When to start reading outside of reading schemes?

[Mrshyat]

DC has moved up to 'gold' level from purple and is now starting to get wriggly and distracted during reading. To be fair the books are very dull and the level doesn't seem to be much harder. When do you put the reading schemes to one side and start reading actual books together? What books should I get for DC (age 6) to read?

Visit your local library and let DC choose their own books.

I agree - go to the library.
Get a range of books - ones your DC can look at herself, ones you can read together and ones you can read to her.

What interests does your child have?
Dinosaurs? Cars? Planes? Animals?

Let them read anything (and everything!).
Cereal boxes, recipes when you cook, street signs...
words are everywhere.

As soon as they can read they are old enough to go to a library and pick books that interest them. And it can be graphic novels too. My DC loved Tintin for example. Even if library is closed for browsing due to Covid, you can still go online and select books for pickup.

We found that the reading scheme books didn't get any harder from about purple upwards, just longer. We moved onto our own books/ books from the library about then - there are loads of great early chapter books in the 5-8 section.

Another one i took my ds to library. He picked books from once he could read basic books.

Also practise the odd word in books you read too.

Thanks for the replies! Our library isn't open for browsing so we will pop into the bookshop instead.

What did you do with the books school sent home? Just read fewer pages?

Keep going with the school books, but introduce other books too. Schemes are structured to cover different areas which free reading sometimes doesn't cover.

We went for a mixture of taking it in turns to read a paragraph at a time (you can model reading with expression etc), and reading on your head and then discussing afterwards. I think reading in your head is a skill that is useful later.

Home books - depending on how confident, my dss moved onto Jeremy Strong. Beast Quest usually pops up at some point or Rainbow Fairies, depending on the child's taste...

Bloody Beast Quest....

Have you a book swap somewhere close? We have a few repurposed red phone booths full of children's books locally - you take one, read it, swap it for another, it can be great for trying without buying.

Can I suggest 13 Storey Treehouse, Bear Grylls adventures and Dinosaur Cove for beginning longer stories.

But surely you’ve been reading books with your DC long before they started school, OP? Bedtime stories, fairy tales, reading time during the day, etc? Just get them to read those to you instead of doing all the reading yourself!
I taught my DD to read at the age of two, using simple stuff like Dr Seuss and Ladybird books. By 3, DD had a reading age of 12, according to her Ed Psych assessment, and was enjoying lengthy books with chapters.
The primary school didn’t bother with their reading scheme - the head took DD for one to one sessions, reading classics. I was relieved, as the reading scheme books I’d seen were unbelievably boring.
Your local library will have a children’s librarian who can advise you, and a good stock of great books for all ages of kids. It’s never too early to inculcate a life long love of reading!

Roald Dahl box set? Boy who Grew Dragons and Atticus Claw also went down well with my DS.

Thanks for all the further replies! We actually have quite a few if the books suggested so have out a little 'library' to one side to pick from for tonight. Not sure how much more of the reading scheme either of us can face!

I don't know if your library service is doing the same, but as well as "click and collect" for specific titles, with ours you can ask for the librarian to make a selection - you fill in a form saying the sort of books you'd like, so you could ask for picture books/first readers/short chapter books, etc. I'm afraid "your local library will have a children's librarian" doesn't apply in many libraries (we have a single library assistant, not a librarian, for adults and children), but hopefully they will be able to sort you out something appropriate.

There isn't a level you have to wait for before reading real books - hopefully you are reading books to them regularly as well as hearing them read, and so you can start on "you read the next sentence" and get them involved. Mine used to like reading "what people say", which meant I was doing more of the work, and usually the harder words. You'll probably be able to spot the easier sentences for them to read, or be ready to help with the word they don't know, so that the story doesn't lose pace.

My DD read anything she could lay her hands on . We had books from the library every week which she close herself and I bought lots from the charity shop which seems to price books by measurement - some tiny sets were about 10p each and the price increased to £1 for the large picture books.But they were all loved and read. I fund that 'easier' books with fewer words than the reading scheme and maybe with simpler topics were a great help at bolstering her reading confidence.

Horrid Henry! He's not actually that horrid at all, and my DC loved him. Some are aimed at younger readers. Also the Magic Faraway Tree books.

Once ds started reading fluently we started reading his own books at home, things like Topsy & Tim, Cbeebies stories, Ladybird Bob the Builder & then moved on to Paddington, Humphrey the Hamster, Olga de Polga & Roald Dahl stories. We also bought comics, starting with the phonics ones & moved on to older ones as he could read more.

@Mrshyat

Thanks for the replies! Our library isn't open for browsing so we will pop into the bookshop instead.

What did you do with the books school sent home? Just read fewer pages?

We only get 2 school books a week, so tend to read those over 2 nights, then the rest of the week is our own stuff.

As someone else said, the reading scheme books are structured to cover different areas, so they do have a place.

My DD just turned 6 and is also on daily gold books at school. She reads them easily but still enjoys them, especially the non fiction ones that have date references and interesting things to discuss like degrees Celsius.

She also reads alone at home and has got through Michael Rosen children’s collection (burping Bertha etc), Julia donaldson’s Twist of Tales, my naughty little sister series, Dotty detective series, worst witch and is currently halfway through Matilda. At night she chooses something and we read alternate pages.

Dirty Bertie, Holly Webb, Dragon master series, Usbourne see inside books, the rabbit and bear. All very accessible. Just choose books he likes, you can always alternate reading a page each.

@Mrshyat With the school books to try to make them more interesting ask questions about the book, how does Charlotte feel? Why do you think she feels sad/angry/happy? What other words could we use to say happy? etc

The primary I volunteer in does Accelerated Reader which we have had a lot of success with especially with literacy skills and language deficit. We start it in year 2 ish but the number of books available at that level are limited. They sit a "test" at the end of reading the book to see if they have understood the book too. Sometimes children work so hard at decoding the words they don't realise what they are reading. They can refer to the book to remind themselves if Tom went to the park or the shops etc but it is good to ask questions.

We use the books to "magpie" good descriptive words, children copy them onto an area on the classroom wall under different headings such as "said" which the children write whispered, bellowed, yelped etc. You might want to do something similar or just ask for alternative words.

Yes to libraries and book shops. There are some books parents dislike such as Beast Quest or Rainbow Fairies but children reading for pleasure is a great thing.