Reading Levels

[Tadpoletoatoad]

My DD's school have just moved over from the ORT levels which I could understand to coloured banding where several ORT levels appear to be combined. Can anyone tell me what scheme this is please?

Also, my DD is in year 1. She did really well with reading in Reception then stalled when starting year 1. She's now doing really well again and decoding most words very well but takes time. I have some ORT level 6 books and she's able to read them but takes her time. She can add the correct emphasis to ? and !. She's ok at leaving a gap after full stops and hit or miss with commas.
However school are keeping her at level 4 so I'm guessing they want to see more ability with those books. What am I missing?
I also know that she will perform better at home than school.
Basically, what are teachers looking for to progress children to the next level.

[Tadpoletoatoad]

Anyone??

[Ferguson]

No 'reading scheme' is perfect, and assessment of reading is not an exact science, though there are a number of tests and criteria teachers will apply that cover most children. It sounds as if DD is OK for Yr1.

Besides reading, try and encourage her writing in a variety of contexts: story, diary, recount, 'instructions' (such as a recipe). If spelling is phonically plausible', don't worry about correcting everything, unless she is keen that you do. Dialogue can be taught as 'speech bubbles' at first.

www.readingchest.co.uk/book-bands

And this book could be enjoyable and useful:

An inexpensive and easy to use book, that can encourage children with reading, spelling and writing, and really help them to understand Phonics, is reviewed in the MN Book Reviews section. Just search ‘Phonics’ and my name.

[I have another interesting list somewhere, but can't find it; if I do I'll try and come back.]

[Tadpoletoatoad]

Ah, thank you that's really helpful. Looking at the colours our books are labelled brown but seeing as there isn't a brown on the link I'm guessing they are meant to be orange? This would seem plausible.

[Tadpoletoatoad]

Argh, posted too soon!
Will look at different types if writing. That's really useful.
Will also search for your review when I'm not using the app on my phone.

[PurpleCrazyHorse]

DD's school is similar, she's in green which contains some ORT level 5 and 6.

I think DD's school like them to read a good proportion of books in the band before moving them up, even if they read the first couple of books well. I guess with phonics they want to ensure they don't miss any sounds by skipping lots of books.

I make sure DD has red her book from school every week so it is changed weekly by her teacher. She reads it several times at home too, to cement any new words. That way she's moving through the levels simply because she's reading the books weekly. She also reads other text at home too (eg subtitles on manga cartoons!!!)

[mrz]

Brown is a KS2 colour , ORT roughly around purple.

[Passthecake30]

Can she discuss the story/characters after? They put a lot of emphasis on that in my children's school.

[DesertOrDessert]

Can I hijack?
DS1 is in UK Y2, and will be 7 later this year.
I've just asked why he's not progressed this year (moved schools in Nov due to relocation)
Answer: his writing. Gets b and d confused, and is unsure if words should have a th or f.
How realistic is this? All the teacher comments are positive, Great reading, predicts endings (correctly or incorrectly!), and rarely comes across a word he can't work out, and will blend silently usually if that is needed. bracelet was the most recent word the teacher noted was "new".

Any comments? He's ORT 7, so not behind, but should his writing stop his reading progressing??? drip feed, I'm dyslexic so my spelling age was miles behind my reading, maths, logic when tested as a child

[Ferguson]

DesertOrDessert - probably MOST children confuse b and d at some time! 'f' or 'th' is down to careless pronunciation, so encourage (and demonstrate) accurate diction.

And he also might enjoy and benefit from the book I mentioned above.

[Passthecake30]

desert my dd (6) gets those muddled but my ds (7) seems to have grown out of that so it is perfectly normal. I would also encourage speaking th and f properly and even exaggerating it....I have to step in at home as dp says "fanks, fing" etc, luckily he takes it well (ish).

[catkind]

Desert, no, there's no reason reading should be held back by writing. It may be something to do with the way they run things logistically in class e.g. if they used the same class groupings for English generally and didn't separate reading and writing. Or written reading comprehension exercises?

I'd just find books at the library that are a better level and read those. DS hasn't had a vaguely appropriate book from school all year in year 2, he can generally be persuaded to zip through a school book maybe once a week, then goes back to reading proper books from the library.

[DesertOrDessert]

Thanks for the comments.
Ferguson we already have a copy

Will do a big Amazon order for my parents to bring out. Libraries very few and far between here, and then the majority of stuff isn't in the right alphabet....