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Original poster

Learning to read - seems to be no structure to it

319 replies

grumpypants · 15/04/2011 10:14

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?

OP posts:
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mrz · 16/04/2011 20:14

or perhaps you didn't have the whole Biff Chip saga which runs to over 200 books

Gooseberrybushes · 16/04/2011 20:20

It's plainly not freely available to the OP. But that doesn't matter, because your children are reading the Hobbit.

Evil: I am not talking about encouraging -- I am talking about teaching. The child in the OP is not being taught to read, has fallen back and there is no structure or even progress. A good reading scheme would help hugely. A child doesn't magically learn to read simply by encouragement.

What is weird, is not reading the op and making assumptions about other people's posts which having nothing to do with what they've written.

There are myriad ways to encourage a child to read and showing them the joy of reading. Reading schemes are for teaching them to do so quickly and efficiently. ORT has done so with my children without them getting bored or disconsolate. I believe it has done so with more than three children in the whole world. Hmm I do not believe it is a terrible oppression.

Gooseberrybushes · 16/04/2011 20:21

Mrsz maybe I didn't: but I know more books have been added since I did it. I've seen it since.

Gooseberrybushes · 16/04/2011 20:23

May I assume you object only to buying all of it, and not some of it?

IME teachers don't like you buying any of it but I thought things had changed. What with them not being able to listen to children as I have heard SO many times.

mrz · 16/04/2011 20:26

Perhaps if the OP visited her local library she would discover it is Smile

littleducks · 16/04/2011 20:27

Why do teachers always think that reading schemes are so expensive? Can schools not buy from the book people?

At dd's first school the reader co-ordinator showed off their new books explaining they had spent their whole reading budget on books for reception, including the ORT Read at home titles that were 'ten pounds each' (quote). I couldnt believe it, that had been selling the same set for ten pounds total in the book people magazine i had at home then.

I have picked up reading scheme stuff from charity shops as well as the book people.

We have the Ruth Miskin 'Read, Write Inc' easy reading ones, some Superphonics and ORT Songbirds. In total we have more books than dd has received from her current school (started in early Nov, strict one book per week policy). I have spent about £20 maybe, lend them to my niece who is in reception too, will save for ds and then could sell them, though will prob charity shop/donate to the school. I dont think thats a waste of money.

Gooseberrybushes · 16/04/2011 20:27

and perhaps she wouldn't Smile

perhaps she was advised by teachers that it would be horrific to take matters into her own hands in that way

mrz · 16/04/2011 20:27

Actually if you take into account all the new books that have been added to ORT (which I didn't count) you can more than double the cost. Smile

mrz · 16/04/2011 20:28

We can and do buy from the bookpeople but they don't actually sell full reading schemes littleducks

Gooseberrybushes · 16/04/2011 20:29

May I assume you object only to buying all of it?

How would you expect your children to understand the passage above, read and explain it to you in your fifteen minutes once a week?

How is it when your children are fully comprehending the above you are horrified at the idea of a y1 child so far behind being advised to buy reading scheme books?

Gooseberrybushes · 16/04/2011 20:31

I didn't get mine from the book people. I think I got some from John Lewis, some second hand, can't remember where else. They did the picture books at school but I bought some of those.

Littleducks, maybe they're trying to put people off.

mrz · 16/04/2011 20:33

I don't object to you buying it but if a friend asked me I would say save your money and point them in the direction of free options

mrz · 16/04/2011 20:37

I would expect them to tell me it is a conversation between Bilbo and the dragon Smaug and that the dragon calls Bilbo a liar and thief and perhaps that the dragon wonders how Bilbo knows his name when they haven't met before. That Bilbo tells the dragon where he is from but not his name.

littleducks · 16/04/2011 20:38

Does that matter to the school though MRZ? As it seems most schools seem develop their own reading scheme grouping together similar level texts, could they not buy whatever was going cheap then just fill in any big gaps with full priced books? Some will be lost soon enough, so surely schools are used to not having a copy of level 3 book 7 A or whatever and can substitute with something apropriate.

Gooseberrybushes · 16/04/2011 20:39

And yet you didn't do that to the OP, whose child is clearly not being taught to read in any sensible way. You said you were horrified at the idea of it but didn't say anything about being possible to get it free or cheaply, in which case it would be a rather good idea.

Gooseberrybushes · 16/04/2011 20:42

And you think that is a normal level of decoding and comprehension for a six to seven year old? For a child to have got this far he would have to be reading the Hobbit in the first term of Y2. But you are horrified at the idea of a parent using a reading scheme when, just two terms earlier than that, they are still struggling with pre-school words?

littleducks · 16/04/2011 20:44

And to the op, maybe sign up for a free trial of 'reading eggs' for the Easter holidays, my dd thinks its fun and it teaches reading skills, it starts with a test to choose the correct level.

mrz · 16/04/2011 20:48

I recently bought 6 packs of the Songbird (to replace lost and damaged copies) books from the Book People littleducks because it was much cheaper than buying from OUP and I bought Rapid Readers from Amazon because they were cheaper than Heinemann and similarly with Project X but if I relied on what I could pick up cheaply from various sources there would be huge gaps which would cost just as much to plug or I would be asking children to bring books from home as mentioned on another thread.

mrz · 16/04/2011 20:50

Could you please show me where I said I would be horrified at the idea of a parent using a reading scheme?

Gooseberrybushes · 16/04/2011 20:52

"I can't think of a bigger waste of money personally [horror]"

mrz · 16/04/2011 20:54

yes? and can you point out where I said I was horrified at parents using reading scheme books?

littleducks · 16/04/2011 20:54

6 packs of songbirds? Schools round here would never have that many of one set! In fact most books seem to be minimum 10 years old, with the odd one cropping up thats 20 years old.

Either you manage your budget far better (which wouldnt surprise me after the ten pound per book comment) or it is far larger.

Gooseberrybushes · 16/04/2011 20:56

Hmm that was in response to my suggestion that the OP buy ORT books Hmm

mrz · 16/04/2011 20:56

We have six copies of each book available and none of our books are more than 4 years old

images.thebookpeople.co.uk/images/books/large/SONB.jpg

36 books per pack £15 instead of £113.82

mrz · 16/04/2011 20:57

and I'm still waiting to see where I said I was horrified at parents using reading schemes ...

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