School reading and home reading

[squashpie]

I have been considering getting our school's reading scheme books for the summer holidays - the next books at my DS's stage (just come out of year one - has just begun ORT stage 11). I've read on here lots of parents/ teachers up in arms about this sort of thing and I'm looking for reasons.

I can completely see that reading a wide range of books should increase vocabulary, familiarity with a variety of styles etc. However, I'm not sure how much any of this is appreciated by the school and whether actually it is more important to plough through their requirements (ie their reading scheme - in our case ORT and a few Corgi sprinters) because then at least my DS will be covering the ground/ vocab etc that they will be looking out for/ testing him on. Am I wrong. Any experience advice from teachers and parents gratefully received!

DS is at a similar stage. we are still encouraging him to read every day (because we think it is an important habit to get into). However during the holidays he gets to pick what he reads. Some days he might pick a very simple picture book, other days he might want to read something out his Star Wars Dictionary, other days it might be Beast Quest or Roald Dahl. We've also signed up for the library reading scheme and encouraged him to pick the books he will read.

For me, I'm not that interested in where DS is on the school's reading scheme. I AM interested in him thinking of reading as something he enjoys and that is worthwhile to do, rather than a series of hoops to be jumped through.

I also see the holiday as a time for him to consolidate his skills rather than "getting ahead". Even if he reads a "dead easy" picture book to DD he is getting value out of it - if he finds the text easy he might put on silly voices or make up alternative endings for example.

ORT Stage 11 is good going for the end of Y1 so it's not as though your DS needs to "catch up". I've also found that the ORT higher stages (thankfully DS's school uses mixture of themes and lots of "real" books) might be "hard" for a child of this age in terms of subject matter.

DS2 has just finished Year 1 and is about halfway through ORT level 10.

IMHO once they are at that level of reading you don't need to worry too much about reading schemes etc. DS2 goes to the library and chooses whatever books he wants, and he left me a wish list on Amazon (which I bought most of). They range from Mr Gum to books about Vikings. Reading scheme books can get a bit boring, it is much more fun to encourage a love of reading in general!

The thing is, though, what's important in the long run? Is it more important, thinking ahead to your son as a teenager/adult, that he ploughs through the school reading scheme in his free reading time to cover the ground/vocab that his school will be testing him on in Y2 or that he learns to read and enjoy reading a good range of books and thinks of reading as a pleasant and worthwhile activity?

Or another way, would you feel happy saying of your adult DS "Well, he never really reads much and it was a struggle to get him to even do the background reading for his GCSEs and A-levels, but he got fantastic reading scores in his Year 2 SATS"? Will you even remember what his Y2 SATS results were?

I agree - at that level there are so many books that he could read and enjoy. I would go to the library and let him pick a few books. He may discover an author or genre that he really enjoys that will spark his imagination and love of books - something that doesn't always happen with reading scheme books.

As a teacher I would say read whatever you can find in your library and bookshop. ORT doesn't relate in any way to SATs or anything else! It is just a scheme like many others. The best thing you can do for your son and his next teacher is to foster a love of reading.
Many libraries do a holiday reading trail of some sort or another which encourages children to read a number of books and record what they have read in a booklet with various stickers to go with it!
Don't forget to read to your child, try partner reading as well as getting him to read to you, that way you can move him on to more interesting books!
Hope that helps!

I'm not sure why you think the school will be testing him on /looking for the vocabulary from ORT even if that is the scheme they use. At some point in Y2 he will be faced with a SAT reading test which involves reading test very unlike ORT. While the SAT tests is just a small part of Y2 it is also an indicator or the type of reading a child needs to experience and understand.
A point to consider is that children who read widely are usually much better writers than those who only read scheme books.

I am the same as some of the other posters, I view the holidays as time for ds to switch off from the routines of school and their reading scheme, however that doesn't mean we don't do reading. Today we have been to the library and he has chosen a book about trains (obsessed!), and although it is not a typical reading book that is fine as he will love looking at it.

For me it is about them discovering other styles of books, poetry, recipe books etc. Also ds has developed a love of joke books, something that he would never come across on the ort scheme but he will happily sit and chuckle away with one of those for ages

Go to the library lots - ours usually has a holiday reading scheme/comp/events.

Dump ORT for 6 weeks and let his imagination run wild - see what books he chooses to read. Sounds like he's doing well anyway, and our school stops ort at level 9 and starts free reading books, so he'll be ready for it.

My DS has been bonkers for his panini world cup sticker book for the last 8 weeks and i haven't made him read anything else - his knowledge of countries, geography, ethnic variations, flags, memorising of players, counting of stickers left to collect etc etc has been wonderful to see - lots of information and skills have been learnt, but you won't see it on the curriculum!!!

Sorry, just to add, your comment about 'appreciated by the school' is completely irrelevant - your child is on holiday and as such can do as little or as much as he likes. It almost seems as if you want the school to recognise what you have been doing with him - answer is that they won't, it will become apparent.

My son's knowledge of the 32 country flags will out itself in time i'm sure!!!

Lots of great advice from posters.I'd agree that it is probably better to go for a breadth of reading experiences.

There is nothing that magic about reading schemes. Go to the library and let him choose his own books. Try out some different authors and series. Ask the children's librarian for some recommendations of good books for his age/stage.

It doesn't sound as if he's having any problems with reading so focus on reading for pleasure. If he chooses books from the library that are too hard, read them to him or with him.

It is important that children keep reading over the summer holiday but it really doesn't have to be a reading schemes. Use the library and save your money for something else!!

"I can completely see that reading a wide range of books should increase vocabulary, familiarity with a variety of styles etc. However, I'm not sure how much any of this is appreciated by the school"

What does this mean?

I think for some reason we are lead to believe the school teach reading in a very systematic way and that schemes like ORT are cleverly put togther building vocab in a way which will allow your child to learn to read in a "proper way" with no gaps in knowledge. While Maths may be a bit like this, reading is not quite so structured esp at ORT level 11.
Your child may love ORT - mine adored the Magic Key adventures, but I was also keen to develop a love of books - to have reading associated with pleasure not just school, homework, tests and teachers. Introducing books chosen by the child rather than the school allows them to form an intimate relationship with books, essential for their reading future.
I have listened to kids read at our school, kids who have taken their time to get through the scheme are still brimming with enthusiasm for the scheme books and then there's the kids who have moved through the scheme at a breakneck speed, determined to get to the finishing line of the reading scheme - they left their interest in books behind a long time ago. Last child I listened to was one of the first in the class to finsh the reading scheme - he told me he hated reading and felt he was the only one in the class who felt that way - he wasn't, others had said the same thing to me and it wasn't bravado - the kids looked miserable about it - I actually felt quite miserable after they told me too.
At ORT stage 11, your child can now read fairly fluently - it's the love of reading that will bring him on. If he has no love of reading, now he has acquired the skill you're about to enter into a long term battle zone over reading.

If your child's school isn't teaching reading in a systematic way there is something wrong

There's various degrees of systematic though.
For example the Ruth Miskin approach to phonics is very systematic - introduce the sounds before you introduce the word. The approach used at our school was a bit more hit and miss - they used various sight reading schemes yet taught phonics and made frequent comments in reading diaries about the child not sounding out words which the child hadn't even come across all the sounds in class. You could call it a system - but I wouldn't exactly call it a good one.

I agree ORT isn't conducive to systematic reading instruction which is why I find it so hard to understand why so many parents on MN seem obsessed interested about it.

To be fair ORT is often all people know because it's all the school uses and we have faith that the school knows what it's doing....well we do to begin with.
They are supposed to be the experts, so if the school use ORT then they must be good.

And parents who are first timers don't have the experience to know that a high level on ORT at Year One doesn't equate with with a life long love of reading, reading success is judged by moving through a scheme not by developing a love of a skill, which is the easiest way to ensure the skill continues to improve - teachers have never spoken to me about my dc's love of reading, only their ability, I spoke to them about how levels were fairly meaningless given my dc's read for pleasure on a daily basis.

I initally fell for all it too though, it's only through experience that I know better and fortunately my dcs have managed to retain a love of reading but I know many people whose dcs have been turned off reading and they are now faced with the challenge of turning that around - not an easy thing to do once the damage has been done.

Schools use ORT because they can't afford to replace it with something more effective

Don't you think if schools were more honest about the reasons for using ORT then parents would be less inclined to want to push their kids through them at lightening speed and more inclined to fund raise to replace them.

We can't use PTA money to replace the books as it remains outside the terms of reference of the PTA as a charity - so the school would have to be a bit more open about how limited the ORT scheme was, something they are currently unprepared to do.

I was a really bookish child and remember dreading the reading scheme books, I saw them as something to be 'got through' before they allowed me to read proper books - which I was reading plenty of out of school.

DS will start school in September and loves being read to and looking at books on his own. I'm hoping that the reading schemes have improved a little as I wouldn't want him to be put off.

I think there are some really good reading schemes about - Collins Big Cat is one current favourite. As was mentioned earlier - the only problem is that schools can't afford to update / replace their reading schemes so many children end up coming home with old and tatty uninspiring books. Our school just managed to buy some books from their PTA funds. This seemed to be the only way.

You're right all reading schemes are not the same and the Collins Big Cat books are brilliant - pitched perfectly at the age group - well written, good illustrations/photos - even I get excited when I see them, the non fiction ones are especially good.

This is a really stupid question (probably) but ds is now reading 'normal' books quite a lot, such as Mr Men stories he hasn't read before and managing really very well. He needs help with some of the irregular words but usually only four or five per story.

Does that mean they are about the right level for him (not that I care in some ways as he enjoys them) and does it matter that there are quite a few non-phonics words which do seem to encourage a bit of guessing on his part (he is a whole word reader by nature but can sound out).

Do older children reading alone still need help with the occasional word?

And can anyone hazard a guess at what sort of reading level Mr Men stories would be in the NC book bands for what it's worth (so I have an idea when he goes back to school how these compare).

I don't know about book bands but you can find out the Flesch-Kincaid readability statistics using a feature in Word.
Type in a text extract and run a spell check, go to options and select 'readability statistics' and resume your check.
It gives a grade level, and an ease of reading fwiw.