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Original poster

how to teach a child to read who isn't interested

37 replies

littleoctonauts · 23/10/2016 23:06

hello

4yo dd is not interested in learning to read. so i need to find new and interesting ways to teach her. i know the school is teaching her but i want to support that learning. does anyone have any ideas of how to teach a child to read who doesn't want to sit down and do it?

over the last year dd has learned her phonic sounds and can blend 3-4 letter words but doesn't want to sit down and practice reading. any ideas of how to get her from this stage of reading words to reading sentences and short stories would be great.

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SpeckledyBanana · 23/10/2016 23:08

What happens when you take her to the library?

PinkSwimGoggles · 23/10/2016 23:09

4 is really young. in most countries she wouldn't be in school for another year or 2!
read a lot to her and try again in 6 months time.

AndNowItsSeven · 23/10/2016 23:09

A reception child doesn't need to be reading short stories. Just read to her as often as possible and leave the school to teach her to rude.

PatriciaHolm · 23/10/2016 23:29

She sounds fine! DS at this age had no interest, she's in reception - plenty of kids have little interest at this age. Read to her, find stuff she's interested in, point out fun signs to her when out and about - she might not be reading short stories for a couple of years and that would be just fine.

AndNowItsSeven · 24/10/2016 00:37

Ahh sorry read not rude.

Feenie · 24/10/2016 02:15

Why are so parents willing to accept a situation that it so far from the statutory curriculum?. Maybe they are banking on their children not being one of the 20%? Big gamble.

Feenie · 24/10/2016 02:16

*so many

mrz · 24/10/2016 06:06

If she's able to decode short words already I wouldn't worry too much about books and keep practising words.

What books are the school sending home? As Feenie says this can be a huge barrier to success and motivation.

Losingtheplod · 24/10/2016 06:22

Get her to read at bedtime. I found DS would do anything to delay going to bed for a few more minutes, so was happy to read then, whereas at other times of day there was always something more interesting he'd rather be doing. Smile

Believeitornot · 24/10/2016 06:33

She can read short words so she's well on her way? Keep reading to her, talking about stories and relax. Then she'll more likely want to try reading.

Autumnsky · 24/10/2016 10:20

4 is quite young. I agree you don't need to push her at the moment. Just revise the sound that school already taught. The Alphablock game in Cbeebies website is interesting to play and good for understanding phonics. Also you can do some making words games for a few minutes, we used to use the magnet alphbet on the fridge to make words.

dontcrynow · 24/10/2016 10:27

Buy her a Peppa Pig comic. It may encourage her to read.

MMmomDD · 24/10/2016 12:08

Just keep reading TO her. Worst thing you can do now is force it - a sure way to make her not like reading, even if you manage to make her able to do it.

There is no rush! Best thing is to make her interested in books - and reading will follow.

user789653241 · 24/10/2016 12:18

Agree with Autumnsky.
Magnetic letters are great to get children interested with letters. We bought loads from charity shops along with magnetic board.

mrsmortis · 24/10/2016 12:57

I second the 'read to her'. Read anything and everything and eventually you'll find something that she's desperate to read and that will motivate her (though be prepared for the fact that it might be the dreaded rainbow fairies - it was for my DD).

user789653241 · 24/10/2016 13:11

Agree with mrsmortis as well. One of my ds's friend was not interested in reading at all when he started school. His Mum just kept reading to him, not forcing him to read. He is one of the top student in literacy now in YR4.
Children click at different times. Some of the top children in reception/yr1 are now very middle level. Just keep them interested in stories.

Undersmile · 24/10/2016 13:20

How often do you read to her. And at what age did you begin reading books to her?

LoadingDishwasher · 24/10/2016 20:48

My ds 5 in reception has no interest in reading books or having books read to him. He is struggling with just the basic letters they are learning in class. If you do the phonic action he knows the letter, but can't match it to the written letter.

BackforGood · 24/10/2016 21:55

I came on to say what a few others have already said.
Read to her - foster a love of stories and books and funny poems and rhymes. All that 'turn of phrase' and so much more will be absorbed like a sponge.
Also, let her see you (and Dad?) reading just because you enjoy it - let her see you curled up with a book.

Ifonlyoneday · 24/10/2016 22:10

Try making it less obvious. Try comics, reading the shopping list when you are out, reading to look for shopping items. reading road signs. Go to the library and let her choose whatever book she wants easy or hard, then read it to her. It will come.

eyebrowsonfleek · 24/10/2016 22:18

My dd loved playing schools- writing registers, reading to the "class", writing lesson plans and teaching phonics and maths to the "class". When she got "great work!" stamps in her Xmas stocking she was over the moon. (it was the same one as her beloved teacher)

If you want her to read, do it by stealth. Ask her to read out what TV programme is on next, shop signs at the shopping centre, shopping lists...

elfonshelf · 25/10/2016 11:44

My DD refused to read in YR - she'd do the phonics lessons and learnt all the sounds etc, but would not read an actual book to us.

School said not to worry - she's a summer birthday and plenty of 4 year-olds don't have any interest and when she did that she would fly.

Y1 was a similar battle, she's now in Y3 and just had a dyslexia diagnosis confirmed. She can read, but way below where they would expect.

She always loved having books read to her, and we have enough children's books in the house to start a library so we just tried to avoid the battles so as not to put her off. She never had any interest in letter or words pre-school - hated if I pointed them out on buses or shop signs, whereas most children enjoy that kind of thing.

There were two other children who were resistant to reading in her YR class and they both just clicked in Y1 and were free-reading by the end of the year.

Sometimes they do just need time, but worth keeping an eye on it if it does't click over the next year or so.

hippy1952 · 27/10/2016 22:05

My grandson is 4yrs5mts. He is not enthusiastic about school but has a fantastic imagination. He loves Star Wars and Doctor Who so I've got loads of books from the library and he loves them . I think this is the way to go getting him into reading stuff he's really interested in rather than the boring Biff, Chip and Kipper.

GETTINGLIKEMYMOTHER · 30/10/2016 07:41

As others have said, 4 is very young.

The best way to get a child interested may well be to read to them a lot, so that they see that reading is a pleasure, not a chore.

My dd2 was a very reluctant reader of the school reading books, and TBH I couldn't blame her - they were so tedious, all about the Red Pirate's Boots, etc. It was very frustrating, since she could be quite stroppy about doing her reading homework - just wasn't interested.
However, I kept on reading to her, and one day, after we were well into one of the My Naughty Little Sister books, and I'd stopped for the moment, she just picked it up and carried on reading herself - because she wanted to see what happened. However she was at least 5 at the time

TBH by then I'd begun to wonder whether she'd ever do it, so I'd say just keep reading to her - really interesting or funny stories - and please don't despair.

TheTantrumCometh · 30/10/2016 15:12

This post has made me feel so much better. DD just isn't interested in reading the book herself, though she loves learning the sounds and is actually quite competent in what I've managed to get her to read. I don't want to force her to do it (not that I could anyway) because I want her to love reading.

The letter that came home with her reading record says the school want her to be reading, as in on her own or to us, not us reading to her, at least three times a week and if the record doesn't reflect this then time will be made during their playtime. I'm not happy with this at all as I believe playtime to be vital, and I'm not prepared at this stage to be strict with her on it because it will just put her off

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