what is the academic sense behind the oxford reading tree?

[DimpledThighs]

DD has just read one to me and they really seem to help her reading but I cannot see why.

Any clever teacher types able to fill me in?

Is it the phonetically spelt words, the repetetion or what?

They seem to through in a new word on the last page - is this intentional or coincidence?

I have wondered this for a while.

'throw' not 'through'

Ther is a lot of reinforcement of sounds but they are not truly phonetic. The whole package - story , characters, pictures - seems to entertain them with the Magic Key being the pinnacle of acchevement(it is all downhill from there !)

I'd heard the stories were designed to appeal to boys who often find learning to read more difficult. Can't say I have found them particularly fascinating although the stories are slightly more interesting than Peter and Jane, which is what I learnt to read with.

Oxford Reading Tree is another good reason not to have a third child. Ds2 has just started in reception and so I am ploughing through them for the second time. They make me want to stick pins in my eyes.

You want tedious...try the Ginn reading scheme.

ORT is designed to be a 'story based' approach to learning to read, I believe. The idea is that they learn to have better comprehension skills rather than just 'decoding' the text a la phonic based reading schemes.
It is also supposed to be more interesting for the children.

We are using Oxford Reading tree and is approach really does not fit into with the first term of how my son was taught. He was taught with Jolly phonics and had word boxes to blend and letter sounds to learn.

He is now expected to read words like "brought", "ice-cream", "sausages" or "joke" which are beyond the decoding ablity expected of a reception child. These are only stage 2 books.

The Oxford Reading Tree Songbirds books by the lady who wrote "The Guffalo" are much better. My son can decode them easily and the stories are interesting. The only problem the school has is that they don't have enough decodable readers.

I have bought my son some Jelly and Bean books and some Jolly Phonics Red level readers. They are much better and give my son confidence.

If a child cannot decode they have no hope of being able to comprehend text. Guessing is not reading. For example the word "home" is different in meaning to "house". I think that comprehension comes with improved language skills. Sharing books and reading to children improves language skills.

I agree with all of the posts so far. I really think the key is repitition and building confidence in the reader.

According to my mum there is absolutely no sense behind it - she's pretty laid back but really hates ORT. She says it may be more interesting than some other schemes, although a child who is exposed to lots of books at home will surely find ORT v boring, but isn't a good scheme for actually teaching either phonics or reading for meaning as they are so trite!

i use ORT for learning support only

To be fair the ORT books get better at Stage 5+ - if properly taught with phonics the children can actually read most things by this time. The magic key stories are trite and oh so PC but the kids seem to love them, and there are some interesting historical ones too that linked in with dd's topic at school.

The later stages with 'chapter books' seem OK but thankfuly I no longer have to read them (dd reads them to herself) - until I go through it all again with ds once the teacher actually lets him have books he can read rather than the awful one word things he gets at the moment (I am heartily sick of Mum / Dad / Beth going up up up / down down down ...). He seems to like more captivating pictures - loves the Collins Big Cat phonics and the ORT Songbirds but I struggle to get him to read Jelly and Bean these days!

I think the idea is supposed to be repetition and very clear and logical links to the pictures to help children guess their way through the books. Nonsensensical as 'real' books don't have pictures but I think they are supposed to recognise the shapes of the words rather than the much easier building blocks / phonics which means they can read anything at a very early age. I am appalled that the 'clever' ones in dd's class are still on Stage 4 and that is all that is expected - such a waste when you consider what a world is opened up to children once they can read fluently and properly rather than just memorise and guess their way through ORT 'scheme' books.

my DS is learning to read at school from a scheme of books that feature Ben the dog, Jip the cat, and 4 others too boring to remember, now compared to these the ORT are works of pure genius.

My DD (6 year ago) was taught using the "village with 3 corners" (billy blue hat, roger red hat)series of books now they were dreadful! both DD and I fell asleep reading them!

FWIW my 4 kids love the ORT and the adventures of the kids.

They are New Way books I think! I loved them! I like schemes with the same characters. Not like boring Ginn.

whatkatydidntdo I was taught witht he village with 3 corners, roger red hat etc and I am 32!!!

Dimpledthighs, ORT is only as good as any other reading scheme, IMO use aliitle of Jolly Phonics, and a little of Roger Red Hat, a little of Jelly and Bean and ALOT OF NON FICTION

I have to say I work in the Infants as a TA and we really encourage a wide reading matter, Sometimes it even feels that our DC are behind but when it comes to it we score really highly because our DC dont rely on ORT print or any of the others come to that!

uptomyeyes..I was taught originally ising the Ginn books and worksheets and im 18...they were boring! my sister two years younger was lucky she got ORT!

My son does the ORt and he has done a few levels on the Ginn books. I have found he is more willing to read the ORT then the Ginn ones. By the time he stopped reading the Ginn ones He really getting fed up with them. He is now doing level 7 on the ORT and still seems interested by them. I also been advised by his teacher to start asking him questions about the books, to help him with his comprehension and has even had some homework relating to the books. Some of the ORT books he has had (fireflies series) were adout things that happen in life ie, different types of weather, food and art etc.

The way I see it, if a child is interested in a type of book, let them read them, as they will be more willing to read and to learn more.

Hi - my ds was a really reluctant reader and started on 'ANother' scheme (can't remember the name) but came on greatly once the ORT was used. He then hit stage 9 and hated the stories (and the middle/factual sections with the stories of Romulus and Remus for instance - seriously child friendly - NOT!) He's been changed to Rigby star, was put down 2 sections and is so loving reading now that he's zoomed up another 4 sections. I sometimes think it's simply a matter of finding the books which interest your child. A bit basic I know but it seems to work.

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At least they are better than the Roger red hat series of the eighties and nineties boring, repetitive they even made janet and john look exciting.

There is some sound academic sense behind the mad names of Biff, Chip, Kipper et al though isn't there? I just can't remember what it is...

I found ORT a bit limiting and sort of square. But the school used it so there was not much I could do about it. In parallel I also bought the Ginn early reader books and I found them much more agreeable. I also used Topsy and Tim books . I don't think it matters as long as the book in question can hold their attention.

Never had ORT home (yet) - although DS's school does have them as one of the reading schemes available. DS1 is steadily working his way through the "Storyworld" books which he's been loving.

I have no idea why/how it works but both my kids' reading came on leaps and bounds with this scheme - especially when they hit stage 5+ (with the magic key stories) - they LOVED those books and really raced through them.

They don't only get ORT though - they get other books mixed in so maybe that's helped.