advise please - re 5 yr old boy reading & work at home

[soph252]

Hi there, I am just wondering if anyone might be-able to advise me on what to do regarding my son. sorry in advance for the long message!!!

He started school in September and settled well. He loves school and took to the work well - good at writing and seemed to be really gaining confidence with his reading and flew through the first couple of levels. Just recently he has been easily able to read the actual words/sentances, but has seemed to struggle to read a whole book - just seemed to lose interest generally when it came to doing any reading/writing at home. Apparently still doing really well in all areas at school though.

I think he was starting to realise the amount expected of him has increased and seems more tired than before when he comes home. This week after only 4 books at the previous he was moved up another level. He saw the amount of words in his first book and a long word on page two and freaked out saying it was too hard (even though when encouraged he read the long word no problem). We had lots of tears and he noticed it was next level. He actually said he wanted to go back to level before and stay on that one forever. He had a big panic about how the other levels must be even harder etc etc. I reassured him we could just do a couple of pages and I could help if he got stuck and that they won't move him up any more levels until he is ready.

My concern is that I know it is quite normal for them to have phases ecpecially at this age to lose interest at home after working hard at school. Also that it's best not to push him too much, as long as he is still doing well at school, but obviously don't want to put him off. Should i just get him to read the book a few pages at a time with lots of praise and encouragement and a bit of help if needed and see if he realises it's fine or ask for him to be moved back to the previous level? Or maybe just leave it to his keyworker who reads with him to see if she notices. They only read a couple of pages each week with them, but I'm thinking maybe she will notice if it's too hard for him at the moment.

Sorry so long - I always waffle lol! Just generally though what would you do? He's similar with writing - was making up little books at home with pictures and a sentence on each page etc and enjoying it- now just not interested in any writing at home. I'm a bit worried tbh, even though I know he's not struggling - I don't want to push, but also don't want to see him completely losing interest and sit back and not encourage him iyswim.

Any help or advice appreciated ?

I sounds perfectly normal . I would maybe speak to his teacher and say he is getting upset and you are not going to push his reading at home.. I did this with my DS in reception and we didn't read anything at home for ages and now in year 2 he is one of the better readers in his class. The important thing is not to put him off reading. Also its nearly the end of this 1/2 term and if he is anything like my DS he is getting tired.

I would just do a few pages at a time rather than the whole book.

Introduce him to a "big boys bookmark" and sell it to him on that if you can. He could make his own maybe. Show him how you don't finihsh a book in one go and that it is okay to do a little bit at a time, and that it is a good thing to do.

DS went through this phase too. When he was so negative about reading, I didn't push the reading at home. If he showed interest we would do stuff like read alternative sentences from his book. Or I got him to pick out bits I thought he could read from a "real" book. Can you choose the books he brings home from school? Have found with DS that whether he thinks the book will be interesting makes a big difference in how much effort he will put into reading it.

I think you need to closely look at the type of books that your son is being given to read -I strongly suspect, as you mention 'levels', that he is being given Book Bands levelled readers (with coloured stickers) to practise his reading?

Do the books contain predictive or repetitive text where he has to memorise or guess his way through the story, using the pictures, first letter and context to help him?

Thank you for your replies - some really helpful suggestions and you've made me feel better about it. I was told to do a couple of pages a night rather than the whole book & am trying out the bookmark idea too.

He is reading ORT books. He is very good at the phonics side of things and can read words decodable like this. Each book he has read so far he has needed help with at most 1 or 2 words, often none - so think he has felt confident and comfortable. In his new book we are 5 pages in of 16 pages and already 3 words he has struggled with. All these words are what his school call tricky words. I think he feels he should be able to read every word in the book and need no help, but I'm sure it's better for the books to be challenging isn't it? Maverick - he hasn't really had to use the pictures, first letter etc to help him so far as he has found the words and amount of them not too challenging - should I encourage him to do all of the things you suggest now he is finding his current book more challenging?