Reception DD, getting good at decoding but reluctant to read books :(

[HauntyMython]

Is this just a phase? We've brought DD up to love books and stories, but we didn't push her to learn to read - she's a summer baby and apart from doing a few letter sounds casually she wasn't interested in learning.

Since starting school though she is loving phonics, has mastered all the sounds they've done so far including some digraphs, and got the hang of decoding quickly. She can read almost any CVC word and has read other words like lemon, robin, train etc that use the basic sounds. Very proud mummy here :o

She loves asking me to spell words with letter magnets or write them down for her to read, we play phonics games on the way to school (I spy etc) but when it comes to her school reading book she gets annoyed after a few words and wants me to read it to her. I guess it's a comfort thing, or maybe it's because she can't read every word yet? She also dislikes talking around any book, she used to enjoy finding things on the pages but now she just says "no mummy, read the story!"

We've been really careful to not put too much pressure on, I wouldn't want her to be put off reading :( is there anything I can do or should I just wait?

Sounds like she's bringing home inappropriate 'look and say' books which she can't read, instead of phonics books which she could.

There is nothing you can do about the books she brings home. So just keep reading them to her and don't worry.

She will very quickly learn more and more phonics, then she'll be able to read better and better. At some stage she'll be able to read the books she brings home :)

In the mean time chill, and keep doing all the excellent phonics stuff you are doing with her.

What about reading more complicated/interesting stories to her to get her enthused again? Then have her learning books as a separate thing?

In a way it's a case of keeping her engaged in getting the result (reading the good books herself) rather than having reading reduced to the mechanics. Art versus science and all that

I'm with Indigo, it doesn't sound like the books are phonics based and decodable, so it's not a motivator, understandably. Any chance of a chat with the teacher - otherwise just carry on like you are and model it to her instead. Maybe have a go at the Pearson stuff - lots of links on here, brilliant books and all decodable, easy to blend and predominantly focus on one digraph per book. Try not to let the school reading book get in her/your way. DD is stuck with ORT, which is no motivator either, soooo boring, so we don't read them anywhere near as much as we "should", but we do read lots of other stuff.

Carry on reading to her and sharing books. Do a bit each-make it fun. I would guess that she has picked up that you have an agenda i.e it isn't just fun, you are anxious for progress.
The best thing is to belong to your local library and have regular trips to choose books.

This sounds just like my daughter. She loves being read to, but until recently, at least, shied away from the idea of reading a book by herself. Although she knew lots of digraphs etc., if I ever produced a reader (phonics-based, obviously) she'd say "No Mummy, you read it" (we don't live in the UK, so I'm teaching her myself). I also think that it's a comfort/emotional thing.

In the last couple of weeks, a couple of things have made a big difference:

1. www.phonicsplay.co.uk - excellent online games which have helped her to practise blending without realising she was actually "reading." The best are the ones where you have to decide whether a word is a real word or not - if it's a real word you give it to a dragon who likes to eat real words, if it's not, you give it to a dragon who likes made-up words (there are also variations with aliens etc.) You can choose which sounds to work on.

2. treasure hunts of the sort where one clue written on a piece of paper leads to a hiding place where there's another clue, leading to another hiding place etc. and eventually the "treasure." She LOVES this. To start with, I used easy clues such as "In DD's bed," but as I ran out of easy hiding places and DD wanted to play the game over and over and over again, they've become more difficult to the point where she's now decoding some pretty complex words.

Then, this evening, she realised she could read a poem in her book of poems... then she wanted to read one of her easier and pretty much decodable picture books, and now she's all cock-a-hoop at the idea that she can read books.

I've also been reading to her more than usual, so she knows that learning to read doesn't mean I stop reading to her :)

Someone on one of the home ed threads mentioned a book by Peggy Kaye called Games for Reading, which I want to get.

p.s. With the treasure hunts, keep the words you use decodable, obviously, and within the range of the sounds she knows.

If you find yourself stuck for suitable words to use when making up little stories/playing these sorts of games, the Jolly Phonics Word Book is very good because it has lists of decodable words, sound by sound.

Thanks for all the advice :)

It is a good point about reading to her - we still do (and she sees us reading all sorts of things) but now I think about it, it's not nearly as much. She is so tired after school that she often wants to go straight to bed after bathtime :( I'll have a think with DH about changing things round a bit in the evenings.

The books are all phonics based, I've never seen any ORT, but the
DCs are encouraged to swap their own book every day, so DD often comes home with a too-difficult book. The teacher (who is lovely) said not to worry about this and just read it to them if they find it too hard. I have written a note in the reading record.

I have been tempted to race ahead with the phonemes as DD is doing so well (she has just woken up and I can hear her 'teaching' her little brother :)) but I haven't as I thought she might not enjoy it so much at school. But then, maybe it's the 'slowness' of the reading - it takes too long to decode a sentence - that puts her off reading books? Is there some way of helping her get a bit quicker? She can be quite impatient :)

Funnily enough I've been working at the library (PT) since summer :o

Love the treasure hunt idea and I will check out the other resources mentioned.

She is only in reception. Stop worrying as some children just start later, as long as she is happy what is the rush particularly as she is a Summer baby. Why not leave it for a while, just read to her and come back to it in a while.

The treasure hunt is a great idea. The breakthrough comes when they just pick up a book and find they can do it.

She's probably very tired... DD can decode a few words and will spontaneously guess the odd word but what she wants at the end of the day is to be snuggled up to me, with me reading her a story. It's very early days and the thing is to instil a love of books, which it sounds like you're doing. It's a marathon, not a sprint, as another wise poster said.