rapid readers scheme - please advise

[nativityplayreject]

dd is 8 and has generally been assessed as having a reading age of approx 2 to 3 years ahead of her actual age. I'd generally agree with this but her comprehension was perhaps a little less advanced but certainly age appropriate at the very least.

Since starting in year 3 however the books that have been sent home (school library books, not a particular scheme as she finished that in year 1) have had an certain coloured sticker on them and tbh imho have been too easy as far as vocabulary is concerned and they have rarely captivate/motivated dd much so we've been reading some other longer, chapter books together to supplement them. (We've chosen stuff together but I've tried to ensure that they are books with a good range of description vocabulary, new experiences with new words to learn/comprehend for the first time. I check regularly to see that new words are understood and I get dd to recap on the story from time to time as the books/stories are fairly long).

At the end of last week I found that dd has been moved over to "rapid readers" which are cartoony sort of books with lots of coloured pictures, less actual narrative to read and quizzes at the back etc.

Curiosity got the better of me and I looked these books up on-line to find out that they are for kids having difficulties with reading/comprehension. I then checked her reading record to see a comment that she had been found to not be comprehending/recalling the stuff that she has read to her teacher.

Can there be such a disparity between her reading at school and at home ? Is it possible that her disinterest in the "colour stickered" level of books the school have been sending home is such that she's just going through the motions of reading at school and has then been tripped up when asked about what she has just read or am I rather deluded as to the level of detail that is expected of 8 year olds in terms of comprehension/recall.

Any advise/suggestion welcome, particularly from any users of Rapid Readers / Teachers or parents.

[nativityplayreject]

shameless bump

[crazygracieuk]

I think that you should ask her teacher what sort of questions you should ask her. You may be doing this already but when I read with the children I don't just ask for a recount. I try to ask questions about the picture, what they think will happen next, details like puns and jokes....

Is your dd shy? Mine would sometimes tell the teacher that she doesn't know the answer rather than risk getting it wrong. This is especially true in group situations. I would also ask your dd about the other people that she sits with at reading time. I had to ask the teacher to move my child when I found out that the person sitting next to them was constantly distracting her.

I'm afraid that I'm not familiar with the reading scheme but in your shoes, I'd be asking the teacher why it was suited to children with comprehension difficulties (is it the language? style? word to picture ratio?) so I could pick different books to read at home.

[littlecityblue]

Just a thought, but my ds is in Y2 and reading a couple of years above his age. The books he gets sent home from the school are sometimes a bit advanced in subject matter for him. He can read them but doesn't necessarily understand all the vocab or the plot twists. Perhaps this is why your DD has been moved over, to give her time to catch up with herself, iyswim? DS is a voracious reader at home, but is more inclined to pick up a comic or joke book at the moment, so it's not the same kind of thing as he'd be getting from school.

[SkyBluePearl]

My son finished the reading scheme at the end of reception. He is now in year 3 and has a reading age of a 12 year old. His comprehension is great now but there was a time in R and year 1 where he was free reading and not really understanding things fully. By the middle of year 2 everything had clicked into place though. At the time we were also advised to ask tons of questions and discuss the story in detail. Presently the books he gets sent home are quite boring - so we don't bother with them at all. Instead each week we pop to the library and get books containing slimey, funny stories.

[nativityplayreject]

Thanks guys.

Crazygracieuk - the level of books dd has at home only have a few illustrations in and not on every page. The rapid readers are very short, almost a mini story per page and then onto a quiz and then a cartoon type story and then something else, almost pandering to a short attention span iyswim.

I'm at a loss to see how they will encourage recall as there's no time at all from beginning to end of each "story" and then something different is shown. It's a weird style and I've tried to let dd read all sorts of stuff, whatever she wants basically, but she's never really wanted to read cartoon style stuff beyond a page or so.

We'll read them because I don't want to undermine the teacher but definately going to continue with our longer story, chapter books at home, some of which are Enid Blyton, hardly demanding in terms of plot twists and useful for picking up a bit of new vocabulary without being inundated with so many new words that the story is lost in a plethora of expanations.

I think there has possibly been knee-jerk reaction to a one-off. If this was a long-term problem why wasn't it mentioned at last weeks' parent's evening ?

[mrz]

We use Rapid Readers which as you say are aimed at reluctant KS2 readers - boys in particular (they are boy friendly subjects). They are book banded (colours on the back). Since we introduced them we have found all children desperate to read them as they are seen as fun and interesting. Each book has a related non fiction and fiction story with jokes questions and quizzes which all the children love.

[nativityplayreject]

mrz I was hoping you'd see my query, thanks for responding.

My main problem now in understanding what is going on here, firstly as these are boy friendly subject books and secondly that dd has never been a "reluctant reader". She reads anything and everything, no yoghurt pot or cereal packet on the breakfast table is left unread. She reads the headlines on the daily paper and we have to put the papers/magazines out of sight if things are not age appropriate in terms of what the front page/cover is describing.

It must be comprehension/recall the teacher is getting at but these books certainly don't seem designed for increasing attention span and they ask the parents to read out the explanatory speech bubbles but dd was not amenable to this, insisting there was no need, she could read and understand them perfectly well.

I am not at all convinced that these are the tool we require to help dd increase her recall of the gist of a passage of narrative of any length, but so long as they don't put her off reading school books altogether we'll plough on. I really don't think she has a problem other than being somewhat disinterested in many of the school library books being allocated to her since the beginning of year 3.

[Anice]

is it possible that while she does understand what she has read, her communication skills are not as strong as her reading skills so she isn't demonstrating the understanding (and maybe the teacher isn't taking the time to really find out how much she has understood?)

[nativityplayreject]

Anice, maybe she is hesitating (shy) and not answering quickly, perhaps that's it.

Without being a fly on the wall it's hard to say, we'll just have to work with these books and see if the teacher perceives improvement in whatever is lacking.

[whatsthatmummy]

Have you seen any levels for her written comprehension? Can she write the responses easier than verbally answering? It may be that she is reading to an adult at school who isn't always her teacher. She may be a bit shy.
As a Primary School teacher I think that reading schemes are a nightmare. I get the kids off them asap. We read for pleasure and meaning not to get through colour bands.
Have you tried going into class to hear how they read at school? If you can offer to help may give you an in sight into how the school operates.
I'd love to have a parent as interested as you are!! Good luck.

[mrz]

Has the teacher given her the books or has she chosen them? We find that some of our more than able readers do choose them if they are allowed.

[nativityplayreject]

She chooses from the school library but since the beginning of this school year she's only supposed to choose a book with a certain coloured sticker on and these books seemed fairly easy compared to what she reads at home (from the local public library) or indeed what she was bringing home at the end of year 2. Sometimes she says that she didn't have time to choose so the literacy support assistant lady chose a new book for her.

[dolfrog]

Learning to read is a complex cognitive process involving many different areas of the brain.
There is no full comprehensive models of how we learn to read, but the psycholinguistic models of reading have evolved from the research into Alexia (acquired dyslexia, when adults loose the ability to read) This is best summarised in a research paper Aphasia, Alexia, and Oral Reading 2004

[mrz]

It sounds as if she has been given the wrong book by the assistant.

[crazygracieuk]

My dd is in Y3 and was reading school books very reluctantly. Her teacher has said not to bother with the reading scheme any longer and read anything that she fancies. The teacher concedes that many book at the school are dull and that it's more important to enjoy reading than having read all the books in each colour band. She has not read a school reading book for a month and the difference is amazing. She is excited to know what happens next in her book and will discuss her book at tea. Brilliant!!
I would ask the teacher about the book. I wouldn't be surprised if there was an innocent explanation like the wrong reading record being written it etc.