DD being required to read below her ability

[BathshebaDarkstone]

DD 8 has a reading age of 12. Her last reading book was Kaspar Prince of Cats by Michael Morpurgo. Her new one is one of the Rainbow Magic series. Her teacher said she had to pick a shorter book because she took too long to read the last one. The problem is that they don't have short books for her reading age. I feel that if she doesn't read at her level she won't progress. WWYD?

Let her read the books the school give her for homework & go to the library & borrow books for her to read for fun. No need to just read one book at a time. Do they have a school library?

I would (and do) take mine the library and chose books which we then read together and I write about those ones in the learning journal and let them read the books the teacher picks (helps them pick) at school.

I am surprised of the teacher's reasoning and usually find that when they pick simpler books it's because they are looking at fluency, comprehension and expression. I don't have anything positive about the rainbow magic books though.

Let school provide what they like but read plenty at home / doesn't school have a library? How does she choose her books at home?

Ignore them and let her read what she wants.

Sometimes it's good to have an easier, quicker book to read to get to grips with other aspects of reading. DD has a very high reading age but she also has a selection of easy books that she goes back to for a break after a more challenging book. She always has at least three books on the go - one from school, one she reads to herself and one trickier one that we read together.

I suspect that the teacher needs to see for herself that your DD has hit some target/ skills before she can formally move her on.

But Rainbow Magic IS utter tripe.

What does it matter how long she tKes to finish a book? Surely so long as she is reading for the recommended length of time each day it doesn't make any difference whether she's reading two books per week or one every ten days?

Is your dd upset about having to read the "easy" books? If not, I would just let it go. The most important thing is that she enjoys reading and continues to do so. She will not have a better start in life simply by reading more advanced books than her peers.
My dd was tested as reading at a 12th grade (age 18) level when she was 9. But when I took her to the library, she would mostly check out books aimed at 4 year olds and a few graphic novels. Every once in awhile she would choose an "advanced" book, but they were generally things like the Twilight series, so maybe be careful what you wish for.

I'll try to reply to everyone at once. For preference at home she reads easy books, her DB's books for age 3 - 5 or the god-awful Rainbow Magic books. She does read a lot. She's also into non-fiction, which she'll read at a higher level, she's obsessed with birds. The school does have a library, she's got a book on birds of prey out at the moment. We do borrow books from the library, again it's either easy fiction or non-fiction.

I have no idea why her teacher thinks that she should be reading a book a week, I see no benefit if it's Rainbow Magic shite.

Sofia she's not upset, but she did this face.

She's got parents' evening on Tuesday, I'll bring it up with her teacher then.

Once mine were in Year 3 we used to ignore the books sent home from school and just read books I had either bought or borrowed from the local library. They all seem to have progressed well enough with their reading to achieve a level 5 when they were in Year 6.

I intend to do the same with DC 3 who is still in the infants but will be Year 3 next year.

Oh and as a thought - how would you like to read a challenging/difficult book every time you read a book? Encourage a love of reading and if she is G&T the challenge will come from her.

She's free to read whatever she likes at home!

For homework reading, my ds's school allow him to read any book he likes, and sometimes takes longer than a week. He reads aloud to me, and he only reads required amount(20mins). Only thing ds's school insist is that the children have to read aloud, even if they are fluent readers.

cece that's a thought, she has loads of books at home, maybe we should try some of those.

Thanks Shockers yes, at the moment she's permanently buried in the birds of prey book that she borrowed from the school library, when she can remember to bring it home! If not, I bought her a geography book recently, which she finds fascinating.

Reading ages aren't actually very accurate. How do you know that she has a reading age of 12?

The problem with the Rainbow magic series is that they are so repetitive. Dd likes them and I guess they are good at giving children confidence to read longer books when the wording and storyline are similar.

What about some Roald Dahl stories instead. Or even some Thomas stories that she can share with her brother, they are short but with lots of specialist language that will extend her vocabulary.

If you go to your local library every week it isn't a problem.

mrsmilktray that's what the school assessed her reading age at. She's quite capable of reading most of the books I read for fun.

Princess she has an extensive Roald Dahl collection, so that's a good idea, also DS has loads of Thomas books, so they would be good too.

My Dr was so offended at reception class with the picture books offered that she told me the school didn't even have books with words and could she please go back to nursery

Dr is dd

My DD is in year 1 and has just been sent home with picture books like Owl babies for the last month it's nice to have a break from the reading scheme and she likes them but reads them easily.

If your dd is choosing easy books, but choosing to read, she sounds like my dd and I would just let it go with the school. There will be many more important battles to pick as the years go on and this is not worth your energy.

My ds was the opposite...he found the books the school gave him that they insisted were his level very boring and he chose to read books that the school considered to hard for him and that his teacher kept telling me would "frustrate him."

As I look back on it (dc's are now 13 and 15), it was such a small piece of their square peg in a round hole issues with school and I should have saved my energies for the later, more significant battles that had to be (and still have to be) fought.

Sofia no she was told to choose a shorter book this time as she'd taken too long to read the last one. The only shorter books they have are aimed at 6 - 8 year olds. She says she'd like more like Kaspar.

Also, I stand corrected: she told me this morning that she was upset at having an easy book for a reading book.

I just don't understand why teacher thinks it's not ok to read what she likes to read. If the school said she has reading age of 12, surely the teacher knows her ability. If she enjoys the book, nothing wrong with taking longer to read, especially the books are longer and more challenging.