THRASS

[alittlebittired]

My twins are the youngest in their Reception year, being born in late July. They are being taught to read using the THRASS system. I feel it is far too advanced and abstract for their age, and they are struggling. They cannot recognise all the alphabet, certainly not sure of all the sounds the letters represent, and really cannot read at all. The Head is adamant that THRASS is the way forward, and has warned the parents that we should not be doing any simple phonics at all at home as this would confuse them. My poor girls really do seem to want to read, and THRASS is not working.

I should also add that whilst we have been promised the teachers will listen to the children read their key words once a week, this does not always happen. Obviously we do listen at home.

Does anybody have any suggestions as to what I should do?

My daughter is also a summer baby -born in the first week of August- and when I learned that she was suppose to start school three weeks after her 4th birthday, I went berseck! I even considered home schooling, but my husband was not too keen on the idea, because English is not my native language. After some reading and researching, I found a wonderful book called The Reading Lesson (Amazon).

We started to use it a good six months before she started to school, in a very gentle fashion, so by the time she entered reception she could read a good number of words and undestand the sounds of letters and how they relate to each other, and we continue using The Reading Lesson during reception year. She had no problem with the phonic system (not sure if it's THRASS, though, but it sounds like it) and by the end of reception year she was the best reader of her class, better even than children a whole year older than her. Now in year one, she's still thriving in her reading and has developed a wonderful love for books.

There is also a site we used, called Starfall, which helps children with phonetics. We too were advised not to "interfere" by the school. However, when I was also told to pretty much accept the fact that, as a summer baby, my daughter would always be behind in relation to her classmates,I decided to take action. At the end of the day, no one will care for my daughter's future as much as I will. And I'm happy to say that she's on the same level, (if not higher in some subjects) than the rest of the year 1's and 2's with whom she shares her classroom.

It could just be that your girls a little bit young still...if you remember that most of us started school at 5, then you could use this year to sit back a bit and wait for them to grow up.

Karemiss...what a strange thing for the school to say about your summer born child always being behind...I know that there are differences at age 18, but they are very small.

My, my dh and my dds are all summer born and we've all been fine (in the end)

My dd1 is one of the best readers in year 1 and she is summer born.

I have noticed the thread has been here for some time. Im just wondering if any of you are still available for some input to another learning to read programme as compared to what you have experienced. Thanks

Which one?

Im just interested in the best programme you currently think is good for anyone that needs to learn to read. And works in with schools thanks

I'm a primary school Literacy leader -we use Floppy''s Phonics.