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.

Actually telling her the word (demonstrating how) is better than letting her use the pictures.
The government has set up funding to help schools buy appropriate books and other resources so hopefully the situation where children are given books they can't possibly read yet might improve

Ok I will do that next time thanks.

As an Early Years teacher OF COURSE a Reception child should be using picture cues !! Please do not cover them up!!!

Oh two reception teachers with opposing views
Perhaps you haven't read the DfE guidance RedHelenB

^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.

www.education.gov.uk/schools/teachingandlearning/pedagogy/phonics/a0010240/criteria-for-assuring-high-quality-phonic-work

Parents might find how the best schools do it report

interesting reading

I've taught & helped teach plenty of children to read, including my own, Guinea pig is a difficult word to sound out but the clue is there in the picture!

I did also have one boy who simply couldn't hear the phonetic sounds & it only started to sink in after picture/whole word teaching. Give it a few years Mrz & pure phonics will no longer be in vogue!!!

I've also taught hundreds of children to read and never needed to ask them to work out the word from the picture. It was fortunate the child recognised a guinea pig from the picture or they could have been stuck for a very long time
My son can't do phonics either so his teachers didn't bother because he could read fluently from sight and it has been a huge disadvantage to him over the years

Phonics isn't 'in vogue', RedHelenB - it's a method to teach actual reading. A child who knows how the sounds make up a word, and how to work them out, will be able to read the word again - without or without a picture.

A child who sees a picture of it to give them a 'clue' may or may not be able to read it again without the picture.

Picture clues help with guessing - not reading.

It was also replaced as teaching method as decoding words didn't lead to comprehension, Phonics is valuable, of course it is BUT there is more to reading than just phonics!!

Surely if your son reads by sight then he recognizes similar words eg he knows rabbit & then could see the pattern in habit? Curious as to how it disadvantaged him? (not picking an argument just curious?)

He is hyperlexic so could read words that most adults would have to think about instantly from the age of 18 months but he couldn't write and still can't spell.

What a strange idea that phonics didn't lead to comprehension I wonder how we managed for the 400 years before anyone thought of whole language

Why on earth would any teacher would half a brain teach decoding without comprehension? What a ridiculous notion.

A child could go through life thinking Dik-dik says deer if they only have a d and a picture

with half a brain. Too irritated to use the whole of mine when typing, clearly.

Interesting. My ds1's teacher has been teaching about 40years so has seen it all! She recommends using everything - phonics first, but then some picture cues to help with hard words that they are just learning eg. 'igh' sounds, the context of the story, the beginning letter etc. to work it out, not purely phonics. It was hammered home to him for a whole year. 'igh' is 'i - g - h' and I have told him a gazillion times not spell it out, it's a sound altogether (and write the line underneath it as they use the dots and lines), but he's so stuck in spelling out letters, he's really finding it hard.

They also have a list of ' speed words' to learn by the end of yr1 which need to be recognised straight off without 'spelling out' (some are phonic like 'cat' and others are not like 'come').

I think reading like learning anything is horses for courses. I certainly don't believe covering up pictures is the way to go. My ds (5 years & in reception) despite doing phonics at school from day 1 automatically looks for picture & first letter cues & I see that as a positive. I'll let you know how he goes with spel ling but I am a good speller & didn't learn the pure phonics way so am not sure on that one.

I have also seen it all. I've gone from seeing our school fail some children in the early nineties because they were taught mixed methods and picture clue guessing nonsense to seeing no one fail to read because they are taught to read properly.

No one has suggested that anyone should be covering up pictures

Really? My ds is in Y1 and I've watched him go from blending beautifully to chanting (certainly not reading) words like curtains and furniture because he can see them in the picture.

He certainly cannot read them now, 4 weeks later. And that's because he did not ever read them in the first place.

So will definitely not be cheering him on when he 'guesses' a word from an intial letter and a picture. It has nothing to do with his reading skills.

But feenie, why has our school done a turnaround. They were RWI strict and pure for several years! It obviously wasn't getting the results. They still use it, but lots of other things too. The mix is certainly benefitting my child, but I can't speak for children generally, just that I am guessing it wasn't working too well, or they wouldn't have changed back again.

Can I ask what the other things are MerryMarigold?

According to the government research 74% of schools claiming to teach phonics have continued to use picture clues and sight words mainly because teachers have never been taught to teach phonics /reading as part of their training.

Barking at print is what I think it used to be called!!

Gosh! it is amazing how involved what seemed at first sight a simple enquiry by OP has triggered such opposing views from our top MN professionals!

For what it's worth, I have worked in KS1 for over twenty years as a TA, and now support early reading on a voluntary basis.

Yes, OP, I think you do have cause to be concerned and I would go along with mrz and Feenie (as I invariably do!) Virtually ALL words in our first Reception books are decodable, and I would never encourage a child to use picture clues. As in learning any new skill, the more accurately and thoroughly it is taught and learnt in the very first stages, the more secure is the base on which to build.

Reception class only just starts to introduce children to letters, sounds and words, and depending on a child's home environment this could be something they have already begun to 'pick up' at home, or it could be totally alien to them; I have known children whose home does not contain a single book!

At this stage, SOUNDS are far more important than the Names of letters, and learning both together can cause confusion. And there is a LOT more to be learnt in Reception than just the acquisition of basic reading skills.

'Barking at print' is another of these strange myths!

It has nothing to do with phonics per se; it mostly occurs when children don't have sufficient vocabulary skills to understand the words they are 'reading'.

and of course learning a whole list of words by sight is reading