I'm angry with the school that my son can't read

[Teamumizumi]

my DS is 5 and has just finished reception. Reading has always been a struggle and he has "progressed" to level 1. I've been trying to get him to read appropriate level reading books over the summer and have now given up. He can only read basic words like "and" " to" "for" "at"..... I'mwondering what the school has been doing for 2 years -he started in their kindergarten so he has been "reading" for 2years. What he does is get the teacher/us to say the word out loud, then he memorises it. Now that he has read a couple of books cold i have discovered he cannot read at all. WHAT DO I DO???????

So you would give up on a 5 year old?

OP, I wouldn't worry about it too much. Lots of kids learn firstly by memorising and then adding in phonics later on. One of mine definitly did this. Also, he might just be being a little bloody minded as apposed to him not actually being unable to read.

I used to live in South Africa and the SA kids were soooooo slow to learn to read it was staggering but, it didn't see to make any odds at all long term. In some Canadian provinces my kids wouldn't have even started kindergarten by 5years and 10 months and Canada has higher literacy rates than the UK

So try to keep it fun and keep on plugging away with it, but don't worry.

I teach secondary school kids and am shocked at the low levels of literacy and education that the kids come up with. I wouldn't give up on any of my pupils and run after school sessions every week to intervene and help those who are behind catch up. Some teachers are not so dedicated but to point the finger of blame solely at them isn't fair either. The gov has a lot to answer for. I don't want to turn this into a pro teacher thread so won't go on..

oh, he's like me! i did that! i didn't know what the words on the page were for!

you need to tell him that all the words people say have signs that are written down. when you read him a story, point to every word. tell him that this is how you know to say the same words every time because each word has a sign. if you learn the signs you can know what people are writing about.

i'm not a primary teacher or literacy expert but this is what i'd do:

first, try to take the pressure off. yes, you want him to learn to read but no, you don't want him to think reading is hard, horrible and makes him unhappy.

then,go out for the day. take photos, print them. the day after, get thin cardboard and that clear book-covering stuff. make a book. put a photo on each page and ask him what he wants to say about the photo. write it clearly and simply near the photo - just a few words. when its finished, congratulate yourself and him and say how pleased you are that you have a book about the day out. when the opportunities arise, ask him show his dad/gran/neighbour as appropriate, and tell them what it says. at this stage, you aren't teaching him to read, you're teaching him to enjoy books and see them as relevant to himself.

when you're out and about eg shopping, mention to him when you're reading - 'oh, i need some tomatoes. how much are they? i need to find the word for tomatoes...it begins with t...' not as a test for him but as a way to show him that you read as part of your daily life.

daughter asked for a reading scheme when she was two. she could already recognise words. we got one from the early learning centre. the child jumped on the words. 'i can jump', 'i can jump on mum' 'i can jump on dad'. i think there were 24 easy words and it was a three week programme of jumping and having fun, doing it when the child wanted (we put the scheme out on a table and she brought them when she wanted to play). the early learning centre doesn't change much - perhaps they still have similar schemes.

teaching your own child to read is great joy. go for it. if you're relaxed when you do it, it won't do any harm.

Feak I agree. I've seen the same on other threads as well.

This child is 5 and I thought it said somewhere in thread was in a class of 16.

And I'm sure the teacher hasn't given up on him. It would be a bit bloody early to decide there's no hope so let's just not bother with this reading lark. And the OP clearly hasn't given up otherwise she wouldn't be posting for advice on AIBU.

The OP is just worried.

OP I know worrying comes with the territory when you're a mum but he'll be fine.

FGS, he's 5!
Some children develop reading more slowly than others.

My DS could hardly read at 5 too.
He's reading now at 7.
Some countries don't even start teaching how to read until the children are 6 or 7.

God help him if at the age of 5 you give up trying to teach him anything

I would go back to basics with him, but do not give him the message it is ok to give up.

Look at the Oxford owl website they have loads of free ebooks. I would take the pressure off him reading anything for a few days and get him talking about what happens in books by looking at the pictures etc and get him to enjoy looking at books.

The Oxford owl website has some books with no words in which will be good at talking about whether characters are happy etc or what are they doing, what are they going to do next.

The song birds books are fab, some libraries have them but you can buy them cheaply from the book people.

Our local library also has a set of books that are all phonetic, one title was "run rat run" IIRC but cannot remember author sorry!!

Also playing games like writing out maybe 5 words to start with like CAT, DOG, PIG etc and sticking them round the house and asking him to run to which ever word you say.

Another thing DD liked (although this was in nursery, was having a sound a day ie OW/OU sound and then thinking of as many words with that sound in and at the end of the day but not too late as they are tired being asked to read maybe 3 or 4 words with this sound in iyswim.

I would also be making an appointment with his yr1 teacher in sept, good luck.

And post in primary education for more ideas too!!

When you say that he's progressed to level 1, what reading scheme are your school using ?

Oxford Reading Tree level (stage) 1 have no words in.

I think you need to get back to basics with his reading and teach yourself about phonics so that you can help him sound out easy words.

I would recommend putting aside your feelings towards the school and getting a set of Songbirds Phonics stage 1 readers which have a basic story using simple CVC (Consonant, vowel, consonant) words in like... pot, sam, bug, dig etc together with some of the words he already knows and start from there.

Find out about the sounds he should know and the order that the school (should) teach these in and work through them with him, making words using the sounds (First batch for us was S A T I P N - so Sat, Pat, Sit, Pin, Tap, etc).
He can't read unless he can decode the words with his knowledge of sounds and its a brilliant feeling when you have taught them sounds, they remember them and they are thrilled with themselves for reading a word by sounding it out. This gave my dc the confidence to progress, learning the next batch of sounds and expanding their ability to read bit by bit.

I do feel that on the one hand he is only 5 and for some children reading just doesn't click with them at such an early age, but having supported my own dc with appropriate (and possibly superior in terms of its compatability with phonics teaching) reading material at home, I know what they capable of. We always read the school book first (with them doing the reading) and then I read stories to them.

Don't despair but in your shoes I would ask to meet with the year 1 teacher as soon as the Autumn term starts, ask them to honestly assess his reading ability and come up with an action plan between you for you to work with him at home to practice, practice practice. Any sensible teacher should welcome such support offered by a parent in attempting to improve the reading ability of their child. The important thing would be to work with the teacher rather than apportion blame if you intend to keep your child at the school for another however many years.

Forgot to mention the alphablocks programme on cbeebies is fab for teaching children phonics, each episode is very short too so they don't get bored.

You can get episodes on the cbeebies website.

MyDS was over 5 when he started school and after working through the first series of books he couldn't read at all. We started again on and older series of reading books and slowly he got it. He will prob 'get it' when he is a bit older like my son did.

I wasn't angry with the school that my son couldn't read at the end of reception, and I'm a teacher.
However, the school liaised with me.
I knew he had problems with phonics, which ones he knew and which he didn't, which words he could segment and blend and which he knew as whole words, how many of the 45 reception key words he knew, what support he was getting in school and what they wanted me to do.
If you knew nothing of this, had no idea what the expectations for the year group were and where he was falling short and how to help him, then I'd be annoyed.
You need to talk to his next teacher in September and make it clear to her that you don't understand why the reception teacher says all is well when you have these concerns, and you would like an explanation and some detailed information as to his progress over the first term of Y1.

He's 5!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

If you keep reading to/with him, surround him with fun and interesting books and if he sees you reading for pleasure too, he will be just fine. Don't rely on the reading schemes - those books are dull, dull, dull!

If you think that there is more going on re. development then get some advice. But what you are currently doing is likely to put him off for life.

Reading should be a pleasure - you are in danger of making it a chore. And reading should not be confused with decoding - the goal is surely reading for meaning.

My DS couldn't really read at 5 (he too had memorised whole words and stories). At 5.5 he suddenly got it - the phonics, blending etc all kicked in. Now Y5 - loves reading.

Coming back to this because I feel that I gave a misleading impression by omitting a caveat / alternative course of action.

One, absolutely possible and positive, course of action would be simply to enjoy reading to your DS throughout the holiday. When he returns to school, arrange a meeting with his new class teacher to discuss your observations and concerns in detail and dispassionately.

My impression from your later posts is that your DS gave the 'appearance' of reading throughout the year when you read with him, remembering whole words given to him by you or by his teacher when reading books through several times. The teacher may also have observed this 'appearance' of reading, along with a separate assessment of his phonics through his daily phonics lessons, and may perhaps have been more positive about his reading than she should have been (or equally, know exactly where the gaps are, have a plan for working on them, and observe that he is making good progress towards reading - reading is, after all, not an 'all or nothing' skill, there are steps in the process - and therefore be happy with the progress he was making).

What your observation of his reading over the holiday (I presume that you were reading very similar books to those he was reading in school, or phonics books like Songbirds from the library - this is important, because obviously a change to books which have similar numbers orf words but not a controlled vocabulary [many general picture books are like this] or non-phonic books if he's used to phonics could throw him) adds is that his knowledge of reading is not secure, as he appears to have lost significant ground after a break, and that his ability to decode unknown words using phonics is not secure.

These are new observations that a teacher would be interested in - after all, in school there is not usually a break after which what has retained can be observed. If you could add to these observations in more detail e.g. he struggles more with longer words, or words which contain sounds written with more than one letter (e.g. th) or words which do not obey 'the rules' he knows so far, then that would be even more helpful to the teacher - but equally, you can simply say that you did not investigate any further and ask him / her to look into such things instead, as that would be a normal part of their job.

What I outlined in my earlier post about phonics is another possible and positive course of action, as you seem an involved and concerned parent and might want to 'do something' as well as wait for next term. Of course you do not have to teach your child phoncs - but if there is a particular phonic sound he struggles with, then a few days of spotting that sound in every possible context in your environment may well help in securing it in his memory, and it's a lot more positive and fun than both of you getting upset about books he can't read.

OP your son is 5 years old and has completed his first year in school. As others have said kindergarten isn't school and I would be very surprised if he was being taught to read.
I know others have asked but don't think you answered,
What books has he brought home from school?
Has he been taught phonics (brought home a sould book)?
Does he know his sounds or only a handful of words he's learnt by sight?
You say you work in his school so do you know what methods/schemes the school uses?

I would start by finding out what he does know (sounds not words) and I really wouldn't panic.

My son is 5 and just finished reception. He doesn;t have much interest in reading and certainly cannot sit and read a book start to finish. We try to interest him by using factual books which he enjoys more and we practise letters and sounds along with tricky word flash cards little and often - eg 5 mins a couple of times a day.
He has struggled with phonics -he knows the sounds of letter and phenomes etc but blending has always been more tricky for him. He can segment and enjoys writing (and attemtps to write phonetically when unsure of spelling)so we make sure he does alot of that. There was a point when the teacher thought he might not get phonics and mentioned possible dsylexia but with patience and hard work that is not the case and he is starting to 'get it'. Some children from what i gather simply struggle with phonics and if he can learn by look say method i dont think thats a problem - only 40% of english language is phonics driven anyway and its a relatively new teaching method.
He has learnt up to Tricky word 5 - i think that is 50 words? I think some of his classmates are further than that.
I would not say he is a confident reader at all and at times i thought he is struggling compared to some of his class mates - however, his teacher said he is doing well and is above the standard required for Yr1 in Sept.
I think you need to meet the teacher and understand what collectively you can both do to improve his understanding assuming they think he is actually struggling/behind in the first place.
Also, my son is also very numerate whereas others in his class are not so. Maybe your son also finds numbers much easier than words?

only 40% of english language is phonics driven anyway and its a relatively new teaching method.

Sorry wfhmumoftwo but that is totally wrong! 100% of English is phonic and it's a very old teaching method (14th century)

There was a point when the teacher thought he might not get phonics and mentioned possible dsylexia but with patience and hard work that is not the case and he is starting to 'get it'.

It is heartening to know that he is starting to 'get it' in view of his teacher's palpable confusion about 'dyslexia'. 'Specialist' dyslexia teaching is based very firmly on phonics and has been for decades. While I personally think that it also introduces some worthless activities (in terms of learning to read) it cannot be denied that phonics is at the core of the teaching. I suspect that your ds's teacher might think that 'dyslexics' need teaching which is different from 'mainstream' and as phonics is now supposed to be 'mainstream' (as opposed to the 'look and say' method which was dominant for several decades) she automatically associate 'dyslexia' with non mainstream teaching...

I would be worried about those 'tricky words' flash cards. How was he inituially taught to cope with tricky words? Was he expected to learn them as 'wholes' or as 'decodable but with a tricky bit'?. Mixing 'whole word' learning with phonics can be very confusing for children who are struggling with learning to read as whole word learning takes no account of the logic of decoding and blending.

Don't despair or give up. It is not too late. You might want to try Leaders are Readers. My DD wasn't reading properly when she was five, but with my input and the help of Leaders are Readers, she reads so well now it's a joy. Their reading programme is fantastic. But you also have to put in the time and encourage your child.

To be fair though in the 14th century there were no standard spellings for words , the writer just spelled them how they sounded.
To say English is 100% phonics driven is misleading- 'though the rough cough and hiccough plough me through' is evidence of this.Making up rules for every exception is not really the same as following a pattern

Err, what do you think 'phonics' actually means?

In all the words you quote the letters 'ough' stand for sounds, albeit rather a lot of different sounds. It's no different from understanding that 'ea' can stand for /ee/ as in 'sea', /ay/ as in 'great' or /e/ as in 'head'.

completely disagree mrz - english is absolutely not 100% phonics based and in terms of teaching i think most people up until 20-30 years ago in this country were not taught to read based on phonics but rather a look say approach in general

MazieD - they are taught sounds and blended sounds for phonics based reading but with whole words for the tricky words - that is standard certainly where we live. I'm not a teacher or an expert in this but that is how all the children i know are taught in a wide variety of schools - i've not heard of the decodables you mention. Not sure i have enven seen it mentioned in Jolly phonics books or the like either.....now even i'm getting confused!

To be fair though in the 14th century there were no standard spellings for words , the writer just spelled them how they sounded.

Actually in the 14th century spelling norms were beginning to develop and by the 15th century printing brought about further standardisation. Whole word/Look and Say is the relative newcomer to reading instruction imported from the USA in the 1960s.

To say English is 100% phonics driven is misleading- 'though the rough cough and hiccough plough me through' is evidence of this. they are all phonically regular sancerreity so not sure what you mean.

How do you mean they are all phonically regular, mrz?

Yeh erm...phonics is phonetically driven which means..."spelt as they sound"