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Original poster

oxford reading tree collections

22 replies

mom101 · 08/08/2011 23:56

Hi

Am just contemplating buying my little boy some books. his school is following ORT Songbird collection and i also came across the ORT Read At Home collection.

Can Anyone recommend either for home use. Was tempted to by the read at home collection as I assumed it would give him more variety to explore.

Please can anyone give me some guidance on either or recommend any other reading scheme that my little boy can follow.

Thanks
www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/019841109X/sr=1-1/qid=1312843898/ref=olp_product_details?ie=UTF8&me=&qid=1312843898&sr=1-1&seller=

www.amazon.co.uk/Oxford-Reading-Tree-Collection-Featuring/dp/B003D62QV4/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1312844088&sr=1-1

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Original poster
mom101 · 08/08/2011 23:57

Hi what I meant to ask is what is the difference between the two?

thanks

OP posts:
cjbartlett · 08/08/2011 23:58

I'd go to your local library

Join the summer reading challenge

Why waste money on books he might not take to when he can get his pick for free in the library?

Original poster
mom101 · 09/08/2011 00:05

I went to the local library today and the shelves were bare!

OP posts:
crazygracieuk · 09/08/2011 08:58

Some kids really loathe the Ort characters and books so if you want to buy a set then I'd get a completely different scheme.

Read at Home level 1 is actually not a beginner's level so assuming your child can't read then it will be a while before they will be able to read it. It's also word recognition rather than phonics so if you want to buy a set then I'd go for a phonics based one like Floppy's Phonics or a completely different scheme like Read Write Inc etc. The Book People website is good for buying sets.

mrz · 09/08/2011 09:06

Don't buy use the free e books ORT

blackeyedsusan · 09/08/2011 10:46

songbirds and floppy's phonics are the best as both are phonics based. Floppy's phonics have 10 books, 2 at each level. songbirds have 36 books, 6 at 6 levels. I would check out the book people website. they have sets on there. there is a read at home set that has a mixture of phonics based and original books. this is not so good as the traditional books are not phonics based and rely on sight words. not the best way to teach reading.

floppy's phonics

they don't seem to have songbirds listed at the moment

nickelbabe · 09/08/2011 10:51

i would get a different set for new readers than the ORT - even if he likes the stories and characters, they are very samey, and after a while, he'll be regugitating rather than reasing.

Even my Oxford Rep says that you're better to read other stuff at home.
so, what about the Bananas (in levels of difficulty it goes Green, Blue, Red then Yellow), or Ready Steady Read, or Ladybird Read-it-Yourself (levels again), or Usborne Very first reading - they're great, and quite new - you start off where the adult reads most of the text, and the child reads some of it (based on Phonics levels), and as the series goes on, the child reads more and more of the text until they read the whole book themselves. (they can also go back to the earlier boosk and read all of that text too)
there is a box set for those: info

blackeyedsusan · 09/08/2011 11:01

don't buy from amazon they are hideously expensive. wait for book people to have them back in.

forehead · 09/08/2011 11:31

I would deffo go to the library . This will enable your dc to read a wide variety of books and therefore improve reading.

Original poster
mom101 · 09/08/2011 14:36

Hi thanks for this, I did manage to source the ORT read at home for £16.99 from the redhouse! Ever so pleased with bargain. I will also look to other books for added variety.

I have found starfall as a good way to prompt my little one to read. Has anyone come across any other websites that are good for reading and are not expensive!
thanks

OP posts:
AnotherJaffaCake · 09/08/2011 15:01

We didn't use this one (we used a combination of the ORT Read At Home series, Usborne's Phonics and Starfall.com), but I've heard that Reading Eggs is supposed to be good - not sure if it is .com or .co.uk - will go and check this for you.

AnotherJaffaCake · 09/08/2011 15:03

www.readingeggs.co.uk

zorgmoid · 09/08/2011 18:18

It's a waste of money to buy the reading books as they're so short and they'll not be read many times. We use Reading Chest and it's excellent, and lets us have a good choice.

If your local library has a good range of reading books, then even better - unfortunately ours is dire, so paying is the only way.

Erebus · 09/08/2011 21:11

ebay usually has a good selection of ORT!

pancakesfortea · 13/08/2011 11:29

There's also a version of ORT designed for boys - Project X. Includes some factual books as well as stories and is generally designed to appeal to boys.

MajorBumsore · 18/08/2011 22:47

www.amazon.co.uk/Kipper-Collection-Books-Phonics-Stories/dp/B0056EW5WG/ref=sr_1_5?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1313703890&sr=1-5

My 5 year old DD has these. I would recommend them as a parent and a primary teacher. She adores them; they have little games in them too.
Got them from The Book People at a very reasonable price

2kidsintow · 18/08/2011 22:57

I got them for my DD1 and didn't regret it, as they are the core scheme used by their school. DD2 has also read them and they are still going strong.

That said: she is now going into year 2 and is way beyond level 5 now. She still likes them and will re-read them, but we now go to the local library. If you request, they will order in for free books of whatever level you wish for your child to read. We did this in the hols this year and found that because they weren't set as homework, she wasn't interested. Instead we found a series of books I think called leapfrog, which she can read and loves instead.

breadandbutterfly · 27/08/2011 23:17

Thanks for the link mrz - just got ds to read a whole book which he is rarely motivated to do in the flesh - the magic lure of the computer!

Plus great for me - huge savings in books that will be read no more than a couple of times - and some good online activities too.

mrz · 28/08/2011 08:09

We (the school) are using another reading programme which has the option of on line books and I'm finding the boys love the idea of reading e books and parents have reported they want to read more often with no complaints or excuses breadandbutterfly so I'm pleased your son likes the Oxfordowls.
I would never recommend parents spend money on a reading scheme use the free ones and use the money saved to buy a nice story (you will read again and again) to share

oxfordowl.co.uk/

gabid · 28/08/2011 13:38

mrz - thanks, I have looked at the Oxfordowl and I will try it with DS, who is a reluctant reader but loves Floppy stories.

BlackL · 30/08/2011 08:38

Hi,
My son (6) hates reading and really struggles with it, however out of all the books I have tried (which is many) he loves project x. The pictures are great and he loves the characters and how they have a magic watch.

mrz · 30/08/2011 08:40

there are free project x books on the Oxford owl site too BlackL

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