How much does your year 1 read?

[Hawaiiinthemorning]

My dd(5) is comfortably reading turquoise/purple books, we talk about the story and her understanding is great too, but she will only read about 7-9 pages in one sitting.
Is this normal?
She is a very reluctant reader and it’s also a trial to read to her.
We have lots of fact books that are age appropriate and sometimes she’ll pull one of the shelf and we’ll look through it together.
Any tips please???

Does she read to herself? My slighly older yr1 is a very confident reader but probably reads 10-15 pages of his book out loud per session. He much prefers reading to himself because of how much faster it is.

In reception and year 1 ds was a totally avoidant reader. Would do anything to get out of it. In year 2 it suddenly clicked and he started reading for pleasure. 5 is still so young for a difficult thing to learn. Try reading things she likes to her and getting hetlr to say odd words, then build up from there.

@SeedsSeedsSeeds

In reception and year 1 ds was a totally avoidant reader. Would do anything to get out of it. In year 2 it suddenly clicked and he started reading for pleasure. 5 is still so young for a difficult thing to learn. Try reading things she likes to her and getting hetlr to say odd words, then build up from there.

She can read brilliantly, she’s absolutely one of the best readers in the class, she just doesn’t want to. Also her spelling, when left to her own devices is terrible but when I sit with her and say come on now think about what you’re writing she does great! The class have weekly spelling tests and she tends to get 9 or 10 out of ten right. It’s frustrating but I imagine could be down to her age? She’s an absolute live wire, never still and chats away with anyone.

It sounds like we have quite similar daughters. I’ve found doing one page each of chapter books works quite well. We’re at a point where mine finds a lot of the scheme books terribly dull but hasn’t got the stamina to read whole chapter books herself.

It sounds like she’s doing really well, and it’s great that you enjoy fact books together. Can she read in her head? As Legomania said, once they’re at this stage they realise that silent reading is faster than reading out loud. If she’s ready, perhaps you can see if she wants to read a couple of pages of her book silently to herself, and then tell you what it was all about. Not that this is a substitute for reading out loud, of course!

How is she with expression? If you do as SeedsSeedsSeeds says and read alternate pages with her, you can model reading with lots of expression. My DD would howl with laughter as I put on silly voices for different characters – and then she’d have a go herself.

Another thing you could do is read to her from a more challenging book, a few pages per day, so she looks forward to story time with you, without any pressure put on her to do any of the reading. Perhaps a bedtime story, if that works for your routine at home. That’s a great way to expand vocabulary and build stamina with following a more complex story, and of course it’s fun too, if you choose a great story.

Would she enjoy a magazine, puzzle book, wordsearch? Have you tried taking her to the library to choose books for herself?

Are there any opportunities where reading is the ‘default’ occupation? My DD fortunately doesn’t get car sick, so we always make sure she takes a book with her in the car. When there’s not much else to do, it’s easy to just read the book that’s on your lap! Similarly, whilst you’re at the hairdresser or she’s waiting around with you for something? Always have a book handy.

Regarding spelling, I think it’s pretty normal at that age to make mistakes and have to be encouraged to think about it more carefully. Have you tried using subtitles when your DD is watching TV? It embeds reading and spelling without them really realising it.

I definitely wouldn’t worry or push too hard though – it does sound like she’s doing well.

@SeedsSeedsSeeds

In reception and year 1 ds was a totally avoidant reader. Would do anything to get out of it. In year 2 it suddenly clicked and he started reading for pleasure. 5 is still so young for a difficult thing to learn. Try reading things she likes to her and getting hetlr to say odd words, then build up from there.

Thank you for writing this @SeedsSeedsSeeds - this is really reassuring to hear for me, as my DS going into year 1 really dislikes trying to read. Good to hear there’s hope!

@LetItGoToRuin

It sounds like she’s doing really well, and it’s great that you enjoy fact books together. Can she read in her head? As Legomania said, once they’re at this stage they realise that silent reading is faster than reading out loud. If she’s ready, perhaps you can see if she wants to read a couple of pages of her book silently to herself, and then tell you what it was all about. Not that this is a substitute for reading out loud, of course!

How is she with expression? If you do as SeedsSeedsSeeds says and read alternate pages with her, you can model reading with lots of expression. My DD would howl with laughter as I put on silly voices for different characters – and then she’d have a go herself.

Another thing you could do is read to her from a more challenging book, a few pages per day, so she looks forward to story time with you, without any pressure put on her to do any of the reading. Perhaps a bedtime story, if that works for your routine at home. That’s a great way to expand vocabulary and build stamina with following a more complex story, and of course it’s fun too, if you choose a great story.

Would she enjoy a magazine, puzzle book, wordsearch? Have you tried taking her to the library to choose books for herself?

Are there any opportunities where reading is the ‘default’ occupation? My DD fortunately doesn’t get car sick, so we always make sure she takes a book with her in the car. When there’s not much else to do, it’s easy to just read the book that’s on your lap! Similarly, whilst you’re at the hairdresser or she’s waiting around with you for something? Always have a book handy.

Regarding spelling, I think it’s pretty normal at that age to make mistakes and have to be encouraged to think about it more carefully. Have you tried using subtitles when your DD is watching TV? It embeds reading and spelling without them really realising it.

I definitely wouldn’t worry or push too hard though – it does sound like she’s doing well.

She loves word searches and her teachers say she has lovely expression.

My year 1 DD5 sounds just like yours OP! Very energetic, always chatting and singing. Very capable reader (ORT level 13), reads with lovely expression and good comprehension. I’ve found she has been getting tired when reading now the books have more words per page and are longer. I had her eyes checked in case that was a problem, but her vision is fine. 7-8 pages is the most she will read of a school book, but in the Christmas holidays she read all 52 pages of a slightly easier book (to the dog) in one go! I read to her a lot, hoping to inspire her to want to read more for herself and I’m hoping it will come when she’s older. I think sometimes with younger children their attention span doesn’t match their reading ability and you need both to be able to sustain concentration on a longer book.

Also have a very similar sounding 5-year-old DD. A complete live wire and really struggled at first to want to read.

I think she is enjoying it a bit more now but most of the time she does ask me at the start "How many pages do I have to read?" She has just started on turquoise and reads fairly fluently but we're only managing around 5 pages so although her reading is there, her stamina definitely isn't. She's summer born so I'm hoping this will improve.

She's also not keen on writing and although she is one of the top readers in her class and I think the only one on turquoise, her teacher has some concern with her handwriting.