horray dd1 enjoyed reading a book!

[3duracellbunnies]

Dd1 is 6 in yr2 for the past few years getting her to read has been so hard, she's tired, bored etc. Last night she sat and read two and a half chapters of rainbow drivel fairies book, and she was saying how much she enjoyed it and she wants to read more, and that she might one day read grown up books. With her agreement I ordered some new series from the wonderful book people, but on the condition that we weren't going to read them to her ()ready have 42 of the repetative lovely books. I said we would still read existing ones but she had to read the new ones. She really wants to find out what happens, though we can probably all have a good guess. I know that they aren't literary masterpieces, but I am just so pleased for her that she has enjoyed reading a book. Not sure how her school books will fare in comparison, but hoping her practise on these will help that side of things too.

Great news! Remember this week Rainbow Fairies next week War and Peace.... It doesn't matter what they are reading as long as they are reading and enjoying it!!

Completely agree with goinggetstough. My DD loved those books at around that age. She is now 13 and in the past few months has read Jane Eyre, The Great Gatsby and Wuthering Heights (as well as some teenage crap books).

DS is 10 and is currently reading the Alex Rider books. He has gone from timing himself and making sure he didn't exceed the 20 mins reading they have to do each evening for school, to wanting to read on to find out what happens next. He read for an hour the other night

It's all about them discovering that reading is fun.

I know the joy you are feeling. We are in the same place with 6 year old Y2 dd. Rainbow fairy books while being painful to the adult mind are fantastic for encouraging reading for pleasure in 6 year old girls!
My dd has struggled from the word go with reading due to some mild SEN around speech. In the couple of months since starting Y2 she has come on in mega leaps and super bounds. Her reading has improved so much. She is a child who didn't achieve the EYFS goals in reading or speech and language, at parents night on Monday we were told how in the 'reading age' assessments she is now over one year ahead of her chronological age in word recognition and only a month behind her chronological age in reading speed and comprehension. Huge achievement for her (and if you take into account her prematurity she is band on for her age ;) ) she is also on target to to achieve expected levels in the Y2 SAT assessments in literacy and if she continues in the rate of progress she has made she will exceed national expectations. All this is fantastic and a huge achievement for dd but the most important thing for me is that she now enjoys reading, she even said that reading was easy ( less then a year ago she said she couldn't do it, it was too hard and she would never be able to do it) and the icing on the cake, she wants to read for pleasure! We have the 42 rainbow fairy box set, it is drivel, but great drivel, fantastic for a first 'read on your own' chapter books, if you start at book one you will find that it starts of fairly easy for a newly enthused reader and as you progress through the books the difficulty increases, perfect!
The best thing in the world is having to tell my dd that she needs to put her book away because it is lights out time, it is fan-bloody-tastic!

Good for her! Trying to get dd (6yrs, yr1,) to do the same. Borrowed a rainbow fairy 'choose your own magic' from the library today, but have told her I'm not going to read it to her. She's ready, she's able, just need to work on the 'willing' & if it has to rainbow fairies, then so be it!

Ds(8) started with horrid Henry but has since read copious Rahl Dahl, cs Lewis, Nina Baldwin, Michael morpuro etc, (he reads more books in a month than I do in a year)! They all have to start somewhere.

roadkillbunny that is so great, it just shows what a bit of support at home can do.

Joyn really hope she enjoys it

So nice to hear some really positive stories here. Dd1 has two younger siblings, and a hectic round of activities which she really enjoys, so reading hasn't been top priority at home, and also I want her to enjoy her childhood, not just work. She is reading charlotte the sunflower fairy. Her teacher was so pleased when she told her that she got the headteacher's award for her class this week. We are also working on her maths, as she thinks she is on the 'baby table'. Not so sure where to start there, as hard to know where she is up to at school. Have ordered more books for that. We have started working on times tables, but tonight I showed her number lines, which she hadn't done, but seemed to get, and she wants to do a poster for her teacher to show her learning. So pleased that she is finally engaging with it and seems enthusiastic. Makes me a little guilty that I don't home ed her, but I know school gives her other skills, and would be tough for ds who is only just 2.