phonics advice please... books seem to be too difficult

[PourquoiTuGachesTaVie]

Ds is 4 and in reception. He's brought his second reading book home today and I've just gone through it with him. It's a level 1 "spiral starter" book (as was the first book he brought home) which focuses on the word "my" plus a range of other words, some of which he can have a go at decoding (such as bed and doll) and but most of the words are impossible for him to decode yet (bike, paints, flower, brother, shoes).
He's getting quite frustrated that he can't read these words and I don't blame him.

Is this normal? These books were published in 1995 so I'm not sure if they're entirely suited to phonics but that doesn't appear to be the case so far.

Are there any reading scheme books I could look into getting for personal use that could better support how ds is learning to read?

Also; can anyone link to a reliable resource for a list of "tricky" words so I can start practicing these with him.

Also, which are the best workbooks to get to practice phonics? I've only looked at jolly phonics so far but I'm open to suggestions.

Yes, of course I discourage the guessing. He still does it though- he is just experimenting with what works. This is not a crime!!

It isn't a crime, but it also isn't reading!

I've just dug out the information sheet the school sent home before half term (when he brought the first book home) which says;

Children need to:

Be able to look at the pictures to help them work out what the text may be saying
Look carefully at the letters in the words, especially the first letter, to help them remember if they have met this word before
Try to work out if the first letter in a word links to something they can see in the picture
Try to sound out and blend together the sounds in a word

As far as I can see only the last point is phonics related. The other points may be useful techniques for tricky words I suppose but the focus appears to be on guessing/look and say.

I may need to send them an email to ensure I can put my concerns across properly I think.

Good grief!

Neurologically, fluent readers do not read by decoding. You and I read by a sophisticated process of whole word recognition. Taht si hte rseaon hyw yuo acn raed tihs esaliy.

We only decode novel words.

At some point the brain has to switch to this system.

The EYFS guidance is a bit more wishy washy and open to interpretation. It could probably do with being reworded but since a huge number of schools are ignoring the very clear statutory requirements in the new Y1 curriculum I'm not sure if there's much point.

I would try your local library before reading chest. Not only is it free, but you will have more control over the order of the books. Reading chest organises their phonics books into fairly wide bands but doesn't (or didn't) send them in order within the band. So your first book might be a pink band with all the phase 2 sounds in and then the next might be one with only the first 8 sounds.

I am not suggesting phonics shouldn't be the method children are taught btw, as this is the only way to decode novel words.

Just explaining what other strategies will naturally emerge as fluency develops.

*why other strategies will emerge

Charles you know that is a meme that has been disproven don't you?
It was released as a joke, IIRC.

It actually takes longer to read that sentence than it would if the letters were in the correct order because the brain is looking at it and trying to unscamble the letters.

Another recommendation for Songbirds. We did not bother with anything else!

You might want to link them to this report from Ofsted regarding failing schools in Stoke, OP - it's very damning of the strategies used in your dc's school and very clear about what good practice should look like.

So you think fluent reading is just really fast decoding?

It isn't.

I have a neurology degree.

OK, here's my tuppunce worth...

Dah dah dah...

Reading books, levels, phonics etc etc. Whatever. Give them a cursory glance and write the odd message to the teacher about how much you enjoyed them (or other some such non-commital guff).

Then snuggle down at bed time and read TO you child as many books as he/she can cope with. Enjoy the stories, have a laugh, have a cry and read for the love of it, not the de-coding...

You might not have the first free reader in your class, but you'll have a reader-without-tears...
xxx

Hxxxo! Ix'x Cxxxxxxxs sxxn! Hxw exxxxxxg!

You didn't descramble that did you?

Why not do that as well? It's not an either/or situation.

I did that with my ds. Unfortunately, he did not learn to read osmosis. Who knew?

^^ yup what Yoni said.

Just roll with it.

Nobody died from accidentally learning to recognise a word.

I have a neuroscience degree...

But I don't teach reading.

I do know as a governor that since we introduced a good phonics strategy through the school that reading levels have increased significantly.

(And I have read research that does say reading is fast decoding)

I do read to him each night and always have done (and my ds also hasn't learned to read by osmosis).

I've just noticed that he's only on his second school reading book but is already becoming frustrated and giving up (he does not enjoy guessing and gets annoyed if his guess isn't right, the idea of interpretation being lost on him at this young age ). I don't want him to be discouraged so early on especially when he has been having lots of fun telling me all about the different letter sounds and showing me their actions etc.

I'm happy to supplement and support his reading at home in any way I can (hence why I started the thread) but I am still interested in what the school should be doing, and why it's not doing it (as seems to be the case here).

No, no one died from being a poor reader who relies on guessing and can't access the curriculum properly, that's absolutely true.

I would seriously dispute that reading is fast decoding, other than when reading novel words.

It goes against the brain's tendency to refer everything recurrent up to executive functions.

ALSO, (another tuppence here), is to not underestimate how tired the little blighters get when they start reception (no matter how long they were in nursery).
So, if you have a child who is frustrated and negative about reading, please stop.

Those songbirds books by Julia Donaldson are fantastic. DS is really enjoying them. Much better than the biff and chip books DD learned with.

Again, I'm not suggesting any child is allowed to slip through the net of learning to decode.

I'm just saying that people who are fluent EVENTUALLY use other strategies alongside decoding and, when an adult is reading the Daily Mail (only 200 words required apparently), decoding may not be the primary neurological strategy.

Yoni - he's so tired and grumpy after school that I'm barely allowed to talk to him, never mind attempt to read with him. So far I've found Saturday and Sunday mornings are the best time to catch him in a good enough mood for some reading practice.