help please teachers

He starts school in September

Hi ninathenana My youngest GD was exactly the same and was already a fluent reader when she started school last September. I don't know if you have one of those "The Works* book stores near you but I found them to have a fantastic range of appropriate books for my GD, very reasonable and available on line I think. They stock the Oxford Reading Tree collection used in many primary schools today. They have simple story lines and she loves them. She reads them at school too and is already miles ahead of her classmates.

www.theworks.co.uk/p/key-stage-1/read-at-home:-first-experiences:-bottles-cans-plastic-bags/9780198387268

I am always slightly wary of reading schemes because inevitably their vocabulary is limited. With my own children and my GC I just read them really exciting well-written books and now and again point something out to them - e.g. look there are two "o"s together here, shall I tell you what sound they make? etc. And they ask their own questions about the words and I answer them.

It looks to me as though you are already doing exactly the right things, nina. Find books you and he both enjoy. He already has a head start because he finds books fun and exciting and he wants to read. I would hold back on the reading scheme because he'll get that in school and might not find it very interesting if he's already done that kind of thing at home. He's picked up on public notices and I expect he's reading breakfast cereals and biscuits and supermarket shelves as well. What fun!

I agree with lilygran - the fact that he is finding books "fun and exciting" is far and away the most important thing, and you are dioing all the right things.

Reading schemes with their limited vocabulary do not have the literary quality that other books do and this is what is firing his interest. He will indeed get these in school and the job of home and family is to keep up his love of what he is hearing and to enjoy books together. He sounds a great little chap!

Both my children were good readers before they started school and a good primary school should have no problem dealing with this, certainly the primary school my children attended were unfazed by it.

DGD, starting school a year earlier than her parent's generation, was just starting to read when she went to school and was given her head when she got there and 18 months later she is now an excellent reader.

The school she attends has a very mixed entry, children from a council estate with high levels of deprivation and others from an estate of medium sized 1930s semis occupied by graduates and other professional people, so the reception class faces everything from children who have never been read to and are unfamiliar with reading to others, like DGD who are already starting to read. There is no sign that this causes the school problems.

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Thanks will pass that on

I wouldn't worry about finding specific books to improve reading. Just read lots of different types of books - some he will like and want you to read over and over again and, as for the others, I expect you soon know which ones aren't holding his attention!

The important thing is that he is finding reading to be enjoyable and fun - don't be tempted to turn it into a competitive activity where he may feel under pressure to achieve, as that is a surefire way to cancel out the fun.

Please dont buy him reading scheme books, he'll get more than enough of those at school. Join your local library and talk to the librarian about good books for his age and interest, there are some wonderful books to read to and with him.

Wise words Jamm, in fact I do believe that they are that keen on teaching them to read before school?