Advice from reception teachers - reading

[DeepaBeesKit]

DC is reception, old in year and can read (properly, recognises phonics and blends). My parent is a ks1 teacher, has read with DC and says they should be reading the third level books (usually yellow I think).

School are sending home "reading" books with no words. I understand these have a (different) value in terms of storytelling etc but have nothing to do with reading phonics which requires you to be linking print with words/sounds. The mums from the year above have said books with words aren't sent til after Christmas.

As a teacher would it annoy you if I asked for reading books with words to be sent home too? Being on holiday over summer DC read less and I saw immediately how not reading as regularly their reading got less confident so I do want to keep up regular reading at home since DC is keen. Local library is v small with very few early level phonics decodable books so we can't just get them there, and they are expensive to buy sets. The sorts of things you read at home are often not easily phonic decodable. I'd be happy if DC was just given the easiest level books with words just to keep confident/practising, while the teacher takes some time to assess what the right level is.

NB the DC told the teacher they can read and I have confirmed this with them so they know.

Honestly, just got to a library and get some decent reading books.

Schools have such weird ways of teaching reading - get simple picture books talk about the situations in the book - and your LO will be fine.

All the libraries nearby are really small. The local one only has one range of phonics books (Songbirds) and there are only 6 at the level suitable for DC and they have read them.

No problem with how the school teach it, fine with phonics blending/segmenting etc just that their approach seems to ignore the fact that there's a big variation in what stage the kids have started school at, they are basically teaching as if the whole class are the same & have never seen a book before

I'm a teacher and would be totally fine with giving out books with words if a child could already decode. They should be catering to the individual needs of a child. There are also lots of website with online books at different levels that are free to access. Try www.oxfordowl.co.uk

Thanks chocs will look at that.

It’ll be on their to do list I’m sure- most places are only back 2 weeks at most. Just write a little note in their homework diary.

Fingers crossed marigold. I wrote this week that he can read but it was ignored. I will wait another week then maybe try again.

For reading at home, it doesn't all need to be "phonics books" - if they're reading with you then you can fill in the words they don't know. Or you can read part of it and suggest they try some of the easier sentences. Mine liked to "read the things people say" - which was often the easier vocabulary.

Raid the libraries for lots of picture books. In our library service, ordering books from other libraries is free for children, so explore the catalogue and make use of them!

Thanks, good tips

I think the teacher will send some home if you ask, but I often see these banded books for cheap on Facebook marketplace too so that's probably worth a look.

Thanks beach hut. I'm just mainly not wanting to get on the wrong side of the teacher in the first term, but equally want my DC to have what's best for them.

Make a note in their homework book. Go to your local bookshop or library and see what child friendly books you can find there. Or look on Amazon, or purchase books from a church book sale or car boot sale type event instead. Facebook Marketplace may even sell kid friendly books at low prices, have a look to see for yourself.

It sounds as if they've started them all on the same band. They've only been back a couple of weeks and will have concentrated on establishing routines and relationships, behaviour expectations and so on. I'm sure they'll band them all more appropriately once they've had time to share books with them individually. Lots of parents claim that their child can read and need more challenging books, but it is clear that the child has no understanding i what they're reading, so you might be lumped into that category for now. Don't worry. Keep sharing other books at home. They'll realise how adept she is shortly I'm sure.

I would just wait a couple of weeks and see if they send home a different book after assessing the children. They are probably still doing the statutory baseline assessment as that needs to be completed first.

Oxford owl is great as pp said and Reading eggs is also really good for practising reading if you're looking for an app.

Lots of good tips thanks. Happy to wait 3 or 4 weeks but was a bit concerned it could be the whole autumn term with no words. Hopefully not :)

Please don't underestimate the importance of books with no words. They are important in teaching prediction, inference and summarising skills.

I would ask for a book with words to go alongside the book with no words. Or perhaps you could write down a few decodeable words related to the picture book, stick them on a post-it and get your child to read those?

I bought the Oxford Reading Tree collection levels 1to 7 on eBay. It wasn’t crazily expensive second hand.
This learning to read business is down to the parent in the early years stage, isn’t it? I moved the kids through the levels as appropriate and the school occasionally heard them read and confirmed the level. There are 30 in a reception class and I had two children at home ….so I knew a lot more about their reading ability than their teacher by virtue of numbers alone.
I won’t be teaching them the A level curriculum but Early Years is a parent led gig.

Try getepic website too.

My daughter started Reception with a reading age of 8+. They had to send books home for her level! I didn't even teach her to read, she just picked it up with a little phonics work at a Montessori nursery.

Sheiselectric

Completely agree and happy to do both, but you cannot improve your blending and decoding skills without printed words.

Sadly the school are so determined not to allow any children to progress that they decided to write in my DC reading diary this week that they "were not yet blending" as a reason to continue sending home the easiest books.

It's literally not true! DC has read with two relatives who are ks1 teachers who have commented he blends well. I've had to insist on a meeting with the teacher. To be clear, my child isnt particularly exceptional. I don't think it's that unusual for an almost 5 year old to be reading red & yellow level books but they seem determined that these must be withheld until much later in the year.

Ps sheiselectric DC needs a full book. Single words on a post it note is where they were a full year ago. You don't attain fluency or stamina from single words, plus its boring - no story or information, you dont get to see punctuation used in context, or experience sentence structure and story formation (essential in preparing for writing).

@mrz if you still drift about on mnet will you please come and be my DC teacher? I've got a feeling their teacher thinks it's wrong to sound out words - there's an eerie whiff of look and say that is sending shivers down my spine

Oh god. I was right.

Reply from teacher has confirmed that yes, they are expecting whole word learning through repetition.

goes off to cry in a corner that schools are still stuck on bloody look and say

Send the teacher a link to the Rose report and this one: www.gov.uk/government/news/reading-at-an-early-age-the-key-to-success

And ask them which of these approved phonics schemes they are using: www.gov.uk/government/publications/choosing-a-phonics-teaching-programme/list-of-phonics-teaching-programmes