Are there any KS1 teachers out there who can give me some advice?

[WantAnOrange]

DS will be 6 at the end of June, he is in year 1. His attainment levels are 'below expected' in reading, writing and maths.

I am giving him extra support at home to practise his reading and writing. We read every day (once or twice) and practice writing every day. He is also doing the 'Book Quest' at our local library because he loves it, and gives him yet more practice.

I have always found that he finds maths very easy .

Can you tell me what the "expected levels" are at the end of Year 1? I have not found his teacher very forthcoming and I'm finding it hard to know what to do without knowing the (ideal) end goal.

Bear Necessities doesn't include books.

It has 2 major advantages though. It's far cheaper than the equivalent amount of reading books, and it's a structured learn to read program.

Want - if you think BN is too easy, start with Dancing Bears. You'll be doing reading (of Dancing Bears) every night with him, so you don't have to do any other reading with him if you don't want to.

If you do want to teach him to read though books, rather than through DB or similar, you will have to get the books - which is expensive whichever way you do it.

And you'll have to learn how to teach him to read.

Feenie - you know what you're doing, so you can teach a child to read through reading. It's not so easy for someone like me to do that.

I don't think a child who can't read needs to see themselves as a reader. I'd rather get them over the beginning hump as quickly as possible so that they are a reader.

(Of course, I failed miserably at that goal :) But to me that still seems the right way to do it.)

So maybe the best approach would be to do Bare Necessities first then consider Reading Chest to extend and practice?

How long does Bare necesseties take (roughly)?

Start with Dancing Bears - there are 3 books, a, b and c.

Then onto apples and pears for spelling and punctuation.

Sounds like an awful school, tbh

Not a teacher like mrz and feenie but my ds sounds similar to yours.

We got bear necessities with my ds in year 1 as he was getting confused by his phonics and look and say reading books sent home. He has a similar birthday to your ds ,also 1b, is on blue level books at the moment and I have found dancing bears good for checking what he knows and what he doesn't and reinforcing ,for instance he was confident on oa but not oar from the 1st book.

The end of the 1st book is should,would etc. The programme checks for 100% confidence and fluency, so the 'lack of sticking' that you were concerned about. Yes, you do cover things he will already know but otherwise there can be gaps in his knowledge that you don't realise.Talking to teachers who help older children who are struggling, often this is how they start.

You could start on book B includes -tch,-dge,-all,-ge,-ce with lots of repitition which I feel helps. There are several stories in the workbooks! but not the most exciting reads.

I would still borrow library books, but you may struggle to find enough phonic readers as alot of the books are just like the old oxford reading tree with a mix of phonics and look and say words.
You would probably need to look up some phonic specific reading books and order them in unless your library is particularly big and well stocked and this is where the reading chest comes in I suppose as it saves the hassle.

Red books don't seem to equal Dr Suess level of reading,so you need to ask the teacher what specific things are stopping her putting up a level. With my ds it is lack of fluency, as his decoding skills are apparently very good and he could be on a higher level if he read more fluently. I wouldn't be happy if my ds was still on red level from what you say you already do at home with him,which is more than alot already. It is very odd he is 1b,which he is where he should be but is on reading books that would be below this.

Just to make it clear, DS is not on 1b, we have not been told what he is on. It was another poster who mentioned it.

Dr Sues books vary, he can easily read Fox in Socks or Hop on Pop. He is very confident with 3 letter words but that is the stage he seems to be stuck at. Those particular books were really useful because he used to miss the first letter off the word when he blended it. Finding books with rhyming words really helped. Not that DS's teacher told us that.

I keep considering moving him schools but how can I uproot like that when he is happy and settled?

Bear Necessities says it's for 4-5 year olds, and Dancing Bears for 6-7 year olds.

If he's good at reading 3 letter words, I think Dancing Bears would be fine.

You can click to 'look inside' for both of them, to see which one you want. The real difference is Dancing bears goes quicker - ie has less repetition in it.

Dancing Bears has about 110 pages of reading in it. You're meant to do 10 minutes a day. If you do 4 pages a day, you'll complete the book in a month, if you do 2 pages a day it'll take 2 months.

This is from the last page of Dancing Bears:

• There is still some corn left in the grain store.

• Could you put your coat next to her cloak?

• Last week, Joan wore her hair in a braid.

• We saw where Roy hid his sports bag.

• Claire will paint the boards with a green stain.

Would you pleased if he could read those sentences in a month or two?
Or would that not feel like much progress?

After Dancing Bears A, you can then do Dancing Bears B and Dancing Bears C - so in theory he could be properly reading in 3 - 6 months. Then you don't need to worry about scheme books - he can read any book.

(3 months is very optimistic. Probably will take longer than that.....)

Feenie - you know what you're doing, so you can teach a child to read through reading. It's not so easy for someone like me to do that.

That's a good point, Indigo, you're right.

I would still argue that any child learning to read needs to see themselves as a reader, however, it's very important.

I think the beginning phonics books are great. There's loads of them that kids can read as soon as they can read CVC words.

The problem is just getting them :) (If school doesn't give them to you)

I've bought quite a few myself, and they're expensive. But if you can afford it, then get them.

But I'm not sure that reading chest is actually cheaper than buying the books yourself.

For example, I can get 10 Read, Write, Inc books for £8.70, and 36 Songbird phonics books for £27.64

So, I'm just not sure that Reading Chest really is a good deal.
But the principle of it is fine.

And of course there are free phonics eBooks online......

Oxford Owl for example.

Well I think I've decided to do Dancing Bears A with him. I think reading those sentences in a month or two would be very good, and my main aim is to get him caught up as much as he is able by the begining of Year 2.

I didn't know the Songbird Phonics books were that reasonable! Very tempting!

Keep us posted, WantanOrange - let us know how you get on. Good luck!

WantAnOrange have you looked at the free ebooks at MN learning and Oxford Owl ?

I've used Bear Necessities with a struggling Y2 boy with glue ear (and permanent snotty nose) and it's done wonders for his confidence when reading school books. He pesters me every lunchbreak to do his "special job"

I have looked at those free books with DS, he is very impressed and has it saved on his favourites bar now!

Glue ear and permanent snotty nose is exactly how I would describe DS!

I've talked to DH as well and he agrees Dancing Bear is the way to go.

I would use it for 10 mins a day and then read an e book if he wants to but no pressure if he doesn't. Good luck

Thankyou, I can't say how much help you've been. x

There is a lot of expertise on MN so it's always worth asking if you need support good luck x

I've been worrying and worrying about it but now I feel I can help him with or without the schools help. I've ordered the Dancing Bears book and actually looking forward to starting it with him.

:)

Good luck. Really hope it goes well for both of you.

The end of Dancing Bears A is approx the right level for end of Y1 (1b) - so all going well you should be able to catch up by the end of the school year.

Good luck

You are absolutely doing the right thing and using the right programme!

Keep us posted!

x

Hi, I have a 7 year old in year 2. I knew from reception year that there was problems but the school kept saying it was early and she was young. To answer your question your child is expected to be spot on 1b at the end of year 1. My daughter is 1b, 1c, 1b at the moment but should be 2b, she is on school action + and has an IEP. Do you have any of these in place?

He has an IEP for his handwriting although this has not actually been shown to me . I've been asked to practice with him every night (as if I wasn't already [cross]) but that is all.

What problems is he having with his handwriting wantanorange?

err he can barely write at all! Actually that is an exaggeration, he is aware of how all the letters should look and attempts to write them. However, it's more like he draws them if you see what I mean, rather than forming them correctly. He understands that he should be forming them a certain way and tries to but often forgets how. He always, without fail, writes the letter "s" back to front. He muddles up "b" and "d" (when reading as well). He often leaves big gaps inbetween letters within the same word, then forgets to leave a finger space when starting a new word!

In the past few months it has improved. Mostly the letters are the right size in proportion to each other. He is aware they are supposed to sit on the line and attempts this. With support, it is readable.

He cannnot think about deciding what to write, spelling it correctly and then forming the letters correctly, it's like an overload, so he has to be very supported to write a sentence.

His Dad has incredably poor handwriting. I can rarely read what it says. He is a very strong reader though and a good writer in the sense that what he says is good, but his handwriting is poor. All his work is done on the computer. Could DS take after his Dad? DH is also very clumsy and unco-ordinated and DS is as well when it comes to fine motor skills (DS is fine with gross motor though).

I'd be inclined to ask for an occupational therapy referral. I could give you lots of fun easy exercises