school says my four year old"must practice more"

nottslass_2

Hi,DS came home from school today with a note in his reading diary sayng that he needs to practice his reading more,he can only read about six words.

should i be worried that he's behind the rest of his class mates,how many words should he be able to read?He's not five untill the end of march. concerns were raised at parents evening a couple of months ago,his teacher said that he struggled with some of his work.

We do practice his school reading book with him,allthough I do admit,not every day! and we have always read to him since he was a tiny baby ( infact DH is reading a bedtime story now)

He has lots of books and enjoys looking at them and being read to,should I just carry on as we are,I felt that he should first develop a love of books before being put in a "home work" situation and being made to read things that he has no intrest in, also because we both work by the time we get get home in the evening he's really tired,so its no time to start trying to teach him to read !

Am I going about things the right way, or should I really be making more of an effort,so that I'm not putting him at a disadvantage ?


I await your views !

Madmel

Does he have a few words in a pot or box to practice at home? DD2's class bring home some of the 45 key words until they can recognise them at sight. She was already reading fluently when she started Reception so only needed a week on the 4 she couldn't manage.

They were all on separate pieces of paper, so we turned them upside down and she picked one and turned it over. If she got it right, she got a point. I then mixed the up and she tried again. When she got 5 right in a row, we stopped. We only did it for a couple of minutes at a time with lots of praise (and dolly mixtures) and she soon had them sussed.

I think little and often is the key to this. As you're already a great parent for reading to your DS, I wouldn't worry too much. Keep it fun and let him see you reading too. Yesterday after lunch, I looked up and all 4 of us were reading in silence - wonderful!

Rachie_B

aww bless him

My son is 5 in april and only just got his first reading book before half term.

In his school you have words to learn and you have to know them all before getting a book ( all the words learned will be in that book)

So it seems unfair that your son has a book to "read" which must look like japanese to him !! its all very well the teacher telling you he has to "practice" but if he doesnt know the words in the book ..........

ask the teacher for single words on card or make your own on flash cards

these are good :
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/MAGNETIC-NATIONAL-LITERACY-KEY-WORDS-for-RECEPTION-YEAR_W0QQitemZ270093793924QQihZ017QQcategoryZ11736QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem I have seen them in wilkinsons too

bunty109

I assume that your son started school in September? In my area a March born child wouldn't have started until January, so naturally they would be behind they older ones in reception. I wouldn't worry too much on that front.

However, I would say that it is important to try and read with your child every day. Maybe not at weekends, but try and do it on school nights or before school if you find him more receptive then.

Another idea might be to take him to the library so that he can choose some books to read together. As he gets better at reading there will also be some early reader books for him, and these are ideal for reading during school holidays when you don't have books from school. Little and often with reading is much better than a lot of reading irregularly.

Don't worry too much about him "struggling". Boys are hard to engage with reading and him being younger won't help at the moment. Talk to his teacher again if you have any concerns and she might suggest ways to help as she must know him well by now.

Karrie

My son stuggled and still struggles with his reading (he's 11). He hates reading. He gets his letter mixed up and gets annoyed with himself. Dyslexia has been ruled out by the school. He loves everything else though. I feel we push our kids too hard at such a young age, especially when it's clear that they struggle and some (like my son) tend to rebel against it and dread it. He manages to read Match magazine every week though :rolleyes:

nottslass_2

Thanks for the ideas , I loved Madmels idea of turning the words over and making it into a game ,with a reward when he gets them right,so I think that I will be giving that one a try first.

My oldest Ds is now 20,so things have changed a bit since he was that age,it seems such a pity that so much presure is put on todays children at such a young age, I suppose its all to do with sats and league tables ! I realise that I may be rembering things through rose tinted glasses,but I'm sure that in the days before league tables ,reception infants were allowed to learn more at their own pace !

misty

I would do the books with him each night as I think they do need the familiarity of reading before they become confident. I read with my son before bed - he does his reading books and then I read him a story. I think some children maybe too tired at this time though.

Different schools seem to have different methods of getting to the same point. My son's school didn't send the key words home - they only did them in class but they did get reading books. I printed the words off and he chose 1 or 2 to learn. We added to theses as we went along - all very play based and we spotted these on other items etc. Kids learn at different paces and as long as is he progressing - I'd try not to be to too worried.

As an aside - as he has his eyes checked, he doesn't need glasses does he?

ariba10

With our two youngest we made a type of flash card and stuck them onto the household objects that they represented, "Door" on the door, "Clock" on the clock and so on.

It looked a bit weired at first but, what the hell it worked.

Rachie_B

nottslass wrote:

Thanks for the ideas , I loved Madmels idea of turning the words over and making it into a game ,with a reward when he gets them right,so I think that I will be giving that one a try first.
My oldest Ds is now 20,so things have changed a bit since he was that age,it seems such a pity that so much presure is put on todays children at such a young age, I suppose its all to do with sats and league tables ! I realise that I may be rembering things through rose tinted glasses,but I'm sure that in the days before league tables ,reception infants were allowed to learn more at their own pace !

it really works for my son

He wants to do it every night without me reminding him !
also if you can get him to write the words / type them on the PC this is reinforcing them

also as stated above try looking out for them on different signs / books etc around and about

My son is so chuffed when he recognises one of "his" words

dobs

my son probably knows 6 words hes 5 in june and his teacher says hes progressing really well, so perhaps it depends on the school?some of them can do more and some less, they are all individuals, and some quite a few months older so the school says they don't expect them all to be at the same level.He has been given 3 words to learn so i have done flashcards for him. I read every night, we did do his schoolbooks everynight but he currently has four of them and it was tiring him out so i do them every other night now.

Rachel_Mac

nottslass wrote:

he can only read about six words.

He's not five untill the end of march.
!

He's only 4 for goodness sake! In europe, where according to UN reports kids are much better off, they don't start formal education until 7. At 4 he should be playing and that is it! Everything else will follow. The important things are social skills and physical wellbeing. :j