Year 1 daughter refuses to read

[Butterymoon]

My daughter, once a keen reader now refuses to read. She enjoys me reading to her but will not read any of the books sent home for reading. Anyone any ideas as to how I can rekindle her love of reading?

Have you asked her why? Have you discussed it with the teacher? Has she got a library ticket and do you take her every week to choose her own?

I would take the school book and read it together. Take parts-do silly voices etc and make it fun. Perhaps act out the parts. Or you read it and then she reads it.

Would she read a book she'd chosen herself from the library? Even when they choose from within a band, they can be a bit restrictive esp towards the end of a level if she feels like she's stuck going through books which aren't "fun" to her.

Good advice...

What books is she being sent home? Can you remember what the first book was?

Same problem here. I've backed off a bit and am focusing on reading some really great books to her. She's happy to read off posters, cereal packets etc, but very resistant to anything that seems like homework.

Many years ago my sister refused to read because her "best friend" got onto a higher reading band than her and was bragging about it. Check it's not something like that. Also in year 1 you may find that there is more of a focus of doing "reading at home" and that she's finding this a pressure. Some of the scheme books are really quite grim, so she may be bored ... the library idea is a good one.

Don't force it. Just read to her instead. She'll get there.

My dd was like that, and still sometimes can be, for us the turning point was getting some rainbow fairy books, we already had some, but the new ones I said she had to read herself. Curiosity got her reading. Maybe help her to choose some books from a charity shop, book people etc. Check they seem about her level of reading and leave them somewhere obvious for as long as it takes. I think for dd knowing she had some books which were hers but she could only access if she read herself worked on her curiosity.

Also see whether she prefers information books, she might like reading about her topic. She will come back to it though.

AGree with leaving it.

But also some very good ideas here. The only one i would add is to try a different time of day. AFter school just doesn't work for any of my dc at that age. We all did much better in the morning.

Hi Butterymoon:

Agree with many posting - try letting her chose the book. Given her the control to choose what to read may help.

Also think RiversideMum may be on to something - there could be something else going on - like being separated from a friend.

One thing I will add is try different styles of books. My DD suddenly discovered non-fiction and absolutely adored it. She was into books on the solar system, dinosaurs and some very well illustrated Children's Encyclopaedias. This was Y3 - I'm not certain what year your DD is in - but try a mix up the reading styles a bit.

Some great book lists are available here for ideas:

Booktrust Children's bookfinder: www.booktrust.org.uk/books-and-reading/children/

Guardian How to Build a Children's library: www.guardian.co.uk/books/series/building-a-children-s-library

Kidsread classic children's book lists: www.kidsreads.com/lists/classic-lists.asp

also don't rule out magazines - there's a lot of reading/ word games/ ideas there. If this is of more interest/ fun for your DD then don't discourage reading magazines. Some are really very good.

Hope that helps

I agree with the ideas above. We had the same issues with both children at different ages. DS was an infant refuser of anything that wasn't about his pet subjects, but he'd attempt to read all that we could find about those (dinosaurs, Harry Potter), however hard. The series trick worked with both children. DS was motivated by a star chart for how many Mr Men books he had read that week. My daughter loved the fairy series, the animal series and anything about pets. She also read First News (the children's newspaper) avidly.

I use bribery - friends have found 1p per page works for their children, mine aren't motivated by money so didn't work on mine.

I use 1 minute of reading = 5 minutes of TV. DS wanted to watch a film the other night so off his own back read to me for 24 minutes to get his 2hrs of tv time.

Just a thought, but are the scheme books she's using of the whole language variety (relying on memorising whole words and guessing the rest using picture, fist letter etc) such as the ORT original readers? If so, she may have got to the point where her memory bank for whole words is full and she can progress no further.

hello there
my ds is in yr 2 now,at the beginning of the school year he refused to read!!
(he was top reader in the class at the time)...
the teacher called us in briefly and said i think ds is refusing to read because he finding it to hard,she asked if she could move him down a few books? we said yes,if its going to help,
she moved him down 5 books!! and hes reading!!! yay!!! i didnt care to much as long as he read,hes below average now,but he will catch up :)
i also went to waterstones and there is a section in there for reluctant readers,i let him pick 5 books from there when we go out in the car etc,xxx

My Y1 ds isn't keen on school books but reads them in exchange for time playing on the PS3.

He is much more keen on books that cover subjects that he likes like Star Wars and Lego. He can't read whole books on his own but will happily try and sound out complicated Star Wars words. [strange child!]