's nursery knew they could read - it wasn't something that concerned them!

School will cope fine though, especially if it's an all through primary. Infant schools can be problematic, but only because their free readers shelves tend to be more limited and might not last three years. A primary should have no problems, as the library will have loads of books. Infant schools do tend to just focus on reading schemes, with a selection of free readers. Otherwise the kids just take books in from home for reading, anyway.

I ignore the hot housing comments. I have no idea how my children learn anything as I am bone idle, but they just seem to magically know how to do stuff. V useful, as if it relied on me teaching them they still wouldn't know how to read! I get that crap from other parents with all three of them. I just laugh now, I'd love the time to sit down and do 'learning', but it's so far from my reality that it's hilarious.

Freaking autocorrect.
Sussex is clearly sussed.
Honk is think.

I have never encountered competitive mums before it shocked me a bit tbh!!!

DD does 10 mins reading a day with me and if I have time to do more then we do if not then we don't!!!

I have not really taught her phonics (as I don't know them!!!) she just seems to have picked it up herself.