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Primary education

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Original poster

Reception aged boy

14 replies

ilikenoodles · 10/12/2012 11:37

Hi..my DS is in Reception and doing fine as far as I know, his reading is very good and there has always been positive comments in his reading diary from treachers/TAs, however lately they keep banging on about his expression, "he really needs to do this, that and the other" actually quite negative comments. I understand that his expression should be something we are working towards improving but would you expect his reading level at the age of 4 to be level with his ability at expression? I was not worried about it at all as I felt it would be something he would naturally improve upon with confidence but the teacher is making it out to be a huge issue....and yet she keeps racing him through the book bands, came home with a Gold band book last week but quite a downer comment in his book - why not keep him at a lower level so he can read the books very comfortably and focus on other things, rather than decoding?

Sorry for long post, not biggest issue in the world!

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FestiveWench · 10/12/2012 11:41

Sounds like he is doing fantastically well at decoding and comprehension and so this is the only thing left for them to mention that needs improvement.

My guess is that you are reading these comments in a more negative way thatn they are intended. If he is racing through the levels then clearly his teacher is very pleased with him :)

Original poster
ilikenoodles · 10/12/2012 11:46

I know your right! I always look for the negative!, I tend to stick to easier books at home like MR MEN cus I find he enjoys the books more and so thats an easier place to start with expression and stuff. He's just a baby though! I think that sadly as his reading has improved I probably read to him less as I tend to let him read, but I reckon it'd benefit him more to hear me read lots and hear my expression x

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FestiveWench · 10/12/2012 11:50

I found the best way to 'do expression' was to read books together taking it in turns to do the different characters. IME it is really dull to tell a chid to 'read with expression'. Much more fun to say "lets read this with silly voices". Books with giants, witches, monsters etc are good.
And I also went through a stage at this age of completely ignoring the reading books that school sent home - they were far to dull for his 4/5 year old brain. Just because he coudl read like an older child didn't mean that he didn't want to read the same silly childish nonsens as other 4/5 year olds :)

learnandsay · 10/12/2012 11:57

Of the ones that I've come across, books for four year olds to read don't have enough dialogue in them to make reading for expression meaningful. To my way of thinking it isn't until you get to Ladybird's Three Little Pigs that expression really makes sense. In that story it's necessary. The wolf and the pigs obviously don't sound the same.

But talking about practising reading with expression just for the sake of practising reading with expression is silly.

Original poster
ilikenoodles · 10/12/2012 11:58

Brilliant thank you!! We read billy goats gruff the other day cus there's the troll's horrid voice and then the goats and he did find that fun, the teacher said "point out that the words in speech marks should be read differently", your right, very dull indeed, I don't worry about the school books, he's being sent home Ben 10 and similar, which are crappy, american and the only words in speech marks are sarcastic which go totally over the head of my 4 year old!

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redskyatnight · 10/12/2012 12:01

I suspect it's not intended as a negative. If he's on gold level his decoding skills are obviously very good - but at this sort of level the stories are more complex and being able to read with expression is very important. e.g. at this sort of stage DD used to be able to read all the words but she would run sentences into each other with no regard for punctuation, say funny bits in a totally deadpan voice etc. Being able to read with expression in part shows that you are understanding the story and relating to it - which at your DS's level are the main skills to be focusing on.

FestiveWench · 10/12/2012 12:01

Meg and Mog is good for this.
My boys are 5 and 7 and we often read these together. I am always Meg, DS2 is Mog and Ds1 is Owl.
And we love reading the books that they are 'too old for' together like the Gruffalo.

Original poster
ilikenoodles · 10/12/2012 12:03

Thank you so much, you've clearly got it sussed! I am sure it will all come, he reads less like a robot than he did 6 months ago!

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FestiveWench · 10/12/2012 12:07

I it is easy to have the stage that you've just finished 'sussed' :)

I'm currently trying to figure out how to make DS1 learn his timestables and despairing about the ludicrous spelling lists that he keeps being sent home with...

libelulle · 10/12/2012 12:08

As I'm quite sure you know really, gold is the level of an average 7 year old according to the ORT - he is obviously doing rather more than 'fine'. Any comments are going to be aimed at stretching him - if they didn't say anything many parents would complain they child wasn't being challenged! Teachers can't win.
Most children in the class will still be at the stage of learning how to blend, so I think you can probably relax...

libelulle · 10/12/2012 12:08

*their child

Original poster
ilikenoodles · 10/12/2012 12:20

Thanks libelulle - I do agree, i'm grateful they're stretching him, I am aware that a lot of parents push for their kids to be on a higher stage book and I have absolute respect for teachers, he's my baby, youngest in the class and I'm clearly over sensitive when it comes to teachers comments. I just thought well it's great his reading is good, but I figured the expression thing would come naturally just with more exposure to books and not something I could really teach, i've had some fab hints of festive wench though so I'm gonna see how it goes

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Houseworkprocrastinator · 10/12/2012 13:04

in my daughters class allot of the children got 'stuck' on around level 15 (orange band i think) because this is when they were looking for more expression and awareness of the punctuation not just the reading of words they could read the books fluently but weren't telling the story if you know what i mean. I dont know if this is the same in every school obviously but i agree it is easier to work on those things when the actual reading of the words is not a struggle. to concentrate on both at the same time would be hard. I would just read less complicated books at home and work on it with them.

AbbyR1973 · 10/12/2012 13:29

I think modelling reading is really important. DS1 is also in reception and a good reader like yours but tends to race through a bit.
I keep him reading to me and me reading to him separate. He reads to me before we go upstairs for bed and then I read his bedtime story, a chapter book, to him when he is in bed. He is read to every night.
When he is reading to me, I particularly try to encourage him to try out different voices for the characters and might read the book back to him or ask him how his voices sounds when he is cross, scared, excited etc.

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