How long does it take for the reception year child to start blending letters?

[Octavia09]

My DS has recently turned 5. He recognises many words but he cannot blend the letters yet. When I read him a book I often ask him to point at the particular word. I know that he is also guessing words knowing the first letter but he can also spell many words he has seen many many times. I have tried to teach him how to blend letters but it looks as he does not understand it yet ( this is what I think). I wonder how long does it take for the child at his stage to learn how to blend letters and start reading. Do all reception year kids learn how to read within the reception year?
Thank you.

DS didn't start blending properly until after Christmas in Year 1. It was a lightbulb moment and literally one day he couldn't and the next day he just understood! He was able to "read" before this time using clues such as initial letters, pictures, knowing common words and the formulaic nature of the stories.

Of course not all children learn to read by the end of reception. The govt expects all children to have learnt to read by the end of year 2 - and approx 80 - 90% of children reach that target.

Has your child only been at school 6 weeks? Not very long at all - and certainly a long way off the end of the year (if you are in the northern hemisphere...)

The other day I told him that one day he is going to read books and magazines all by himself. He did not believe in it. I felt a little bit sad.
redskyatnight that reminds me of a toddler learning how to speak. First, only the words come out and the whole sentences.
IndigoBell, 80 - 90% of children reach that target by the end of the year 2. That makes things a little bit easier. He has been at school since the beginning of September.

Don't worry, dd1 couldn't blend at this stage it happened at some point before easter and she's now in the top set for reading and, though I say so myself, doing very well indeed.She still can't believe she'll one day be able to read a whole book by herself though

I have been worried that my DS is behind with his reading but now I see that most of the kids would not be able to read when starting reception.
Now, in the Year 2 kids are going to be 6 or 7 year old. Steiner pupils do not learn reading till they are 7 or 8. Although I do not like Steiners it looks as they are not that much behind with reading.

I have just read a post "What might you expect a yr1 to write in this comprehension question?" It looks as children in Y1 are expected to write sentences. How do they write them if they cannot read? I am now confused about everything because the Government expects most of the kids be able to read by the end of the Y2, yet the children write sentences in the Y1. How it is possible? What about those who cannot read?

I would expect most (all) children to be reading (at various levels) by Y1 depending on how many terms they had in reception.

Mrz, would you expect my son to be able to read by July 2011? I think we need to practice more than just reading his weekly books.

Octavia
My son is doing pretty well, although he doesnt reached Mrz's standards

I dont feel he is properly blending yet, and he is Y1 having done all 3 terms of yr and half a term of Y1, so please dont panic too much!!

DreamTeamGirl, thanks :)
Blending, blending, blending. Cannnot wait when my DS will start doing it. That would be like magic.

Octavia - you need to find out what MRZ means by 'read'. Does she mean be able to read 'the cat sat on the mat' or does she mean be able to read a Roald Dahl book.

But really, your child is only 6 weeks into their school career. Honestly stop panicking. Kids vary so much in reception. If he doesn't know his alphabet by the end of reception be concerned. If the teacher tells you she has concerns, be concerned. But other than that, the best thing you can do for your child is to be chilled and relax.

At the end of reception I would expect most children to be past the cat sat on the mat but not many to be reading Roald Dahl.
The best reader in my current class wasn't making any attempt to read/blend at this point of the year when he was in reception but it suddenly clicked and he left reception reading chapter books. I agree there is plenty of time for Octavia's son to learn to blend so I wouldn't be worried.

mrz, thanks, I now have a much clearer idea of what to expect by the end of the reception.

I have found that reading is much like sitting up, walking, talking and that some children just get it at 3 others at 8; it clicks in place in their brain; so long as you are reading stories to her and talking about her reading books then she will 'get it'. Don't worry.

My own DS was reading a few key words by the end of reception and knew the letter sounds. His reading books were v v simple, often no words. He is now in Y1 and able to blend to sound out words and adding to his sight words; reading simple books.

He can however write pages and pages of writing, some words spelt correctly some phonetically but mostly understandable. They don't have to be able to read fully to write - scribbling in lines and putting meaning to them in Reception IS writing. Reading and writing is about so much more than putting sounds together, they need to develop the concept of the narrative and holding a progressing story in their heads and all this comes together when they are developmentally ready.

I'm afraid reading unlike sitting, waking and talking isn't a natural developmental process because text unlike speech is an artificial product and while some developmental factors can influence learning to read it isn't wholly dependent.