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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

Please help me understand how to help my child read

45 replies

Whynotnowbaby · 07/10/2016 07:33

Dd has just started reception. She has been given cards with the names of characters in the books she is reading and other words that appear all the time which she has memorised. Not many of them are easily decidable at the very basic level of phonics she has so far. She brings home reading books from the Ginn scheme which she does quite well with but she isn't really reading them - more using the pictures to fill in the gaps (so reading a book about lollies and kept saying ice cream whenever it should be lolly).

I don't know how to get her to really read these books as if she sounds out words they don't generally work (so eg shopping but she doesn't know sh or ing as sounds and sounding inidivual letters won't help). I'm just not sure she is really gaining anything from her reading atm and worrying that she is actually developing bad habits of guessing.

We had a phonics evening at school but that advice just doesn't seem relevant to the words and books she is getting. Can anyone advise?

OP posts:

Feenie · 08/10/2016 11:17

Of course!

Can you imagine a school saying 'don't expected them to be able to read their whole reading book - they won't be able to', though?

Iwantawhippet · 08/10/2016 14:35

Pirate phonics is a brilliant app. There is an oxford reading tree app that has six books for each level. I would read the school books to her as they aren't phonic and do phonics books and apps at home.

BaronessEllaSaturday · 08/10/2016 17:00

Can you imagine a school saying 'don't expected them to be able to read their whole reading book - they won't be able to', though?

Our school was quite clear that the books they are currently sending home are for me to read to my dd modelling doing it correctly so following the words with my finger. They also made it quite clear that once she is sent phonics books home for her to read they will be a level below what she is doing at school. They do not want parents pushing the children just supporting them.

mrz · 08/10/2016 17:03

"They also made it quite clear that once she is sent phonics books home for her to read they will be a level below what she is doing at school."

The National Curriculum says books sent home should reflect the child's current phonic stage ...not below.

Feenie · 08/10/2016 17:15

If the books are for you to read to your dd, that's not a reading book, Baroness.

Wrt the decodable books, your dd's school is not following the curriculum corr, as mrz has said.

pippitysqueakity · 08/10/2016 20:05

This has me confused now. OP wants to help her child learn to read, and enjoy books. The advice given is either saying what she is doing wrong or school is doing wrong. What would help here? OP wants to be doing it 'right'

mrz · 08/10/2016 20:26

It's difficult for the OP as the school are sending home unsuitable books and lists of words to learn as wholes which is terrible practice but understandable the OP doesn't want conflict with the school.
The National Curriculum clearly states that books should match the child's phonic stage ...these books don't as they were written for a different instruction method. The OP can either ignore these books completely and teach her child phonics or combine phonics with the books where possible.
The characters names are easily decodable once the child has been taught enough sounds and early books focus on HFW so teach the "tricky" part to enable the child to decode.

YouMakeABetterDoorThanAWindow · 08/10/2016 20:39

Yes, it sounds like the school is not doing what it should and this may have a negative impact on your child OP.

I was in this situation 4 years ago and did what posters on here suggested which was to teach her myself.

It was surprisingly easy and not at all confusing for my DD. the school read very little with my child anyway, and when they did she just decoded.

I started in a pretty shambolic way but with the benefit of hindsight I would...

. Go on Reading Chest and the most expensive subscription you can afford. Sign up for as many books as possible. Only tick the phonics books, you may have to research what they are. Yes, it's maddening they are colour banded but its not too difficult to work within this. Start with pink, move on to red then yellow. You'll work out which books you can use. I have one child but got the most expensive subscription which meant I could sign up loads of imaginary children to get the most number of books . You don't have to belong to the scheme for long if you teach the code quick ish. Your child should be able to read anything soon.
. Get the Sounds-Write app for the iPad- it's free and brilliant.
-get all the free info from Phonics International especially the Alphabetic Code chart. Put one if these in every room of the house.
. Tell your child to read each letter from left to right. To never guess from pictures or letters.
. The home school reading book can be fiction if this helps you not to fall out with the school.
. Speed through as many graphemes/phonemes as quickly as you can so your DC doesn't have to resort to using other strategies.

I did all this in about 15 mins a night. It was so blooming worth it and I thank posters like Mrz, Feenie, MaizieD.
The school thought I was mad as did other parents. Less so now their 7 year olds might have dyslexia and can't access the KS2 curriculum.

Feenie · 08/10/2016 20:49

That's great advice

mrz · 09/10/2016 06:41

Great advice

I'll second the Sounds Write app definitely the best available IMHO

user789653241 · 09/10/2016 06:58

I have read so many thread about school not following the NC these days.
What is wrong with English school?
If parents can help at home, great.(though it shouldn't be this way.), but what if they can't?

My ds's school is the same. Everything is answered by NC requires, NC doesn't allow ABC, but reading MN tells me they are just using it as a excuse, or they don't seems to know it properly. But either way, parents are stuck, and children suffer.

Twodogsandahooch · 09/10/2016 06:58

it's amazing how different schools are in their approach to reading. DD1 was given books without words for the entire first term in reception.
The school held sessions for parents to learn about phonics which were really helpful.

instantly · 09/10/2016 06:59

You lost me at Ginn.

They are an outmoded ancient scheme and are fucking useless as far as phonics goes.

Go in and ask to see the schools phonics programme. School sound clueless to be honest.

mrz · 09/10/2016 07:02

No Irvine your child's school is not breaking the law these other schools are!

mrz · 09/10/2016 07:04

The school must publish details of their phonic program and early reading scheme on their website. I'd check to see if it matches reality.

smellyboot · 09/10/2016 20:22

Ginn books are a really old reading scheme are they not? I am always shocked that any school still has them as not in line with phonics at all as far as I knew ?

Muddlingthroughtoo · 09/10/2016 20:30

I go to the library and get the Biff and Chip books. My son is year 1 but is the youngest in his class and he is only just "getting it". My daughter could read by the time she left reception, different children develop at different rates. Just read with her and maybe every now and again get her to read a word or two.

Muddlingthroughtoo · 09/10/2016 20:31

Alphablocks books are great too.

BoaConstrictor · 09/10/2016 21:29

I had this 2yrs ago with DD. The school has some "new" reading books and hundreds of "old" books which couldn't be decoded. They simply can't afford to buy loads of new books.If we got one which could be decoded, then I got DD to blend it; if it couldn't then we talked about the patterns at lot more e.g. look the last word on each page ends in "ing" or " can you find the word "lolly" somewhere else in the book". I also bought the Songbirds & we read those together.

mrz · 10/10/2016 05:55

It's simply not acceptable to say schools can't afford to but appropriate teaching resources. They've had thousands available in matched funding and eight years to build up enough decodable texts.
For under £200 they could get ten complete sets of Songbirds (pink to orange bands) ...it's really not an excuse.

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