Moving into Year 1

[abcsd]

My daughter is a summer baby (August) who is currently in reception, moving to Year 1 in September.

She’s done brilliantly at school and I’m proud of her - making friends, making progress etc - but I’m a bit worried about the transition into year one

Her teacher has said she would like to see more progress in her reading, (she’s on red books and has moved up from pink) but it can be tricky to get her to read after school - she’s doesn’t really want to, and I’m torn between pushing it or being relaxed as she’s only 4 still.

I’m also not sure how she’ll find it with less play (“choosing time”) and more time sat at a desk - I think it might be a jump for her.

Does anyone have any suggestions about how I can help her transition between reception and year one? I know it can be a big change and I’m always amazed at how advanced some of the autumn/winter born kids seem in terms of reading, writing etc.

(PS I did consider holding her back a year but on balance decided to send her - I still think it’s the right thing, she’s enjoyed school, is v tall and sociable, I just want to make it as easy and fun for her as possible)

It does seem like a bit transition (currently have a y1). A lot of the children in her class struggled with the formal learning, less play. With covid disruption they effectively had to repeat a term of reception as they weren’t ready as a class for y1 style learning. We seemed to have a lot more behavioural issues than in reception. From all accounts this year’s year 1s are no-where near where they would be compared to other years and no doubt there will be a covid effext for this year’s reception children as well.

Writing and spelling expectations seem to have jumped up a fair bit. I didn’t do much last summer but wish I’d done a bit more to keep the momentum. If you wanted to do reading at home I found the songbirds books very good at that level.

I think reading over the summer hols would be a great thing to do in this situation - can you take her to the library and let her choose some simple books? My dd often didnt like the school books, so I would bribe her and say, if she tried to read x pages of her school book, then we would read one of her library books together and she could pick. Sometimes the library books were just books of mazes, or lift-the-flap books - we just made it a lot of fun and had a really cosy time. If she still didnt want to read the school book, then I'd simply read one of our home books and we would save the School book and library book for next day.

My dd is now a competent, although not avid, reader aged 11. I still read to her at bedtime and she claims it is the only way she can fall asleep!

I have a summer baby who's currently Y2 and he found it harder going from Y1 to Y2 rather than YR to Y1. They still got to play a bit in Y1 and he liked not being the bottom of the school and felt a bit grown up but being in reception anymore.

Libraries normally do a summer reading trail/certificate/challenge which works well for us keeping up reading over the summer

My friends daughter is a late august birthday and they do a lot of reading games (ie making treasure hunts with simple clues on etc) and go to the library most weeks. She was happier to read books which she had chosen and that boosted confidence with school books too.

IME schools are very used to a big mixture of students in y1 - it seems like a broader mix than any other year in primary school. When you know who the y1 teacher will be you could ask them for ideas of how to support her over the summer with preparing for work.

Yes, it is a jump from Reception to Y1, as it's a change of curriculum, from EYFS to KS1. However, the teachers should be adept at managing it. Don't forget too that learning isn't linear, and I'm sure she'll get there in her own time. Have some library visits over the summer (she might be more willing to read books she selects), keep reading to her, and let her see you enjoying a good book too. Magazines and games that require a bit of reading are also valuable, such as activity books if you have a long journey over the summer.

I did csa start with my y1 so shes nearly 7. Just this week she picked a diary to write stuff in every day.
She is now at band 7 or so. But agree with other posters covid has made a large difference (but wont have really for your reception child) we missed minimum of 16 books whilst some key worker children carried on getting them so theres a large split.

My dd would be very behind if in y2 now going to y3.
But it is more the social issues that are a problem

The Y1 transition can be hard. It's true that she's only 4, but reading is such a core foundation of learning and the sooner she is at the 'expected' level, the easier for her. But of course, she will be almost a year younger than some in her cohort and she may not instantly catch up, and that's understandable. It will come in time, but certainly best to encourage reading where possible.

It will make a huge difference to your dd if you can find a way to make reading a non negotiable, and do it every day after school. If you don’t instil the habit now, she will kick back harder against it next year, and then you’ll have lost the chance of reading practice becoming anything other than a chore. Bribe her if you have to, or make reading part of the bedtime routine, or get up earlier and make time for it before school. The difference in reading ability between the children who read regularly at home and those who don’t is massive, even amongst the children who pick it up easily and fly through the levels.

This will matter more in year 1 because they start to need to read instructions for themselves to know what to do. It’s a real shame when children who have a natural ability in maths can’t show what they can do because they struggle to read instructions or problems.

The jump from reception to Y1 is a big one, but it happens every year and it nearly always turns out to be fine. Give your dd opportunity to do crafty activities that require you to follow instructions and concentrate on a task, and always have colouring books and good pens around to encourage her to build up her writing muscles as much as possible.

This is all really good advice, thank you.

I’m going to really push to set some non negotiable reading time every day and find ways of making it fun - library is a great shout, plus bribery where necessary!

I was obsessed with reading when I was younger, and have always been a bookworm so I always imagined I would have kids like that too but it hasn’t worked out that way

I think they need a good enough base before reading for pleasure becomes a thing. The early phases are hard work and often with dull books. My y1 is now on gold band and I have seen a difference now in the last few weeks that she’ll pick up a book for enjoyment. 6 months ago she was grinding through them.

Agree with @Bunnycat101, I have a reception child who is one of the older ones in the class and is currently on purple book band. I noticed her starting to pick up books and read herself a few months ago but it really accelerated recently as she reached the stage where she could read the majority of children's books at the library (picture books, not chapter ofc).

When you finally hit that stage, their reading develops so quickly as they want to read more and find out the ending in a story which in turn makes them read even better.

Definitely try and keep reading in the holidays, otherwise it will be such a chore and shock for her in September!
Our Y1 classes are quite good at transitioning in that the first few weeks have a higher level of choosing time which gradually gets smaller. I think the biggest jump is that, once they’ve finished their work, they’re likely going to be given an extension or additional task or challenge, they won’t be able to go and play while everyone else finishes. I’m a reception teacher and am currently working on this with my class which is causing a bit of frustration and tears I must say you know what, they’ll get there.

I would keep reading going in the summer by keeping it a daily task but short bursts. Ten minutes a day tops. And in different ways, rather than just straight reading, for example:
She reads a page, then you read a page and so forth
Buy a magazine a couple of times and a pack of highlighters. Ask her to go through and find certain words that she’s perhaps finding tricky, for example “the”, “said” “me” or whatever. 5 minute activity.
Library books as someone suggested.
Books that come with a CD - have the CD on, and ask her to follow with her finger as the words are said.
Word cards on the bedroom door. Each night, what are these words? Say, 4 at a time? Just get them drilled in.
And a bit of normal reading too, invest in some stickers etc to bribe with. Say 5 pages a day for example?

Tricky I know, i feel for you. Trouble is I know most of my remaining Pink and Red level children are the ones who’s book is returned probably once a fortnight, they get 3 a week at my school ( if they return it with their reading record)! And the lowest few are the fighters. When I call them over to read, We spend the first few minutes of reading time with them trying to negotiate “only two pages” “Mummy only makes me do 2!”. And this obviously won’t help them because in line with that, they are my lowest writers because the two are linked. So the struggle goes on. I make them read the whole book and sometimes a second.
So I do encourage, as hard as it may be, to keep it alive.

Im sure your daughter will cope fine transitioning, even if it’s a bit of a bumpy start.

For the reading maybe try you read one page, she reads one page. Then at then ask a couple questions on what she’s read. Than you’ll see if she’s reading and understanding what’s she’s reading. Could be she bored of the stories.

Library books she choose could also help her

Check out your local library, lots of the ones near us do holiday reading challenges, it might be that the library doesn’t have many books at her current reading level, but by taking part in the challenge and you reading to her it will keep her focussed and you can sneak in some more appropriate reading at her level, either by buying books or borrowing from other people, try asking on local Facebook pages. Encourage her to write too, shopping lists, postcards to granny , making little story books by folding and stapling paper , school registers of her toys where she is the teacher etc.