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Primary education

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Original poster

Need some advice with Ds in reception class

11 replies

tellmewhy · 10/02/2010 10:56

Ds2 started reception class last september.He is a july baby so one of the youngest in his class,and to add to that he has speech/communication delay.If the school intact hadn't changed he would only just have started school so i haven't been to worried about him really till now.
He is coming home with a reading book but there is no way he can read.This book gets changed every week.The teacher writes that Ds has tried hard with book.But when i try to get him to read he just can't do it.
I brought him so letter to build words with but he likes to make cars with them.
I'm really worried about him and don't know what to do.

OP posts:
mumto3boys · 10/02/2010 11:02

Are you sure he's meant to actually read all the words? My DTs also started in September, but are november birthdays. They have progressed a couple of reading levels, but when they bring the books home they aren't expected to read all the words.

Has he brought home any words to learn? Mine bring home a list of about 5 words to learn to recognise, and whent hey have learnt them they get another list. These words appear in the books they bring home, but there are also other words that they are not expected to be able to read.

Part of learning to read is realising that each group of letters is a word, and that the words relate to the picture. Also picking out some sounds.

If you are worried I would speak to the teacher and see exactly what he is expected to be able to do, and how he is progressing. It may be that he is moving along just fine.

Original poster
tellmewhy · 10/02/2010 11:47

My other DC used to bring home words to learn and then a book with these words in.We have now moved and DC go to a different school.
Ds2 is meant to sound the words out.He has been learning the sounds at school and i do them at home too.But he doesn't seem to be able to blend the sounds to make words.
I have spoke to the teacher a couple of times and she always says he is trying really hard.
Because of moving SALT haven't seen DC since before he started school.His teacher wrote a note in his homework book yesterday saying they are trying to chase SALT up.So i think the teacher must have some worrys about him to.

OP posts:
Sam100 · 10/02/2010 11:57

It is still early days for your ds - dd2 is an August baby. Now in y2 but I can remember reception and stressing about her reading. She read nothing independently in reception - it was like torture trying to sit down and get her to read. She just could not do it. This went on into year 1 - then about half way through year 1 she started being able to put the sounds together. Now in y2 she is reading chapter books independently. Still a bit behind the others but catching up. After 2 dds my experience is that not much happens before 5 - which for your ds is the end of reception.

My advice is to get into good reading habits. You read the book to him instead of trying to make him read it - so you get him into a habit of reading every day. Instead of trying to make him read a whole word,ask him to point out the start of a word and ask what it begins with. Work up to pointing out whole words - when he can do that move to reading a phrase at a time. Then a sentence. Then a page.

bubblagirl · 10/02/2010 12:03

my ds has bought books home since start of reception that he would ahve never had read but it was about seeing if you could work out what was happening by looking at pictures not just the words

he still has books he would not be able to read but has since learnt a lot of words and can read basic books

its so you can read the books and point at the words then you can ask him to say the word and look in book see if he can find that word again my ds learnt by memorising each word when we played this game and then he was able to recognise it in each book etc once we had that we would find another word

it is more for us to read and them to enjoy and get used to reading and seeing the words etc

bubblagirl · 10/02/2010 12:04

also my ds has ASD and speech problems

mistlethrush · 10/02/2010 12:04

Sam I agree - we make the fact that reading is something we can share good - when ds has one of his school books he can now read 95% of the words himself, sounding some of them out first - and I help with the others after he has sounded out the letters and had a stab. However, he also has a story at night time - unless he is REALLY tired, he now reads the odd word - perhaps only one on a page, and one that I know he should be able to do - it makes him make the link between the (interesting) story and him reading without making it hard work.

Original poster
tellmewhy · 10/02/2010 13:24

Thank you for you replies.
The books he is now bringing home are for him to learn to read.The pages have two or three words on them.He is meant to sound the letters out to make the words.All the children have been learning the letters and sounds to build up to saying the words.But Ds just can't seem to blend the words.
Sam100 the old school once to teach the children to read like that.They would come home with so many words and when they knew them they have have some more.Then when they new them all they would have a book with those words in.
But the news school doesn't do that.They have to learn the letter sounds and sound the words out themselves.
After half term we have parents evening so i will get chance to talk more to the teacher.

OP posts:
mistlethrush · 10/02/2010 13:35

Any chance you can do some over half term with him? Really simple words like cat, dog, bed where the letters are relatively easily heard. I worked with ds to start with - he would say the letter names and I would repeat them a little closer together - then again even closer. We also played eye-spy quite a bit. And we talked about words and the sounds they were made up of in the car... "what's the first sound in Car, what's the first sound in tree" etc. It does take a while for them to get the hang of the blending though.

Herecomesthesciencebint · 10/02/2010 21:18

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

McDreamy · 10/02/2010 21:27

DS is also a July reception child. He is still bringing home picture books with no words and we are talking about the pictures, deciding the story/feeling of the characters etc.

He also has an A4 sheet with a large flower drawn on it. In each petal is a word, "a" "an" "at" and "as". Once he has mastered each word he can colour in the petal - so far only "a" is coloured in.

It was parents evening yesterday and I brought up my concern about his inability to blend sounds to make a word. His teacher told me not to worry. Although is seems a simple skill to us it is in fact extremely difficult to master. Once it has clicked they will be off with their reading. Until then we just need to go over these simple words, encourage a good reading habit with books with no or few words. She was not concerned about DS and said he was achieving exactly what she would expect for child of his age.

garden · 10/02/2010 21:43

please don't worry. i am a teacher but also have dd in yr. they do send home books, some of which are great, others may not appeal to your ds. just enjoy reading to him, he will learn to read when he is ready and if he is one of the younger ones and has some delay, this may be later than his peers.
does he like computers? there are lots of games on the bbc site that are great for developing literacy skills and that might be a good way in for him.

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