Oh quick, Can't decide if this is a good buy or not!

[Bohica]

here

DD will be 4 in a week or 2 and really loves reading her books, she can pick out small words like in, on, it, dog etc.

Are these the books that she will be reading when she starts reception and are they really a bargin?

If you think she will enjoy them get them the characters are used in school books

Yes I remember DD1 reading them and the magic key, it won't do any harm in letting her have them before starting school will it?

All she does is read books and do puzzles. I have bought her a sylvanian family rainbow nursery and a family for her birthday so the books would be an extra spend but the website is saying it's a saving of £200 + so I really should buy them.

what about these instead

Not sure which ones to get now!

Having had 2 children learn to read with these books, I'd pull my fingernails out before I'd voluntarily have them in the house! ;)

Seriously though, if that's the reading scheme the school she's going to will be using, I'd be a bit wary of getting them beforehand-the way these books are used as a "reading tool" is completely different from how you'd read them as a straightforward story. My concern would be that she maybe wouldn't pay as much attention to them in school if she was overly familiar with the stories beforehand.
Sorry to be a wet blanket, as it's a seriously good price!

Oh bugger, the last link is out of stock.

The 2nd lot you've posted might be a better bet :)

Songbirds much better, we have that set and a ?different set of Biff and Kipper also from bookpeople - they make me wish I had a cyanide pill in my pocket frankly.

Songbirds are very phonics suited and not awful to read with them.

They sometimes have the Read Write Inc ones too - they are pleasant enough as well. But I would really skip the first set.

Ok I will admit to owning both sets

The ORT ones I bought for DS (now yr2) when he was in reception and my mother bought DD (now 4 in nursery) the song birds ones for her birthday last month.

IMO the songbirds ones are far better in that they are much easier to sound out the words.

The only thing is that DD will probably come home with a few of them once she starts reception.

Just checked my ORT ones and although they are "read at home" they are not the same set.

Mine has books like: Funny Fish, The Snowman, Mum's new Hat etc etc.

We have the same as you simpson Bloody dreadful aren't they

They are truly pants!!!

I don't know what I was thinking of, buying them!!!

IMO they have got the worst ORT books ie the ones that did not make the grade to go into schools and published them as a "read at home" set

Yes I do prefer the second set, I remeber trying not to fall asleep when DD1 was reading about the blasted magic key.

I will have a look on Ebay for the songbird ones.

Still a great price though!

DD read "Bob Bug" tonight for the first time and loved it

I'm now bidding on a set of Songbird ones on Ebay.

DD loves "reading" the cat in the hat books, she does make me laugh when she is telling her stories to her teddies "Can you see the purpley, hairy long nosed thing teddie?"

Thank you.

Bohica if I was going to spend £25 on some books (especially when it's a birthday), I would rather buy 3 or 4 really special books - a beautifully illustrated factual book for instance, an anthology of fairy tales, a Robert Sabuda pop-up... Books that will continue to develop her love of reading and that will become favourites you both want to look at time and time again.

The collections you're looking at are great for their purpose, which is teaching phonics/reading, but are unlikely to be books you'll want to re-read, and she'll soon be bored of them when she's past that level.

It depends on the school what scheme they have, and even if they have a scheme. Our school has stopped using one scheme, just this year. (It was Ruth Miskin's one). We have all sorts of books now so I have seen 'em all, and I have to say the Songbirds ones are my favs. If anything, I wouldn't get the scheme the school uses as she'll just be really bored of it all the time. I'm with MonarchoftheGarioch and get some really good story books.

I think it really does depend on what you want the books for re birthday pressies etc.

DD was desperate to have some books she could read herself (knows all the basic phonic sounds through nursery)as the nursery she is in (attached to her older brothers school) says that kids are too young and not ready for books while still in the nursery

But DS (now yr2) started school at 4yrs 3wks (the same age as DD is now) so the songbirds books are invaluable as our local library has very little nothing for a very basic reader.

If you want something that they will read again and again then songbirds are not the right choice. We have only had them 3wks and DD is on the fourth book and won't read the first two any more as she says they are too easy (they are not, she just knows them too well).

I find songbirds much better than the traditional kipper, biff etc, but it says it has been reworked to incorporate more phonics. Some of the 'easy' biff chip, kipper ones have loads of words which are not easily decodable, fine if learning by look and say, but when they are all learning by phonics it is frustrating.

The songbirds are harder to guess what the words say which is good as dd2 loves to guess. I like having them here as say this week she read her school readiing books but still wanted to read more. Also she wants to go up a level, she tried a harder book at home, but admitted it was a bit too hard, so I know not to say too much how easy her current books are.

If you think she will actually learn to read before reception, you will need more than 6 books per level, which is where the library comes in. She may well, like my dd, enjoy trying, but not really crack it until she gets the support of phonics sessions too.

DS, now in Y2 never had these Floppy books at school, we have them all in the library and he loved and still loves them. He would like more but there don't seem to be any many more Biff and Kipper stories at his level.

DD now 3.5 loves them too. Every time we go to the library I have to read her at least 10 of them. Unfortunately, I translate them into German as I don't speak English to her, so she won't pick out words with me.

My DC love them, others don't - have a look whether you can find some at your library and see.

We treat them as picture books though, read them and chat about them. I wouldn't get them for her if she will have them at school though, I assume she starts in September if she is almost 4 now. Won't she find it boring if she gets books she knows by heart already?

OP Go for the songbirds, they are decodable; The other set are not.

DD (aged 3) has taken one to nursery today show her teacher as she was so proud of herself for reading it to me earlier .