Reading books in reception?

[Tutlefru]

What books do they come home with in your school?

My DS came home with a wordless book last week. Is this the same for everyone or will there be children who are already reading?

TIA

My dc could read when they started school and were still given the picture books until a couple of weeks later when the teacher had had a chance to assess them all.

My youngest grandson has also just started reception
He came home with a book, Tim’s Din
There was also a letter from the school advising that some of the books given out are wordless to get the children to interact and talk about the story
What you’ve said just seems normal

Mine has stage 1 orchard book tree - all have words. He has 3 per week.

My son and daughter are learning to read. We read picture books together. My current opinion on their reading skills is that we are slowly getting into it. It takes time.

What you have said sounds normal for any reception class. Take my word for it. Judging by what you have written the teacher has not had a opportunity to form a judgment on reading skills yet. Most likely this is going to happen soon however.

Keep in mind it’s completely different in a classroom full of small children possibly meeting each other for the first time ever. Plus the teaching staff. But if you are still worried it’s worth talking with the teacher.

This was my first o win reception, rememberit well!

Ours are sending wordless books. The teacher told us it's to do with comprehension- that some children are learning to read early but struggling with comprehension.

Overnight I remember that as well! I thought I could read it and my older siblings telling me 'you're not reading, you're just remembering the word Look!'

My first two dc could do very basic reading when they started reception and came home with the lowest level books with words but not until nearer half term. Dc3 has the wordless book and only knows half of her sounds so isn’t ready yet for books with words.

Thank you for the replies.

We had a couple of wordless ones in reception.

We didn't get the wordless ones - we got an initial period of just nice storybooks coming home to share and talk about before the earliest phonics based decodable ones.

I teach primary 1 in Scotland (I think the equivalent of your reception) and for the first few weeks at least it's just picture books. It encourages the children to really focus on the story, tell their own version using the pictures and gives more insight to their understanding. They might say for example the character was happy when he/ she was walking down the lane...would Hope discussion with parent/ guardian would be along the lines of "and why do you think that?" The child would then use the picture to give good reasons for their answers....he/ she had a big smile on their face/ the character is skipping and when you're happy you skip etc

We sent home a guidance sheet along with picture books of activities and tips for questioning etc...if you ask the school they might be able to give you one.

As the age old expression goes...a picture tells 1000 words. When words are on the page we sometimes only focus on them without any meaning behind it...when the pictures are all there are then the story possibilities and talking points are endless.

It depends what level your child is at. DS started with wordless or just a few words and then he progressed from there. I wouldn't worry, you'll soon get to enjoy Biff, Chip and Kipper in all their wordy glory!!

@NerrSnerr haha exactly 😂

Like EndOfDiskOne we send home quality story books until children are able to access decodable books. At the moment we have three children on phonic books and the rest taking home story books.

Although it has reminded me I might ask if school have any of the wordless books around I could borrow for speech work with my kid - they're better for talking through narrative events than the ancient pictures SALT sent us to use.

You really don't need wordless books just choose any high quality children's picture book.

It depends. My dd could read before starting school ( oldest in class) so started on level 1+, we are waiting to see what my DS comes home with but he hasn't been interested/ asking to read at home so i am not expecting the same. I guess I'm saying that they're all different and will have reading tailored to their needs.

My DS started last year, first books came just before half term - I think he had one picture book and then very simple pink books, one per week.

My DD started the same school this year, first books came last week - she’s been given three red books on the first week.

I can’t get over the variation within the same school!

Completely depends what level they’re at when they start. DD1 started 3 weeks ago and was already reading to quite a high standard so was assessed and brings books home according to her level. Her best friend in her class isn’t reading yet so is bringing picture books home at the moment and talks around the pictures.

MinPinPuzzz I have nothing to compare it too as she’s my eldest but I was surprised that DD1 is reading with a teacher or TA 3-4 times a week and is bringing back a new book as often (her first one came home on day 3). She loves reading though so may well be asking to read with them!

We are just now sending home books with no words for all children, just encourage them to talk about pictures for now and actual reading ones will follow soon enough.

A book with words in won't work for what I want to do with it - she'll just read the words (I know her too well and we've tried that route!). Something like the old grey ORT ones would be perfect for it - sure school must have some mouldering around somewhere I just keep forgetting about asking for.

The only books my kid has come home with so far are Dr Seuss. Don't know why when they've already read them all

This early on it's more sending stuff home just to get into the routine of doing home reading than anything else. We had a month or so of it, along with some phonics games to do before "reading books" as such started coming home. So we had all sorts of random stuff - from some really good ones... to The Gruffalo which I think appeared about 5 times (and we've got like 3 copies of it at home from various people buying sets from the Book People)!

These days the kids just seem to go for any non fiction on the reading trolley they're on in school that can shoehorn in mentions of toilets. We have read so many toilet-related non fiction books it's bonkers.