reading in reception

[mongymenthi]

My ds was identified as one of the weakest in a very able reception class early in the year. The teacher said they were going to read with him on a daily basis. He has remained on level 2b of the oxford reading tree since then and when i asked if there were any other books he could read (because he was bored with the same books) they couldn't think of any . I went on to ask if it was usual to remain on this level for this length of time to which the teacher became defensive. So, is this usual and does anyone know of ant alternative reading material? Many thanks.

I don't think level 2 of ORT is bad for Reception. Perhaps it's just because his class are very able? I'd browse the library for basic books or even just practice sounds and high frequency words at home. It will come with time.

Have a look at OxfordOwl e books
www.oxfordowl.co.uk/FindBook

make sure you read to him and share lots of different books

now, what can he actually do reading wise? Can he recognise letters by sound and can he blend words? Also, does he know any sight words from memory?

DD is also in reception, and was getting bored by the progress of the earlier stages of the books. It would take her only a few minutes to read each one and she'd want to read more each night. I tried our local library, but their selection was limited.

So I subscribed to reading chestand she'd read one of theirs each night in addition to her school book. She loved the variety and really progressed quickly.

I'm planning to cancel my subscription after the summer holidays as her school books now take much longer to read, and she's happy to read normal books in addition.

For the few months whilst she was on the lower stages though they were really really good. Literally hundreds of books to choose from

He can recognise some words and most letters and can blend. mrz thanks for the link and I think perhaps the school has very limited resources so the library is a good place to look.

Oh, and some of my reception class have been on the same book band all year - because they arent ready to move on, this is perfectly reasonable. From your post I am wondering if they are giving him the same books over and over - if so this can be counterproductive to the childs progress and to their confidence.

There are lots of lovely online games you could play which will work on very specific skills, eg letter recognition, blending, sight words, depending on what he needs to work on.

If he is just quite young for his year group, and simply not ready for reading, then probably the best thing you can do is just lots and lots of book sharing

My DD2 finished reception on level 4 of ORT and I wanted to have her practice a bit over the holidays.
A teacher friend recommended this
www.progressivephonics.com/
We started right from the beginning and did a bit every day and she came on really well. They like it because you read it with them.

oooh reading chest looks good, but quite expensive.

I'd also recommend Jolly Phonics CD and flash cards for phonics and blending.

Read at home together books which interest him and which he can choose himself (library?) to keep his interest

I have hundreds of glowing testimonies for BRI. They engage children on so many levels and are wonderful for parents to use at home. As they provide 3-4 times as much actual reading practice as most decodable books, they don't have the gloss and colourful illustrations that many other books provide. What children need is the confidence to be able to read a little book, engage with the characters and continue to have success. www.piperbooks.co.uk

There are many imaginative story books with brilliant illustratios to share with children but to become proficient readers they need to read, read, read at the appropriate level.

I would focus on the phonics books - see www.rubyandmax.net and www.starfall.com. Learning to blend sounds is key, along with keeping the love of reading alive by choosing books at the library which really interest him.

Rubyand Max,albeit an attractive site, could present difficulties for someone who is struggling a little.It's not a systematic or well thought-out scheme, in that one beginning book has 'o' with the sound 'oo', the vowel digraph 'or', and split digraph a-e - yet split digraphs aren't introduced until the second series. If a child is able to decode words with advanced code, then they are probably able for books like the wonderful Arnold Lobel Frog, Mouse or Owl titles, or Minarik's Little Bear books.Otherwise, it's much better to stick with well-known and truly decodable books for beginners.

Bit of background about www.rubyandmax.net: I?m a writer and a home educating mum. The photo stories on the website are the result of a family home ed project (my writing with input from my DC, my DC?s acting talents and my DH doing the IT for the site). We wrote them as a project to support DS (7) in learning to read. I see them as story books, to highlight particular phonic codes, rather than a ?scheme?.

Having clarified that, I would, Allchildren, like to remark on your comment, ?it?s not a systematic or well thought-out scheme? as well as with your insinuation that reading our stories could in some way damage children.

In our stories, in the interests of a good plot, occasionally a word is used which contains a sound to be highlighted in a later story, eg as in ?made? (the a-e sound in Series 1, Book 7, to which I think you are referring). I don?t see this as a disaster ? when my DS read the book, I simply mentioned the word ?made? as a preview of the magic e sound.

Children see words all around them, all the time. I honestly don?t see how reading our photo stories could ?present difficulties? to the world?s children.

Are you (ie Piper Books) feeling threatened by our project? If so, we're flattered.

I wouldn't worry too much about reading in Reception. In my DC's school not all of the children even start taking books home, it all depends on whether they are seen as ready. They are obviously taught to read in class, but only about 1/3 of the class are bringing books home at the end of the year. DS1 didn't bring a single book home in Reception, was on ORT 3 at the end of Yr 1, ORT 10 at the end of Yr 2 and now at the end of Yr 3 is reading 200 page novels.

I would say that the most important thing at 4 or 5 is that they enjoy books, everything else should then slot into place later.

I wouldn't worry about the level that much. What I would worry about is if he is bringing home the same books all the time. Any child will get put off reading if they're having to read books they've already read. If the school can't provide different books at his level then go along to the library and get some. I take my 2 to the library about once a fortnight and get a pile of books, mixture of ones they can read and ones to share with me. They love going.

My dd stayed was still on red at end of year 1 so I wouldn't worry about the level. Now on lime at end year 2.

My DS is still on the lowest level at the end of reception. He's just starting to make real progress with his reading finally. Just wasn't ready to read before now. I'm not worrying about it, I'm sure he'll get there in his own time and I don't think it's entirely unusual.

Wordsmithforever - There are a number of very good, systematic phonics readers - Dandelion Books, Jelly and Bean, King Wizzit, for example. For children who encounter difficulties well paced, systematic phonics readers are vital - at least those of us who have taught struggling readers how to read and who have undergone training and studied synthetic phonics have witnessed to be the case.
Many children who struggle need an enormous amount of cumulative reading matter.

Just a final remark (Allchildren) about the a-e digraph you raised (Series 1, no 7 I think you meant): As you point out, it is covered in Series 2 (magic e book) but can I also highlight that a-e is also explained early on in Series 1, book 2 (but isn?t available on the samples, so you wouldn?t have seen this).

I like the idea of something structured that dd and I can do together when she starts school. She can blend and unpick sounds ("f u n spells fun"etc and gets magic e and some two sound combos like 'ar' but it's all been very random as I'm not a teacher and have just answered her questions.

Very sad that your DS has had this experience at such a young age and I hope it won't dent his confidence or make him anxious about reading or taking on academic challenges in general.

I would read to him at home. Read everything written for children and forget about sticking to various schemes. Read him stories that he finds interesting (what Rebl does). Read shop signs and road signs and whatever else you can find to read in your environment. Poetry is wonderful for early readers or pre readers because there is rhythm and rhyme involved. Sing songs together -- rhythm and rhyme there too. Listening to the sounds of language and distinguishing among them are important pre reading skills that can be reinforced by reading to your child, singing and reading and reciting poetry. Relax as you do this and don't keep at it if he seems not to be enjoying it.

Your child may just not be ready for reading at this age. Many children are not, yet teachers try to push the square pegs into the round holes regardless. No amount of systematic phonics is going to achieve the magic result if your child is just not ready.

Actually you can teach 4 year olds how to read far more easily than you can teach 7 year olds (that's with a complex orthography like we have) provided teaching is systematic and cumulative. Unfortunately most training colleges just don't teach systematic phonics (or maybe just half a day) and this can lead to heavy-handed, unsystematic phonics instruction. Such a shame as
properly taught, it's a joy and leaves loads of time for introducing story books to children.

What this means is that a lot of children are subjected to hamfisted poking in the dark by teachers who don't really know what they are doing at an age when they should be spending their time learning more age appropriate skills.

Remember it's stages not ages ... some children will be reading at age 4 (or even before) others will take longer but most get there in the end.
mathanxiety makes it sound as if a 10 mins phonics activity is the equivalent of torture by teacher.

I have nothing against it, mrz. I don't think it's wise to do it with a class of 4 yos, some of whom are going to feel they are thick when they see others understanding while they are still at a stage where it is not going to click.