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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

Reception Reading

58 replies

MagdaMagyarMadam · 01/05/2013 22:11

My DTDs are in reception class and turned 5 in March. Both of them started school knowing some letter sounds and have now mastered these and can read all of the 45 words they should know by the end of the year. Both were slow to pick up on blending but DD1 has made some progress while DD2 is struggling to put the words together.

The teacher wants to speak with me and DP as she is concerned about progress. She mentioned this last term and she thought that if DD2 didn't make some progress then she would be referring her for an assessment.

Today she brought home another reading book as she could read the previous one and the book is one that her sister had last week.

The book is ORT Stage 1+ Book Band 1 Pink Letters and Sounds Phase 2. Both DTDs are reading books in the same group so I am confused as to why one would need a special needs assessment.

Can any teachers give me some advice please.

OP posts:

simpson · 02/05/2013 22:01

Not all of them LandS - my dad bought a brand new ORT book from water stones when for DD when she was in nursery (so only a year ago) called The Trampoline. Which is most definately not decodable.

simpson · 02/05/2013 22:03

The class I volunteer in has books up to stage 6.

DD's classroom is totally not equipped to dealing with her so now she does not get proper books anymore

They are worried about her running out of books next year in yr1 so they are "saving them"

Eachpeachpearwherestheplum · 02/05/2013 22:05

The great thing about RWI is that each books starts with the speed sounds, then decodable green words from the story, the red works again from the story.

Even more important is that a child SHOULD have this book for at least a week!!! No daily book changing from pushy parents! A day on decoding, then next day perhaps to decode at speed, then read the story, read and answer the questions, final day would be to read in an story tellers voice.

Original poster

MagdaMagyarMadam · 02/05/2013 22:48

I have had a look at the RWI and it seems to make sense to me so I've bought a collection from Amazon. You've all been brilliant and helped me understand some of the different approaches to reading. Sadly I am such an old gimmer I can't remember how I learned to read but it was definitely Janet and John!

All I can do is my very best to support DDs in whichever way I can and work with their teacher, who is lovely and very caring and whom I have a lot of trust in.

OP posts:

learnandsay · 02/05/2013 22:57

What are you talking about? A RWI book is no different than any other Reception reading book, brought home, read perfectly in five minutes and then forgotten about. There's nothing special about them.

We tried reading bible stories tonight. My daughter asked why Moses appears so many times in each story. This book is rubbish, she said. I hadn't really thought about bible stories that way before. But I found a defence of Moses a tad tricky. Perhaps I'll have thought of a suitable response by tomorrow morning.

simpson · 02/05/2013 23:16

RWI - in teaching (from what I have seen, is very based on flash cards - certainly at the early stages "I say it, you say it" type of teaching).

There are RWI books on Oxford owl too...

IMO there are better phonics based books ie songbirds, dandelion books and phonics corner books (which our local library have).

The very first book DD read was "Run Rat Run" think..."Rat ran, cat ran, pig ran, rat ran in a big red hut.." Etc...(which is a phonics corner book).

Periwinkle007 · 03/05/2013 09:47

I have heard lots of people mention the dandelion books on here. Phonics wise we have the songbirds phonics which I liked and we had a set of usborne ones my mum found in a bargain bookshop somewhere which are all decodable as far as I can see. My younger daughter reads those ones (she likes looking for the duck on each page) but they seem to cover a lot of different sounds in each book whereas the songbirds phonics ones seem quite nicely ordered with which sounds are in which book so actually quite good for working on particular ones.

We borrowed RWI ones from a friend but my daughter took a dislike to them for some reason, they looked quite nice ordered little books.

Simpson is right - have a look on the Oxford Owl website for some to read free online. my youngest daughter likes the Project X ones (think those are the ones) which she can spell out the words in.

I think any phonics scheme will do the job, it is just practice practice practice and lots of variety so they don't learn to think they can only read one 'style' of book. when you read any story book if you come to a word they should be able to spell out then get them to try. One thing I have been pleased about is my daughters both want to read normal story books because they don't see why they can't (hmm other than the fact they may not know the words!) which is ultimately what you want them to achieve.

Sorry Simpson you are still not getting anywhere with the reading books at school. my daughter is now on book band 10 (these glasses have made a great difference) and the boxes are kept outside in the hallway between reception and the Yr1 classes. Not sure what happens after that as I think band 11 is in the teacher's cupboard. I would hope with the way she is reading she will find out this term but we will have to wait and see. beyond that. erm hmm will find out next year.

simpson · 03/05/2013 12:27

Fab news on the glasses

DD was on stage 11 (which she went to yr2 for) but that has all stopped and she gets picture books now (think Duck in a Truck type books - which she could have read a year ago).

I suspect they are concerned about running out of books for her when she goes into yr1 so are "saving them" iyswim but tbh she is now reading some stage 12 books (although I would say she is not getting everything) so suspect by September stage 11 will be too easy

Periwinkle007 · 03/05/2013 12:33

oh dear. I think my daughter's school stops at 11 anyway so beyond that is just choose from the library. not sure how that works with the littler ones.

simpson · 03/05/2013 14:03

Ours stops at 11 too but they don't like kids free reading till yr3.

Oh we'll, will see what happens!!

NotWilliamBoyd · 03/05/2013 14:10

Eahpeachpear - sorry but my DC would have found that approach absolutely deathly!

mrz · 03/05/2013 16:10

"The new ORT books are decodable." no they aren't. The new Floppy's Phonics are decodable but ORT aren't!

mrz · 03/05/2013 16:22

Personally I'm not a fan of RWI but think the Dandelion books are great and their Magic Belt, Alba, Talisman and Totem books are definitely not read in five mins and forgotten.

Periwinkle007 · 03/05/2013 20:16

yes I am not sure ours like them off scheme before Yr 2/3 either which is all well and good if they can provide suitable books. I think that we will be cutting down how much she reads the school ones now as the jackdaw ones are so long that with 3 of them a week she is struggling to fit in any of her own books which worries me as those are the ones she WANTS to read so I think we may cut down to doing x number of pages of a school book x number of times a week and then she can just read her own ones.

simpson · 03/05/2013 20:21

I shouldn't really moan about the pants books as overall they have been pretty good. She was getting 3 books a week and at least one of them was a chapter book so as you say peri she had no time to read what she wanted to.

This way we race through her school book in 10 mins and duly fill in reading diary and she has loads of time to read books she enjoys.

Btw those mermaid books you recommended are a massive hit, I think she has read the first 4.

Idbeloveandsweetness · 03/05/2013 20:45

These threads worry me!
This will be ds in a year (starting in September as a summer born boy). At the moment he can decode cvc words to blend but he is miles off reading books. He knows only a handful of hfw. How on earth will he be at the expected level in a year?!
Everyone says dont worry about them knowing letter sounds and being able to read before reception but if they start with nothing then how on earth can they reach the expected level?

CrapBag · 03/05/2013 21:15

Idbe my DS is in reception, he knew his letters and stuff before starting but nothing wrt actual reading. Now he is on his second level and I think he needs to be moved up fairly soon. He just picked it up really quickly. I have been amazed when he reads words and not always sounding them out now. I wouldn't worry about it at all tbh.

Periwinkle007 · 03/05/2013 21:20

glad the mermaid books are popular Simpson.

Idbeloveandsweetness, don't worry. seriously. He isn't AT school yet. I have another one starting in september, an April born girl so she will be 7 months younger than her sister (who missed being in the previous year by literally hours) She can decode cvc words quite well, if she puts her mind to it she can work out quite long words with simple phonics (we aren't on ai or ou or anything but she can do wh) and she knows quite a few words by sight but she wants to copy her sister and is therefore exposed to it. Once they get to school they will then take them through whatever program they are following. in our case it has been a phonic sound a day I think, they do blending work in class, they gave our reading books as and when the child had mastered enough basics starting with non word discussion books, then simple decoding etc I think. Some children will be further on with their knowledge, some are 51.5 weeks older than others, some will have been at a preschool which did more phonics work than others, some will have parents who have taught them the basics and some won't have a clue (if they even speak English).

The school will make sure everyone knows the phonics, all children even if they could read already, in my daughter's class have gone through all the phonics (although she was given reading books at the level she could read already)

The expected level isn't THAT high to be honest. I think the younger children in the year are only 'expected' to get to level 2 and I am sure your son will be fine. You will honestly be amazed just how quickly he will progress when he is at the right age and in the right situation to do it.

We did a lot of reading with my eldest because she had 6 full terms at preschool and was really desperate to DO something. my youngest wants to do it to be like her sister but she is a lot younger so we do a lot less with her but she is keen so I encourage it.

interestingly out of the kids in my daughter's class, there are a couple of others who couldn't read when they started school but who are now on level 8, some others who could read a bit who are level 6, MANY who are learning English as a second language who are already level 3 or 4 and some others who are not quite there yet.

unexpectediteminbaggingarea · 07/05/2013 10:30

idbe ds couldn't read a single word or recognise more than one letter when he started reception. We did nothing with him in terms of teaching him to read, except read him a lot of stories, because he enjoyed that. he reads at ort level 8 now. They just get it when they're ready and they all get there in end. we start them way too early here, especially boys imo.

Shattereddreams · 07/05/2013 10:58

Simpson what are these mermaid books please?
Dd is yr1 but currently refusing to read jackdaws 10 and 11 which are being sent home. At age 5 she has little interest in their lengthy topics. Ruddy things have put her off reading, she was choosing and reading a nice variety in Easter holidays. I don't care so much about levels, need to pique her interest again.

simpson · 07/05/2013 16:03

Peri recommended them to me.

You can buy them from the book people.

They are called The Secret Mermaid (can't remember how many they are about 8 IIRC). DD loves them and reads them to herself a s well as out loud to me.

Periwinkle007 · 07/05/2013 20:28

hi yes the Secret Mermaid books were a pack from The Book People - 12 books for £10? www.thebookpeople.co.uk/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/qs_product_tbp?storeId=10001&catalogId=10051&langId=100&productId=371338

they are quite rainbow fairy ish - think it is the same group who have done them. my daughter hasn't read them yet. she is currently enjoying the Winnie the Witch chapter books, the Sainsbury's first readers (that are Corgi pup/corgi first readers) and other first reader type ones. others we have are Magic Toyshop, the Humphrey Hamster ones, Claude in the city, Usborne first reading series one and two ones (stories of Fairies, Princess and the Pea etc)

What sort of books does she like Shattereddreams? My mum used to run the library at her primary school and also kept all of my old books so we have an amazing number ready and waiting for my daughters to read. happy to tell you what we have if it might help.

we have had quite a few jackdaw ones. She liked some and prefers them to some of the other stuff at school but they are so long she complains about not getting time to read her own books. I don't think schools are really geared up for good reception readers.

simpson · 07/05/2013 20:51

DD also likes Frog and Toad, any chapter books by Alan Ahlburg (ie The Children Who Smelled a Rat), Horrid Henry, the basic Michael Morpurgo books (Conker), My Naughty Little Sister, Milly Molly Mandy (although she says she is too well behaved!), Flat Stanley, Roald Dahl and the Mercy Watson series.

She hates non fiction with a passion although has just read her first non fiction book (of her own choice!) which was a Great Events book about the Great Fire of London.

DD was on the reading chest but I took her off as she refuses to read anything that isn't a chapter book

Periwinkle007 · 07/05/2013 20:57

ooh thats great she chose to read a non fiction one Simpson. I remember you saying she didn't like them.

Shattereddreams · 07/05/2013 21:16

She has read three rainbow fairies in order (was given box set) and seems bored already thankfully.

So she is dipping in and out of bookshelves if it has a pink cover, she looks at it but currently looking at them suspiciously. Hence me wanting to encourage.

Tonight she read me a Dr Seuss ABC I think, full of made up words which was good as straight after I got her to read the phonics test words from last year and she got the strom one wrong, said storm. But all others right!

I will see if our library have any mermaid books to try, thanks for the suggestions

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