O M G there are books other than O R flipping T . If your school is giving easy books then go to the blardy library and get your kid a book they find hard. oR whatever. But schools are not librarys/book shops. There is limited money for books. esp wh...

[charmkin]

So stop whining and realise that ORT is not GOD of reading.

I think that reading schemes are great because they present the right vocabulary and are very important, especially to a DC who struggles.They have to be bland to give the practise. It is good to have a range of schemes, sometimes a DC can be on one level for a long time.What makes me smile is when a parent finds their DC has a book from a scheme they don't know and they immediately want to know the level! All that matters is that it is right for your DC, what anyone else is reading is irrelevant-it is not a race. Slow but steady often does better in the end! You can read outside the scheme and you can read to your DC, reading for enjoyment is the key to success.

my dd's ORT books are 23 pages long not 12?

dd2 loves ORT books. she is coming on well with her readign and is branching into other books as well. she has read 'the cat in the hat comes back' 'little miss twins' and 'dont be horrid henry' in the last couple of weeks. they do stretch her a bit more.

yes she does get extra books from school, and changes her ORT books daily, but she is finding it fun, and her teachers are pleased with her progress. as am i.

if a child enjoys the ORT books and actively read them, rather than not wanting to then its fine IMO.

If your children are finding them too easy then seek out other books by all means but dont get angry at a scheme which a lot of children enjoy and actually learn to read with.

as an aside, at her old school dd1 had several books from Ginn, my goodness they were so dull. she hated them.

Oh God yes misdee. Ginn books are truly dullsville . If you have ORT think yourselves lucky.

Otherwise I agree with the OP; get thee off to the library.

Okay you can all stop moaning about ORT - until you have seen an NZ Ministry of Education Ready to Read book you have not gone to the very bottom level of reading hell. They are given free to the schools and I can only assume that is because no school would pay for them. We have had a couple by famous NZ authors who obviously threw them out as part of some subsidy deal, and then the really bad ones.

I read some research the other day that said there were not enough in the series for children to get enough reading in before being moved up a level. The richer schools are okay as there are heaps of books (which they have to buy) graded in the same way (we use a colour wheel instead of numbers - which is daft because all the kids know the order of the colours).

Give me Chip, Biff etc. any day - I'm quite fond of them and ds loved the magic key.

Does ORT have non fiction too?

20p - yes, later on, think they are called something diff, but same scheme I think - building houses, weather, diff cultures and celebrations etc... think I've seen one on whales too? have to say the boy reading it was fascinated - it introduces graphs and fact boxes into the text etc...

ok ok ok
all this nit picking 12 pages 24 pages
plus I never said anything about SN or LD children!!! AT ALL. but truth be known they are actually quite hard books for kids who don't have phonics and they don't teach them to decode text, they teach them to rely on pictures and they find it hard to get any further

There is nothing wrong as such with ORT

Is the obssession with levels and ort books
as if they are the be all and the end all
There are other books
if your child is a blardy genuis and only on level 56 of ORT and 'school is only giving 2 books on level 34' then go the the libary. If you want your kid to read and like reading and they have read the ort books, don't complain about levels, just go to the library

that is all

oh yes and btw I have been a teacher for 14 years so I do know what I am on about

when you have listened to 100s of kids and 100s of parents goign on at you every week about these damn books and then come on mNet and people are here going on about them you really feel like saying

THERE ARE OTHER BOOKS!!!!!

that is really all now

ORT books are totally out of sync with current early reading instruction guidance (if they were ever in sync)

what is the current reading instruction?

dd2 started on the getreadingright scheme then moved to ORT.

totally different to dd1 who started on ORT, did some on that and then Ginn. then back to ORT

From the review of the teaching of reading : "It is important for schools to offer a coherent reading programme in which ?quality first teaching? as defined by the Primary National Strategy...learning the core principles of phonic work in discrete daily sessions reduces the risk, attendant with the so-called ?searchlights' model, of paying too little attention to securing word recognition skills."

Guidance for parents:

In order to make a good start in reading and writing, children need to have an adult listen to them and talk to them. Speaking and listening are the foundations for reading and writing.

Books are a rich source of new words for your child ? words you would not use in everyday conversations appear in books. Children need to have a wide vocabulary to understand the meaning of books ? so read aloud and share books as often as you can. They will enjoy it and it will be useful to them when they come across these words in their own reading later on.

Teach lots of nursery rhymes ? each one tells a different story.

Enjoy and share books together ? buy or borrow books that will fire their imagination and interest. Read and re-read those they love best.

Make time to read with your child throughout their time in school ? PLEASE continue reading to your child even when they are reading independently. This is very important ? your child needs to practise their reading skills every day, and needs the support of an interested adult. A grandparent, older brother or sister can help.

Let them see you reading ? grown-ups can share their magazines about their favourite sport or hobby.

Read with your child ? ask your child to attempt unknown words using their phonics skills and knowledge. Make sure they blend all through the word.

Talk about the meaning of the book too ? take time to talk about what is happening in the book, or which things they found really interesting in an information book. Discuss the characters and important events. Ask them their views. Provide toys, puppets and dressing up clothes that will help them to act out stories.
Explain the meaning of words (vocabulary) which your child can read but may not understand, e.g. flapped, roared.

Listen to story tapes.

Teach your child some action rhymes ? ?Heads, shoulders, knees and toes?, ?Here we go round the mulberry bush?, ?We all clap hands together'. Use tapes and CDs of nursery rhymes to sing along to.

Read simple rhyming books together ? leave out a rhyming word now and then, and see if your child can work out the missing word. If not, you say it.

Borrow or buy the best books you can to share with your child. Libraries and book shops can advise you of the most popular books.

Add sound effects when reading a story and encourage your child to join in.

A quiet area with some cushions and toys is a comfortable place for you and your child to look at a book together.

What I like about NZ ready to read is that non fiction is introduced straight away, ds has easily had as many non fiction books as fiction. Some children can't follow a story ( and the stories are pretty dull in a reading scheme), but are really interested in space or whatever and this is a way to get them interested in reading.

Both dds loved ORT, hated Roger Red Hat.(me too). You lot don't know you're born, here in Canada, they don't really have reading schemes, unless the teacher buys/ downloads them herself. The ones that they have are so dull eg: A red ball, A blue ball etc etc

ORT are fine imo. My ds likes them - he is actually interested in what the next adventure will be (bless - he is just 5 though ).

I think the reason parents become 'dependent' on them (and other reading schemes) is because we are advised that teaching children to read is best done by school methods, and that creates anxiety that reading outside the scheme when children are just starting out will confuse and hinder them.

Reading schemes are carefully planned to be appropriate for learning to read - in terms of vocab, complexity and length, and so while children are still building confidence (say up to level 5 ORT or whatever), then they are a good thing. Once children have the confidence, then reading outside the scheme has to be the way to go, and more interesting books are great to encourage a lifelong love of books (alongside the structured learning that reading schemes provide).

I can understand whay parents don't want to knock their child's emerging confidence in reading by getting them to read a book that was designed to be read TO a child rather than BY a child. Once they get to a certain point that doesn't matter, but I would say that for the average reception and Yr 1 child, it does, and I would encourage any parent to ask for more reading scheme books at the approriate level if that is what their child is interested in.

Of course, it is dependent on how good the scheme is - ORT is not so good for those being taught phonics, compared with others (ie jelly and Bean, Rigby Rockets), but if it engages the children, then it has definite value.

The issue of competitive parents wanting to know what level their children's peers are on is another thing, and is not relevant to the merit of the books themselves...

GeorgeAndTimmy I am a teacher and I would NEVER suggest to a parent to stick to reading scheme books in the home (ORT or any other) It gives young children completely the wrong idea about reading no wonder research suggests children are being turned off reading

We suggest RA RA RA books (read aloud read along read alone) which are any good age appropriate picture books available from your local library if you don't wish to buy but please please please DON'T BUY reading schemes for your DCS!!!!

Ds has just finished a three week stint of reading all those little Thomas the Tank Engine books, 3 or 4 a night in bed for pleasure. He saves up the words he doesn't know and asks the next day. He is very organised is ds.

I asked him what he was going to do now, and he said he would start again.

Agree, schools are not bookshops or libraries. Reading schemes are only one part of literature teaching in schools. They're an even smaller part of childrens total exposure to books and reading material.

We don't have ORT but colour banded books from various reading schemes. I don't think he's ever been on a level I'd say that stretched him. The teacher seemed to know what she's doing, seeing as he did learn.

EG he's coming home from school with an ORT 7 book, in bed he's reading chapter books. It doesn't bother me, the school books only takes us a few mins everyday. There's plenty of time for him to read books we've bought, borrowed from the library. He chose a book on garden wildlife, and another about The Titanic at a jumble sale this weekend. Totatl cost of 20p

mrz - interested in your post, why not buy reading schemes?

hellish I can't really envisage why anyone would want to buy reading scheme books unless it was to give their child the opportunity to practice them prior to them being issued by the school.
Reading schemes are devised for reading instruction and have a place but they are hardly great literature with language that will develop children's vocabulary and inspire their imagination. By necessity the words in reading scheme books are set at certain levels and this often results in stilted language.
Children need to see that all books aren't like this to become writers and to develop as readers. If they only read reading scheme books what incentive is there other than being on the highest level in the class?
My six year old used to read the NATO defence document to himself and ask for help with words he couldn't read or understand it extended his reading/ writing vocabulary and his general knowledge.

We use a mix. I think ORT is a very good scheme. It seems to work well at dds primary in conjunction with jelly and bean.

Sorry but if your only experience of teaching children reading is having a 6 year old who can read NATO defense documents you aren't in a position to judge what other parents do IMO.

Reading schemes have their place and some of them are excellent. Of course its not particularly healthy to rely on them but they can really boost children's confidence.

oh i agree with what GeorgeandTimmy just said. I didnt really need to post at all

Enid I am a reception class teacher and have been successfully teaching children to read for many many years now and have never once suggested to a parent that buying a reading scheme book would be money well spent.

but there is no intrinsic difference between a reading scheme book and any other book

except they tend to be easy with two or three words on a page - so whats the problem with that?

"Yes, our DC can read the ORT 16p book at first go. I get DS2 to read them no more than 3 times max over several days. Meanwhile I get him to read something else! yes charmkin, I agree, Peter and Jane, library book, red nose reader, anything frankly."

confused as to why that is less pushy than asking for three reading scheme books in a row? Maybe those 'pushy' parents are doing their best to get off the scheme early!