Alternatives to Oxford reading tree?

[lucyb162]

Hi

DD is recently turned 5, just started in year 1. She currently finds reading 'a bit annoying'. Partly, I think, because the ORT and other school books are just so dull generally. She loves being read to at home, anything from Peppa pig to Roald Dahl so I'm keen to translate this into a love of reading to herself in time. Is there anything suitable for somebody who's still early on in their reading journey that is a bit more inspiring?
Thanks!

What level ORT is she on? Songbirds are a nice off-shoot to ORT which my DS much preferred. My youngest is in YR and loves big cat phonic books (you can look up the reading bands here as they are laid out much more like children's picture books rather than boring school books.

Although it won't be phonics based you can always have her read the simpler children's books (e.g. each peach, pear plum etc) just choose ones that match her reading ability.

Project X books are graded, I think by ORT, but they're aimed at motivating boys to read so they're way more exciting than Biff, Chip and Kipper.

Depending on reading ability I found Diary of a Wimpy Kid to be great to early readers. There aren't many words to a page, they're really funny and there's loads of pictures.

Other than that maybe take her to the library and have a look together.

Mine really improved with read, write inc I bought loads of the black and white books off amazon. They were great for improving reading fluency but not very exciting as books for a reluctant reader.

www.badgerlearning.co.uk/primary-book-band-collections.html
Look on here for real books that coordinate with her book band.

Try Oxford Owl, a free website which has ebooks. There are ORT books on there, but also the RWI books as well as project X. It’s free to log in and access. There are loads of other books too which aren’t necessarily your typical reading book. You just select books for your child’s age or ability and voila they appear in a list!

The Happy Families series is a bit more interesting than ORT imo, possibly a bit more difficult though so may not be appropriate yet depending on her ability

Our local library has an early reader section which I've found really useful as I didn't want to spend loads on books we would grow out of fairly soon. There are Horrid Henry early readers that both mine enjoyed, and DS really enjoyed a series of spooky twists on fairy tales that we found there.

Mine also loved the Claude books by Alex Smith.

We used ladybird book set from book people. The books are banded and helped to build his confidence too. They also have phonics storybook.

Happy families are about purple/band 8 in ort

We're enjoying usborne young readers - they're mostly fairy tales and Aesop's fables, so the stories are really engaging. I think they correspond to the ORT book bands so you can find the right level.