Reading books

[pa2k84]

How are your reception children getting on with reading. My son started with books with no words (as they do no worries with these). The no word books seemed to go on for ages and son started to get bored. Did mention to the teacher but just brushed off saying will get books with words soon. After the half term he finally brought home books with words, very repetitive (which again I do know why they are like this) but again he is just borex. Reads the first page e.g. In the car, then just flies through the rest as he knows the words aare just the same, in the car, in the park, in the garden etc. I mentioned to the teacher again as they are so repetitive he is not actually reading. Was looking at a book with him the other day and thought I would try and get him to read Iit himself, managed the whole page, apart from 2 words, which was around 20 words. I barely needed to prompt he just sounded out and read all himself.
I know some people on here are teachers so just wanted some advice really, do I talk to the teacher again or just leave it, he is getting so bored of his books and was so excited to read. Going to get a set of early readers for him for Christmas but wish they would send him home some slightly more challenging ones!

 

[JoolsH]

There are lots of little things you can do. Check that he points to correct word as he says it, write a word on a card like THE and see how many times he can find it in the book- like a game. Look for the same word in other books/ comics. Can he read the words without the pictures to see? Look for words beginning with a given letter for example C. Read words out in the environment- shop names, words on tins, posters, road signs etc. do lots of talking about books before he reads it- what does he think it is about/ who might the characters be. Did he like the book and why? Try reading the book in different voices. anythnig that makes it fun. Also read LOTS of other stories. Let him pick out words he knows/ read the title etc. Hope this helps a little.
Does he bring home key words to learn? At our school moving levels is very dependent on how well the child knows these and how far along they are with there phoncis(letter sounds)

 

[hattiehippo]

I would mention it to his teacher but bear in mind he may not be reading like that at school. He will also be doing loads of reading activities in class so the books are just the icing on the cake rather than a vital learning exercise.

My DS is getting on really well with reading and his sounding out has just leapt forward since he started school in Sept. He finds the books pretty dull too as they are so repetitive at the mo but we do them quickly and then find something more interesting to look at instead. He loves spotting letters and words he know in things I'm reading and then we try and work out other words together.

 

[lindseymw]

Joshua was an early reader. Reading very well before School. He was put on the Gifted List.

We didn't buy any special books, we just bought books that he would like to read (factual books for him).

We were lucky that the Teacher spotted it straight away. He doesn't read books according to the bands/colours. They take him to the Key Stage 2 library and let him choose.

I would have a word with the teacher and see what they say.

 

[pa2k84]

He brings home key words and flies through these as well. New ones on Thursday and seemed to know them before we even started looking at them. Mixed them up for him to point to words in book etc. Will maybe just carry on the monotony of the reading books and carry on reading other books with him from what is on his bookcase and hope finally someone picks up on the fact he can actually read some words!

 

[OmarsMum]

Do you ask him questions? Like looking at the pics in books & tell you what the picture say? Then ask him to re-tell the story in sequence , this is what they told us to do with Omar, it's not only about reading the words & sentences.

At Omar's school they have a reading program & children are assessed weekly based on their individual progress , they have a reading card with the band, Omar is in FS 2, they don't do reading yet but as he's advanced he's evaluated separately.

 

[OmarsMum]

I also ask him to pay attention to speech marks & to change his voice tone accordingly. I agree , there are some boring books like repeating "I am top cat", " am I top cat? " " I am I am" loooool , Omar doesn't understand why he should read such books as they don't make any sense

 

[pa2k84]

I also ask him to pay attention to speech marks & to change his voice tone accordingly. I agree , there are some boring books like repeating "I am top cat", " am I top cat? " " I am I am" loooool , Omar doesn't understand why he should read such books as they don't make any sense

Yes this, he gets so excited when he has a new book and reads first couple of pages so enthusiastically then whole tone changes abs he just moans it is the same. Had 2 different books with almost exact sane words "in the park/car/garden etc. And after first page of second book said this is just the same story just a different animal!

 

[Quartz]

The repetition I think is de

With the top cat book it actually is a good book for them to understand how moving around different words and saying it can affect the meaning. Admittedly it took me reading it a few times to understand it but its about how different groupings of words have a different meanings. So I am top cat is him saying he is definitely top cat. Am I top cat is questioning whether he is anymore as the other cat is trying to beat him. I did reading with DD class and I would talk through the pictures to the words so they understood.

I found with DD is once you get the basics you move up pretty quickly. She spent awhile on the first stage books but once she got to grips with it and understood flew through them and is on stage 10 now

 

[Jchihuahua]

Daisy is reading the blue book band (4th band) fluently now but a lot of that is down to what I do with her at home. I am a reception teacher myself so obviously I know how to teach reading but I had to ask her teacher to give her more challenging books as I didn't think she was being stretched enough with the books they sent home. They were happy to do this.

I bought the Songbirds reading scheme by Julia Donaldson (can get it from The book people or in WH Smiths) and Daisy is working her way through that. The first band (pink) is very repetitive (the Top Cat book is part of that) but repetition is important in the early stages of reading and the later books are not repetitive and are progressively more challenging. For example, the ones she is reading at the moment have sounds like oa or ai in the words. I have also bought the Ladybird Read it Yourself collection from the Book People which is good as it is at Daisy's level but the stories are proper stories about things that interest her rather than boring school reading book type books.

When I read to Daisy before bed we have picture books so we can do lots of talking about the illustrations, make predictions etc and then I also read her a chapter of a book that is beyond her level of reading, just for her to listen to and learn new vocabulary etc. I am currently reading her The Enchanted Wood by Enid Blyton.

 

[pa2k84]

Daisy is reading the blue book band (4th band) fluently now but a lot of that is down to what I do with her at home. I am a reception teacher myself so obviously I know how to teach reading but I had to ask her teacher to give her more challenging books as I didn't think she was being stretched enough with the books they sent home. They were happy to do this.

I bought the Songbirds reading scheme by Julia Donaldson (can get it from The book people or in WH Smiths) and Daisy is working her way through that. The first band (pink) is very repetitive (the Top Cat book is part of that) but repetition is important in the early stages of reading and the later books are not repetitive and are progressively more challenging. For example, the ones she is reading at the moment have sounds like oa or ai in the words. I have also bought the Ladybird Read it Yourself collection from the Book People which is good as it is at Daisy's level but the stories are proper stories about things that interest her rather than boring school reading book type books.

When I read to Daisy before bed we have picture books so we can do lots of talking about the illustrations, make predictions etc and then I also read her a chapter of a book that is beyond her level of reading, just for her to listen to and learn new vocabulary etc. I am currently reading her The Enchanted Wood by Enid Blyton.

Thank you. I am defiantly going to get him some for home. We have the biff and chip ap on the tablet and he loves those stories reads through with me and actually enjoys the stories. We read through several books a night and going to start reading some chapter ones, he has been asking for harry potter after watching a bit of the first film!

 

[aimee-lou]

Daisy is reading the blue book band (4th band) fluently now but a lot of that is down to what I do with her at home. I am a reception teacher myself so obviously I know how to teach reading but I had to ask her teacher to give her more challenging books as I didn't think she was being stretched enough with the books they sent home. They were happy to do this.

I bought the Songbirds reading scheme by Julia Donaldson (can get it from The book people or in WH Smiths) and Daisy is working her way through that. The first band (pink) is very repetitive (the Top Cat book is part of that) but repetition is important in the early stages of reading and the later books are not repetitive and are progressively more challenging. For example, the ones she is reading at the moment have sounds like oa or ai in the words. I have also bought the Ladybird Read it Yourself collection from the Book People which is good as it is at Daisy's level but the stories are proper stories about things that interest her rather than boring school reading book type books.

When I read to Daisy before bed we have picture books so we can do lots of talking about the illustrations, make predictions etc and then I also read her a chapter of a book that is beyond her level of reading, just for her to listen to and learn new vocabulary etc. I am currently reading her The Enchanted Wood by Enid Blyton.

Earl is only on yellow (1st band) but us sailing through and i know he's enjoying actually being able to read. Thanks for the recommendations.... I'm hoping to get him some reading books for home and I'm expanding the library of books we have at home as we like to read a proper story before bed but we've exhausted our current shelf lol. Hopefully getting roald dahl , Enid blyton and dick king smith books for him for Christmas.

 

[RachA]

It's definitely not just about the reading of the words. Predicting what is going to happen next and an understanding of what the words actually mean is needed.

I help out at my sons school and currently am reading with children in year 4. There is one particular girl that is amazing at reading - she can read any word and does it without the need to break any of it down. However she cannot tell you what the story is about and what any of the words mean apart from the most basic. She has to be stopped every couple of sentences in order to go through what she has read.


Also remember that the books you are sent home are not the only ones you can read. We are encouraged to write in the children reading records everything that they have read. I would suggest that you do this so that the teacher can see what your lo is reading at home with you and write down comments about what you have read and what he's understood about what has been read etc.

On a more personal note - Esther is on the 1st band (pink) however with her we are looking at the pictures and trying to find the letters s t and a as those are the only ones she can read at present.

 

[EcoMama]

My son was 5 in sept and hasn't started bringing banded books home from school yet. He does get to choose any book from the school library to bring home once a week, but they can be anything. This weeks he's had thomas the tank, he can sound out a few words but he's certainly not reading the word for what it is.
They follow the jolly phonics so he has a sound book which so far has about 7 sounds (letters) in, which he loves to spot everywhere! He also has a blending book with short words in, there's about 12 in there so far.
We read at home but it's me reading and the ds sometimes sounding out a word I know he knows all the letters for.