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

165 replies

Shattereddreams · 08/02/2013 18:22

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?????

OP posts:
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NigellaTufnel · 21/02/2013 23:23

Ooh mrz - ouch. Thank you for your constructive comment.

Will talk to teacher ASAP, we must change the reading books!

But not to worry, he only has '123 and Away' occasionally, and yes, he really likes them they, but they are used in conjunction with lots of other books.
And seeing as he is in a small class in a very good school, he is very young for his year, and we do lots of other reading with him, I think he'll be ok.

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mrz · 22/02/2013 07:29

Yes you said he also gets Ginn and ORT again written over 30 years ago ...Hmm does he get any books written this century?

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hels71 · 22/02/2013 07:43

My reception DD had that ORT about the drunk horse.....very strange, she was totally confused! I did wonder what the writers were on when they wrote it, although finally decided that clearly too much Biff and Chip can only lead one way....

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Karoleann · 22/02/2013 08:57

Ds1 first school we had pussy and the birds (which dh found hillarous) and that was followed by mumps - both written in the 50's.
I even offered to buy them a load of books and school declined.
We started using reading chest soon after

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NigellaTufnel · 22/02/2013 09:41

I have no idea when his other books were written. He is a summer born boy and is just reaching Level 5 in ORT.

Should I move school?

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mummytime · 22/02/2013 10:33

The hardest book my brightest DC had, was about Tottenham Football club and the FA cup. Which neither of us had any interest in, and I couldn't be bothered to explain the rules of the FA cup etc. to her; it was far less useful information than "being drunk" "kidnapping" or "Muslim children going to extra school on Saturdays".

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mrz · 22/02/2013 11:02

I would have run a mile when I saw the books Nigella as it suggests to me the school hasn't invested in reading for a very long time Wink

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learnandsay · 22/02/2013 11:06

I'm fairly sure that in a couple of years time my daughter will be reading The Secret Garden, The Wind in the Willows, railway Children and so on. I've heard of modern scheme books involving dysfunctional families, children getting stuck in cat flaps, drunk horses and heaven knows what else. I think I'll stick with The Lion the Witch & the Wardrobe. New doesn't always have to mean better.

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mrz · 22/02/2013 11:15

You shouldn't believe everything you hear learnandsay Wink

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OutsideOverThere · 22/02/2013 11:26

'There was one big goat and two little goats. '

WAS? Shock

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mrz · 22/02/2013 11:39

You couldn't say "There were one big goat .. could you?

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OutsideOverThere · 22/02/2013 11:44

I think you can if it's followed by 'and'

(are you a teacher Mrz?!)

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Feenie · 22/02/2013 11:51

No, no, no

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mrz · 22/02/2013 11:55

yes I'm a teacher

I would probably have written
"There were three goats, one big goat and two small goats."

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OutsideOverThere · 22/02/2013 12:18

I'd have put 'there were three goats of which one was big and two were small' Grin

I am so not comfortable with that 'was' back there

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mrz · 22/02/2013 12:21

I don't like "there were one ..." even followed by and it sounds clumsy

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OutsideOverThere · 22/02/2013 12:26
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mychildrenarebarmy · 22/02/2013 12:35

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.

As with all methods it works for some and not others. My daughter learnt to read with the look and say method after we realised she was picking words up that way. Any attempt to use a sounding out method failed miserably. For her anything other than look and say was a complete nonsense.

The biggest problem with any reading method is when a school tries to apply one method to all children and those who don't fit in with it are let down.

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mrz · 22/02/2013 12:43

The biggest problem is that schools are teaching one way but trying to save money by recycling books that don't support the method.

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Feenie · 22/02/2013 12:45

The biggest problem with any reading method is when a school tries to apply one method to all children and those who don't fit in with it are let down.

Sorry, but that soundbite isn't borne out by the evidence:

Reading By Six - How the Best Schools Do It

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mrz · 22/02/2013 13:02
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learnandsay · 22/02/2013 16:02

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

Who said this? It's bollocks. There was a perfectly good reason for inventing it.

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mrz · 22/02/2013 16:16

What was the perfectly good reason learnandsay ...do you know?

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zebedeee · 22/02/2013 16:28

'The biggest problem with any reading method is when a school tries to apply one method to all children and those who don't fit in with it are let down.

Sorry, but that soundbite isn't borne out by the evidence:

Reading By Six - How the Best Schools Do It'

My interpretation of Reading by Six does support the 'soundbite'. Just a selection of quotes from the document -

'Boxes of banded reading resources are available in every class and children are encouraged to choose books at an appropriate level. The unusually long lunch period includes half an hour that is used for individual and guided reading.'

'The school considers that children do not become fluent readers using one skill alone so children take part in guided reading at least three
times a week, and more often if they need this. As well as texts from the Oxford Reading Tree scheme, which include phonically decodable books, ?real? books are available for the children to take home, banded by difficulty. A team of parent helpers assists with guided reading.'

'There is a holistic approach to the teaching of reading in Old Ford in which phonics ? based on Read Write Inc. ? guided reading, early attention to writing and constant language development all play their part....The school also retains a commitment to Reading Recovery for a number of pupils each year in Year 1.'

'they are also given the first set of words of
a first-stage reader to take home to learn. Once they know them, they are given the books with the words. Progress through the sounds that children need to
learn follows a standard list and is supported for each child by two reading schemes: New Way, a phonically based scheme, and the Oxford Reading Tree. This combination of phonics and reading schemes, including a phonically based spelling scheme, Spelling for Literacy, is continued through Key Stage 1.'

'This means providing high-quality texts, both literature and non-fiction,
and ensuring that children are introduced to these through cross-curricular projects, story-tellers, and the promotion of books and reading by teachers to children. Reading is given high status.'




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Feenie · 22/02/2013 17:02

With the exception of the words in a tin school, all those schools use just one method - phonics to teach reading. You are confusing the teaching of reading skills, taught alongside phonics, with teaching strategies.

Boxes of banded reading resources are available in every class and children are encouraged to choose books at an appropriate level. The unusually long lunch period includes half an hour that is used for individual and guided reading.'

Nothing whatsoever to do with Look and Say.

'The school considers that children do not become fluent readers using one skill alone so children take part in guided reading at least three
times a week, and more often if they need this. As well as texts from the Oxford Reading Tree scheme, which include phonically decodable books, ?real? books are available for the children to take home, banded by difficulty. A team of parent helpers assists with guided reading.'


Nothing whatsoever to do with Look and Say.

'There is a holistic approach to the teaching of reading in Old Ford in which phonics ? based on Read Write Inc. ? guided reading, early attention to writing and constant language development all play their part

Nothing whatsoever to do with Look and Say.

'This means providing high-quality texts, both literature and non-fiction,
and ensuring that children are introduced to these through cross-curricular projects, story-tellers, and the promotion of books and reading by teachers to children. Reading is given high status.'


Nothing whatsoever to do with Look and Say.

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