Flipping heck. DD book this week is....

[Shattereddreams]

y1
Scheme is ORT once a week, the old ones which I thought at 20 years plus was bad enough.....

Today she bought home on the non scheme book day.....

Mr Brown's goat. It was written in 1972. The infamous Roger red hat and Billy blue hat.

It's utter tripe. Repetitive tripe.

Is anyone else subjected to these? Weren't they banned?????

Thought you were going to say 50 shades

Now that is literary tripe. I refused to read 50 shades.

What is wrong with old reading schemes? They worked in the 70s, why not now?

What's wrong with that? Plenty of us learned to read from those books presumably. Words are words.

Roger johnny and Jennifer were down by the river. They came to a white gate. They looked over the gate, and saw three goats. There was one big goat and two little goats.

Mr Brown came along on his horse. Hallo said Mr Brown. Don't let the goats out will you? Goats eat anything. They will eat all my trees.
They won't eat me said Roger.
Mr Brown laughed. They won't eat you, he said. But they will eat your hat.

On the contrary, I got from the library today for her Winnie the witch. Roughly the same level of reading ability

Which one do you think she is jumping up and down itching to read???

I loved Roger Red Hat and his chums!

I always wondered where Percy's hat was

Did she choose it herself?

My DD chose Cinderella last week. That's what I call shite. As long as you're pretty, kind and have small feet, you can marry a prince and live happily ever after.

Ds1 had a book once that was from 1956, it said on the last page
Did you enjoy these stories? Which one will you choose to read at your next parent's day?

I am still waiting for that parent's day!!

What is wrong with old reading schemes? They worked in the 70s, why not now?

No, they didn't.

They failed lots and lots of children.

The look and say method was invented on a whim, following no research whatsoever.

Now I have read her scheme book I am also dumbfounded. She doesn't choose either book.

Mumsnet please tell me if I am being precious.

Williams mistake, more robins level 8.
He basically is a lazy boy who does not like exercise. He witnesses a kidnapping and runs (and runs and runs) to tell the police. It turns out the kidnapping is part of a film set so ha ha everyone laughs.

My daughter is 5 1/2. I do not wish to discuss kidnapping with her, and seeing as she will ask the meaning of any new word I don't want her to read it.

Am I being too precious? Is kidnapping really appropriate for a sensitive, very girly 5 year old who is reading above her age?

I have thick skin.......

I screen stories for "upsetting" themes too Shattered but maybe at 5 1/2 it's time she knew what kidnapping means. Help her stay safe?

I had those books (born in 1968!). I still remember them so they can't have been that bad (although I did think Jennifer Yellow Hat didn't really fit the pattern - Yolanda Yellow Hat maybe).

I wouldn't say they are aimed at the same reading age though. The village with three corners (I think it was called?) is a starter reading book isn't it? Whereas Winnie the Witch is for more developed readers.

Her brother Johnny didn't fit the pattern either
The scheme is called 1,2,3 and away

This isn't a starter book, I have no idea of levels for village with three corners, but school have a gold band stuck on it, it has 6 or 7 sentences each page. The ORT book more robins is a gold book and Winnie is approx that level as well.

It frustrates me why can't school have books like Winnie? It's published by OUP.

The old reading schemes have some very questionable messages about race and gender.

In all honesty my Dc don't really like any of the reading books they bring home. My Ds 8 reads them because he has too, has no interest in them what so ever. My Dd 4 is the same in fact I am lucky if I can get her to even acknowledge hers when I get it out of her bag, but they both enjoy the books which are crammed on their book shelves at home so that'll do me.

The straight forward answer is that it is really expensive to buy new sets of books for schools, the teachers would probably love to have new sets of books, but they are stuck with what they have, and whilst some teachers will supplement their class stock with some of their own (i.e bought with their own money), many teachers don't do this out of principle (quite rightly) or want to but can't afford to.

Why not join your PTA, and do some fundraising specifically to buy new reading books for the school.

The government matched funding for books has been extended until October so schools can get twice as much for their money.