What happens if your child can read before they start school?

[SkyWalker95]

I know most kids learn to read in reception, but what if they can already read independently? Surely they have to teach to their ability and won't make them just sit there while the others are learning their sounds right? But what would they be doing instead? I don't really know how primary education works

What sort of things are they reading at the moment?

Re the sounds: there are many, many different phonemes beyond single letter sounds so there'll be new ones to learn. The teacher will see what each pupil knows in order to move them on from there.

In the school my DCs go to they would be a bit bored.

They make them sit in the corridor outside the classroom until all the other children catchup...

(And in reality they'll just adjust the teaching to match where the child is now. Even at that age there are tremendous differences between children and their abilities. It'll work out fine.)

I'd assume they'd group them according to ability and move them on from there. Depends how the child is "reading" though because if he or she is remembering lots of words in order to read they'll probably want to go back to basics and teach them to break down words and decode properly. I honestly wouldn't worry though, Reception children arrive at many different levels and a good teacher will be able to get the best out of them,

Reception teacher here;

It's often difficult when a child can read before reception, as they often only know how to sight read words (just know what it is looking at it) and sound out the letters (tuh a p) but we teach them phonetically to sound out and teach them strategies to use their phonics knowledge to decode words :)

They will have to be taught these skills in order to pass the phonics screening in year 1 and it works better than just normal sounding out!

In most schools they are allowed to pick a library book to read at whatever level they like, but they WILL have to work their way through all the different coloured book bands, but they will do this much more quickly, so for example there may be 12 books in book band yellow but they might be asked to read 1 or 2 with their teacher to make sure they are confident at that level before moving on, where another child has to read them all to build up their confidence.

Hope that helps!

Brilliant that they are reading already, try to keep promoting their love of books!

My DS was one of two in his class who could already read when they started reception.
The teacher was aware of it from very early on. The children were grouped according to ability. He was given reading books from the appropriate reading band.
As I recall him and the other boy were occasionally taught separately by a TA and sometimes went to the Y1 class as well.
Later on in the year he was paired up with children of a lower ability to help them with their phonics.
We were very lucky I think. From things I've read on here and from speaking to friends whose children went to other schools, not all kids who are in the same situation get the same level of support and differentiated work.
The reception teacher DS had was amazing. Hopefully you get a good one too.

A good phonics Lesson will include aspects of reading, spelling, handwriting/letter formation and comprehension. So unless he knows how to read and write and almost always uses the correct spelling alternative for the sounds in most words, he shouldn't just be sitting there.

It should be possible to differentiate enough to meet his needs. In terms of books, they should be closely matched to his phonic knowledge, so once the teacher has assessed what he knows and where any gaps might be, then they should be able to find the right level for him.

Ds was a very fluent reader when he started school. By age 6 he had a reading age of 12. It was never a problem for him (or us), the school were very supportive.

Not at all Hercules!! Some will, depending on age/willingness/experience. It's not unusual for children to start school with no experience of reading or writing at all. It isn't a problem and being able or unable to read and write at the start of Reception is not a good indicator of future academic success. It's fairly common I think for children that know nothing on arrival to pick things up quickly and steam ahead.

Ok so maybe I should explain a little better. He learnt to read by leaning his phonics ( it's started off as a speech therapy thing )and is quite confident with all of them including the tricky ones like magic e igh ear ect. He is currently reading level 6 and 7 books from the Oxford reading tree but only really because I couldn't find a set that goes higher but just yesterday found and ordered a series that goes from 7 to 14. I doubt he will take that long to get through it. He completed the alphablocks reading program (the 15 workbook thing) earlier this year and recently the teach your monster to read. And can spell and write fairly well, it's legible and makes sense. Things is because he was born late he won't actually start reception till next year (although I could petition this). My biggest fear is he will get bored, cause trouble, and refuse to go. Like he does at nursery now. Would they let him go and learn another subject while they learnt to read?

If he's at nursery now and causing trouble perhaps you could request a meeting with them and look at the way forward in terms of his behaviour and education. Thing is though, he sounds like a bright little button but maybe it would benefit him more if you relaxed a bit on the formal stuff , work books and programs, and played with him and basically worked on his social skills a bit more? You're blaming boredom on the fact that he causes trouble at nursery but it might be that he's unsure of himself socially.

This is such a sad thread
2 year olds don't need to learn to read
Or even 3 year olds
Every reception teacher I have ever spoken to has always emphasised social skills as being more important than reading skills when starting school
It's a shame

What, Herculesupatree at four? Why do they need to do that?

I think you need to ease up on all the workbooks! What has made you feel the need to do all this extra academic work with him at such a young age? I think the focus now needs to be on play and developing his social skills

Agree reading schemes and formal learning pre school are not particularly helpful for 'bored' children. My children could all read fluently by the time the reached reception but it wasn't through formal teaching. It was just from a love of books, older siblings playing schools and general exposure to literature. Social skills like dressing, sharing, coping without constant attention and going to the lavatory are more important skills to actually teach.
Ours were allowed to go to the library and choose their own reading books. The difficulty was subject matter appropriate for a four year old that was more challenging than two or three simple sentences. Then again, they read their siblings books so had Jacqueline Wilson and Cherubs from a very early age.
The were required to sit still and not disturb others during phonics session but mainly they didn't mind doing funny actions or helping others. Boredom is quite good for children and no excuse for poor behaviour.

Many years ago now but I went to school at 5 with a reading age of about 12. I'd been reading and writing since three due to a grandma who cared for me during the day who played lots of word games with me. We're a family of prolific readers, though.
The books I got sent home with I just ignored. They didn't know what to do with me and the few other children who had advanced reading skills so they just let us get on with reading whatever we wanted from the library. I'd done Lord of the rings by the time I was eight.
Hasn't affected my social or academic ability one bit, so hopefully your DCs school can just be flexible until everyone else catches up and their ability is integrated with everyone else's.

My ds read fluently when started school, and had decoding age of mid teens.(I can't remember exact age.) But he was fine, enjoyed phonics lessons(he has already hacked phonetic code by himself but never found the boring).
There are so much to learn in literacy, new words/meaning, grammar, spelling,etc. and for reading, not just retelling the story or find answers from text, but the skills of inference/deduction,etc of more advanced skills.
Just keep in touch with school/teacher and keep an eye on how he is doing. Can read early is a great advantage for a child. He/she can access to so many more resources early. It will be fun for your ds.

If he is causing trouble at nursery, it does sound as if his social skills may be a bit behind. It might be good idea to give him a chance to develop in his weaker areas at home, rather than do ORT in his spare time. Its a bit of an odd thing for child to want to do in his spare time really, there are plenty of more fun and imaginative things to do with your mum!

Honestly as others have said, there is really no need for you to be buying reading books for your child, your child can read -- great;just go to the library,have lots of books in the house to enjoy. When children start school having the mindset to engage positively with a variety of different activities and have fun is fundamental!

In of my DCs started reception at a higher level than the rest of the year group. He was terribly bored and it did not do him any favours.

Reception probably won't seem that different to nursery. My son started from the beginning again (he wasn't very far into it, his school nursery taught him some sounds and given reading books) but it was fun. I'd be a bit worried about the fact a young child was bored with playing. Even I'd enjoy some of the thing the reception children do.

At our school you'd have to watch the other kids learn their letters / phonics from scratch..

At one school, sit with the others having started again with books with just pictures, and be capped at what level can be achieved each academic year.

At other school, books given over the summer prior to school to encourage the learning. Once school begins, still sit in phonics lessons to ensure correct sounds but be on higher level books. Progress to year 1 in last quarter of the year for stretch and challenge.