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Primary education

Join our Primary Education forum to discuss starting school and helping your child get the most out of it.

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Original poster

No book yet in reception

36 replies

time2sleepx · 21/04/2018 21:22

My ds is 5.5 in reception. He is one of the lower attainers but is progressing. He can write his name and a few other words. He can count to 20 and add and subtract 1. With reading he can do a bit of blending and read a few cvc words.

Most children in his class seem to have reading books (I helped one and saw them given out) but ds does not. I asked if he could have one but the teacher said his blending wasn't good enough for a book. I just thought it would be good for his self esteem to have a book. He can sound out cvc words.

School does the "read write inc" scheme. School haven't provided anything not even sound cards to help practise reading at home but I see other children with reading books. I font want to be a pushy parent but what should I do?

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FanDabbyFloozy · 21/04/2018 21:25

All children should have a book home, even if it hasn't got more than a word per page. It's good to have the shared experience of getting a book and reading at home with a parent.
Can you do some "jolly phonics" or similar with him at home?
Disclaimer - I am not a teacher!

UniversallyUnchallenged · 21/04/2018 21:27

Take him to the Libary and get him to pick something he likes, encourage the discovery of reading (even if it’s you reading it), reading in schools can often drain all the fun out of it. You be that.

Original poster

time2sleepx · 21/04/2018 21:29

I know I could just buy resources from the internet but I think he would be more motivated if they came from school. Also I think read write inc is a different scheme to jolly phonics. I guess I could just buy some "read write inc" resources. It's frustrating as I would like to help him at home but font really know where to start.
When he finished nursery his report said he was doing well so he has slipped a bit in reception.

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WinkyisbackontheButterBeer · 21/04/2018 21:31

How odd. I am a year 1 teacher and would expect that all children had a book sent home, even if it was one with no words.

I would go back and ask again.
If you register with the’ oxford owls’ website you can read school book band books on a tablet or pc.
The ‘teach your monster to read’ app is also good if you want to give him a boost.

Original poster

time2sleepx · 21/04/2018 21:31

Thanks I will try taking him to the library. We gave lots if books at home that I read to him and he enjoys. I sometimes try to get him to sound words out but he isn't very keen and just tells me to get on with reading! I don't know whether I should be panicking about his lack of reading and school book or just relax and he will get there eventually.

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NotAnotherJaffaCake · 21/04/2018 21:33

Your school is being seriously crap. At the very least they should be providing picture books, encouraging him to tell the story if he can’t blend yet. I would be wanting to know why, after two terms in reception, they haven’t managed to get him blending well. What have they said at parents’ evening?

Oxford Owl have some good free resources online.

greathat · 21/04/2018 21:33

That's very odd they usually start them off with books with no words anyway to get them used to inferring the story from the pictures

NotAnotherJaffaCake · 21/04/2018 21:34

Also, twinkl have some good resources if you don’t mind making a login. Does he know the individual sounds?

BubblesAndSquarks · 21/04/2018 21:35

DD was having books from the first week, the first ones were ones with the sounds in to practice and one word per page then gradually got longer into proper stories.

Even if his blending isn't quite there yet, having books to look at with him would help as you could at least sound them out with him so he can learn it.
I would speak to the head and say you want some basic ones sent home at the minimum.

widget2015 · 21/04/2018 21:35

Our school does rwi and my son didn't get reading books sent home until towards the end of reception although others did, so it may just be the way the scheme works. FWIW he is now in yr1, gets reading books every week and his reading is really good, so it hasn't held him back. He would rather read his own books than the reading book though

Original poster

time2sleepx · 21/04/2018 21:36

I will ask the teacher again. When I asked previously she said there were other children without books but most of my friends children have been getting books since October and I don't know anyone who's child has no book. In fact most if th parents spend their time complaining that books aren't changed often enough!

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ICantCopeAnymore · 21/04/2018 21:38

Read Write Inc. books are horrific. Read with him at home - actual stories and books he will enjoy.

Mistoffelees · 21/04/2018 21:40

Could he read the following sentence, one word at a time, sounding and blending each one in turn? "Tom got a pot" if yes he should have a book, the school are being crap imo, if he can read this invest in the Songbirds phonics books.
If no it's still very unusual that it's got to this point in the year without having anything, have a look online for CVC bingo games (I can send you one that I've made if you can't find anything, just DM me)

Original poster

time2sleepx · 21/04/2018 21:41

At parents evening they showed me a list of eyfs outcomes and he had emerging or developing for each of them. But when I asked if he was on track to achieve them by the end of the year the teacher was vague and said with a push he might be. She didn't seem unduly concerned about his progress though, it was me having to question her in his he was doing.

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redbirdblackbird · 21/04/2018 21:45

You can buy a rwi at home pack in Amazon for about a tenner, it might be useful to practice the phrases they say with him at home- eg- to write m is Maisie mountain Maisie mountain. You should definitely be given a book, early red band will be Cvc.

hedgebackwards · 21/04/2018 21:45

This teacher is entirely wrong. Who cares whether he can blend or not, he can still take a book home and 'read' it with you - you can read the story and he can look at the pictures, and follow your finger as you point to them as you read. He may also learn some of the words by sight, which will help him a lot when it comes to blending.

At the moment, he probably isn't even associating the letter shapes/sounds with stories that actually mean something.

I'm most definitely not a fan of the way reading is currently taught at school, and it doesn't suit everyone.

Original poster

time2sleepx · 21/04/2018 21:45

Mist I am not sure - I will check tomorrow when he's awake. Sometimes he's sounding out words and the sounding is good but then he tries to blend and just ends up guessing what word it could be (and getting it wrong, e.g. He sounds out c-a-r and guesses cow).

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Mistoffelees · 21/04/2018 21:49

The thing to be aware of is that the end of year expectations for reception are fixed, they're not based on children's starting points so he may have made fantastic progress but still not be reaching the Early Learning Goals. To be fair it often evens out during Year One so I wouldn't be overly worried with end of year figures.

Mistoffelees · 21/04/2018 21:53

Ah ok, it does sound like he needs more practise with blending then, anything incidental you can do would help him, e.g. "time for b-e-d, bed", "get your c-oa-t, coat" "look, it's a d-o-g, dog" CVC games will help too if he's into playing games.
I'm not overly familiar with Read Write Inc but as a phonics scheme it should discourage guessing words from pictures but whether or not the teacher follows this through is another matter.

Naty1 · 21/04/2018 22:03

Probably just a bad example but i think car is c-ar and cow is c-ow.
Maybe a lot of oral blending. Pass me the c-u-p etc.

In dd school i think they all got books oct half term. And then all changed twice a week. (Different scheme though). So were all at a similar level until about this stage in yr r.

There are some apps that do phonics.

hedgebackwards · 21/04/2018 22:11

Jolly sight easier to learn 'car' or 'cow' (or 'cat' for that matter) by seeing the word and picture together in a book umpteen times, saying it out loud and learning it that way.

Mistoffelees · 21/04/2018 22:17

hedge no it's not, the average 6 year old has a receptive language of around 20,000-24,000 words, how long do you think it would take for them to learn to read the same number of words by sight rather than having the skills to sound them out?

Mildred007 · 21/04/2018 22:20

I think you should speak to the teacher again. My 3dd have always had a book to bring home from day one. My youngest isn't 5 until July but she brings a book home each day. She is learning her phonics slowly & can blend really simple words but we read her books together then she likes to read it again on her own before bed (like her big sisters) and she sounds some of the words out and makes the rest up. It's not about them being able to read it's the concept of reading/telling a story/discussing the pictures and content/ recognising repetitive words i.e. "the". Have another word with the teacher and take your dc to the library so they get to choose books to develop their interest in them. My dd gets really excited when she gets a new book & feels grown up with her homework.

smerlin · 21/04/2018 22:43

We taking taught DD to read up to CVC level ourselves using the Biff Chip Kipper books that we bought from Amazon or the Book People I think. I found them dire but she loved them as the early ones mix up sounding out a single letter with some little activities and games. I prefer the Songbirds series as they seem to make real stories almost entirely from three letter words. Not that you should have to get the books yourself, of course school should provide! But the ones focusing on single letters or one CVC word per page would be good for your child I would think as they get to have their own book but it's not daunting content

smerlin · 21/04/2018 22:44

*just taught! Stupid phone!

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