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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

Could your child read before starting Reception?

242 replies

imaginaryfriend · 22/09/2007 13:25

Dd (5 in 2 weeks) has just started Reception and they're learning basic words like 'is' 'it' 'in' etc. My mum said to me on the phone last night that I could read the first stage Ladybird books before I went to school and suggested dd was behind.

To be honest I always thought she was pretty bright. She can recognise and write most letters of the alphabet (slower with numbers) apart from lesser used ones like 'j' but she's nowhere near being able to read words yet. She can write my name, her dad's name and odd words she's written a lot on cards like 'me', 'to' and 'love'.

I'm wondering now if she's actually behind her peers at school. I haven't asked the teacher as it seems kind of wrong to ask about what stage your child is in comparison to the others. I'm not competitive, she'll get there when she's ready, just curious.

so I thought I'd ask you guys instead.

OP posts:

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pagwatch · 26/09/2007 18:16

I was a proficient reader before I started school - because I had three older sisters whose fav game was school ! I then got pushed and prodded at school by teachers who thought that I was a genius because I was way ahead in so many areas until by the age of about 7 they realised that the front of house might look special but the show was a little dull
My DD has just started at her pre-prep and can identify her name and a few other bits but nothing else which suits me fine. She will get it when she is ready and it has just not really come up yet. She much prefers games in the garden with her brothers and her dancing and her ..well talking quite a lot really.
Her eldest brother is extremely able and doing very well and her second brother is profoundly autistic.
After spending ten years with her brother with ASD it was a joy and a delight to have a child who was obviously developing really well and I just had a blast withher until I had to send her off to school. My only 'wobble' was seeing all the other mums and dads who had their kids doing all sorts of stuff when the children were being assessed for entry. But she got the school we wanted so, so far so good.
I personally do not give a stuff what her reading age is until she is taking her GCSE's at which time I hope it is a little better than it is now(fingers crossed).

pagwatch · 26/09/2007 18:19

PLEASE NOTE
Actually - could you all just ignore my post.
I have had a very emotional day for all sorts of reasons and am not feeling quite myself .
Blathering on for no apparent reason and with no apparent relevence to what others are talking about is just another sign that i should bathe the kids and go to bed.
I'll start again tomorrow.
Please ignore me (waves a slightly glum goodnight)

Threadworm · 26/09/2007 18:21

Good for you pagwatch! That sounds a brilliant attitude. I bet your DD will really enjoy learning to read at school precisely because you have been so relaxed about learning, and so full of joy in her.

Threadworm · 26/09/2007 18:22

Whoops. Didn't ignore. Thought yours was a great post.

kimi · 26/09/2007 18:27

DS1 could read when he started reception age 4 and 2 months
DS2 could not when he started at 4 and 2 weeks.

seeker · 26/09/2007 21:07

This thread interested me - so I asked the reception teacher at ds's school. She said that she expects anything from three to no fluent readers in each new intake. She has none this year - and there are none in the other reception class either. So that's no readers in 54 children. She also said that early reading - like early talking - does not mean that the child will necessarily be a high achiever - they have just mastered this particular skill early. She also said - and I uttered a silent cheer - that one of the problems with very early readers is that they are often encouraged to read bools that they are not intellectually and emotionally ready for, and that they often miss out on all the fabulous books intended for their age range. A reading age is, as she put it, simply a measure of decoding, not comprehension. She they apologized for riding her hobby horse round the playground!

Isababel · 26/09/2007 21:13

DS has been reading since the beginning of the year, according to the normal school calendar he is meant to start reception next January.

His school only has one entry a year so he is in reception now, however... he may be able to read but I believe there are other aspects than reading when deciding if a child is behind or advanced. DS would have benefitted of another term in the nursery even when he is reading, he is not able to cope well with other things as yet.

kid · 26/09/2007 21:18

(Just read OP)
DD could recognise names of other children and days of the week when she entered Reception, I would have said she could read though. She is now in Year 4 and is not at the correct reading age for her years. She still has plenty of time to catch up though.

DS couldn't read when he entered reception at 4.6 but could when he left Reception.

Both of my DC enjoy books which I think is more important than what age they started reading.

imaginaryfriend, your DD is not behind at all. Maybe you were reading books at that young age, your DD will be reading them one day too.

spottyshoes · 26/09/2007 21:21

I could read and write pretty well before I started school but my mum was a teacher so I had a lot of input very early on. That said I think a lot of it is repetition with children as there is a tape of me at 2.5yrs reading 'the night before christmas' word perfectly - Genius? erm no, couldnt actually read it, but it was read to me a million times in the run up to xmas so i used to remember it!
Your DD doesnt sound behind at all - my SS could only just recognise his name written down before he started school - no way could he write it

ChasingSquirrels · 26/09/2007 21:23

oh no fircone, the point was well understood - but totally inaccurately made.

Original poster

imaginaryfriend · 26/09/2007 22:50

I never meant to actually suggest I thought dd was 'behind'. In my mind she's a genius! I only meant in the skill of reading and I only began to think that because so many people on here have / have experience of children reading so well so young. I don't think there are more than 2 fluent readers in dd's class though so she's probably more like average I think.

Having said that, with the school prompting and me paying a bit more attention to getting her to try to point out words she recognises when I'm reading her a book, she's now reading CVC words (I only learnt about them on this thread!) and most two-letter words.

How the hell, though, do they teach them to read non-phonetic words like 'home'?! Dd tried to read that as hommee to me this evening!

OP posts:

spottyshoes · 26/09/2007 23:05

Sorry I.F, In your original post you 'wondered if she was behind her peers' I didnt mean to use the term 'behind' as I know it doesnt sound great, i just wanted to highlight that my SS couldnt read at all at age 5. No offence intended

procrastinatingparent · 26/09/2007 23:06

Re 'home': I think the general rule is 'magic e': an e at the end of the word changes the vowel sound in that word to a sound more like its letter name. So instead of a short 'o' as in 'hot', it sounds like its name, 'oh'. And so on for the other vowels.

The rule doesn't work for every word, but it works for enough words that DD could use it (sometimes needed prompting to spot the magic e) and apply it, even before Reception.

kid · 26/09/2007 23:07

They just have to learn some words by sight recognition. Its really hard though as they are taught to sound words out but some words can't be sounded out.

DD did learn long vowel phonemes in Year 1 which helped her reading a great deal. She also taught me what a long vowel phoneme was

RosaLuxembourg · 26/09/2007 23:07

Home has the 'magic e' on the end which makes the letter say its name. Of course then you run into trouble with come and will find comb hard to explain also.
It's a wonder anyone ever learns to read English when you think about it.

procrastinatingparent · 26/09/2007 23:09

Much better put, RosaLuxembourg!

Original poster

imaginaryfriend · 26/09/2007 23:39

Yes, it's bloody hard when you think about it!

I like that magic e thing though. Although poor dd said to me about the letter 'n' : "so is it said enn, nuh or nnn?' she's had so many versions of it. Dd doesn't know 'o' as 'owe' but as it's phonetic equivalent so it will be hard to do the magic e.

OP posts:

seeker · 27/09/2007 09:18

My dd's reception teacher used to talk about "cunning trick" word that tried to catch you out!

haychee · 27/09/2007 09:20

dd1 could read simple words. dd2 is nowhere near even reocgnising the letters and making the correct sounds.
dd1 was put into the wrong preschool group and is the oldest in her current year - so i suppose thats why she did and dd2 didnt.

Threadworm · 27/09/2007 09:27

seeker, that reminds me that we always used to talk about 'naughty words' -- that didn't sound the way they looked they should sound. Dss liked the idea of naughty words

Marne · 27/09/2007 09:27

Dd1 (3.7) can read her name, cat, dog etc and can write her name and a few other words but she can't do basic things like put her shoes on or go to the loo by herself.

I think they all progress at their own rate but by the time they are 5/6 they will all be at the same level.

I don't think dd2 will even be able to talk by the time she starts school , she's 19 months and does'nt say a word.

haychee · 27/09/2007 09:32

Yes, we called them "trick" words like knife and know.

Carbonel · 27/09/2007 10:11

The majority of English words are phonetically 'normal' if you know all the complex rules.

The current advice is to try and avoid saying that magic 'e' (also known as 'hop over' or 'split digraph') makes the letter say its name but just explain about two different sounds - long and short vowel sounds are how Jolly phonics puts it.

It is quite a complicated process but childen seem to get there - both my two got it at age 4.5 which amazed me because ds had been reading simple words for ages before then whreas dd had not but they both got the concept at the same time!

Children should learn the long vowel sounds well before year 1 - can you imagine not being able to read anything wihtout a long vowel sound in for a whole year? Now they should be taught all 44 basic sounds in the first 6 weeks or so and then revise them as necessary.

It is not the children who are 'behind' it is the teachers not teaching them or telling them to guess words (madness - really dented my dd's confidence).

seeker · 27/09/2007 11:36

My SIL is Spanish, and she talks about "false friends" - the English words that look to her as if they ought to mean one thing but actually don't. One of her favourites is preservative - which is apparantly very close to one of the Spanish words for contraceptive!

Roobie · 27/09/2007 11:48

Gawd, dd couldn't read a word when she started reception - we read to her a lot (but of course - what self-respecting MN mum would admit to not being arsed with books!) however didn't have the time or inclination to 'teach' her to read.

Her day nursery did try to teach them the alphabet phonetically and start them on the rudiments however dd didn't really get it. She has just started year 1 and is still on ORT Stage 2 but seems to be slowly getting there. It just hasn't quite clicked for her yet. Even though some of the kids in her class seem to be on stage 8+ I can't say I'm remotely concerned yet. Should I be? What is the definition of 'can read' anyway?

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