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

[littleoctonauts]

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.

[Timeforausernamechange]

I can't believe they are taking time out of reception play time? I'd be writing my own fiction - in the reading diary! Best let her enjoy books - and read, read, read TO her. It will come

[Mishaps]

She is 4 - if she lived in Scandinavia there would be another 3 years before she started formal schooling. There is no earthly reason why, at the age of 4, she should be interested in reading. So....read to her, anything and everything. Cuddle her under your wing and read, read, read - so for her it becomes something friendly, loving, joyful. Leave the formal stuff to the school. You are supporting them by setting up pleasant associations for her with the act of reading.

Above all else do not try to force her to be interested when she is not - that would be the final nail.

[Salmiak]

Dd refused to read her books in reception, outright refusal and lack of interest. So I didn't force it.

What I did do however was make a game out of spotting sight words (the, at, school, up, all the colours/numbers, etc) so when we were in town she'd have to spot the word 'red' or 'the' or 'of' 5 times (in shop Windows, on menus, on the side of busses, etc) and then she'd get a treat when she'd reached her amount of words (normally something I was in town to buy anyway like more paint for her craft box, or a pack of stickers or a pudding she likes in the supermarket).

Then in year one she suddenly decided by herself that she wanted to learn to read. By the end of the year she'd progressed to being a free reader and I celebrated the end of fucking biff and sodding chip

[CMOTDibbler]

Mine preferred writing the shopping list (esp to ensure they got what they wanted on the list!), reading the Argos catalogue to put things on their christmas list, reading recipes to make cakes or other things they wanted, helping me by reading the instructions and so on. Practical reading for a reason.
At 4 he hated school reading. At 7 he discovered BeastQuest and wouldn't put them down, so it hasn't done him any harm.

[TheTantrumCometh]

Thanks all of you for the advice. I'll definitely be speaking to her teacher to make sure I've not got the wrong end of the stick, though I'm sure I haven't and if it turns into an issue I think I might be adopting my own 'fiction in the reading record'

[Aeroflotgirl]

My goodness, she is only 4, sit down and read books to her instead, ask her questions about what she thinks is happening. Don't pressure her, that's a sure way to put her off. I learned to read at 6, and have a good BA and Msc. As I have gotten older, my reading has become a lot better. She is tiny, relax!

[HalfStar]

Threads like this on mumsnet make me feel a bit anxious! My DC is also 4 but in ROI and there really is none of this pressure as far as I can see for them to be reading independently so soon (most of her class are 5).

FWIW, I could apparently read at just turned four (and I do remember this). My DC has been read to since birth, and loves being read to (and told stories to), is bright and quick - but, she can't read and I don't see it happening soon! She gets pretty stubborn and clams up if she catches us trying to push it. So we're letting school take the lead and she is much more likely to go with it there.

Sorry OP no help but I just wanted to say I don't think it's at all unusual that your child is not free reading at age 4.

[Notenoughsleepmumof3]

Read to her. I always did 1 hour/night myself. All my DC's would come with a huge pile of books. Get some books with CD's to go along with the book. I loved those as a child and so did my children. She will probably start listening to them in time. It sounds like she is doing fine so far, but you have to establish a love of reading. It's important for her to see you read as well. Once she is reading independently in a few years you can read side by side together and cuddle up before bed.

How often do you let her look at screens? That will have a huge impact on her wanting to read. Why read, when you can just stare at a screen and be entertained. It's easier. When mine were that age they only watched one family film on the weekend. Nothing during the week. I know that sounds extreme, but it wasn't, and they are all huge readers now and love reading.

[Zoflorabore]

Hi op I was in a similar situation last year with my dd.
She is now 5 and in year 1, she's loving reading.
2 things have helped- the app " teach your monster to read " has been brilliant- your child designs their very own monster and then takes it on a journey of learning to read- dd was thrilled that she was "helping" her monster when she didn't know certain words! ( dd's monster was a girl )
Secondly- this is only a recent thing but the difference is amazing, dd will read to me and will then " act " the story out as I narrate it to her, it becomes more real and seems to sink in.
Reading is now something that she asks to do rather than it being a chore. I was getting a bit worried as she had stalled and all of a sudden is becoming much more fluent.

As a parent I have had to stop obsessing at the colour of the reading scheme, dd is on yellow ( average I think ) and has been since march, it's frustrating that she's not reading higher books but there is obviously a reason why and I'm sure she will progress at a good rate.

Best of luck :)

[sportinguista]

we too did Teach your Monster to Read and I really recommend it. DS was not really keen up until that and he was the youngest in his year which didn't help. It really seemed to help that it didn't seem like work to him.

He's now in year 3 and doing really well (we're currently reading kids Shakespeare).

It does come. It doesn't help that some of the early books are really boring. Some of the books that he gets sent from school are still hugely boring still but at least we now can read home books which are more fun.

I found also doing it in bitesize chunks and doing reading words when out and about helped too.

[Ta1kinpeece]

Read TO her.
When she is playing quietly, read to yourself
Get recipes out of books and read them
Show that reading is something YOU value
and then wait.

DS refused to read right through year R and most of year 1
He is now doing his A levels

[littleoctonauts]

Thanks for everyone's comments, sorry it's taken a while to come back to this thread, we've all been ill with colds in the house and still are..

Definitely not trying to push her, just want to know how to encourage it in a positive way.

We used to read loads at bedtime but over the summer the kids developed a love of made up stories. Having read these comments I've started to say we'll read at least one book and then make up some stories.

I've recently got a kindle but I make a point of telling the kids each time I'm reading inn it that that's what I'm doing, it's not like a normal gadget.

Screen time is pretty controlled, 2 cartoons when they get home for 'down time' before dinner, but I regularly have no screen days as well.

I've also tried to get her to read actual stories when we practice phonics rather than just boring words in isolation.

Thanks again for your helpful ideas