Are there any alternatives to Oxford Reading Tree Books ?

[Gelamum]

My 6 yr old is quite a long way behind with her reading. She isn't SEN but I have had twins in the last 3 years and so have been lax at helping her at home, and its just been very hectic. ( bad mummy ) and also she is summer born and always finds it hard to keep up with her class in Y2.

ORT doesn't seem to appeal to her but she always wants to read books which are exciting but too hard ( eg Charlie and Lola but type is ToO haRd fOR beGINinerS ) or books on witches or anything not like ORT for a stimulating change.

Are there any others that are easy enough? with levels ?

Thought I could try and get a few second-hand, or even new, as I have three kids they will not go to waste...

Please help someone ???

I don't know how 'basic' you need, but I found with DS that once he found books HE wanted to read he was away - it didn't seem to matter too much that he struggled with bits. We did alot of reading together - each taking a page or paragraph etc and going from there. How about your local librabr? Let DD choose the books she wants to read and give it a go. No cost involved if they are a disaster - just take them back and chosse some more. I'm sure that it is the constant reading that gets kids going rather than constant repetition of basic words in boring books they don't want to read.

There is a list of real books that are the same levels as ORT,it's a bit like gold dust though have asked repeatedly for it from my dc's school still not got it.

There was a thread on Children's Books where some kind person listed the books for a few levels. I think Winnie the Witch was purple band.

Have a look at the colour band on her book and post in CB to see if the same kind person could list a few.

I don't know what level she is but if she needs phonic based books there are a couple of packs on with The Book People and Red House at the moment.

Thx for the replies

That's helpful advice Seeline, I have sort of tried that but she is at quite a basic level, so can only read the occasional word.
Also she struggles with some typefaces, eg where "a"s and "g"s are non-standard with funny curly bits she freaks out, i'll keep looking though.

MilaMae That List sounds like Gold Dust. DOES anyone know of it ??? ?
I bet LOADS of people would love it !!

What is "CB" you mention ? sorry still a bit green about MN.
thanks for yr great suggestions. i will try Book people and Red House.

I would like to ask her teacher but it is really hard at pick up time, people all cluster round and one of my toddlers is always acting up.
I have tried phoning school, but very hard to get hold of her.

Can't you phone and make an appointment to see her? Didn't you discuss your dd's reading difficulties at parents' evening?

ORT songbirds are nice books to read and simpler than the Biff, Chip ones. Jelly and Bean are good basic books too.

If she is a long way behind with her reading what are the school doing to bring her on?

Sorry just read your last post. If she can only read the 'occasional word' in year 2 then she should be having extra help at school.

thank you mollieO, you are right.
thx for the advice. i will try those.

I was told in year 1, repeatedly 'she'll catch up'.

Only had one parent's evening so far this year, and teacher was in a bit of a hurry , running v late.
She also seemed to think she had come a long way recently, she had improved a lot. And she apparantly is very good in school, works hard, hardly ever naughty, so it should sort itself out.

But I think you're right...
I will make another appointment and try and get her help, and book suggestions

Ds is in year 1 and is rubbish at reading. On level 2 ORT although some other pink level scheme made an appearance in his book bag last week. He is waiting to be assessed by the SENCO (although the teacher doesn't think he has SEN now - she did at the beginning of term). If she is significantly behind her peers then she should be having extra help.

A group in ds's class have extra reading help (only discovered that yesterday but ds isn't included) and others have extra help with the SENCO.

I would consider looking at the Ruth Miskin system of learning to read.

Does she know all of her letters well? Can che read c-v-c words?

Dd had some books like The Not So Perfect Princess which have a story bit on the left hand side, and then an easier sentence for the child to read that uses words from the previous page, so the story is more challenging than the actual reading.

Does the school run a 'reading recovery programme'? Sounds like she would benefit from that.

I think the teacher needs to know you are concerned, and that you're delighted she thinks your dd is doing well, but that you are not delighted with how it's going, and you want to make a plan with her to tackle it at home AND school. I would write a letter tbh.

Here's a link to a thread containing lists of real books categorised into book bands

book lists

Hth

I'd leave the technical teaching to school and just read read read read to her. Choose books and stories she enjoys to listen to and look at and don't try and get her to sound out the words.There is never enoough time for this at school and teaches children so much about reading - characters, plotting, vocab, story structure etc etc. There is so much more to reading than just decoding the words and you can make a huge contribution doing something you can both love without putting your daughter under any pressure and getting all tensed up yourself.

Not that I did this - but I know now that I am right.

How about trying a different reading scheme.

Our dds school has a lot of Rigby Star books and there are some great stories there.

Or - as someone else suggested - a book where there is harder text for the parent and easier for the child.

My dds likes PuddleLane (old ladybird scheme) and Usbourne first experience books also have the two different texts.

My dc have quite enjoyed the ladybird early readers - lots of classic stories like Billy Goats Gruff, Magic porridge pot, Peter and the wolf. You often find them in charity shops.

They also liked the Puddle lane books (similarly easily available second hand).

Others which are easy for very early readers are Dr Seuss (Fox in Socks, Green eggs and ham), Funny bones by Allan Alhberg, and similar picture rhyming stories with a lot of repetition.

MilaMae Does your school use these gold dust books or ORT? 2 schools by us don't use ORT. They just use graded books that don't go in any particular order and the child can pick any book out of the grade they are on. Seems like a much better idea to me.

Another vote for Ladybird Read it Yourself - bit old fashioned looking but were a turning point between flashcards and fluency for us. They start at level 1 and we got as far as 3. Then my DD is small and loves the classic tales.
We also had the Ruth Miskins and they were fine although the stories were less engaging.
Personally, I just can't see why you should leave the teaching to school if that hasn't worked so far - but agree that all reading is good reading!

we've read 'Read Write Inc' a series devised by Ruth Miskin. Stand alone stories that are phonics based and my son has loved reading them as they are interesting and not at all repetetive. If she knows her sounds then she will be fine with these books.
Hope that helps

OP you are so right about Charlie and Lola. Why do they dO ThAt!?? It's very odd!

This lists 'real' books

This list shows the book band colours that correspond to the levels given, up to level 30.

1-2 Pink

3-5 Red

6-8 Yellow

9-11 Blue

12-14 Green

15-16 orange

17-18 Turquoise

19-20 Purple

21-22 Gold

23-24 White

25-26 Lime

27-28 Ruby

29-30 Sapphire

And this chart shows which book band colours correspond to the ORT levels (which are different from those given in the first link)

I agree - the ladybird read it yourself, classic fairy tales, only £2.50 each on four levels.

I would guess that level 1 is equivalent to ORT 3.

And once she has done up to level 4 the ladybird do classic tales which are slightly harder but still easy to read.

I'm a reading tutor.

I recommend that you avoid 'real books' / book banded books/ whole language books at all costs. What you need is decodable books.

Personally I use Dandelion Books www.phonicbooks.co.uk but there are several other effective, non-damaging reading series available.

I suggest you look at the range of decodable book series (and advice) on this page www.aowm73.dsl.pipex.com/dyslexics/resources_and_further_11.htm

HTH

Why do you recommend to avoid "real books"? What do you think about ORT?

Other reading series I have heard of are:

Ruth Miskin
Jolly phonics
Snapdragons
Songbirds
Floppy phonics
Glow-worms

Are any of the above recommended or to be avoided?

Songbirds are nice phonic books and a lovely alternative to ORT Kipper books. I found the Jolly Phonic reading books a little boring to be honest but their non-fiction were good for those that prefer this type of book.

The red nose readers were ok as well. I also like the read it yourself series by ladybird although these are not phonic based.

I liked Ruth Miskin's systematic approach - it may not have been the most thrilling stories to some but I liked how, at the beginning of each book, she presented all the sounds, the blends and the sight words in the text. So theoretically the child had all the knowledge on decoding in their heads before attempting to read - I felt that gave my dd a real confidence boost - she could read all text without struggling and that was the thing my child really enjoyed.