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hopefully this topic stays pretty tame.

dd just about 5 has been refusing to read for quite some time now (as a quick review of most posts will show) I have pretty much left this alone with the occasional, have a go thing that I think anyone with a child going into kindergarten would do. I found out DD can actually read, not great but definately on par with her peers and possibly a wee bit further ahead. She can read most signs, some with 5 syllable words, but baulks at books, which I've heard is normal and could be just a bit overwhelming for her - I'm not worried about this.

We were discussing her feelings about school and it turns out she hasn't been reading because she feels her standard isn't high enough and that she doesn't want to practise and show everyone how bad she is.

Arrgggh - any tips? I've tried looking online for videos of 5 year olds reading but of course it's only kids who are super great at reading so that's not really a help. I'm not keen on asking friends to display their kids lack of skills either because I'm not a jerk. I know that once she starts school she will see the other kids reading and realise she is fine, obviously that is best and I have heard lots of examples of kids who couldn't read suddenly taking off at school, but as a master of fitting in she will copy what the other kids do. I would love to get the ball rolling before she starts so that we can give her a baseline.

She is probably going to have to do a 6 month stint in a class which is well below her abilities and I'm a bit stressed about how this is going to affect her view of where she should be.

If I just need to down a bottle of chill pills that is also fine!

What if, instead of focusing on reading whole passages or books, you attack some single, complex words or passages in what she considers more mature media. Could you print out a few fun news articles and highlight random words or sentences for her to read? She might get a kick out of reading more adult material and build some confidence to work on fluency with work that is at level.

If your DD is a chameleon, it might be best to help her establish that confidence in reading right now, rather than wait for school, when she's incentivized to hide her abilities in order to fit in. My chameleon DD started pretending she didn't know how to write a few weeks into K. Because she'd been feeling good about her reading before she showed up in K, she'd already shown off her reading skills to her teacher before she realized it was a problem for her awful, awful teacher.

My DD exhibited perfectionism that prevented her from reading aloud before she was 5. We'd seen her read some fairly advanced messages from signs, so we knew she could handle her basic readers, but she refused to perform. As her fifth birthday was approaching, I appealed to her competitiveness. I told her she was developing ahead of where I was in every way except one: I was reading books to my mom when I was four. Within the week, DD read to her mom, and within the month, her pre-K teacher had turned over story time to her.

Hmmm...I've had two DYS who hated to read out loud around that age, even though they were good readers. My solution? "Trick" them into reading (not necessarily out loud, but for practice), with as much "sneaky reading practice" as you can. This will build confidence. I am guessing she does not like to make mistakes in front of you.

So find books that she almost can't help but read (dolls, puppies, whatever she LOVES) and plant them. Everywhere.

I'm still going through this with DS, btw.

Thanks all so nice to see that #1 we are not alone, and #2 I'm not a crazy tiger mom. I like all of these ideas and will put them into practise immediately. Our local library has an amazing scheme in place for 5 year olds (so she is too young) where kids can read to dogs! how cool is that. Anyway Dude I think your on the money - your dd sounds just like mine, and that's exactly what I'm afraid of.

If your daughter hasn't really completed the transition to full reading then I wouldn't look at the beginning of kindergarten as a "6 month stint". For sure they will be working on getting all the kids to read and probably assigning books to read at home every day. One part of the process will provide peer examples and the second provides a structure to build guided reading around at home. At least here, once it was required homework that provided the rationale to sit down together everyday for 10 minutes and work on out-loud reading regardless of motivation. Being patient and consistent can have amazing effects over time. What started as a very difficult process with my much more stubborn younger child (and at the very end of K at that) has evolved into a really fun part of the day that's just something we do by the end of 1st grade even though he's now way above grade level. I'm going to really miss the process once he transitions off to fully independent reading next year.

She is starting in New Entrants next term? If she knows her alphabet and a few words she will be ahead. I have found the first year of the NZ school system to be the most flexible with kids working at their own pace. If your school uses a early cut off date (ours uses 31/3) though you will need to work on her not spending 7 terms in year one. Our school caps the level the kbids can go by the end of year two and my eldest hit the top one term into year two after four terms at school. They are insisting my youngest does 11 terms in y1/2.

Eta. The reason I mentioned she will be ahead is once she sees how other kids her age read she may realise she can read better than she thinks and be more willing to read out loud.

Thanks puffin, that's how it's being sold to me. Our school uses May as the cut off so she should be fine to go to year 1 next year. The principal has given us the impression that if she finishes the year reading well enough she'll be skipped to 2nd on account of her math, maturity and higher order thinking. It is only the reading that has them insisting she does new entrants, she also writes very well. Personally I'd like her to be reading a little so she can transitioned into 1st and then move up into 2nd with her peers.

BejaminL I take your point and agree, however the principal - who is very open provided me with a rundown of the curriculum, there is NOTHING new in there except having the confidence to read, socially she is fine as well.

Anyway I'm not going to the mat over this, just want to help her realise that she can do this and that it is of benefit to her.

I have found it is the head of the junior classes and their beliefs that has the most influence. The head of ours insists every school in NZ used March 31st which I know is not true but is hard to prove without visiting all the schools. My youngest is a by volatile too which makes them mutter about maturity and me claim hereditary personality traits. On the other hand my eldest couldn't read when he started school and he was easily ready for year 2 after 3 terms whereas my perfectionist, stubborn younger could have used the push and would have been put up without a qualms if he had been 5 weeks older. I will have to prepare better this year as I thought the MOE date of June 30 was the legal date and I would have to consent to what appears to legally be holding a bunch of kids back.

Tell her she will be able to do it as soon as she starts school and relax. And get some books from the library to replace the emergent readers they will send home at first.

Eta. She would go to year 1 next year even if she started in November. If the school uses May she should automatically go to year 2.

Video clip of kindergarten students in guided reading practice with their teacher:

http://www.pbslearningmedia.org/resource/cheatl.plr.GOR/guided-oral-reading-in-early-primary/

If you want more, search youtube for "kindergarten guided reading lesson", "early guided reading", "emergent readers guided reading". These should all generate instructional/modeling videos intended for early childhood teachers working with beginning readers in the 4 to 6 year-old age range. You could search for other reading lessons (not guided), but the plus with guided is that there will definitely be children reading, individually, and as a group.