Starting reception able to read

[SpickNSpan]

My DC will be 4 in August, and starting school in Sep. He can read fluently. Nothing we’ve done to push him, he’s just a very visual learner (nursery have commented on this several times), and has picked up words from reading at home, shopping, signs, etc. He’s also astonishly good with numbers, although he can’t yet write at all.

I’m just wondering how phonics works alongside DC that can read? He’s my first child at school.

School will easily accommodate him and will obviously have access to higher level books further up in the school. You may also find that they will want to work on his comprehension.
Phonics sessions won't be an issue, he won't be the only one more 'able' and generally I find that those who join me able to read, write etc are often 'caught up' by others as we approach the spring term. Often the most blank of canvases leaves foundation topping every area of development!
Don't worry, your ds will be fine and how lovely that he is already a reader.

My ds was reading when he started school. He actually enjoyed phonics lessons. He figured out decoding skills himself, yet proper phonics teaching strengthened his skills. And it's only tiny part of the day.

Aw yes I know, he’s always loved books! That sounds good. I think he’ll love school.

Formally taught phonics (should) be a very short part of his day. The usually focus on handwriting as much as reading, so plenty to keep him occupied.

Thanks niamh. The handwriting is something he doesn’t really like to do - if he is good at something he loves it, but if he struggles at all he doesn’t like to try! I’ve gently encouraged him to hold a pen and write his name but he’s not too keen yet. He’ll only just be 4 when he starts so with some skills he might be a bit behind the others.

Mine starts in September and she can also read and write to a pretty high standard. I was concerned that the phonics stuff would be a bit boring for her but I spoke to her soon to be teachers who have said that it’s only a small part of what they do. She hasn’t shown much interest in adding/subtraction etc so far so I know they’ll have plenty of other things to work on with her!

It will be fine, my DD2 was reading fluently when she started and she loved Reception. I did let her TA know that the books they started her on were a bit easy and after that they gave her something harder. They would have worked it out eventually though if I hadn't said anything.

Dd1 could read. She still loved phonics lessons as she likes getting the answers right basically and as they've moved on to covering more complex phonics content she's enjoyed that in terms of learning more of the way things work to make words (poor parents and passing Headteacher on parents evening got treated to her deciding to use a spare whiteboard to teach a session on different speĺlings of the phoneme they'd been doing at one point!)

She's skipped a few book bands to keep reading books at a good level for her but adapted fine to being in school. Bit of an ego appeared from being on the highest book band in the class but that's falling down to earth sharpish as her younger sister is vowing to catch her and keeps shouting spelling suggestions and reminders across the room now

When my DD started Reception I waited quietly (with great difficulty!) for her teacher to discover for herself what my DD could do. After 3 weeks I was called to a meeting to discuss how DD’s needs could be met. I think it worked much better to wait for the school to lead the process rather than coming across as a pushy parent!

Discovering a love of reading early in life will open doors for your son. The extra opportunities for learning it provides in everyday life will enrich his learning beyond the non-readers every day.

The writing will come – in Reception he will do so many things to develop fine motor skills which will lead to proper writing by the end of the year (via lots of sand and water and writing on each other’s backs with black marker pen!!). There’s all the social side of things too, plus the other elements of the EYFS framework.

Unless you’re very unlucky with the teacher, you won’t have to worry about him being bored in Reception. My DD found Y1 a bit slow at times, but Reception was great.

Quite a few in my DC's class were confident readers when they started reception, they'll still do the phonics (my DC were both more sight readers and picked up reading very easily that way but the phonics laid useful ground work). We've found that who is a good reader at the beginning doesn't always translate. A few in my eldest class couldn't really read well even going into Y1 but suddenly flourished somewhere along the line and now are among the best in the class.

I'd just make sure the DC keep enjoying the reading - provide books that get them excited and not worry too much!

It's also very typical for fairly bright boys to struggle with fine motor control. I wouldn't push the writing but encourage play doh etc. which will build the muscles he needs.

DD started school as a fluent reader.

Phonics lessons were still very useful for making sure that there were no gaps in her phonics knowledge. They were also great for helping with things like patterns in spellings rather than just learning each word individually.

After the first few weeks the class were put in to different phonics groups so that they could each learn at their own pace.

All three of mine were reading fluently at the start of reception. Dd2 was the best-she was reading Famous Five type (although not actually the FF as she said they were too scary!)

They still enjoyed the phonics lessons.

Doofen - my DD’s Reception class were also split for phonics, but as there were only two groups the level wasn’t really tailored to the exceptional readers. However, a good teacher will provide differentiation within the group without the children really noticing. On the occasions when my DD had a cover teacher, she’d invariably say phonics was ‘easy’. I knew from this that her main teacher had the measure of her!

All these have been really interesting, thank you!

Especially about the motor control, he does lose concentration and can be a bit silly when he’s encouraged to do something he finds hard. So with reading, he will guess an unfamiliar word or someone will tell him what the word says, and then he remembers it - he doesn’t really sound words out. We attend a gymnastics class and whilst he loves the climbing, jumping, rolling stuff he does find other things (kicking a ball gently, twirling ribbons etc) a lot harder and will just start running around. We’ve been trying to encourage him to do that more independently as well.

I can’t wait to see him with his little book bag!

^by ‘do that’ I mean get dressed/undressed, some of my words disappeared

A great activity for developing the muscles needed for writing is screwing up scrap paper into balls and then throwing it into a bowl/bucket! Or buy some cheap tweezers and see how many little objects you and ds can pick up with them.