Ds has a reading book home - do I read it to him or him to me with a bit of help the first time?

[thegrammerpolicesic]

I've been waiting for ds to get reading books home and now we've got one I don't know how to read it! Well not literally, what I mean is, should I read it to him/ with him the first time or should he read it to me and I support him on any tricky words?

He would know most of the words apart from maybe four and they look like they aren't easily decodable and aren't on the first tricky words.

Is there an ORT guide to all this online??

He reads it to you and you can help him to sound out any difficult words

I think, I may be wrong but that's how I do it

He should read it to you (you support him if he struggles)

OK - and how much of it should they be able to read without any help if it's the right level for them?

He should be able to read most of the words you should only need to supply words that aren't decodable or on the tricky word list he has been taught.

OK that sounds fine and in line with what he can do e.g. there was the word ice I needed to help with. Thanks for helping with this - I am a bit clueless

"ice" is difficult as he won't have been taught the alternative ways of writing the sound /s/ I would point out that "c" can sometime represent /s/ then when he meets words like nice and price and ceiling he will know the rule.

Didn't your school send home like instrucions thats waht we do or for parents who we know wont read the tips we talk to them individually and no you are not being clueless most important it should be fun

I guess they will send instructions when the whole class starts on books but at the moment only one or two (I'm guessing) who can already read a bit have them. I couldn't see tips in the book itself but did look and googled for the ORT site too. And after finding nothing much I thought...well Mumsnetters will know best!!

Usually the children have read the books so many times before they bring them home they know the book off by heart anyway.

No chance of that here Lynette as they aren't doing any reading in class yet anyway but I can see that would make it a bit pointless!

I don't read the child's home reading book with them in class before sending it home. I may hear them read it before I change it if I want to check before moving on levels but otherwise home reading books are for home and school books are for school

OK that makes sense. Maybe she'll get him to read it for her but if not it's not the end of the world I suppose.

Luckily despite her not apparently having read with him, I think the book she sent home was about right - he could manage the level above from what I've seen of it as it's not that different but for now it'll be nice for him to build his confidence as a reader with something at the easier end and it definitely wasn't too easy.

I'm convinced I'm not going to fall into this stressing about what ORT level my child is at thing

the ORT level things is a bit deceptive anyway. ds started recepetion in sept and this summer had completed the library reading challenge. He really struggled with level3 ORT and flew through level 4. of the inschool books. of the read at home books he got stuck at level 3 and hasnt progressed. It means zip. what does having meaning is whether or not the dc's enjoy reading. ds has no reading confidence and is reading books 2 levels below where he should be from a different scheme just to try to convince him he can do it. he had a bad nursery who discouraged him from reading. hopefully he will enjoy it more.

Bit OT but -When my DS1 (who is now 14) started school ORT website had a chart showing levels 1-5 were for reception , but now it appears that its levels 1-3 -wonder why ?

its due to the phonics thing

i think

phonics thing?

actually i thought it was due to the fact that at one point it was encouraged to teach your kids to read so that the proportion of children starting school who could read already was higher. It is actively discourage IME and i guess they are starting from a lower point and thus the levels they are expected to achieve is lower. But could also be due to the fact that reading isnt taught by book alone any more and that any opportunity to read is encouraged thus there is less book reading and slower progress made through the stages.

I don't think progress is slower through the stages (although I don't use ORT) but my reception children progress at the same pace as my classes did 10 or even 15 years ago.

really mrz? I am suprised about that, have you changed quite dramatically your teaching methods in the past 10-15 yrs? Or do you think that it is the same basics with just a change in emphasis?

I learnt to read with Peter and Jane books at home, the read the 'Billy Blue Hat/ Roger Red Hat' books at school so i think that the technique involved alot of repetition, I was reading (albeit very basically) at 3.5

Dd is now 3.5 she is at preschool, and is learning letters in groups, (she had satnip last half term and is doing the m group this half term) but there is no attempt to blend the letters yet.

I dont have a problem with the more phonics based methods, it does seem sensible to have a solid foundation before progressing on and once kids do understand all the phonics letters they do seem to be able to progress at a faster pace, so just a slower start.

let him read it to you and help him with hard words. if more than one word he didn't know the first time get him to read it to you again the next night. if its just one word point to the word the next night to check he knows it.

yes littleducks I have changed my methods since becoming literacy coordinator (and being able to lead rather than follow) In the past children were given reading books (without words) when they started school and books were changed once a week. We followed literacy strategy guidance - children were given a home reading book to read with parents and in school we had a different set of books to read during guided reading time. Now children get their first reading book when I assess them as being able to decode and read some "tricky" words not before...
I also scrapped the Ginn360 and ORT books and we are building up a range of reading scheme books that have a higher interest level for children. I hear children read individually in class (this also happens in KS1 & lower KS2) and books are changed whenever they are returned so instead of one book a week children can have 5 - 7 books if they wish and are able to read the book and answer questions about what they have read.
I don't expect every child to read every book at every level if it is obvious they are finding that level easy (obviously some children stay on a level longer than others)
My most able readers (reception class 30 children) reach level 8-9 ...