Learning to read - seems to be no structure to it

[grumpypants]

I'm a bit frustrated at the moment - ds (5) is in Y1 and brings home two books a week, one to read to me, and one to have read to him. There is just no continuity to the books he is meant to read and he is just not reading as well as i thought he would be by now. Older ds also couldn't read (worse than this) buy the end of Y1 and we hired a tutor for Y2 - he is now a free reader (Y3) and has a brilliant reading age.
The school read in groups, and apparently use several reading schemes.

Any thoughts?

Gooseberrybushes I don't know the OPs child so can't make an informed judgement on what he should be reading at this point in Y1 (another whole year to get to the point my class can make a difference) - how many terms in school - when reading instruction began - pace of instruction - number of days absence ...
so without wanting to alarm the OP I would be "concerned".

Hi Op, sorry in haste as usual so have not read all the 70+ replies! (There will some good ones in there).

My DS is also in Yr 1 - loves books, but finds reading very difficult. He has been on red band for ever. He only very recently really got his letters and even began to understand what blending was. We get a variety of reading schemes home from school - some dull as dishwater, others better. DS is allowed to choose.

I am a book freak and have bought for him the Ruth Miskin Superphonics - they are banded and very funny. Provides an alternative to school. We are also now reading at home the Usborne (vested interest I am an Usborne rep) Phonics - they have wonderful rhyming and are also very funny. We take the rhyming words and make up lots of new sentences.

DS will be starting Reading Recovery next term, so I am now a lot less panicked than I was a month ago. DS is bottom (sorry, sorry, I mean supported) of his class and is the only child on red band. He is a bright child but I guess a late developer (he is a pf-and-only-b). I have had to work so hard this year not to panic that his progress isn't equivalent to others but that he will get it in the end. He is a delightful boy (mostly ) and I am trying not to pressure him.

Hope it gets better.

Seriously mrsz an average child still struggling with pre-school words going into Y2 and you advise against the parent buying reading scheme books?

Seriously?

I dislike complacency.

No Gooseberrybushes they are not going into Y2 they still have a third of a school year before Y2 and then two thirds of a school year before they are at the same point as my class is now A FULL year to get there! and even if they couldn't read a single word I would still say don't waste your money buying a full set of reading scheme books.
Seriously!

It just sounds complacent to me: with your own achievements and with the lack of achievement elsewhere. Just so long as the parent doesn't start the child on a structured reading scheme, that's what matters to the teacher, even if the kid is well behind.

A parent can start their child on any structured reading scheme they wish but I would say don't waste your money buying one

So how would they do it then?

Many libraries stock scheme books (free) and there are companies that hire books to parents at a fraction of the cost of buying a whole scheme

I do suspect teacher proprietoriness (is that even a word?) here.

Curriculum demands and class sizes mean that we're depended on for teaching the chidlren to read past phonics anyway. But still it's seen as sacred ground.

and there are also free e books including ORT available

www.oxfordowl.co.uk/Library/Index/?AgeGroup=2&Book=eBooks&Series=Oxford%20Reading%20Tree

Well why didn't you say that earlier? You can hire a complete set? Why don't you suggest that then?

You need freedom when teaching your children through a reading scheme. Freedom to look ahead and get to know the books, freedom to go back a couple of books and reinforce. You should know that.

Having them in your house is way better, quicker, more efficient than a library. And if you have a learner reader you no doubt have other young ones, perhaps a preschooler, which inhibit library visits.

If you can hire them, a whole set or maybe three bands at once, fine. If not, there is no way library access is as good.

This is so unfair on the OP's child. Poor reading organisation is leading to her child being behind.

That's just shocking and needs to be remedied.

past phonics?

Yep -- a term of learning letters and some phonemes then it's up to the parents to listen and read. Maybe things have changed but for eight years it was down to the parents with the teacher listening once a half term.

Shall I wait for you to tell me you listen to every child read every day?

No but I will tell you we still teach children to use phonics up to Y6 I only manage to hear all children once a week and only a short passage.

roundthehouses - no, there is no stage 1 in Jelly and Bean. You need to teach the letters and sounds separately (I had a tutor for DD and would highly recommend this if you are abroad).

Why should a pre-schooler inhibit library visits? Quite the opposite surely. How much does it cost to buy a whole scheme anyway? If it seriously is a grand, then I for one wouldn't be able to afford that without getting into debt (more debt actually ). I can see that you are passionate about your reading scheme Gooeberrybush, I'm glad it worked for you, but maybe others feel cautious about suggesting parents part with large sums of money in order that their child learns to read.

Oh and btw, my DD is in reception. She is bright and articulate, but diagraph recognition is a little like pulling teeth. "ee says eeee" a couple of times doesn't do it for her. A couple of hundred maybe!! I think you were lucky with yours and shouldn't assume it happens that way with all children.

I would be horrified if my DD were encouraged to read The Hobbit or Alice in Wonderland at school in Y2. There are so many much better books for 6 year olds.

To purchase the complete ORT scheme would cost over a thousand pounds Jezabelle

Bonsoir their choice from the library no adult involvement.

I don't think I'd be at all happy that the librarian wasn't giving better guidance than that.

My DD is perfectly capable of going into a bookshop or DVD shop and choosing all sorts of things. But she is not the ultimate judge of what she will find most enjoyable or enriching at this point in her life!

There is no librarian in school. Many of the children pick books because they have seen films or heard extracts and they are capable of reading and understanding what they read.

My child is in Year 3 and read Alice some time ago and is currently reading the Hobbit and simplified Shakespeares. He is by no means the best in his class, so it is certainly plausible that Year 2 children could read them.

He got his first (wordless) books in term 2 of reception and was on chapter books by term 2 of year one. A year is a long time!