They are looking at the books, so that's a positive. Do the stories
they make up go along with the pictures on the page and the general
story line? It sounds like they just find their own stories more
interesting than what they are supposed to be reading.

I wonder if training them read to each other in partners, with one
checking the other, would help? It would give reading the written
words a purpose. They could do that first, then "read" to each other
their made up stories using the same books or choose different
books.

You also might try to increase their connection to the words by
doing some shared writing. Use the books they use for practice and
let them tell you their version of the story as you write it down,
then make small books replacing the original text with their
dictated text and have them read those.

In a situation like yours where the kids are not getting much
support and have very few role models for reading, I'd be concerned
about keeping reading fun and interesting for them. They need to
develop the love for books and reading that kids from more literate
families usually pick up in their home environments. I can
understand why it's frustrating, but it'll only get worse if they
start to see reading as something that's difficult and a chore

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