Learning to read in Y1 & Y2

[learnandsay]

How unusual is it for a primary school to focus its attention in YR on teaching the letter sounds, maybe some digraphs, perhaps one or two trigraphs (or maybe not even) and learning (whatever that means) lists of HFW, but not to any great extent turn attention to reading actual books (of any kind)?

And the school thereby, presumably, places the emphasis of learning to read books (of whatever kind) onto Y1 and beyond? And, if one's school has such a system how does one approach it if one's child already reads books quite well and has done throughout Reception? Getting the Reception teacher up to speed with the child's reading has taken a while, but it's getting there. Does one expect to have to introduce every teacher at every early years level to the child's ability to read?

[mrz]

Tgger I don't think you can ensure your child is passionate about books no matter how hard you try you can only hope they find the joy great books can give.

[numbum]

The Rainbow Fairy books are all the same! Rachel and Kirsty find a fairy who's lost something and they need to find it before the goblins do...I'm sure you can guess the ending

Thankfully DD is slowly moving away!

[BooksandaCuppa]

They're short episodes featuring Biff, Chip etc and slightly different stories to the learning scheme books; they focus on punctuation. They were part of the BBC Education series a long time ago and I credit them for contributing towards ds's fantastic punctuation skills. 'Twas only me raving about them and I'm sure they're not for everybody. If I still had our copies I would happily send them to the first taker!

[numbum]

I agree mrz. DS will never be passionate about anything other than the world book of records.

Thankfully DD is passionate about books!

[BooksandaCuppa]

Biff, Chip et al.

[Tgger]

Yes, I can see that mrz. I just wondered how you see the relationship between passion and progress and if you still keep offering in hope etc etc and how schools stand in light of pp re stagnating on lime rather than being offered rich literature or if not that rich at this stage then engaging ..

[BooksandaCuppa]

I think though at mrz's school they have fantastic books 'in' their scheme. Just that many schools don't.

[Tgger]

I guess I can say DS is not passionate about sport at age 6. He is passionate about reading. I keep offering various sports stuff without being that intense about it as I want him to have the option still....

[simpson]

DS is passionate about certain books, but non fiction ie football books, books about earthquakes etc etc

But not fiction....

DD is the other way round

Going to make it my mission to find magic key DVD (cheap) for DD!!!

[Tgger]

Good luck! That's great simpson just feed that then re your DS.

[mrz]

My daughter left reception on white/lime and a total lack of interest in reading ...she still isn't an avid reader.

[simpson]

I wonder how kids can leave KS1 or reception on high levels but have zero interest in reading

Tgger - his writing skills need work and the easiest way to help him is to read (ie give him more ideas on words in his creative writing)....but we are getting there

[Tgger]

Yes, I find it too. An ability to crack the code but not to engage with the books?

I also am going to challenge mrz rather like I challenged learnandsay and ask if she is the best person to judge that her DD had "a total lack of interest in reading". Clearly she had enough to read the books that got her to that level, rather than refusing/not engaging competely.

[mrz]

She also lived in a house full of books, a mother who read a book a night and a grandfather who read 6 books a day so didn't lack positive role models. She preferred to do things - ballet-swimming- gymnastics -bake cakes... and yes she enjoyed bedtime stories but more for the cuddles than the books.

[Tgger]

Maybe she saw reading books as belonging to her mother and grandfather- takes amateur psychologist hat off quickly.....

[mrz]

I think the fact that she didn't read at all in the home despite having access to hundreds of children's books was a bit of a clue (and yes I was a bad mummy who rarely heard her read ).

[simpson]

I wonder if she found it like a code to crack and once cracked did not have any further interest....

DS is getting better with fiction and now trusts me to find books he likes (he loved Charlottes's Web once he got about a third of the way in)....

[Tgger]

were you too busy/not interested? Don't answer if you don't feel appropriate...just curious seeing how you are so passionate yourself...

[simpson]

Lol at bad mummy who barely heard her read

[mrz]

good idea Tgger because her brother is an avid reader, her grandmother was a reader ....she just says she didn't find reading fun (and still doesn't)

[simpson]

Or is it because you are knackered from work??

I do find it harder to motivate myself to listen to my kids read when I have done 2 hours listening to kids read at DC school.

TBH the main reason I do it is because whilst DS would be happy to have a night off, DD would have such a temper tantrum about it, it's just easier to hear her read!!!

[mrz]

When my daughter was in reception I was at university also nursing my mother who was dying from cancer and bringing up two young children one who had SEN, as a widowed mother

[Tgger]

I enjoy listening to DS read and will carry on doing so everyday or most days for a while yet. My parents said that once we could read they let us get on with it and didn't read to us either . I guess kids are quite resilient and will find their own way. DH is a bookworm and whilst I love books I don't read as much as I would like (too busy on MN...)

[Tgger]

Ah, now I feel humbled. Apologies. Life...... .

[mrz]

No need to apologise