My fs1 son hates reading!

[mumofmy5]

That's it really. How can I encourage him to enjoy reading his school books?
He enjoys being read to and so on but it's the devil's own job to get him interested in phonics etc. Are there any reading games we can play to get him interested. I'm so worried about turning him off reading all together. I've spoken to his teacher and she agrees he doesn't enjoy reading at school but she doesn't have any strategies to help as yet.
Thanks in advance.

We used out and out bribes. A star chart, and if my DD does good reading, she gets a star, and she can save up stars towards a reward. In the early days it was little rewards quite frequently, now they are getting a bit big these rewards and we are trying to scale back. But she is now into the habit of it, and her reading has progressed so she is also enjoying being able to read. What I mean is that being able to read has become a reward in itself.

You could talk around the books as he reads. Point out funny things in the pictures. Ask him questions about the characters. Repeat the sentences back to him with more animation, using funny voices for the characters etc once he's read them.

At the end of the day are the school books actually fun at all? If not perhaps you could pick something else to read that he prefers or back off reading books for a bit.

And YY to reading games. We used to write each other secret messages. Point out words in the environment. Fridge magnet letters, bath letters, write in the sand pit etc. DS liked doing "races" with flashcards, or making them into nonsense sentences. So he'd make a nonsense sentence for me to read then I'd make one for him. Or nonsense words with the magnetic letters. Or I'd read something to him and keep pretending I'd forgotten how to read so he'd teach me. He likes teaching little sister too. He was trying to teach her trigraphs this morning - poor girl, she's only 2!

Keep reading to him. What a lovely way to spend time with him. Maybe get him to chose the next book you are going to read together - he could do it at school or you could go to the library and make it a treat? Try comics?

If it is an issue with "homework" - how about: you read to him and then, he reads it again to you (repeated reading) or paired reading - you read a section, he reads a section and you build to his sections getting longer.

Find a favourite book, and repeat, repeat, repeat - I can still chant the first book DS2 ever liked(six years on). Remember your love of books is the best possible model out there.

I assume that he is actually in nursery rather than reception if he is in fs1. I feel that nursery children should not be forced to read reading scheme books.

If I was you I would take a break as I feel he is far to young for the suggestions made by other posters.

Before he can read he needs to learn the letter sounds and how to blend. Rather than forcing him to attempt impossible reading books I suggest you play some games with him instead so that he can learn his letter sounds.

www.starfall.com

has some nice games.

Or get him to make letters out of play dough

He might benefit from playing some games to improve his ablity to listen to sounds. For example I-spy using the letter sound rather than a letter name. Robot speak like "touch or ar-m" or "where is your l-e-g" "find me something r-e-d".

It is important you teach him the pure letter sounds.

jollylearning.co.uk/gallery/audio-2/

Tbh scrap reading scheme books from school if it is becoming a battle.

Maybe reading online might entice him so check out the Oxford owl website for free ebooks.

Also try www.teachyourmonstertoread.com

If FS1 is nursery then just read stories to him and forget school reading books.

Oh my goodness. There are loads of lovely story books out there. A nursery child does not need to be reading.

Well you say school books, so given that little and often is most effective I second bribery. Mini smarties are perfect, one for each page read for example (a page can be two sides if you want to minimise chocolate intake.)

If this doesn't work and reading books remains a trial for him then word fridge magnets are also excellent. Make sure you choose words that he can sound out using the code he's learnt so far.

Choose 3 - 5 words, & remembering to change the order of them each day, get him to sound out & blend them daily. When he progresses to being able to read a word without sounding it out then put it to the side of the frige and start building a word wall. It's a very satisfying process to see the wall growing larger & can boost confidence effectively.

Thank you so much for your ideas. As a family we are big readers and I hate the thought of my boy being turned off books for the sheer enjoyment they can bring.
Will look at the links and hopefully find some exciting stuff to encourage my reluctant bookstore. Thanks again x

Bookworm not bookstore! Doh!!

focus on enjoying books together, read to him loads, all different styles, let him know just how much fun books are.

ds hated reading until half way through reception when he was able to blend cvc words at last. (not that late really at four and a half only) he would not read books but would happily read words I had written on paper. I resisted all pressure from school to make him read books before he was ready. he has now decided he really likes reading.

strategies.

read to him if he likes that.
sing to him,
tell him nursery rhymes
mess about with language, and rhyming words with his name etc.
don't panic just yet..

he might not be ready yet. how old is he?

Sorry, I'm not clear what your son is capable of. But if he can read a bit, I found reading a story together with my dd worked. She would read a bit until she started to hesitate and then I would just naturally continue then turn it back to her again and so on. We found it pleasable and stress-free.