Reception Reading (I like to follow a trend!)

[Ismene]

DD is 4 and a January starter. They have reading level books every week (amongst other books during the week) and I'm not sure how challenging these books are supposed to be for her. Her teacher has told me that she assessed DD reads around 130 sight words and decodes and understands more than that with phonics. The books she currently brings home she whizzes through and then flings them back in the book bag. I think they are too easy, she will need to sound out maybe one word in the book and even then not every book. I'm petrified of being pushy, but equally I'm not sure DD is being encouraged to make an effort and to me that is more important that how much she can actually read IYSWIM. WWYD?

I think she is reading accurately, but I do stand to be corrected. She correctly reads all the words rather than substituting words for what is in the picture ( is that what you mean?). If I ask her about the book, she can tell me, for example, why something is funny or silly. I'm not sure how I know if she is comprehending?

She came home today with a higher book banding and we sat and read it together, she seemed to really enjoy it and we had to work out a couple of words. I assume this is in advance of parents evening!

Skidd, I am currently trying to get this sorted in my head as dd is reading books now where there are a few words she doesn't know the meaning of (eg barged (past) scoffed, longed) I stop and talk about them. I am trying to work out how to extend her language and vocabulary. i try to use those words when talking to her later, but it is difficult to remember them all. (not that there are many in each book, just a tired failing memory and the collection builds up rapidly when reading 2 books a day)

We are reading hopscotch books from the library. she needs to sound out, on average, 5 or 6 words per book.. plus talk about the meaning of 4 or 5 words. it would be good to have some research to know what the heck I should be doing.

Skidd, what do you think the solution is with poor comprehenders? Mine is being held at a particular level at school because the higher levels get a bit complex for him to understand sometimes story wise and have ideas beyond his experience. This means he is stuck reading a level maybe three bands lower or more than ones which would actually have any new words! He does understand what he's reading generally I'd say though - it's just some of these books seem to get a bit complex as they are for children maybe three years older than his chronological age.

well I'm no expert and have only just embarked on this research (am an academic) but what we know is that children who become 'poor comprehenders' have less good oral language skills and vocabulary before starting school, and that interventions teaching how to make inferences, understand referring expressions (e.g. knowing that 'he' refers to the boy mentioned in the previous sentence) improves comprehension in this group of children. A couple of references are here:

Nation, K., Cocksey, J., Taylor, J. S., & Bishop, D. V. M. (2010). A longitudinal investigation of early reading
and language skills in children with poor reading comprehension. Journal of Child Psychology and
Psychiatry, 51(9), 1031-1039.

Clarke, P. J., Snowling, M. J., Truelove, E., & Hulme, C. (2010). Ameliorating children?s reading
comprehension difficulties: A randomised controlled trial. Psychological Science, 21, 1106-1116.

They might be a bit jargon-y but give an interesting overview of the psychological profile of a child with comprehension differences.

maisieD - yes I do hope to dispel that myth! We'll see if I can...

blackeyedsusan - sounds like you're doing brilliantly! You're doing more than I do with my DD - and remembering to use the new words in conversation later... I can't imagine having the memory/presence of mind/motivation!

mumoverbored - well that sounds like he is ahead in his actual reading/decoding and doing fine with comprehension rather than being a poor comprehender? I think talking about the story, asking questions to check he has understood non-literal statements and reading lots of books he loves so he is motivated to understand are all good things to do (which 'm sure you are already doing)

[note to self to take own advice and do more reading with DD]

Sounds like a really interesting research project Skidd.

Yes he isn't a poor comprehender per se, more that because his reading age is a fair bit above his actual age he doesn't have the right frames of reference to understand some of the stories. Sadly his teacher is too inexperienced to seem to twig on this. I guess the solution is to find school books which aren't too old for him and to just carry on reading what he enjoys at home.