Why is MN so obsessed with reception reading?

[skiphopskidaddle]

It's a marathon, not a sprint. It doesn't matter if Johnny is on red and Amy is on lilac as (a) different schools go at different paces and (b) children develop different skills in different order.

I can't quite believe the number of reception reading threads I've seen this week along the lines of "what colour book is yours on?". I'm going over to the behaviour/development board now to check for obsessive posting about when children learn to walk. Cos it doesn't matter either, in general.

Francagoestohollywood. I agree I don't think it is right to assess children in reception and I don't think they should put children in ability groups in reception. Also kids at that age might not be able to read one day but can the next. So I do wish they did not do this. But in my DD school they have placed them into groups of ability. This is what my problem is. I don't think the teacher is assessing them properly or often enough (must be difficult with 30 kids) but my daughter is in a lower group and that is fine if that is where she should be but my issue is that if she is there cause the teacher hasn't assessed her correclty it is not fair on my dd.

I think most of the posts I read are actually trying to gauge what different schools do. I am interested inthis, but when it cones to dd's reading I make an absolute point of not discussing levels in RL. I look at whether dd is focused and interested in her book, and if there are a few words per book to challenge. Then if I had concern I would speak to teacher about it. A lot of RL probes come from parents who help with reading who are indiscreet. Glad my dd's school doesn'tvhave parents helping with reading in reception.

But reception is not about learning and ability.

Reception is about learning to attend and observe, to understand the structure of school, the way a classroom works and what the format is -hands up, sitting quietly, snack time etc etc.

My dds school mostly played and dressed up, did yoga and colouring and stuff. They wanted to create an environment where the children feel confident and happy, interested and engaged. That has nothing to do with their ort level
And a teacher may be more interested in encouraging interest and communication with a child than ramping up their reading level.

Littlebylitle

I agree. I may an absoloutely determined effort never to find out what reading level dd was on. It is such a distraction from how a child is actually doing.

Hullygully...I couldn't agree more. Reading is absolutely crucial and of course parents should be interested, a) in knowing if they are doing ok and yes this will generally mean how they compare to others, and b) if they do seem to be doing well and it seems easy are they being challenged enough, so people ask about other children.

Reading is so important and I do believe that early skills are critical, that is why there is the view that 0-5 years is the most important for setting many basics for the furture.

Oh I see ElinElin.

When ds was in reception in the UK, I knew he was struggling with his reading, but he was 4.5 yr old, I think it was appalling that the school would "worry" about the reading ability of such a young child.

I help with reading.

I would never ever talk about a child even casually to anyone other than it's parents.

Yes, it's interesting to see the different stages they are all at, but I see that as a representation of how children vary in their readiness to read, and how they vary in getting changed for PE, and just how they vary!

I like the intellectual challenge of adjusting to each child's level as I help them. And I love to see the progress. Tho' Kipper's Diary twice on the run can be a bit dull!

Evolucy

Hully was joking.

At 0-5 a child should mostly be being a child.

I'm not sure which bit Hully Gully was having a 'larf' about, but it may be that bit you are talking about evolucy! I agree wholeheartedly with you, pagwatch.

0-5 is seen as important for setting the building blocks in place for general development and certain skills. Being able to read at 4 is not one of them - see previous posts about children in other countries not learning that skill until much later.

Hully was having a larf, if you read her later post.

x posts, pag

Hullygully, chill. I really doesn't matter, honestly. I don't know what "research" you refer to but I do know that if you push a child too much when they're really not that interested, you can do more harm than good. Both my DDs could read before they went to school, DD2 went straight on to free reading after her entry assessment, DD1 did do some of the Oxford Reading Tree but started several levels up from the beginning. DS knew a few letters of the alphabet! He managed his GCSE's pretty well (8 grades A*-B) and reads perfectly adequately, though isn't interested in reading for pleasure, it's just not his thing. I was so concerned that I did used to push encourage him to try harder in reception/year 1 until a kindly teacher took me to one side and pointed out that I was giving him a complex about it! I'm so glad she did and that I listened to her!

Shall I just post ' hully was mocking joking' every half an hour?

Would you darlin'?

You are a doll.

Mwaah

No problem...

Mostly wouldn't even need to read .

It could be like following you on Twitter but with a big disclaimer tweet.

You are my idle. Sorry idol.

I'm not sure which bit Hullygully was having a larf about, but was it really the first post? That was what I was agreeing with and still do.

The 0-5 framework is not just about being a child, by the end of Reception Year which is part of the 0-5 framework, children should know all letters and sounds and be able to read 45 High Frequency Word as a basic. There are requirements in the UK education system for children to be able to read in their Reception Year, so why are people surprised that some parents are interested in how their children meet the expectations from them at school?

I could be your idyll.

We could suck coconuts together neath the balmy skies while people who never learnt to read properly push us gently in our hammocks and obey our every passing whim.

No I meant every word of the first post. People don't pay nearly enough attention to the early years. It is when the foundation for future success is laid down.

Gotta love Hullygully!

The first couple of school years set the tone for the rest of their school life. In that time, school will either become a challenging place where your friends talk about and discover new and exciting things, or a fundamentally confusing place where no-one on your table really knows what's going on, but that doesn't matter because no-one seems to care anyway.

Kids don't level out, and it does matter. A good start is absolutely vital. Kids thought of as bright in the early years will continue to be treated as bright. Kids who struggle early on will continue to be thought of as strugglers.

If that means I've got to be pushy, then pushy I'll be.

It may be part of the uk education system. That does not make it a life imperative or some other countries should just line up and shoot themselves.

Before she was 5 I was concerned that dd could speak and understand, was confident, interested, engaged, happy and exploring.
I did not care what kittens she knew or how many words.
Had she had some indication of an inability to understand or attend I would have been concerned. Had she not know x number of words I would not have given a toss.

If people were more concerned that their children were talking, listening, attending, interested and happy rather than on ort level 1, 2 or 12 we might be getting better primary and secondary out comes

Lol at what kittens she knew . Letters

I agree with you in part Bristol. Except that none of that has anything to do with reading.

And children are only treated according to the impression they create in reception in crap schools.

Before mine went to school they could read and write and do basic sums. They had a beginners grasp of French and Latin and could use a globe to locate countries, assemble a fairly rudimentary electrical circuit, knew the founding principles of the periodic table etc.

And what happened when they went to school, bright and eager to learn more and build on this early foundation?

They were given play doh. Pah!

That sort of thing makes me so angry.

Every half-thinking person knows that learning to read is the key to all other learning, but the preoccupation with levels has been greatly fuelled by successive governments.

Schools are judged by how many children they get through the hoops at various stages, so they put pressure on parents by sending home reading books for reading with their children after school. If the phonics tests for 6-yr-olds, which is Gove?s latest mad idea, become reality, things will get worse.

Because I lived in Lithuania until age 15 where children don?t even start school till 7 and have morning school only, I feel terribly sad that over here little mites of 5 and 6 not only go to school all day, but get homework as well and go to bed totally shattered each night. But Lithuanian has a totally regular spelling system and learning to read takes just a few weeks, even without the slightest help from parents. So learning to read is not a big deal like here, where it puts everyone under more pressure - yet pressure is the last thing that struggling readers need.

I have been explaining it all in detail on my blog englishspellingproblems.blogspot.com

My preferred solution would be to make learning to read English easier, by making English spelling a bit more sensible, but I know that not many people who managed to learn to read and write, despite the insanities of English spelling, are willing to support that. But I am not surprised that various recent surveys have found British and American children to be among the most miserable in the world and that parents are so worried about their children's reading progress.