Is this a poor approach to reading from school and am I making it worse?

[lecce]

Ds is in reception and I am a little concerned about how the school seems to be approaching reading.

Things I am happy with:

• He only knew a few letters by sight when he started and now knows all - upper and lower case.

-He knew all sounds of basic letters before starting but now knows all letter 'names' and sounds.

• He is clearly learning to read - had done nothing in this area before school.

Things that worry me:
-There is only one comment in his reading book from school - written by the TA about 5 weeks ago. How does the teacher know anything about his progress?

-They send home words for him to learn. These are not decodable (at his level) and they are only supposed to be sent a new set when the previous one has been mastered. The first 3 sets ds loved but now we have 7 sets and he just finds them confusing. I have several times commented in his book that he finds them confusing and prefers decoding but the school continue to send more. He has not mastered the last 3 sets yet subsequent ones (and certificates congratulating him on learning words he hasn't learnt )have been sent.

-Books sent home seem to be completely random. I wouldn't have a clue what level he is on and most are not decodable (last one had guinea pig - what a waste of time). This has led to a lot of frustration on his part as he tends to try and use the pictures and I try and stop him and conflict ensues. He only gets one a week and I have commented that he is frustrated because he clearly enjoys the phonics sessions they do in class abd wants to be able to use them, but no one ever responds to my comments and similar books come home the next week.

I now more or less ignore what comes home from school and use other stuff. He abolutlely loves Starfall (though we've nearly exhausted it now) and I've got some Usbourne phonics books which he also likes because they have a bit of a plot. However, neither of these are completely the right level and I have been saying stuff like, "The 'a' and the 'r' make 'ar' in this word," and if I do that he will blend it fine. I have also told him about 'magic' and 'silent' 'Es' and, if I tell him which it is he can decode the word from there. However, I am a little worried that what I am doing is 'wrong' and will be counter-productive for him later. I am also a bit worried about basically ignoring the stuff school send home as I don't want to appear arrogant or unsuportive.

Thanks for reading.

Sounds like they aren't as on board with synthetic phonics as most schools. You say he's done letters but has he done any digraphs? My dd (same stage in yrR) has done ai, oa, ie, ee, or, ng - they follow jolly phonics.

I wouldn't be terribly happy with them sending words home yet especially as they aren't decodable.

My DD's school are very pro phonics but they told us to actively encourage using picture cues etc - after all, adults do! It could really put a child off if you covered up the pictures or said they werent allowed to use them.

It sounds like you are doing the right thing using starfall etc as the school aren't seeming to do phonics much, but I wouldn't rush ahead too much unless he really understands it.

In the meantime while he's learning there's nothing wrong with you reading words for him or even reading the whole book, and just getting him to read the easily decoded words, and letting him tell the story using pictures or doing other games like "can you find me..."

I don't know if he's done any digraphs, apart form letters I know he's done 'ck' because he told me about it. Other than that, no idea.

I know it was a mistake to get into conflict about him using the picture but the book was so useless, it had a short (non-decodable) sentence on each page and the only thing that changed was the animal - which was shown in the picture. There was no reading practise at all. I should have just let him look at it, though .

There are a certain number of words on the reception list that will need to be learnt as sight words as they don't ncessarily work phonetically.
Using picture cluesis actually one of the ways that children are encouraged to learn to "read" although it may not seem to you like he is reading.
We had a new Parent's evening at school wher the reception teachers explained the different strategies they used to teach reading.
Can yo make an appointment to speak with his teacher and just sy that you ould really like to know how they teach reading so that you can help as much as possible?

The thing is they're only in reception, and haven't been at school long, I don't think dd's class have started on digraphs yet, they will be focusing on Cvc words but I'm really impressed t how quickly dd has learnt all the alphabet sounds considering she really c only recognise the letter at the start of her name at the start o term and w that interested in doing it, now she's trying to write and read words all the time :)

the early books with few words are more about talking about the book rather than just reading the book

'describe the picture'
'do you think the are happy or sad?'
'why'

it's more so they get used to the fact that books run in sequenec etc rather than the printed words

Also Lecce it's not useless, it's just a different way of learning different reading skills. I do admit that I tried to cover the pictures in dd's first book and then was when we were told not to do it at the reading evening.

Those hight frequency words are useful to learn, although he shouldn't move onto the next set until he's got the others under his belt - it sounds like they've swamped him with too many at once.
I expect the repeated sentences in that book were such words and the book is to help to recognise them.

I feel the same - I am so impressed with how much ds has learnt in such a short space of time and with how well-motivated he is now, after not being the slightest bit interested, really, before September. This is why it seems very churlish of me to complain or anything, because they are clearly doing something right!

Ponty Thanks for your advice, it's very reassuring. Could you clarify what you meant by 'unless he really understands it' please?

Ds1 didn't bring a 'reading' book home for the whole of Reception (just library books about bridges and space etc.). And LONG lists of decodable words which were random like 'prop'. He was totally demotivated and gave up.

They are mixing it up more this year, and he's getting into reading at last. We were told that when they read, just help them with the words they are struggling with so they get some flow going ie. flow/ enjoyment being more important than being able to read every, single word yourself. He's enjoying it and now I know

Lecce, they still teach magic/silent e, (at least as my dcs school,) so youre doing fine. I think the point ponty was trying to make was not to rush teaching ai, ea, ou, oo etc if school isn't there yet & if your dc is still getting to grips with single letter sounds etc. I've never used jolly phonics but that kind of system has a certain order you learn the sounds, so after the single letters you might tackle th, sh & ch but it'll be a while before you go onto more complex sounds.

The non decodable book issue is also very common, probably old schemes they've have for a long time before phonics came to the front. I wouldn't necessarily give up on them, just help if you know it's not decodable & your dc won't know the word yet. And if you are reading with your dc regularly, (even if it's not a school book every time,) I'd make a note of it for the teacher to see what you've been doing at home.

I can't comment on the technical side of reading, but thought I'd comment on your concern that the TA doesn't update his reading book. At my DDs school the TA and teacher keep a separate set of records detailing each child's reading progress, the teacher refers to this rather than any comments in the home reading book.

I wouldn't worry that the teacher is not hearing your child read 1:1. There should be plenty of activities in class that give opportunities for assessment better than "reading" a book by guessing at the pictures. Make an appointment with your child's teacher and ask about the school's approach to teaching reading and share your "confusion" - confusion is less threatening than concern.

OP you have a good grasp of what is necessary, pity the school has not. For YR it is hard to beat the BRI(Beginning Reading Instruction) for good value, the optimum approach, and enjoyment that small children experience when reading these books.
www.piperbooks.co.uk

OP, you might like to inform the school that in Oct 2010 the DfE introduced a revised set of criteria for synthetic phonics programmes. It included new advice on early texts to practise reading: ''(E)nsure that as pupils move through the early stages of acquiring phonics, they are invited to practise by reading texts which are entirely decodable for them, so that they experience success and learn to rely on phonemic strategies. It is important that texts are of the appropriate level for children to apply and practise the phonic knowledge and skills that they have learnt. Children should not be expected to use strategies such as whole-word recognition and/or cues from context, grammar, or pictures''

Hi Lecce,
You don?t say what the school do with the words they send home with your son. Presumably, they have a weekly quiz/test?
If they do and you want your son to do well and to learn something about the alphabet code at the same time, here?s what I advise parents to do:
I have in front of me the list of words to read and spell my daughter had to learn when she was in Y1. Here are a few examples: niece, flag, heavy, club, night.
I say to parents they should sit next to their child with the spelling/reading list on the other side, out of the child?s sight. You say to the child, the first word we are going to spell is ?niece? and I ask the child to tell me the sounds in ?niece?. As the child says the sounds, I write them on a whiteboard (or a piece of paper) and say each sound as I write it. So, for ?niece?, it goes, ?n? ?ee? ?s?, ?niece?, where the sounds ?ee? and ?s? are spelt and , respectively. We now read it back sound by sound and I tell the parent to then ask the child to write it and to say each sound as they do. When they?ve done that, they read it again sound by sound.
We might also, if the word has particularly difficult (infrequent) spellings talk a bit more about them. With the word ?niece?, I might add that sometimes we spell the sound ?s? like this, pointing to the .
If the list contains lots of words with more complex sound to spelling correspondences, I tell the parents to do exactly the same the next day. On Day 3, or when the parent feels that the child is ready, the parent reads the words and the child writes them still saying each sound as they do. After a week, the child is usually getting ten out of ten, and learning some of the more complex spellings for sounds into the bargain.
Of course, in order to be able to do this, the parent and the child have to be able to separate words into their separate sounds. I?ve done this with the list above:
f l a g, h ea v y, c l u b, n igh t.
Oh, and by the way, as well as reading to your child good quality children's lit., I'd have a look round on the Internet for some good decodable readers.
I hope this is of some help.

are very pro phonics but they told us to actively encourage using picture cues etc
There are a certain number of words on the reception list that will need to be learnt as sight words as they don't ncessarily work phonetically.
it's more so they get used to the fact that books run in sequenec etc rather than the printed words

Ouch mrz, put yer biscuit away actually can I have it as I'm quite hungry - I never said I was an expert! :) Far from it, I was just saying what our school's approach is.

I admit I was a bit surprised about the picture cue thing, but the way it was explained made sense to me - it'd be pretty discouraging to get a book with lovely pictures and then be told you can't look at them until you've decoded every word! DD would hate it. She actually enjoys decoding so much that she always tries that first rather than instantly guessing. Anyway, rightly or wrongly I'm happy with the school's approach, and she's doing well :)

Not quite so happy with the occasional ORT book mind you :o - but we just race through that reading the words that she can do, and then move on to some phonics games.

it'd be pretty discouraging to get a book with lovely pictures and then be told you can't look at them until you've decoded every word! [have another biscuit] (is that honestly what they said?

Of course children will look at the pictures and why shouldn't they The pictures are there for pleasure/enjoyment but the actively encouraging children to use the pictures to try and work out words is very bad practice I'm afraid. Pictures are there to enhance the words not to provide clues.

By 'understanding it properly' OP I meant that he gets it really embedded - sometimes dd has asked about a digraph she's not met before while looking at a non-school book, and I've explained it, and she then figures out the word, but that doesn't mean she's really learnt it IYSWIM? She may not remember the sound or action next time, and it won't be until she's done it at school that she really really 'gets' it. I would rather be a bit slower and make sure each sound she learns it properly committed to memory instead of doing lots quickly.

I see :) 'actively encourage' probably wasn't the right choice of words - it isn't that they are supposed to look at the pictures first or anything, as that would've got a from me too. More that if DD is really struggling with a word, there is nothing wrong with letting her use the pictures in combination with the sounds she's picked out, instead of covering up the pictures or something, which she said some parents had been proudly doing!

More that if DD is really struggling with a word, there is nothing wrong with letting her use the pictures in combination with the sounds she's picked out, instead of covering up the pictures or something Sorry but there is... the pictures are for one thing and the words are for another.
She shouldn't be using the pictures as clues to what the words might say (and if the school are saying to do this they are using bad practice) ... no one is saying cover the pictures up just to help her read the words by drawing her attention to the letters and showing her how to work out the word.

It sounds as if your daughter is doing really well with her reading and has worked out how words work pretty much for herself which is why using picture clues sends the wrong message and can be very confusing for some children.

Fair enough. I do know what you mean - have lurked in primary ed for ages - but what I feel instinctively when DD is sitting with me is different from what I know all the evidence says! [emotional mum emoticon] It is annoying that she brings home some books with words she can't read yet, but when that happens I just don't want to dishearten her or 'force' her to read a word she isn't ready for, I've tried that - telling her a new sound in an unfamiliar word - sometimes it works, but as I said in an earlier post she then forgets it, other times I just get a face if it's a particularly tricky one. Unlike the OP's DS there is no way she's ready for split vowel digraphs or whatever they are called!

It would be easier if the little madam (DD, not the teacher) chose the right colour book band each time but she sees ones she likes the look of and chooses that, and there aren't the resources for every DC to get the perfect book for them. So I just attempt to muddle through and make the best of it, and practise phonics with the other decodable books we have at home, or magnetic letters and that sort of thing, which she is doing really well with. :)

As I said above she does still always try to decode first - I think she sees it as a puzzle or game, like being Basil the Great Mouse a detective - so hopefully she personally isn't finding it too confusing to occasionally use a picture. I will keep an eye on it though :)

Sorry for enormous hijack OP