What books are/were your LO's reading....

[Sugarbeach]

towards the end of Year 1?

Do you sit with them while they read aloud or do you leave them alone to read at that age?

[SE13Mummy]

DD1 is in Y1 and loves reading. She reads a lot to herself but also enjoys reading picture books to DD2 (aged just 2) and will read chapters of her latest book out loud to us. Her current favourites include Milly Molly Mandy, My Naughty Little Sister, Roald Dahl (Matilda, James and the Giant Peach, George's Marvellous Medicine) and Pippi Longstocking. She also loves books about the solar system, the Victorians and wildlife.

Over half-term she read Heidi (the Puffin classic - lots of old fashioned language) and is now onto The Little Princess (also Puffin classic). She has surprised DH and I with how much she has absorbed and understood but, given her interest in all things 'olden days' perhaps it's less of a surprise.

I'm a teacher at DD1's school and know her reading 'level' because I am the assessment co-ordinator. To be honest, it is of little interest to me except as one data point in an data set of 400 children.

She reads a range of material, can understand it, explain it and process it but also enjoys doing so. That's a reading level I'm happy with.

[kittenmother]

So what level was she Se13? Sorry to ask but am curious now!

[SE13Mummy]

I've been found out ... I don't actually know, I have access to her level should I wish to find it. I'll finish my marking and have a look later.

[DilysPrice]

DS is the youngest in yr 2, so comparable with the oldest in yr 1 IYSWIM and he's currently reading Horrid Henry, Horrible Science, Captain Underpants, and anything to do with Top Gear.

[Yellowstone]

Cannot begin to imagine a DC having read the whole HP series by the end of Y1. Language is incredibly advanced, even for a gifted Y1 and much of the content is dark.. Amazed anyhow.

I read their reading scheme books with my first six DC until Y3 or 4 I guess but have been slacker with DC 7 and 8. Their reading ability and vocabulary is pretty much the same as the elder DC. I had to encourage the boys more, with Artemis Fowl and Alex Rider and the other 'boy' books, but once they got interested they were off.

Don't know what the youngest's reading age is (Y4) but she's reading HP atm and picks up all sorts of different level children's books that we've accumulated over the years. I think enjoying a book and understanding its content is more productive than straining to read a book which a DC barely understands. She's read two thin Roald Dahl's today (an inset day) because one of the older DC has made off with HP#3.

[kittenmother]

Thanks SE13 - I am being very nosy but am curious as ds sounds similar in terms of what he reads.

We have that typical issue - at home he reads something like Fantastic Mr Fox fluently with maybe one or two words he needs help with per page - both to understand their meaning and decode. He uses good expression and understands what he's reading. Meanwhile he is on reading books far easier at school (ORT 10 I think). His teacher is super-cautious with moving them up.

To answer the OP's questions, we do have him read to us but not every night due to lack of time and the fact he's a good reader so I don't see the need.
He reads Roald Dahls - sometimes read by us, sometimes he reads them alone, likes Frog and Toad (very easy but he enjoys them so who cares), and some non-fiction books.

[SE13Mummy]

She's down on the system as a 2B.

[dragonmother]

Interesting as I suspect that is the same then. Which is quite reassuring!

[dragonmother]

Namechanged by the way as I'm more of a dragon than a kitten

[WillowFae]

At the end of Year 1 he was reading things like Magic Treehouse and Jack Stalwart. He had also just started the Harry Potter books. He is now in Year 2 and finished the 7th HP book about 2 months ago.

We had real problems during Year 1 where he just showed no interest in reading and was quite far behind his classmates on the reading levels. Then, as someone else has said, something clicked (HP books were largely responsible) and that was it. He now has the highest reading age in his class. His whole class are on free reading now.

[WillowFae]

propatria can't help with levels at the end of KS1 as DS is in a prep that doesn't use levels.

[milkybarkidsgirlfriend]

omg my daughter y3, has just finished the Harry Potter books, and i thought she was a little genius for getting through them! i was obviously very wrong. Her class started reading the first one together at the start of the school year, and they then continued alone.