6 year old DD reading level, normal or?

[Gruffalobooks]

I feel ridiculous for asking this, considering I have a DS in Y2. But I don’t remember things being so difficult with him, I read with him in reception. By the end of that school year, he could read and in Y1 read books completely on his own. Now he’s reading Harry Potter books.

With 6 year old DD in Y1, it’s a bit slower, she could only read a few words at the end of reception and beginning of Y1. Now reading one book takes a really long time.

I know every child is different, but she can hardly read a whole sentence without help. Is it normal? Sometimes she can’t even read the word she read in previous sentence, for example: Once upon a time there was..” she will read that with help from me.. then next sentence she will see the word “was”, and is unable to read it. Then I go back and point at the word in previous sentence. After a few mins of thinking, she will remember it and read.

I don’t know if her reading level is normal for her age, she’ll be 7 in November. Anything else I can do to help her?

[OliviaPopeRules]

[quote Yorkiee]@Gruffalobooks I'm a year 2 teacher and expectations by the end of year 2 is that a child is able to read 90 words per minute.

If she can read a word in the previous sentence but then struggles in the second sentence maybe she is not concentrating? (Just a thought, please don't take it wrong)

I would make a pack of word flash cards and get her to read them as quickly as she can.

If she does then no problem. Some children hate hate reading and just don't concentrate.[/quote]
I think her DD is in Y1. Do you know what the expectation is there? Asking for myself too. Thanks

[Yorkiee]

@OliviaPopeRules oh yes you are right! Just read it again and she said year 1.. LO has worn me out today :) expectation by the end of year 1 is for a child to read 60-70 words per minute.

Child should be confident in reading phase sounds. It goes up to phase 6. If you google phonics phase sounds it should come up.

Flash cards are really good. Year 1 children should also be able to read and write year 1 common exception words.

If a child is struggling to read I strongly recommend the phonics chart and going through the different sounds.

[OnlyToWin]

Sounds like the books being given to your second child are a little too tricky and reading is becoming a chore. It might be worth taking them back a little to build confidence and fluency. If they are having to decode lots of the words and not recognising repeating words then the books are not at the right level. Once they get their confidence up and get going then they seem to suddenly take off, but it is worth (with some readers) taking it slow and steady at first, so they don’t get switched off to reading. I also would not worry about reading speed - understanding is more important.

[Hopeful57]

I could barely read until I was about 8. (my mother started to be quite concerned, I believe...)

And then I found a book I liked and read everything I could get my hands on (even if it was quite advanced literature for my age).


Could you try to make reading as fun and interesting as possible? Maybe by giving her a "you read a little and I'll read a little" deal with books she finds really captivating?

[flamingochill]

Have you taken her to the optician recently?

I think your son is the atypical one. Even y1s who are great readers will be picking books with the odd picture rather than solid text like Harry Potter.

[OnlyToWin]

Also is she using phonics as her first approach or does she try and guess words from pictures/context?

Does she have a sound book? Does she use her phase 3 sounds and phase 5 sounds? Did the teacher say she was likely to meet the requirement to “pass” the Y1 phonics screen?

[GameSetMatch]

My year 1 is on ‘yellow’ band ‘9’ whatever that means. Children are all good at different things maybe your son is great at reading but your daughter better at maths? Try not to compare your two children.

[Gruffalobooks]

@Yorkiee this is what I've been thinking. She's not concentrating properly/or lazy. Which is why I point at the word, making her focus instead of reading it for her. It's frustrating sometimes, obviously I don't show it to her but I'm like you literally just read this word .

We don't just read her school books, we used to go to the library pre lockdown and we read books we buy aswell.

Would reading aloud for her help? I thought her reading the book herself with a bit of help from me on the words she can't read was better she struggles with W words what/when/was/where and know/knew. She's fine with the/they/he/she/said/say etc.

She loves reading btw, and will sometimes pick a book and ask if we can read it together which I'm grateful for tbh. Just need more practice I guess

[SnackSizeRaisin]

I would read to her and with her, whatever books she wants. Don't make the reading into a boring slog with tedious reading scheme books. The last thing you want is to put her off altogether. Maybe games with words would help as well?

[SnackSizeRaisin]

Also poetry, jokes, strip cartoons are all fun. The trouble with slow readers is the books that interest them can be too hard and the books that they can read are either really dull or can seem babyish. Definitely read aloud or together, or alternate lines or pages to keep things moving

[NailsNeedDoing]

Would reading aloud for her help? I thought her reading the book herself with a bit of help from me on the words she can't read was better

Doing both is your best bet! It’s a good idea to read stories to her that she’d enjoy, but that are too tricky for her to read for herself and when she’s reading her school books it’s good to encourage her to sound words out or think about what word makes sense with the rest of the sentence.

It sounds like she’ll be fine. (I’m HLTA in Y1btw, so have dealt with a lot of reading at this stage)

[Yorkiee]

@Gruffalobooks thank you for the reply.

Lots of children struggle with W words.

How about play a word game. I would quickly make a grid - 5 colums and 8 rows. Choose 5 words she seems to struggle with.

Ramdonly write the words in the boxes.

Tell her she has 1 minute to read as many words as she can. Start from the first box and go across. Then the next row. Same grid used for 3 days and the number of words per minute should increase by the 3rd day. So she becomes more fluent at reading them. When she gets to the last box and still has time she can go to the begining and continue reading until time is up. This is counted in the final word total.

If her score goes up maybe give her a little treat. This activity took a child in my class from bottom set to high set.

[Yorkiee]

@Gruffalobooks forgot to say every 3 days you choose 5 other words.

[Yorkiee]

@Gruffalobooks I think readinf aloud is the best way of reading.

[Yorkiee]

*reading

[Norabird]

How is her writing OP?

She does sound a little behind for Y1 expectations. I don't think you need panic but it is worth being proactive. The best thing you can do is lots of reading with her; both reading her things she will enjoy and her reading to you. Also, I agree with whoever said before to make sure she knows all her phonics and uses them to sound words out. When she gets stuck you need to model sounding out the words for her. If you can get a set of phonics cards and use them to play games that can be really helpful.

[Minesril]

I'm very surprised at the PPs letting their DC read Harry Potter. My DS is nearly six and wants to read them, mainly i think because I'm a huge fan - we're building the lego castle together at the moment! But I really think although he could read them, I want him to wait so he really understands them and gets the most out of them. I was 21 when I read book 6 and it took me several reads of the description of horcruxes to understand what they were!

[2andahalfpints]

Err have any of you actually read the Harry Potter books? Totally inappropriate for that age!

[Duckchick]

Have you seen the free Letters and Sounds phonics lessons on YouTube (paid for by the Department of Education because of lockdown). The full schedule is here wandleenglishhub.org.uk/lettersandsounds/year-1 .

My DC respond much better to a TV lesson than they do me, I just have to monitor to make sure they engage properly. The structured lessons have really helped progress their reading and might be worth a look for your DD either now or over the summer break?

[OnlyToWin]

I have just had a look at those lessons - some of them look great. The one I have just skimmed through was sounding out “gem”, “son” and “won”. Might be worth watching them first and screening for how appropriate they are.

[OnlyToWin]

Just feel that those words would confuse a child.

[OnlyToWin]

Sorry posted to soon - a child with developing phonetic ability.

[RyanStartedTheFire]

@2andahalfpints

Err have any of you actually read the Harry Potter books? Totally inappropriate for that age!

Read them ourselves as not much older children, DD reads them aloud to us at bedtime, I don't see a problem with it. She's 7 and a half, she's seen the PG rated film and was fine.

[ittakes2]

I used to put the 10 sight words they needed to learn on a list on their wardrobe - and each night before bed had them point to 10 of them ie which word is was...helped their reading now end.

[Writerandreader]

Bearing in mind most European countries don't teach children to read until around our year 2 it's completely normal.