9 WEEKS in RECEPTION and already branded a failure?

[noonar]

i am distraught.

dd started in reception in september.

she's a bright and articulate 4.5 yo girl who has always had very good 'reports' from nursery, saying how well she is doing. in fact, she has often been ahead of her peers in some areas of her development.

today, however, i was taken to one side by her teacher, who said that she did not know enough of her key words to start the lowest level of their reading scheme. she said that she is one of only 3 in the class who are taking home 'pre scheme' books instead.

now, of course, the teacher has to be honest about my child's progress, but the idea of 'ranking' the children in such a tactless way (ie your child is in the bottom three ) 9 weeks in to term really upset me.

i feel gutted. i'm shocked that dd is behind. upset with the teacher- but am not sure if this is justified. i'm worried about pushing her to catch up, as she is already frustrated when we 'do phonics' together.

the teacher said her 'book skills' are good, btw.

what the hell do i do now? i'm stressed about it and don't want dd to pick up on this.

Noonar, when in reception my DD1 (now in Yr1) sounds very much like how your DD1 is now.

She is bright and very articulate and knew some of her letters, but going into Yr1, she was on Stage 2 of her reading books - while some of her peers were in Stage 5/6 (there were some others in her stage).

We were really shocked, feeling she should be making more progress, and mentioned it to the teacher at the first Yr1 parents' evening. Teacher was cool, told us she was in the higher end of the group and said there were absolutely no concerns about her educational abilities whatsoever.

Then in Yr1 they started 'Group Reading' to which I reacted with derision - I mean Group reading - what the hell could that achieve. Well, bloody miracles tbh - she has come on i n leaps and bounds and adores reading.

Your DD's teacher was blunt to the point of rudeness. I'd be far more concerned about her than your DD (in fact would have no concerns about your DD ).

The teacher sounds like a tactless t**t to me.

And ignorant - kids should not be learning 'key words' but learning how to blend with phonics. If she cannot access the schools precious scheme, just get her one she can.

There are lots of phonics books around and have you tried the joly phonics DVD - my 3 and 4 yr old loved it last yr - still ask to watch it.

have a look at Jelly and Bean for some good basic level books

Kids should NOT be taught to guess from the pictures - what nonsense, would you guess how to do something new at work, or guess what to wean a baby on!

I agree with all the rest - you cannot push children, just try to make it fun.

Oh and if she is 'failing' it is the teacher's fault, not yours, esp as you said she was doing well at preschool.

Oops try this link

we think Jelly and Bean is fantasic as well. I would agree with everything willowcatkin has posted. It might help to get the Jolly phonics hand book as well so you understand the principles of synthetic phonics.

She's 4.5yo. Don't worry about it. Her 'book skills' are good. What are 'book skills'? I presume they mean she knows how to read a book if not the words. I really wouldn't worry or get upset about this. This child has a great advantage in that she has interested parent/s. Don't get too het up about things and kill her interest in books and reading.
Just be interested in what she is doing, don't make too big a deal about it when she gets bored. She will get interested and in to it in her own time. Maybe not in time for the tick boxes of school but in her own time.

thankyou, thankyou, thankyou for all your lovely supportive posts.

will take a look at the JB books.

i had a sleepless night last night, but have managed to feel a little calmer about it all today.

we have spent the last couple of days looking for fun ways to teach our dd to read. we have made name labels for 'mum' and 'dad' and various household objects. we have spent more time talking to dd about the words in her environment and generally just tried to raise her awareness of words we encounter when sharing a book/ when out an about.

anyway, i'm starting to realise that maybe the difference between dd and her classmates is simply that they've had more practise.

we bought her some lovely new magnetic letters and she went off by herself and spelled 'mum', 'dad' 'poo' (LOL), her sister's name and 'smt' as an attempt at 'sunset'. this is huge progess for her. i was amazed!

Noonar,

If she is doing JP at school then I think stick with this - has she been learning the sounds with the actions and songs? If so, just spend a few minutes every night practicing these with her.

Once she has got all her sounds, then she can start to blend them to read simple words like 'cat', 'dog'.

JP do a magnetic letters adn sounds set which is good. Ds1 used to put them on the radiator and by putting the sounds together he made words.

I agree with everyone that pushing is not good, but I also know that if you are anything like me, you are going to be trying all sorts of ways to keep her on track.

Phonics is honestly brilliant - by far the easiest way to learn to read. IMO, labelling things and just 'learning' the word by sight is not the best way to do it. Using phonics she will soon be able to read most words, just by blending the sounds together, regardless of whether she has seen it before or not.

GOod luck, and try not to worry!

thanks, gs. i take you point about phonics being the way forward, but surely if she develops a wider range of words that she can recognise by sight, this approach could complement the use of phonics?

it seems to be giving her confidence that she can read the labels of things around the home.

I so know how you felt hearing your child was not doing what you expected she would be. I have a dyslexic child and I still remember the shock I felt when the teacher told me how behind he was (before we realised what was wrong) Even now, 2 years later, I still feel emotional for him and for me when I see his skills lagging behind the other kids. But it really sounds like your dd is a bright kid, and as the others have said, very frequently the best readers starting in reception are no longer the best by the end of year 1, the others catch up

oh tia, i do hope your ds is enjoying school.

dd got up this morning and wanted to find her school reading book straight away instead of watching cbeebies! she's so delighted that she has learned to read it 9 from memory).

i've been thinking about this key words business...the school have sent home no fewer than 17 words to learn since half term. but they have been sent home in 2 batches, not spread out eg focus words of the day/ week.

also, they just say on the letter home:' here are some words to practice at home- have fun'. but not a single suggestion has been given of any games/ ideas about how to learn them in a fun way at home.

does this sound like good practice to you??

Not to me - I don't get it.

There are words to learn by sight but, imo, it's much better to learn phonics as this the foundation of reading and once they've got it cracked their reading just takes off.

Noonar, if you are labelling a few things round the house like 'mummy' and 'daddy' and it's giving her confidence and then the motivation to practice more - then it can't do any harm can it?

Thinking about it, my just 4 year old recognises a few words and he doesn't do it by phonics - it's because he knows what his own name looks like and the names of his brothers.

As I say, if it's boosting your dd's confidence then as long as you stick with the phonics too, it can't do her any harm.

How ridiculous! I work in a reception class & we haven't even started word building with them yet, never mind expecting them to know key words!
Ours have just started taking home books with pictures only, no words at all, & they are to retell their own stories. NONE of them have started taking home books with words in, but we have started sending home 4 sounds a week for them to practise.
Our reception class is very play based.
I can't believe your DD's class is putting so much pressure on 4 year olds to read! They have been in school less than a term fgs!

ok, thanks

i'm sure the many schools focus on specific words, so will ask the teacher which ones to start off with.

There's a special list, noonar, can't remember what it's called. I have the list here:

Autumn term:
I am mum dad is a me no he in the to it of she

Spring term:
at yes can see we up is go and on for said cat all get

Summer term:
look you like went are this going they away play come day big was dog

DS didn't know them all until middle of Yr 1, btw.

I don't understand what your school is doing, at all. DS (now yr 2) started on books with no words, too. He's a pretty averge reader now (for his age, compared to his classmates who I read with sometimes).

DD has just started reception and she DID get books sent home with words in them (brag point among the school gate mums, or what?). But I notice she mostly reads by the shape of the word, and she memorises the story quickly. I am unconvinced that she's actually doing any better than her brother.

CVC words, if you search for that you'll find them, like on this thread .

I don't understand why different schools have such different rules about learning.

My son also started reception in September after turning 4 in August so is one of the youngest. At parents evening last week they said he was behind the others in his group with reading. I felt such a failure I didn't think to ask how big the group was. Not sure if she meant whole class or a group of 5 from class.

Having read all the replies on this post I feel a bit better about him being behind but feeling less happy about his school after that incident and something else that happened today which I'm about to start a thread about.

I hope you're feeling less stressed about the reading thing!!