Can your reception aged child read?

[theplantlady]

DC1 has just started reception, he'll be 5 in December and DH and I have just had slight cross words over the books DC has brought home from school.

They're picture books. No words. We're to sit with dc and help him to describe what he sees in the images, essentially telling the story through description.

DH is annoyed because he thinks this means that the school thinks our dc is 'stupid'. I've told DH that I don't think many children that have just started reception are fluent readers, but he's telling me I need to work with dc more so they can get to grips with reading properly.

For what it's worth, dc is (I think!) very bright.

He's known the complete alphabet for well over a year now, he can count to 30 with ease, will happily tell you rhyming words, he knows a vast amount of colours ranging from your basic reds, greens, blues etc - to teal, maroon, turquoise, beige, lilac etc.
He knows a plethora of animals and I regularly have to hear about velociraptors, pterodactyls and parasaurolophus dinosaurs - essentially, he knows a lot of big words and has no trouble remembering them!

Dh was a 'child prodigy' in that he apparently skipped 'baby' books and started reading adult fiction at a very young age, so I think he expects the same from our dc. Unfortunately, I don't feel comfortable putting that kind of pressure on a 4 year old, unless of course, it does indeed sound like our dc is behind?

Just to second what doglicks said, my eldest children are both bookworms now! The most fluent readers in the class will likely be autumn born girls because their brains are more mature. Also, perhaps he will ultimately have stronger maths than english skills which may translate to an A* versus an A at GCSE! It really is not indicative of anything at thu
Is age unless he was struggling with basic comprehension I wouldn't worry! Honestly though most state schools will not be streaming or doing a lot of individualising at this stage and some schools will have a policy rightly or wrongly of reading a certain number of each book band before they move up. By year 6 it is meaningless and is no indicator of what he will get in his sats etc!

DD's school followed the Oxford book bands which started on lilac (no words). She actually found it quite tricky to talk about the pictures! They quickly moved her on and a year later she has sped through the book bands (now on Gold which is I think level 9). I'm with you on the 'don't panic and rush' approach.

My reception child was 5 last week and can’t read anything! Can do maybe 1/3 of phonic sounds.
Hadn’t been sent home with any sort of book yet- academic outstanding comp

My DD has just started reception and brought home these books and in her own words said. This is stupid there are no words. She can read a fair few words and it just seemed pointless but the teacher just said that's going to be everyone's starting point and we will go from there.

Ours are taking the children to the library each week and letting them choose a book for us to read with them- he’s coming home with quite standard story books, nothing for him to even attempt. I’m fine with this.

He actually seems to be doing the ‘storytelling’ thing on his own- they have a fair bit of time in the library and he looks at the pictures to choose his book. Tonight he was (pretty accurately) telling me the story based on the pictures, which I thought was lovely.

@OnlyFoolsnMothers

My 4 year old can’t read- hasn’t even got to grips with the phonics yet- I don’t think she’s behind in anyway, can write and identify her name, count well, understand add and subtract as concepts. It will come- why the rush ?!

Exactly this

I had a conversation with my head asking her to allow us to delay sending books home for a few weeks as new school policy requires us to send books children can read with no less than 90% fluency which means most children get the dreaded wordless books.

Its always a battle with parents who routinely complain to me and I have to lie and respond with "oh get them to describe the pictures, they'll love it"

I would much rather send picture books home that can be read by parents. Sharing a story together l, and modelling how to read a book etc. is equally an important school.

My school is in a lower income area, and with libraries shut for the better part of the past 2 years, many of these children haven't been exposed to high quality story books!

@inthewest

I had a conversation with my head asking her to allow us to delay sending books home for a few weeks as new school policy requires us to send books children can read with no less than 90% fluency which means most children get the dreaded wordless books.

Its always a battle with parents who routinely complain to me and I have to lie and respond with "oh get them to describe the pictures, they'll love it"

I would much rather send picture books home that can be read by parents. Sharing a story together l, and modelling how to read a book etc. is equally an important school.

My school is in a lower income area, and with libraries shut for the better part of the past 2 years, many of these children haven't been exposed to high quality story books!

Why don't you send home both? A book for the child to read and a book for the parent to share?

OP - they learn a sound a day in Reception, so unless you already taught your child phonics before he started school he won't know enough sounds yet to read a book.

bear in mind that some children have never been read to, never handled a book.

The picture book introduces the idea that books are fun, that a story progresses page by page, turning the pages for the next bit; and encourages their eyes to focus on the page looking for clues. Those are necessary pre-reading skills.

  From this, the teacher will pretty soon  work out which children are familiar with books /page turning. When words are introduced she'll find out who  recognises letters or can read  small words or whole sentences.  

   Remember, she has 20 =-odd children to get to know.

Pre-school funding take up is something like 95%, so it's very unlikely that many children start school having never been read to or handled a book.

My DD2 was given “no word” picture books. She wasn’t keen and we felt it paid no attention to her previous experience of books. We did loads of reading at home and she was doing well at nursery, so it seemed a backward step. This was an independent school. She was 4 - early summer born. They didn’t get given other books to share and I quickly worked out their reading scheme was poor. We later changed school.

By contrast. DD1 was late summer born and had reading books very quickly and she chose library books too to bring home. Imagine my surprise when the Diary of Samuel Pepys was in the book bag - Ladybird version! But so much to talk about. This was a state school and before Phonics. Although they did phonics of course, but other strategies meant quick readers moved on at pace.

At the state school, the early readers (some reading books at 4) were girls and all were summer born. 4 went to Oxbridge subsequently. So I don’t buy that Autumn born DC do better. Some DC are just bright!

I think the problem here is your DHs inflexible attitude, rather than anything the school does.

FWIW my year 1 DC can’t read yet. Well, not with anything like fluency.

In most of Europe, proper school doesn't start until 5 turning 6, so reading anything starts then. DD is the youngest in her class at 5 years 9 months and she is just starting to blend sounds. They've only been in three weeks and it has taken no time to get them writing and reading....because it is the right time for the majority by that age. There is no rush!!

The majority might be suited to a later slow start but other DC really are ready at 4. It’s the job of the school to assess, read info from nursery and give appropriate books. The DH here is too pushy but If you have one that’s reading at 4, why would you hold them back? Some DC even partially teach themselves to read. Others are great at maths. Some are gifted at everything and need to be taught to their requirements. That’s not necessarily the needs of the majority. My DD needed to read at 4. I accept others don’t. But the ones that do should be provided for.

I could be your DH. I was reading books when I started school (we started school aged 5, and it was Roger Redhat not Dostoyevsky, but even so). I can’t really remember the process of learning to read, I just could, so it is confusing/frustrating for me watching DS struggle with something I found really easy.

But your DH has to remember that these are 4 year olds, most can’t read, and they will all be able to read by the time they are 6. They won’t fall behind, this is normal attainment in reception.

And pressuring them to read faster just risks putting them off reading altogether. DS has learned more letters using the bloody songs and actions approach in four weeks, than I managed to teach him all last year. So it obviously works.

@Changechangychange they won't all be able to read by 6. Many still can not.

All the children were given picture books to start with in the reception o our school. It wasn't long until they moved onto books with words. I think its just standard in some schools.

Some families don't really read with their kids at all so looking at a book together will be an important step on the way to reading books together for homework etc. Schools have got to find a way that works for everyone.

DD is 4, can read fluently and just started reception, mostly through her own initiative after we showed her the basics. I think your husband's expectations might put pressure on your DS, it doesn't matter if he takes another year or two to get it. Tbh I feel a bit sorry for DD sitting through all the endless phonics introducing letters when she can already read. She doesn't seem to mind though!

OP do you think your DC can actually read words yet? (as in sound them out and blend the words together?) If so the teacher will notice when they read with the children and adjust the level accordingly. It is early in the year and teachers are still getting to know the children.

My reception class (I'm a TA) don't have reading scheme books at all yet, we do send home stories to share though. Some of my current class can recognize their name, others can't. One can read almost any book in our classroom but cannot retell the story.

You say your child knows the alphabet - do you mean 'recognizes all the letters by name, or sound' or 'can recite the song'?
Letters are taught as phonemes - the sounds they make rather than their name, as the sounds are important for reading. So 's' is introduced as 'sss' rather than 'ess'.
Counting to 30 - do you mean you can give them a number of objects and they can count accurately up to 30 objects, or that they can recite the numbers to 30. They are different. Sorry if that sounds patronizing. Again your teacher will notice.
Reading is not just 'can they say the word?'. It's very much 'do they understand what they have just read?'. This is often why parents think their child can read at a higher level than the school sends home - the teachers are focusing on comprehension.

You say you read to them loads - this is great and one of the best things to do to help your children to learn. (Kids' ability to learn dinosaur names and facts is incredible isn't it?). Keep doing what you're doing.

(If you ask the teacher if all the children are on the same level they may not tell you.)

DC3 started Reception this term, and he’s been bringing home reading books containing simple CVC words from the start. He’s not got the hang of blending letters together into words yet though.

He did however go to the nursery attached to the school he attends, and the nursery sent home the wordless reading books, and taught the kids all the single letter sounds.
So the kids who’ve been through the school nursery should already have some phonics knowledge and a grounding in the pre-reading stuff they’re supposed to be getting from the picture books.

But I would expect the school to start sending harder books home soon if your DC is ready for them.

Look at pictures
What can you see
How does # feel do you think
What would you do if you were #
What might happen next

Is the # happy ..can you think of other words for happy

the dog or cat or whatever character

I find lots of children can read but have no idea what they are reading ..no inference etc
I'm a year four TA with 20 years of experience in primary schools

Just another reassurance that every child is different.

Ds1 - dyslexic - not really a fluent reader until secondary school - will have a scribe for GCSEs - predicted grades 6-9 (except in English where it is a 4)

Ds2 - struggled immensely with reading until he suddenly 'got it' at year 2 - at secondary he has now got one of the highest reading age in is his year group (about 3 years above chronological age)

Ds3 - pretty much average reader throughout!

This is normal. They start with these books to develop understanding (because reading is about comprehension as much as reading the actual words) and then as the children learn simple sounds, books with words will come home. Things like ‘a cat’ ‘a hat’. Before long they’re reading chapters, don’t panic.

I think school can be hard after nursery as you just don't get the same feedback or information, but has your DH just assumed he knows better than a trained, experienced professional. That would annoy me, especially if he was voicing his opinions and then expecting you to sort it out (teach them how to read, talk to the teacher etc.) Does he have a Big Job by any chance?

From my experience, DCs in Years 5 & 2, all the younger siblings were streets ahead of their older siblings in reception and year 1 as their older siblings had modelled learning to read and write, so they have effectively started a couple of years before, through play. So you might find your DH doesn't have to worry so much about DC2. They've all evened out in years 2, 3 and 4.

@Felyne
The school should assess children, either before they start by meeting nursery staff and looking at nursery assessments or early screening and assessment at school. It’s now October. They really should know who can read and who is familiar with books, who has done phonics at nursery and who has done nothing. It’s poor to assume every child needs a picture only book.