can anyone explain?

[MathsMadMummy]

hello, just wondering how the whole reading levels thing works when kids learn to read at school. I've seen a lot of threads about kids not being given the right level books, not being allowed to go up a level, the books being so boring... seems like a bit of a minefield!

no personal experience - DD only just 3 so it'd be good to know. when I started school (1981) I was reading so I just read what I wanted (teacher gave me her own DD's books!) - no idea what others were doing. do kids who are already reading get that freedom nowadays? I've heard of parents getting told off for teaching their kids to read! not that my DD is anywhere near reading, and she's a summer baby so I don't expect she would be by then.

anyway would love somebody to explain, so I will vaguely know what to expect if she goes to reception.

dropping DD at nursery now, so will eagerly check for replies later. TIA

Lets Hope so, Beenbeta. Lets also hope NC is binned and then teachers can get back to teaching.

I would also like to say to Feenie and other teachers on here, that I am not implying you know nothing about phonics. What I have said is that my DS1's teacher is struggling with it. She is a lady in her 50's who I know has worked at his school for nearly 30 years.

She, like many of her collegues worked in the 70's when a look, see, remember approach was taken to reading. This was how I was taught. (might account for my spelling!!)
Whilst you may have been trained, not all teachers have, plus of course many will be entrenched in the ideas and methodology they have always used.

State Ed has always been a failing system, this is why every successive government has imposed new targets and ideas on it. The staff at the coal face are expected to keep up with all of this. How many hours are devoted to getting to grips with APP and other systems used for assessment, for the system to then be replaced. I respect teachers for working in the system, what I don't understand is the blind adherence to every new idealogy and their reluctance to listen to parents.

Whilst my child's teacher has a responsibility to teach, I really care what education he receives. I'm here for the long haul and as long as he is in my care, like every parent I will question this system that doesn't actually acheive its aims.

If you know anything about Home Ed and the law, the law clearly states that the education must meet the targets set and meet the needs of the child. Seems fair to expect that every state school should ensure that as well.

Once again minimathshouse you have made a statement with no foundation in truth.

I am also a lady in my 50s and a product of pre national curriculum grammar school education (O levels and A levels not GCSEs) and the maths I see our children taught in upper juniors is at a level I was taught in Grammar school not primary. So the system that beeta wants to return was less advanced than the one we have now in some ways ...

I don't know, but DD is 3.11 and I read to her loads. She is picking up words here and there and can recognize most from the simple books -- i.e. Splat the Cat etc. We do rhyming words such as, 'cat rhymes with what?' And then things like, 'what sound does 'at' make?'

DD seems to be reading words/sentences rather then learning them phonically, wasn't not sure this is a good thing or not. I spoke to her Reception Teacher at an induction day a few weeks ago and she said that children learn in a variety of ways, so not to worry about doing it the 'right way' or 'wrong way.'

The main thing is lots and lots of reading/stories, making it fun and enjoying it.

..No point in teaching her what /c/ sounds like if she can't say /c/. It'd be counterproductive I'm guessing? ..said MathsMad Mummy.

Au contraire -It's all in the correspondences. Eg If you consistently say 'f' for the letters 'th' then that is the sound those letters represent! This is the beauty, and the pain of the English alphabetic code, and what makes it possible for millions of speakers and readers with widely differing accents able to use it.

It is often the case that learning to read, (via the phonemic decoding route, NOT whole word recognition) adjusts children's speech.

Another example. One of my Y2 children, asked how to spell what I thought she said, 'dressing' - her attempt was 'gresing'. Not only did she not know the doubling rule, but also had been saying 'gr' for 'dr'. Learning how to spell and read the word put her speech production right.

oh ok malaleuca, thanks for that

she's desperate to learn, and knows most letters (capitals mostly... happened by accident!) - maybe I could gradually introduce the sounds. I'd been avoiding it as I didn't want to get it all wrong

we have been thinking about getting a SALT referral - at her 2 year check the HV said she wasn't worried, but in terms of actual sounds, DD hasn't improved that much. I'm not sure if there's an actual problem, it may just be that she's on the slower end of 'normal' IYSWIM.

try www.piperbooks.co.uk if you want to teach your daughter to read and are not sure how to go about it.

Lots of MN parents of reception and Y1 children fuss a lot about reading bands and query whether their children are being forced to read every book in a particular level before being allowed to move up. For parents of children in Y3 plus, and usually Y2 also, you rarely hear mention of book bands. This is because they are not so important at KS2, when usually children are reading real books.

I would agree with reading little and often. 10 minutes every day is better than 1 hour once a week. My dd1 could not read when she entered reception, but dd2 could. By the end of Y2 they were both at a similar standard.