How is your Reception child getting on? Can they read? Write?

[tallulah]

Just curious. My DD (March baby) started Reception this year. She does not recognise any words, even though she has learned the letter sounds and can recognise odd letters ( T, O, S and A mainly). She brings books home and if you tell her the word is 'it' on one page, she has no idea what it is on the next.

I tried to get her to write her name in her Xmas cards but apart from the first letter it's just a meaningless jumble of squiggles. Judging from the cards she has received, some of her classmates are writing recognisably, some are having a stab at it and have at least got all the letters in, and a few can't write at all.

I can't remember how long it took my older children to read and write. Her sister started school at 4 1/2 and had to contend with a 9 letter name, but her brothers were September babies, so were just about 5 when they started school.

I'm just wondering what is 'normal'.

That sounds pretty normal to me.

DD (now Y1) could write her name in reception but only because I specifically taught her to do it during the summer. The boys were the same - all are Feb/Mar birthdays.

By the end of reception, DD could read, DS1 could just about read and DS2 could read well. None of them could really do any of this in the first term. DS2 was the most advanced of the three.

DS1 "got" reading completely half way through Y1. You can't tell out of him and DS2 who learnt first though.

Sounds quite normal. There will always be a range of achievement. You often find that children who are quite good at the mechanics of reading and writing early on are not always the ones who excel in the end.

Some kids are quicker at these things than others. Looking at the Christmas cards my DD has from her Reception class, there's a fair range of ability. Some wrote both my daughter's name and their name in the card with very legible handwriting, others are barely more than a squiggle for their own name. I certainly wouldn't worry about it, but if you want her to have a bit of practice with the letters, this is the website I found my daughter enjoyed using to learn her letter sounds. www.starfall.com/n/level-k/index/load.htm?f

DS is an autumn baby and he can read a few words and make a decent stab at writing his name. I think he's in the middle, some of his peer group can write beautifully and read lots of key words, others aren't able to do their names very well.

I did notice a difference in drawing abilities on the schools tea-towel. The girls portraits were far better than the boys ones, all balanced out for the older children.

DS did have a meltdown over reading 'in" yesterday despite getting it on the previous page

They seemed to spend most of the last month fannying about preparing for their Xmas show. I hope the serious work starts in the New Year.

Ds is a September baby. His maths is good because that's what he's interested in and just naturaly understands it. Reading, he can recognise most of the letters but that's it. Writing, can write a few letters but he doesn't press hard enough so they're difficult to read. The most important part of the first term for me is settling in, learning the routine and how to behave in school. The academic stuff will come at their own pace.

My DS is an August baby and started Reception barely able to recognise any letters - just wasn't interested. He can now write his name legibly and unprompted, and knows all his letter names. He is just starting to recognise some of the high-frequency words (is, it, the etc) and is much more enthusiastic now he's started school. It really suits him, which is a massive relief with him statistically being the most likely to struggle (summer-born boy).

Both of my DC were not really reading or writing at this stage in Reception.

DD is in Year 6 now and is predicted level 4a/5 in her SATs next summer.

DS1 is in Year 3 and got level 3 for everything in his KS1 SATs apart from his writiing.

My dd Aug born in reception now, to mu suprise she is a little whippet. She can write her 6 letter name and surname. She writes all letters of alphabet clearly a bit crooked but you can tell what they are. She also is trying to read has few word book such as "mum and dad". Numbers she recognises to 20 and understands concept that 4 is 4 things and can write numbers but has backwards 3 or 2.
She is the youngest in class but you can't tell. Only thing with dd is her speech she struggles or gets excited and can't get what she wants out.

On the other ds struggled in R with letters and writing but for some reason both have took to reading well. Ds could just about write his name only. Couldn't do numbers. Totally different to dd. Ds needed support alot.

So to answer your q dd in reception seems like she is doing great.
But if was ds then would be ok! Ds has caught up he is in year 2 now x

Ds1 could write his name and recognise about half of the alphabet by the time he started YR because they were taught at nursery. His reading & blending came very quickly once they started phonics at school and he was reading simple sentences and six page scheme books by the end of the first term. Ds2 is likely to be much slower with reading I suspect but much, much quicker with his numbers.

Cece thats really pleasing to hear. I worry too much at where the kids will be in the future xx

My October born DS is spelling out three letter words, can write his name and attempt to spell words like "castle" and "garden" for example. He isn't really bothered about reading but will read when I bribe him. If the mood takes him he will sound out words and read them but he prefers memorising them.

He is pretty good at maths (obsessed really) and can count in 2s, 5s and 10s. He likes doing sums for fun and likes to spot patterns in numbers.

He spends most of the day at school outside and comes home covered in mud because he likes building things with the stuff they have in the outdoor classroom.

OP worry not; DD2 could just about write her name when she started reception; now in year 3 she is at the top of the top group for literacy.

Thanks for all the replies. Sounds like there is quite a range of ability at this age. I'm glad to hear she isn't as backward as I first thought

DS is in p1 Scotland but similar to reception I think? He was in nursery before....he started school in August. Can write his first and last name. Can write out any letter you ask him, can write and recognise ai, ie sounds together etc. he can blend 2/3/4 letter words and make up his own when I ask him how he thinks a word should be spelled.

He is considered about average here, and we are helping him do a bit more but not pushing it. He gets and reads a lot of books home twice a week, they get homework of colours like "yellow, purple " etc he can read all those. I think he is doing ok, but they don't push them all to be one level so I wouldn't worry. I know up here they have until p3 to go at their own pace...

S I wouldn't worry to much at all, they all seem to catch up to the same level

The thing I've noticed most is increased confidence. DS cringed at the back in last years nursery Chrstmas concert, this year was front and centre of the production. Has improved in his interaction with other kids, and joined in all the games at a party yesterday.

Has some words, better at maths though (praise the good lord and all his cherubs that someone in our family is) and counted to 30 in French in the bath last night. Can't write or draw.

My summer born ds started reception able to read, but wouldn't pick up a pen to write/colour for any bribe you could offer. In the last month his reading has suddenly leapt on, but also he's become quite keen not only on colouring, but also is very proud to show you his writing. It's no where near as neat as either of my dd, who were winter babies, but most of the letters are recognisable. Although if he runs out of space he continues on the next line from the right:
"Just li
taht ek"

no and no and no pressure from us.
he knows his sounds, though, and can decipher 3 letter words if he is in the mood.

DD recognises all the jolly phonics phonemes, but often reads digraphs as 2 phonemes IYSWIM - eg reading 'th' as 't' 'h' until I give her a nudge.

She can blend quite well, she's managed to read most 3 letter CVC words, but again she struggles with words using digraphs (rain etc) without help.

Writing-wise, she can do her 7 letter name quite well but struggles otherwise - I actually started a thread on this the other day, I got lots of suggestions to try over the holidays, so do have a look on there.

She still finds it all really tiring (June baby) so really I'm just happy that she's making friends and behaving herself! :)

Definitely don't worry, she sounds normal to me. Ds1 could write his name, barely, at this point in reception but he's dyslexic, and could not read for quite a while. Ds2 wrote his name in his cards this year, he's also a march birthday in reception. He will sound out the letters in words when reading together, and when reading alone. There's a range of abilities on the cards he's recieved too. I'm actually very proud of him, and ds2 (8) is coming in leaps and bounds now they no longer think he's lazy and are working with him. It's the first year we've not had tantrums writing Christmas cards out.

I didn't bother doing Xmas cards for DD's class - she gets so tired after writing her name a couple of times (she's still at the stage of having to really think about each letter rather than it coming naturally) - no way was I going to make her do it 30 times. We just did hand made cards for family instead.

DS is one of the oldest in the class, september birthday. He couldn't read or write beyond his name when he started but had learned some phonics at nursery. He's really taken to both reading and writing, and is the best in the class at reading (he's on a different basket to the others now, but not sure what level it is) and he wrote christmas cards to the whole class himself with no help (beyond a class list). But I was an academic child too I think it comes easily to him, as well as him having an age advantage over most of the class. So proud and pleased with his progress!

I also volunteer to listen to readers in class and there is a massive range at this point (some still struggling with letter sounds) but they all seem to be making progress. Presume writing is the same. But most importantly they are such a lovely class and seem to have settled really well.

DD is five and in Reception and can read fairly well (can work out anything where the sounds are obvious like children or cold or frost but finds things like ai or ow or ou pretty tricky - I don't think they have actually done these at school yet although they are in lots of words in the books she brings home). She's fairly reliable on th and ch and sh but combined vowels are a bit of a mystery to her at times. She's on her 8th set of 'tricky' words so has learnt to recognise 72 words by sight as well as the ones she can work out herself.

She can write phonetically but not with correct spelling so wrote sanwisss for sandwiches the other day and froot for fruit when I asked her to write a list of the food she'd like at her party. She did manage cake but choclt was a bit hit and miss (but completely obvious what it was intended to say). She often reverses b and d and her letters are not all properly formed but they are recognisable. Someone who was interested and making a bit of effort could read all the stuff she writes.

She can add and take away up to about plus or minus 5. She can also do two lots of something or three lots of something if the numbers are small so could manage two or three lots of three or five but not two lots of eight. Two lots of six would occasion quite a bit of huffing and puffing and she might or might not get the answer right. I suspect that numbers over thirty or so all disappear a bit into a kind of mist of Big Numbers.

So she's doing pretty well, I think, and more importantly she is really enjoying it all, making friends, behaving nicely etc.

BUT, six months ago when she was your daughter's age (DD is a September birthday) she could do none of these things at all. She could write her own name in a slightly odd way (only recognisable if you happened to be a proud parent) and recognise her own name and my name and a very few other words without much idea of why they said that (Po, Sainsburys, Dad, so not v useful really). I haven't done anything differently since then and her preschool was very good at giving the children lots of opportunities to explore writing and reading and phonics and maths. I think DD was just suddenly ready to learn it all. I am pretty sure that at some point your DD will be too. They all take different amounts of time to get there. And my DD still can't put a pair of tights on reliably or zip up a cardigan or go to the loo without begging me to hold her hand (literally, she can do the wiping just finds it all v traumatic for some peculiar reason). Am really hoping she gets the hang of some of the practical stuff soon.

DS2 is August born. He can read fluently (but could before he started). I think he could write, if he fancied it, but would rather play with lego at the moment. He now knows how to hold a pencil, and can do the first letter of his name. He can count to as many as you like and do addition and subtraction with numbers up to 20.

DD could already read fluently before starting school too and she goes to year 2 for her phonics lessons because she's writing really well too. But the Christmas cards she received shows that she's definitely the only one at her level.

Personally I loved seeing the kids who've made an attempt at writing their own names in the cards (and that's not at all meant to sound patronising, it's a genuine awww moment for me!). Reading her cards I can see there's a massive range at this stage of reception.

DS is in year 2 and was also similar to DD when in reception. He's still at the top end of the class but TBH quite a few of his classmates are writing a lot better than him, mostly girls actually! So it shows that reception isn't really that important in terms of where they are as long as they're progressing.