Daughter getting upset by reading books

[fernie3]

My oldest daughter is 5 and in reception. She has a September birthday and is the oldest in her class. She started the year reading level 2 books (dont seem to be one paritcular type but the school have stuck big two stickers on the front) she is still reading level two books. Lately she has started to get upset because all of her friends are now reading different books for example today she was saying "but M...is on 5s and Imonly on 2s" a looking a little confused why she was not allowed to read the 5s books. I have told her that it doesnt matter and that I think the 2s books are good but she is not happy at all. I dont know of any of her friends or any of the children of the other mums who are still on the 2s and so I can sort of see her point!.
She CANT read, I have been readin not just the school books but a wide range of books at home with her but she just doesnt get it. She know her letter sounds but she just cant put them together into words at all, she very rarely even recognises words we see all the time like "I" or "the".

The books she is currently on are things like "oh floppy" which has about 4 words in it. It is sad that she is realising that her friends are allowed books she is not and also I really would have expected her to have started to improve a little since september?

I asked about it at the parents evening and the teacher said " I am thinking of moving her group onto level 3" but a few days later my daughter came home saying that her teacher had said that she had to stay on level 2. I totally agree with this as I say she cant read but it worries me that she seems stuck and also that it is getting her down a little!.

It seems as though there are a couple of different things going on in this situation. One is that your DD is not recognising the high frequency words that she comes across regularly and the other is how she feels about the reading books she receives.

With regard to the word recognition it might be that it will 'click' for her a while later than it has done for some of her friends but she may be someone for whom the 'letters and sounds' stages need to be re-visited or even be a child for whom phonics isn't the way forward. It would be worth speaking to the teacher about this specifically and asking how you can support this at home e.g. phonics games, flashcards etc. depending on the approach her school uses.

Her sensitivity re: the reading levels is very sad at such an early age but again, I think her teacher may be able to help with this by either letting her borrow a stage 5/whatever book for you to read together at home (in addition to her stage 2 book) or by explaining to your DD, and probably others too, that everyone is good at different things so will need different types of help at different times in their lives and that the book levels really don't matter because they are there to help the teacher choose books that will help children practise the skills they need to.

I don't teach younger children (I'm Y5/6 usually) but do have a Reception child of my own and am aware that the levels seem very concrete to them. I tell my daughter that levels/colours are a way of organising the books and practising particular sounds but as they are not 'real' books the levels are really neither here nor there. FWIW I currently teach in Y3 and Y4 and there are plenty of children in those classes who will actively seek out the comfort of stage 2 books!

You have to be aware that some parents are always going in and badgering the teac her to move their DC up.

I have a theory about my own daughter's struggles to read when she was your daughter's age. My daughter is very competitive and I believe she hated reading then because she didn't know how. I just stepped back and told her to read if she wanted to. The school was sending out messages that said read read read... it is the best thing you will ever do for your child blah blah blah. And I thought, if I oush her, she will hate it. So I didn't. She is in year 2 now and a bit above the class average.

I mention this because it strikes me that a reception shild who is aware of the others' reading levels may have the same competitive streak my DD has.

Reading is important. But it is not the end of the world of you if you "get it" when you are 6 instead of 5.

It sounds like the teacher needs to spend a bit more time helping her to blend.

My dd (also in reception - December birthday) wasn't getting blending at all before Christmas and the teacher stopped the reading books and gave her a word box instead. This was a little tupperware box of words and under each sound was a dot showing where the different sounds were. I have no idea why or how, but this totally did the trick. We had a few weeks of the word box then went back on the books.

She's on level 3 but there are some kids in her class still on the word boxes and some way, way ahead (on chapter books, ffs!).

I don't know if this is something you could mention to the teacher but it really helped my dd.

Another thing to remember is that they do all learn to read and once they do, it's not something you get better at, is it?

It seems odd that the school are so obvious about the levels, my DC's schools have coloured bands but don't say anything about what colour is harder than another to the parents (although the children work it out).

For what it's worth my ds couldn't read at all until he was nearly 7 but now at 10 1/2 he is reading well above the expected level for his age.

Muminbeds - the levels are VERY obvious each book has a large number stuck to the front and the different numbers are kept in different sections of the book area so my daughter will have to go to the 2 section and her friend will go to say the 5 section.
Sqeauver the word box sounds like a good idea.

I think you should deffo speak to the teacher (time tomorrow before you break up??) as I agree, she is clearly needing extra help.

TBH if I had had to read Floppy Floppy over and again since September I would a bit fed up too!

I think a different approach is needed - does the school have any Floppy's phonics books - these are very simple boosk with more phonic words.

Or yes, some way of helping her "get" the words. Another idea I saw on a TV programme was making the letters of simple CVC words like cat out of pipecleaners and literally picking them up and putting them together to help her to blend them into words.

I am going to have a look for some books to do at home with her (like the school ones) over easter. She is doing very well in all the others areas, her teacher has said she is very good at maths is starting to add bigger numbers etc and she understands all of the topics they do. Its just the reading!

Just a thought, my dd's reading improved when she got a couple of those story CDs and books (the ones that make a noise to turn the page) - she liked the independence of them.

It definitely sounds like she needs to work on blending her sounds. It sounds like her reading books mainly contain words she can't practice blending her sounds with. Its a big leap to recognise whole words if she can't yet blend letters. Alos check how familiar she actually is with her letter sounds. Try starfall.com - its brilliant for practising words she can sound out.

If it helps, I got this, and taught my dc blending myself, and it really helped. I think the book is excellent and you can't beat one-on-one

www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1903386616/?tag=googhydr-21&hvadid=4769493811&ref=pd_sl_4zv2to2lgo_e

If your daughter is not able to say the sounds automatically of the letter/s-sound correspondences introduced in the school's phonics programme, then she will not be able to blend well.

Also, if she cannot blend simple words consisting of the letter/s-sound correspondences she knows, then she is not ready for reading books of the type which are more 'look and say' and 'repetitive and predictable text'.

You don't mention your daughter's school's systematic phonics programme, is there one that you know of?

Has your daughter's teacher ever sent home a 'sounds book' with letters to learn (see the letter/s, say the sound/s)?

The first decoding of a beginner should be the decoding of single letters and then letter groups - and the first 'reading' should be reading of cumulative, decodable words.

Unfortunately, not all schools are properly on board with good synthetic phonics type teaching - nor do they necessarily go through the steps of 'sounds books' and 'word decoding' before giving out reading books.

Some children can struggle along with early reading books of any description - but many children can't.

It sounds from the OP's comments that mum may not have much information about the school's approach to phonics teaching. Is this the case?

In which case, mum needs to talk to her daughter's teacher about this and discuss this issue of her DD not being able to read the books being sent home and clearly feeling like a failure already. This is not acceptable.

Be brave - and do some finding out - and alert the teacher to your worries. Teachers and parents are supposed to 'work in partnership' but this does not seem to be the case in this instance.

Unfortunately the Kipper books will contain sounds that your daughter won't have been taught yet, making it much harder for her to read.

If you want to get some books yourself I'd recommend looking at Ruth Miskin's scheme. We use it at my school and it's really good for getting the children blending.

debbiehep - the school had a talk at the start of the year when they taught the parents how to say the letters correctly is this what you mean?. I have not heard any mention of a system although my daughter does talk about soundsright (sounds write??!) and building words so they seem to do this in school.I talked to the teacher a couple of months ago and she told me the same as at parents evening ,that my daughter knows the letter sounds well to be honest she didnt seem to know much about my daughters reading other than that because she told me she was reading well going up the levels which clearly she isnt so perhaps she mixed her up with someone else.

The books they read are all different types some are ginn some are oxford reading tree and some are different things altogether but the school have attachd their own reading level to them and keep them on different shelves.

The teacher is actually lovely but I get the feeling she hasnt had much time to spend with my daughter and so maybe this is part of the problem. I know the do alot of group reading but not much individual reading (not sure whats normal in reception) according to my daughter reading record book she has only read with the teacher twice since September, again not sure how normal this is.

It does feel a bit like she has been left behind and ignored a bit but I dont know if I am just being a bit oversensitive when it comes to my daughter (she is my oldest and the first to go to school so maybe I am!).

I couldnt speak to her before easter as she wasnt there just the teaching assistant was there so I will have to wait until after the holdidays.We `have been on the starfall website together and really enjoyed it though!.

Fernie I would suggest going back to basics rather than looking for books like school if she obviously can't read.
Look at phonics international and start developing sound /letter recognition alongside blending to read and segmenting to spell

OP - it sounds like the level 2 books are hard enough... although it is hard when they see other children racing ahead. FWIW my daughter got it right away but school kept them all on level 1 and 2 right through reception.

I agree with other posters try other schemes at home. Also buy magnetic letters and practise making and reading CVC words.

I am one of the parents who asked for DD to be put up a level (at start of year 1) but that was because there was a huge discrepancy between what she was reading at home (proper books with 40+ words per page) and what she was reading at school (level 2 with 4-5 words per page). In the end she was put up 2 levels but they were still a bit easy.

She is now independently reading chapter books (year 1) but lots of kids in the class still on ORT 3-5. They all go at different rates.

When my daughter started year 1 the teacher said to me one day that DD could do with extra help reading. I replied that she could not read but it turned out that they started learning in reception. I was so angry that there was no communication from the school, and angry with myself for not realising what was going on. I'm not completely stupid but she is my only child and I was ignorant of how the school worked. I bought loads of phonetic books for us to read together and she progressed up and up and at the end of year 2 she was reading at junior school level. She is now in year 3 and can read any book she puts her mind to, Harry Potter, Roald Dahl and even encyclopedias! Her current teacher has kept her on level 12 all year even though I know she can read and understand anything so I take no notice of what level they place her at. Home learning definatley helped in our case and was an enjoyable way to learn