Reading in reception class -what is expected?

[FanjolinaJolly]

ds has started school this September.I guess hes your typical 4 year old,not a genius but not totally dimwitted.He can read some simple words and knows the alphabet.We read to him every night.Last week he brought his first "Reading" book home,basically a pictoral book of about 6 pages called "The Apple".It says it is part of a series calle Oxford Reading Tree.Alongside this a small reading "diary" appeared with a section marked "Parents comments".I looked at the book with ds and got him to tell me the story.Dutifully commented on said book.We did this every night,as well as a Proper story (Currently reading him Fantastic Mr Fox.)Last Friday I asked the ta if he needed a new book,she said "Oh,sorry forgot to look in his book bag" and found me another book in similar vein about a street fair.

How long does the pictoral stuff go on for?When do they start progressing to words,and should I be doing anything else to help ds with his reading.?Is this the usual stuff that is done in Reception I am clueless!Thanks

Infin, I KIND of see what you are getting at with the picture books, but if you want children to describe what they see in a picture, why not take them to an art gallery?!

It's not about simply describing the picture/s...it's about telling (as opposed to reading) a story. And it's not that easy.

A Year 6 child I'm currently working with will agree! This particular child can decode almost any word but give them a book with no words (at an appropriate level of interest for their age) and they struggle to tell the story in anything other than very basic, stilted sentences. It's hardly surprising that their writing is poorly structured and lacking in detail and variation of sentence structure.

The art of storytelling is an important skill. Children are often flabbergasted when I tell them a story as opposed to reading a story from a book. Sadly, it seems to be a dying art.

I'm rambling. Sorry. Must be the Saturday evening lubrication!!

You're not rambling, Infin. It's interesting, not something I've ever considered. I can understand the picture boook technique used for teaching creative writing and composition for slightly older children in the exact way you describe, encouraging them to use complex sentence structures and adjectives etc, but for teaching actual reading basics to Reception classes, I'm not so sure....

not criticising, just interested in the whole teaching of reading thing and keen to know how it's done. I remember doing a module on children's literature when I was at university, and part of it discussed the way children learn to read. Was totally horrified and in total disagreement to the hippy lecturer who insisted that using just the "real books" method of teaching children to read was successful. A generation of children have since proved her otherwise!

The real books issue, oh no!!!
Well...actually (takes a deep breath) for the majority of children, alongside systematic teching of phonics, real books are a hugely successful and motivating way to learn to read. Just take a look at the following article (link below) if you're interested or sceptical. It's from 2002 before the whole Ruth Miskin 'Read Write Inc' bamdwagon got going. By the way, I AM NOT AGAINST THE TEACHING OF PHONICS!!! I know the way this could go!!! And there are still some schools out there who don't use reading schemes for most of their children. I work in one for a day a week and see a much richer reading culture, children who are enthusiastic about books and excellent reading standards. Honestly!

The link isn't live, and I'm not sure if I'm even supposed to post it but it is an interesting article.

news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/1769080.stm

An interesting discussion (and thanks for link infin - I reckon I concur with the article).

I've been trying to do a bit of research recently based on fact that DD2 started a new school in year 1 recently, after 2 years in private education. In her previous school speed phonics had been used and we'd been using word tins since preschool and progressed to band 3 with books by end of summer term reception. She's September born, so 6 now, and was previously one of the brightest in the class.

Now at her new school she's been coming home with band 1 (pink) books - now finally band 2. She's getting just one book a week - on a Wednesday - and when I asked if she could take home 3 or 4 books at a time, was told that there aren't enough books.

We continue to read one 'reading scheme' book alongside something she chooses (and can't necessarily read, but does enjoy).

Am I right to buy sets of ORT books (phonics ones primarily) at levels 2, 3 and 4, in order to supplement the one she brings home from school each week? We are re-reading each book a few times (so she becomes very fluent by the end) and I am doing all the various activities included at the back of book and in teaching notes. I can recommend the Songbirds series as a good and fun alternative to Kipper/Biff/Chip books also.

I am not a pushy mum - but now she's not reading every day to TA/teacher at school (bigger class of course) I feel like I have to play a more active role in order to keep her progressing based on her age.

Our school uses a mixture of phonics and "real books". Books are in coloured groups of difficulty. We had an excellent english co-ordinater who hated the prescriptive ORT books so devised her own system. It really works the books are a mixture of several different schemes and books like Where the Wild Things Are, poetry books, etc
All children surpass their potential in reading and seem to really enjoy it. The 'real books' really enthuse them and they enjoy and the stories more than the ORT which seem to switch some children off. All classes have daily phonic lessons. Once the children have grasped that then they can be taught how to really read books and enjoy them.
Well that's how it works in our school anyway!

good posts, infin.

These threads crop up with depressing regularity. "My child is sooooo advanced; they're soooo bored with Oxford Reading Tree."

Yawn yawn yawn. In my opinion such kids are actually THICK because there is lots to see in the ORT books. Any fool can quickly dash through the words, but a more enquiring child might look at the jokey bits and talk around the story.

And I'm of the strong opinion that a bored child is a dim child. They can't choose another book? They can't sit and daydream? They can't observe the world around them?

And who puts the idea of being "bored" into their heads? Hmmm, their desperate, humourless mothers, methinks.

DS1 didn't find those wordless ORT books boring; in fact he never found any ORT books boring, as the pictures are great. I question their usefulness in teaching him to read, however. They were useful for other aspects of literacy - telling a story, speaking coherently - but they did not help him learn to read. Phonics did that. DS1 is very visual, so he learned whole words easily as well.

Fortunately DS2 could read already when he started school so we were spared 'The Street Fair' and its ilk a second time around.

Talk to me please about word tins and key words. What happens? We are not in the UK and ds1 has been reading with old fashioned Ginn books at school and is given flashcards with what I would call 'key' words ie here, there, come etc relevant to the book he is reading. We are asked to read the flashcards first then do the book, but I find it easier for him to work out the words with the story?

My son's school didn't do this - they waited until half term and then sent out level 1 books with words in.

But they are very very keen that you discuss the pictures, comprehension is just as important as decoding the words.

My dd is 5 in Nov and started Reception in Sept having done a full year in nursery in the same unit.
I was taught to remember words (flash cards and so on,I am 41) and started my dd on the Oxford Learning Tree books and cards when she was 3.She learnt them really quickly.

Then just before they broke up for summer they held a phonics night at school explaining how they would teach reading and how we should not confuse them.So I started to use phonics in conjuction with the worksheets they send home.

My dd hates it.Shes very uoset tonight as three children have been given books and she hasnt. She struggles with the sheet of words on the 'homework' sat,mat,mam,man and so on so I cut some words up tonight so she can learn am and add p,s,m and so on making different sounds and words hoping she can grasp it

I feel like I have put her back by startung off teaching her the way I was taught

Cholcolate peanut - I think you should talk to your dd's teacher. Not all kids get on with phonics -I certainly learnt by the whole word approach and my son is learning the same way. He does use phonics for writing, but lets face it, English is not a very phonetic language so using phonics alone has to be a flawed approach. Teaching needs to be differentiated to the needs of the child and consequently the kids should be taught both methods and encouraged to find out what works for them.

thanks helly I will

We did some stuff this weekend with the whole word approach and she sailed throught it and when I did the phonics homework tonight she just did not grasp it