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Join our Primary Education forum to discuss starting school and helping your child get the most out of it.

Join our Primary Education forum to discuss starting school and helping your child get the most out of it.

Primary education

Missing out whole book bands?

20 replies

Fuzzymum1 · 10/10/2012 11:12

DS3 has made good progress with reading, he seems to plateau for a while and then make a big leap forward. Last week he brought home purple books, this week he has lime - missing out gold and white completely. He is reading the new books just fine - he is loving the seriously silly story goldishocks and the three scares and is reading it pretty well by himself with help on a few words. Is he likely to miss anything important by missing those two levels or is it OK if he's capable of reading the lime books? One part of me says that it's not a problem, the control freak other side of me just wants to be sure he's not missing out something important.

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SnowWide · 10/10/2012 11:15

Is it a one-off? I know DD bought home a book that wasnt her band. When asked, she said, "oops, I picked up the wrong one". Usually her teacher writes in the record, if she IS moving up a band. Have you had any notes from the teacher?

As for missing out, I'm not sure. The reading books the school gives out is pretty shite. I rely heavily on the local library and let DD pick out books that she is comfortable reading.

SnowWide · 10/10/2012 11:16

is = are. Should really preview my messages before clicking Post...

Fuzzymum1 · 10/10/2012 11:17

I don't think it was a mistake, his teacher spoke to me and said she had deliberately given him lime - the kids don't pick their own books the teacher does.

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SnowWide · 10/10/2012 11:21

I wouldnt worry too much really. The teacher may have correctly assessed you DS is ready for bigger storylines and themes. How old is he?

My DD was purple in Y1, but the teacher basically refused to move her up, as the higher bands had "mature themes" that may not be suitable for a 5 year old.

steppemum · 10/10/2012 11:23

actually I would have been delighted if the school had the common sense to do this for my dd. She made huge leaps and bounds in her reading in a short time. She was made to go through all the bands, so her reading book was miles behind what she could read. Moved house and schools and she was assessed and jumped about 4 bands.

If they are a good reader, there is nothing magic about the bands. They read all over the place, and if they are leaping ahead, then they find a new level (band) and read at that level.

MuddlingMackem · 10/10/2012 11:35

Not a problem OP. DS skipped bands when he was in reception and Y1, as did at least one of his friends. It hasn't done them any harm.

He will still read books that are much too easy for him if they grab him (in Y4 now), such as his sister's ORT school books which he missed out on at the time.

scaevola · 10/10/2012 11:45

DD was like this. She seemed to progress in little leaps and twice skipped a colour when things just clicked. but at other times stayed ages on the same one. It didn't seem to matter, as she read well on the new level, and I preferred something that was based on her actual reading not a set progression.

redskyatnight · 10/10/2012 12:41

DS was the same, he seemed to have a series of "Eureka" moments with his reading. He jumped from green to purple (missing 2 levels) and then subsquently from purple to white (missing 1 level).

DD, on the other hand, has made very linear progress and has plodded through all the book bands in order. Interesting to see how children do learn differently and at different rates, and of course the teacher will see even more variations on a theme.

FolkGhoul · 10/10/2012 12:48

Unless you have reason to suspect otherwise, it sounds as though the teacher has re-assessed your child's reading ability and feels that this level better meets his reading needs.

What is it you're worried about?

Or do you just want confirmation he's in the right place?

If it's the latter, only time will tell. She might suspect he's ready for that and has put him on there to see how he gets on.

To my mind, as long has he is demonstrating the skills developed in the earlier sets, I'd much rather my child was progressed as appropriate.

Fuzzymum1 · 10/10/2012 12:57

I was just concerned that each level may deal with a specific skill/group of skills. I'm not concerned that he's not at the right level so much as he's missing out a skill from a previous level - probably not the case but wasn't sure. I'm happy he's making great progress, just don't want to rush ahead if it's not in his interest. I have no interest in where he 'should' be or where his classmates are, just that it's appropriate for him (hence why I haven't said how old he is as I think that is irrelevant mostly.)

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feetheart · 10/10/2012 13:04

This happened to DS between end of Reception and beginning of Yr1 - once the Yr1 teacher had assessed him (as she did with all the children) he skipped 3 book bands having had some sort of eureka moment over the summer!

He is now is in Yr2 and has progressed steadily ever since.

FolkGhoul · 10/10/2012 13:07

The skills that are specific to the levels will be phonics/vocabulary related. If he is reading those ok then there's no problem.

Anything else - like the use of punctuation, and reading with expression can be developed in the later books anyway if it looks like he's not sure.

If you're still a bit worried, or just curious, I'd ask the teacher what the reason was.

Lonecatwithkitten · 10/10/2012 13:53

DD leapt over the last three book bands to free reader at a similar time last year. She had stagnated the previous year/ the teacher just didn't get her. She had had an reading assessment for this to happen.

expansivegirth · 10/10/2012 15:12

mine also skipped three or four bands over a week - the teacher hadn't read with her for a while. didn't seem to make any difference. except she was happier because the books were more interesting.

Fuzzymum1 · 10/10/2012 17:38

I spoke to his teacher today, she approached me and asked how he was getting on with the harder books. I said he was enjoying the one we'd started and was reading it with a little help and she said that she'd felt he was ready as the purple were boring him, LOL. She said she felt he was ready for the challenge of more text but if we feel they're too hard for him she's happy to try him on white books :D

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pointyfangs · 10/10/2012 18:27

Both my DDs leapt several book bands in reception, and there have never been any issues with reading expressively, inference, comprehension and so on. I'd trust the teacher to know what she was doing and see how your DS goes.

purplehouse · 10/10/2012 18:33

I think it's OK to skip levels. They may cover some skills, but if he can read the lime books sufficiently well, he probably has the skills "missed" anyway. My DS has not skipped bands entirely but there were certain bands that he was only on for a week.

UniS · 11/10/2012 19:58

beyond about blue or green band I'd not worry. We did ask to have a few books from a missed band once - but that was so we got the start of the "magic key" stories and then teh next band stories made more sense.

FolkGhoul · 12/10/2012 05:27

Fuzzy sounds like you've got a good teacher there.

Fuzzymum1 · 12/10/2012 22:09

Ghoul - I know I have a good teacher She is in her second year of teaching (was an NQT at our school last year) and is very good. DS adores her and he has made amazing progress with her already this school year :D

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