Do all children really know how to read the 45 Reception words by the end of the Reception year?

[imaginaryfriend]

I'm curious. I keep hearing about these 45 words that 'all children are expected to be able to read by the end of the Reception year.'

Dd's in Reception now and is doing fine with her reading. I'm a parent helper with reading and I can tell that 3 groups would probably achieve that target of 45 words. But the other 3 groups would struggle, one group in particular who speak very little English.

So what happens if they don't know the 45 words? Who checks?

I help out with reading in a year one class and there are several children who don't have a firm grasp of these words.

No

my ds did. how scientific!

No, I have 2 sons, one in year one and one in year two. Neither of them know all those 45 words yet.

So is it just a kind of ideal aim or what then?

DS didn't know all the 45 words by the end of reception. However by half way through Y1 he knew all the 45 words and all the KS1 words as well. plus the surname of every premiership footballer.

It partially depends when it clicks with them.

So why do they give them then?

? ....f*&k knows. To make parents paranoid about their children's development perhaps?

I assume that they're one of the many things used to assess schools for the dreaded league tables.

'% of children who know these 45 words by end of reception' type of stuff.

No.
neither oene of the ds#s did.
dd otoh knows 20 of them already. yet her teacher still wont put her onto books containing words.

they go to the senco if the dont know them . she then sits down and teaches them how to read.
wonderful lady our senco.

pukka, is your dd in Reception? I don't know if it's anything to do with the new phonetic based learning this year but dd's teacher is also really reluctant to move children up a reading level. Some of the kids are so bored with Level 1 books!

45 words? Does it help you when I say that I have no idea what you are talking about?

My DCs are 7&9. Hope they know them now ... If one of the words is "shit" then I'm certain my DS knows it. He keeps saying it with relish.

I don't know if it's a recent thing Quattrro. But no, there's no swear words on the list.

lol quattro.
yes, dd is in reception. and it is very different to how ds was taught when he was in reception, two years ago. he had picture books from the get go. moved on to 'look' type books within the second or third week. whislt dd is learing to memorise a list of words stapled into the front of the reading record book. either that, or the flash cards i have.
it seems such a pointless waste to me.

it's a guildline , that's all. you need some standards in place - or rather the gov't likes things like that , tick boxes etc etc

Pukka, dd was never given those picture only books. Neither are the group of kids I listen to who have no English. they'd probably benefit more from the picture books. Dd's teacher has started every single child on Level one reading books which have words but are very very simple.

So, what are the words then?
My ds in reception knows no, mum, dad, yes, bus, car, cat, the, on, is, fat, cat,hat, to, my and a few others which I forget.
I haven't thought of counting them. Maybe I should.
How strange. I thought it mattered that they knew the word and could use it in a sentence, and knew how to write it.
Am I expecting too much?
No wonder my ds's teacher thinks he is very bright!

they , play, look like he we to it in dad mum go going on in it and the this is
cant r=thingk of any more of the top of my head.

What if a child knows words that are not on 'the list'. Then what?
Very formualic.

formulaic

Some of those words are on the list. I can't remember now. I do think it is silly because it didn't reflect DS's learning to read at all. In about 3-4 months he went from not knowing all the reception ones to knowing all the KS1 ones and lots more as well.

OK I have found this link. To my mind the KS1 ones are easier at that level than the reception ones. But that is probably just related to when reading clicked with DS.

No - of course many children do not.

afaik, the words are 'high frequency' words, that will help them as part of 'word recognition' they are then joined by 'tricky words' which are harder to 'de-code' through phonics, so it is helpful to learn them by recognition for when they start reading boooks.

Well DS certainly didn't but he is in Yr 2 now and does.

I think they are something to aim for. They know that some children will know them and some won't.

In our school in Yr 1 the teacher gave lists of "The next 100 words" and we worked on those. He had those pretty much done by end of Yr 1 and then we were given "The next 100 words" to do over the summer. We didn't do too well at those but have them done now. He started getting spellings home around Easter of Yr 1 and they were all working through the lists of words. (And by the end of Yr 1 he could read the names of all of the Premiership football clubs and most players too!)

He is now reading quite well but wouldn't be top of the class. About middle I suppose with some non-native speakers doing better than him.

You can buy the set of words as magnets from GLTC.