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Primary education

Join our Primary Education forum to discuss starting school and helping your child get the most out of it.

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Original poster

DD (reception ) still not bringing home first reading books!

39 replies

fixarupa · 10/12/2012 20:45

My DD started reception in September and has still not been given early reading books home. The kids are allowed to chose a new book every day to bring home for us to read with her, which we have been doing. I thought by now they were meant to start on the picture books, then books with a couple of words and so on. Speaking to friends whose kids are at different local schools they have been bringing home early readers/picture books (to talk about with the child) from the very start of term.
I can't work out whether my school is just very relaxed about actual learning to read and want to encourage a love of books (brilliant) or just a bit slack and lazy (crappy). When I asked the teacher she just said they will be starting those books soon, but no other explanation was given.

We do lots of reading with her at home and she really is a bookworm, but she is not yet reading herself. She is a June birthday so 4 and a half. Should she be reading by now?? MN Wisdom would be greatly appreciated!

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learnandsay · 10/12/2012 20:57

Does she know the sounds of the letters? If she does try putting paper letters c a t
in front of her and see what she makes of it. If she makes cat then you're off to a good start. Do dog and so on.

simpson · 10/12/2012 21:00

DS (now yr3 - August born) did not get any reading books until Feb of his reception year and even then he struggled with it until May time...

Most of his reception class got books after Xmas IIRC...

DD is currently in reception and not all the kids get books yet....

They have daily phonics lessons (so would assume your DD does too) so will be building up to giving out books soon probably.

Do you know how she is getting with her phonics (or whatever system your DD's school use)??? There are loads of basic phonics books in the library to get started in the meantime...

Or you can check out the Oxford owl website which has free ebooks to read. They have some of the books with no words in to talk about what is going on in the pictures (not convinced by any benefit in this though )

narmada · 10/12/2012 21:05

I think some schools purposefully don't send books home until all the single letter sounds have been covered.

We haven't had any of the decodable ones home yet but not worried... I think it's best they concentrate on badic phonic decoding first.

Original poster

fixarupa · 10/12/2012 21:09

Oh bugger! I hadn't really thought about the fact others might be getting them and she is not! She is doing O.K I think. She recognises some words like cat and mummy. Also she is just starting to sound out letters but needs a lot of prompting. She knows practically all the letter sounds but when I try to get her to do a little reading at home she can be reluctant sometimes so I don't like to push it too much and put her off. She does live in a very bookish house though and she knows how books are valued. My husband and I are keen readers. I hate to get into comparisons with other kids as I know they all progress at different rates, but the paranoid Mum in me just wants to know if she is doing what is expected at her age. Should she be reading more by now?

OP posts:

usualsocksprezzie · 10/12/2012 21:11

I wouldn't worry if a 4 year old couldn't read.

None of my children were taught to read at school until YR1.

simpson · 10/12/2012 21:15

There is nothing to be worried about if other kids are getting them and she is not.

It is far better to wait so that you do not put her off iyswim.

As I said before DS did not get books till Feb and struggled till May time and then things "clicked" and he was off and went through 5 book levels between May and the end of the school year. So IMO there is nothing to worry about

tethersjinglebellend · 10/12/2012 21:20

Some schools don't use a reading scheme- do they definitely have one?

IwishyouaMerryChristmas · 10/12/2012 21:20

Ds1 didn't start bringing books home until the last half term of his year in reception. He was one of the last in his class to start bringing books home. Now in year 2 he's reading age is way above his chronological age.

Ds2 is currently in reception and brought his first book home before half term. He was the second in his class to bring a book home.

They're all different and unless you're worried about other aspects of the school I would relax about this.

cece · 10/12/2012 21:21

DS1 didn't get any 'proper' reading books till the end of Jan in Reception. He is an October birthday. At the end of Year 3 he was assessed as a level 4c for his reading. (4B is the level of an average Yr 6 child).

ISeeThreadPeople · 10/12/2012 21:27

When dd started reception, they invited all parents in and explained that some dc would still be bringing home picture books well into reception year, maybe even for the entire year, some would bring reading scheme books home fairly early and each child would be assessed separately. They were keen to stress that picture books and simple self chosen books were important, ways we could engage with them and how to foster a love of books in partnership with the school.

DD's reception teacher was absolutely brilliant. Every child progressed in some way, even though two were free readers by the end of the year whilst a couple were only just starting out with decodable books. Each one had made their own individual progress. What they all left reception with was a massive enthusiasm for reading. And the behind the scenes work on phonics is vast.

There are many, many ways to enjoy reading and stories at home. Bringing home reading books is one small part of it.

Tgger · 10/12/2012 21:27

Some schools don't send ANY reading books home till January or later. So don't worry .

RiversideMum · 10/12/2012 21:36

It sounds like your DD is not quite ready. I don't send books home until the children can decode simple words with confidence. About a third of my class have reading books at the moment. They all get to take picture books home to share (I mean nice story books, not books with no words).

monkey42 · 10/12/2012 23:17

relax!
Ds1 - feb
Ds2 - january ( mummy they keep saying i don't know my letters yet, but i do, why can't i have a book like all the other guys).

now y4 & y2, both in top literacy groups.

it's the 10k, not the 100m....

Rudolphstolemycarrots · 10/12/2012 23:32

ours had books with words after 3 weeks or so

Melmagpie · 11/12/2012 11:15

to be honest i think they have SO much to cope with in the first term of reception that I'd be RELIEVED that they are not sending stuff like this home yet. If your dd is keen and ready you can do some stuff with her yourself if you and she want to but for now let her get used to the exhausting school routines and the extra responsibility they have to take for themselves when they start school. The reading comes naturally soon enough. My dd is now in year one and after a struggly start in reception is flying with her reading. I don't think it works that the sooner they get them the better they read in the long term. Some time the opposite is the case.

yellowsubmarine53 · 11/12/2012 11:19

I'd agree that it's better to wait until your dd is able to confidently blend and sound out before sending books home. In the great scheme of things, it will matter not a jot whether she got her 'first book home' in December or January of her reception year.

Original poster

fixarupa · 11/12/2012 20:00

Phew! thanks to everyone for the sensible replies. I reckon I need to just chill out and just it happen. After all, I want a child who loves reading for the joy of it, not just a phonetic reading robot. Its really hard though not to get caught up in the whole "my child has been reading since they were 3 and a half, blah, blah, blah" My family are the worst culprits too, I sometimes get the impression people big up their kids achievements, especially the Alpha mum types. I am always left feeling somewhat inadequate.

OP posts:

MegBusset · 11/12/2012 20:03

DS1's school doesn't send home any reading books til Y1 (they bring home 'normal' library books every week). It hasn't held him back at all.

BsshBossh · 11/12/2012 20:18

My DD (4, June baby) is not even on pink (1) level, she's on purple (0). She recognises all letter sounds and can decode some simple words; she's also progressing well but slowly. This stressed me out alot as I was reading at 3yo and we are a family of big readers. But you know what? She loves school and loves the idea of reading and always has a nose in a book trying to make sense of the story so I am stepping back ad trying to be more relaxed about the whole thing. She'll get there in her own time and her teacher isn't worried.

So relax :)

maizieD · 11/12/2012 20:55

What on earth is a 'phonetic reading robot'?

Is this another of those disparaging labels thought up by the 'we prefer children to stumble and guess their way through books' brigade?

(Apologies to OP if you're just repeating a phrase that you didn't realise is contentious)

allchildrenreading · 12/12/2012 00:36

fixa - it sounds as if the Reception teacher is acting in a very responsible way - she/e doesn't want lunging at/guessing words - much better to enjoy reading together than for your daughter to develop a guessing habit or puzzle over which 'mixed strategy' to use.
Good luck for next term - and if she isn't bringing suitable 'decoding' books to read by the end of term - then perhaps it's time to ask her teacher to give you a general break-down of what's happening... until then, enjoy the great range of books out there for young children.

orangeberries · 12/12/2012 11:02

I felt that way too, it is normal not to want your child to be left behind.
With benefit of hindsight I think the most important things are for your child to be making progress and to want to learn to read.

Our school has a policy of not sending home until all the letter sounds AND many phonics sounds are covered, so normally we get the first book around April/May time.

I used to panic about this but I can see the logic of it now and tbh my children have faired really well with this approach.

One thing I would recommend is to look at books and identify simple words that match the sounds she is learning to see if she can practise blending (cat-mat-hat) and the other thing I did do is get them to remember and find words like "the" and "said" because there are so many! It does make them feel like they can read lots then!!!!

Good luck with it all, I am going through it again for the third time now with my reception age DS2 and I am sure it will be a whole new adventure again!!!

learnandsay · 12/12/2012 11:11

I love this line of questioning!

[1] What on earth is a 'phonetic reading robot'?

[2] Is this another of those disparaging labels thought up by the 'we prefer children to stumble and guess their way through books' brigade?

[3] No! It's a story not a coded message from QCHQ. She's supposed to be enjoying it, not cracking it.

narmada · 12/12/2012 11:36

The synthetic phonics movement still has an air of religious fervour about it which is highly unfortunate as It obviously works very very well for most children if it's taught properly. And this lobby has surely won the argument now given most reception teachers use phonics programmes.

Synthetic phonic programmes do not prevent using other non-decodable books for shared reading.

Look and say - eg word recognition yseems to me the only way to grapple with words like 'George'.

learnandsay · 12/12/2012 11:41

Names of people and places are always going to be problematical: Siobhan, Caitriona.

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