Progress in reception

[Greydiddi]

Hello

I was just wondering if anyone could give me a rough idea as to what progress my DS should be making in reception on reading/writing by this stage in the year.

The school he goes to is very relaxed (which I like!) but it is quite tricky to get to speak to the teachers about DS. I work so am often not there at pick up and have arranged after school meetings a couple of times but something has come up ( teacher absence/last minute teacher meeting/crisis with another child) I'm a bit worried I'm not going to manage to speak to someone until post Xmas.

I know he hasn't been there that long but he just doesn't seem to be making much progress from where he was at at pre- school. He can write his name and other letters and count to ten and beyond ( and usually write to ten) but doesn't recognise all letters yet. Can do all the letter sounds most of the time - so 'd d dog' type stuff. He can't do the basic words like 'i', 'he' that have been sent home from school.

He just seems behind his friends ( most of whom go to other schools), particularly on the reading and basic words and I don't know if this is because he is behind and there is stuff I should be doing more of? Or if it is ok?

He is in a big class as they do joint teaching the majority of the day ( so two classes of 26) and keeps telling me he finds school too loud and the teachers talk so loudly his head and ears hurt and he can't think properly.

Sorry this is so long . Any advice would be appreciated

[mrz]

It's not about when they start it's about teacher knowledge

[mrz]

And a reading book in reception should take approx 5 mins

[smellyboot]

Surely those same people can just read other stuff with their DC???
We do the rading books a couple of times and then do other stuff ... and most DC i know do sports / rainbows / drame / gym and other stuff at least a couple of times a week so dont read always on those days.

[mrz]

and as the old saying goes practise makes perfect.

[mrz]

Try reading all the threads on MN from parents complaining their child only gets one book a week and is bored.... Not pushy just good practice

[smellyboot]

It can be about being pushy in my opinion. One or two of our state local schools insists on a new book everyday day being read for 4 year olds from virtually when they start.
I would find that way too much and not needed.
They don't get better results from it.
We get two books originally and then one later on and they are encouraged just to read anything or be read to at home.
Our school uses the first few weeks to do lots about routines, friendships etc as well as phonics and definitely don't see reading as a race.
Some of the younger reception children are barely 4.

[christinarossetti]

You can't get very far teaching sounds separate to blending, I wouldn't have thought.

And why on earth would you teach phonics like that?

[Greydiddi]

Thanks smelly I managed to have a chat with the teacher and the school sound similar ( we only get 2 books a week) - so are taking a more relaxed approach this term whilst they all get used to school ( but still teaching sounds, letters and blending just that some kids aren't blending yet).

It also turns out that apparently my DS does do some blending at school, just not at home!

[mrz]

It's not about being pushy it's about teacher knowledge ...teaching sounds in isolation is poor practice.

[smellyboot]

I have no idea what method they use but books are based on ORT initially. By Yr2 they are reading a huge variety of normal books for children age 5+
as opposed to ORT

[smellyboot]

mrz yes they are all doing phoincs and both my DC are great readers and ahead of expectations etc etc But our school doesnt send reading books home every day and is not as pushy as other schools in the first term of reception. Both mine were blending and reading simple books by Xmas but both mine are old in their year etc. Some DC were not. I was just offering suggestions as to why OP may not see what she sees in friends schhols.

[Mistoffelees]

We use Floppy's but I find it a bit 'dry' there's very few physical resources available to buy to support it having said that our phonics screening scores have improved year on year since we've been using it, albeit perhaps in spite of our teaching as you can see from what I've said on the other thread!

[mrz]

We use Sounds Write which is a linguistic phonics programme. Jolly Phonics is ok in reception but often diluted by songs, games, actions and puppets. Letters and Sounds is a head teachers cop out

[Mistoffelees]

Mrz, out of interest, which phonics scheme do you prefer?

[mrz]

So they don't teach phonics until later smelly? Gin's child's school is teaching reading

[smellyboot]

Gin that makes perfect sense to me. I'm no teacher but my DC are in a very high performing state school where in term 1 they make amazing all round progress but dont push reading as hard at this early stage as so many others seem to do - they are only 4!!

[mrz]

No it doesn't make a difference at all to lack of teacher knowledge

[ginsparkles]

mrz I'm not concerned. It's a very tiny school, intake of 10 or so children, with an really good reputation. She's now doing plenty of blending and I'm more than happy with her progress. There is no preschool attached to the school so I'm not sure if that makes a difference to the slightly slower way they started things. They were very much focussed on making sure the children were happy and settled and learning to recognise letters and numbers before worrying too much about reading as such.

I'm no teacher, don't know how things should be done, but I do know my daughter is loving learning and progressing every day so that's what matters to me.

[mrz]

The school was in Tower Hamlets I think.

Personally not a fan of RWI but it gets results when taught well.

[Greydiddi]

That was meant genuinely btw incase it didn't come across as that! The school recently moved to it ( 3 years ago I think)

[user789653241]

Very weird, but children who has foreign parent(s) but born in England were the top readers in reception, and still doing great in my ds' school.

[Greydiddi]

That's very interesting mrz

[mrz]

RWI was developed by Ruth Miskin in her school which had high levels of EAL

[Greydiddi]

Thanks everyone - for clarity DS's school isn't teaching sounds in isolation. They follow RWI. They do have a large intake of children who don't speak English at home a ( although the children themselves generally speak English perfectly) and some who have just moved here so are learning English.

Anyway thanks for the responses they were reassuring and I will try and arrange a meeting with the teacher ( in amongst the Christmas craziness!)