Does your year 1 child read to themselves at home?

[Showerscreen]

DD is year 1 but summer born so still 5.

We have read to her all her life.

She reads her school books at home (they have to read 5 per week). She reads the Oxford Reading Tree books (Biff, Chip Kipper etc) and is on level 6 (orange label). She seems to find these ok, probably one or two “new” or tricky words for her in each book.

She is so reluctant to read the school books it is painful. I have come to hate it but obviously try to be jolly & encouraging.

She is totally reluctant to read anything else for herself out of school. She likes being read to. she has a book shelf of beautiful books.

If we are out and about, she will say “what does that sign say” and refuses to read it herself.

The other year one parents say their kids are reading Roald Dahl, David Walliams, Worst Witch etc which is so far ahead of DD’s level

Should I be worried?

My son is Y2 and has one book per week which we read every day so he’s read it 6 times by the time they swap it out.

5 a week at 24 pages doesn’t allow practice through re potions or to nail the specific panic sound. No wonder she dreads it.

My son doesn’t read for enjoyment whatsoever. We read a bedtime book to him every evening.

I worked in a school your child is just above average for their age. Only about 5% of kids that age will be reading the books the other parents claim they're reading. You'll find parents of average/below average readers keep it to themselves. The same goes for Mumsnet a lot of bragging about genius children and only a tiny amount of posters admitting their kids are average.
You can look up charts showing reading levels and where they correspond to year groups. Orange at the end of year 1 is pretty standard if not slightly above average

Above average

My DD (13) absolutely loves reading, will sit and read an adult style book in a couple of evenings…
she’s always loved reading and would occasionally lay and ready by Herself in I’d say year 3 or 4… but no now in year 1!… year 1 we were reading the fairy books and she’d read a few pages then I’d read a few in the evening, we took it in turns till she fell asleep x

Year 1 teacher and EY and Y2 parent here.

BS. Don’t listen to those show off parents. My daughter is Y2 and excels at reading. We were reading some chapter books in Y1 but I was reading them to her. Not her reading them.
most children are still working towards fluency and chunking words, segmenting and blending sounds. She’d just achieved greater depth in reading as is only now reading short chapter books to herself.

Your Daughter will be about to sit her phonics screening test so focus on pure sounds ‘nnnnn’ not ‘nuh’ etc.

an encouraging parent is all she needs and you’re doing it. Don’t worry about the ones that boast unnecessarily. I’ve genuinely experienced chn who could read HP in reception, but fluency and comprehension are entirely different and those children tend to be autistic.

Keep encouraging, keep reading for pleasure (and ask her to read the odd words with high praise) and she won’t go far wrong.

PS don’t make it a battle. I always tell parents that when they refuse to do reading, ask once, ask twice and then calmly say ‘no problem, I’ll just write in your diary that you didn’t want to read this weekend’ - if they refuse again I’d be surprised. Many will read out of duty - but don’t threaten and not follow through and just be upfront if you have to write that - the teacher ‘should’ be glad you’re on the same page 🤩 and whatever you do, don’t make it a worrisome chore for either of you!

My daughter is still on book band pink I think it is stage 1+ decode and develop at the very last term of reception
I thought she was progressing lovely but the chart shared above implies she's supposed to be reading at red level by the end of the year and I just can't see it is that genuinely the expected? Her school seem to be saying pink is expected
im not fussed if she's behind or whatever as she's the youngest in the year and I admit I did very little phonics before school with her as she was very resistant to it all and her preschool did nothing at all and the kids who went to the nursery at the school (we relocated to wales where they start at 3 here but half days and in nursery class attached to the school) all seemed to have had a base of phonics to start with but it's odd that their target seems out of kilter with the list shared? Are other schools targeting red level?

My son’s normal state primary targeted yellow by the end of reception.

Don't worry about it there are different reading level schemes and if the school is saying she's at expected she should be fine.
Practicing reading every single day makes them rapidly improve I find I used to volunteer at a school helping kids read

Wow that's miles apart
no way will she be at yellow in the next 8 weeks at the rate they go through it
I think she's capable of the next band up now to be honest but obviously something is holding her back (either her group isn't ready and they do them together or there is some fluidity or understanding they're looking for she hasn't mastered or something)
I'm just So surprised that schools are targeting widely different levels of the same scheme
I know for sure she's not in the lowest group and Itd be fine even if she was but I don't think any of her class are close to yellow

I wouldn’t worry, especially as she is young in her year. I’ve noticed with my son that progress isn’t steady - he will plateau and then have a sudden improvement - you might find she jumps up the next few levels very quickly. Or she might actually be ready to move up and the school have a policy about waiting until they’ve done x no of books at a certain level. You could always ask her teacher?

She just said she's at the expected level for this stage of reception and performing and progressing well
I thought so too until I saw other schools are targeting 2 bands higher 🤣🤦‍♀️
she goes to a decent school and the class has bright kids so capabilities are generally standard I would say
but it seems it's a massive lottery if she were in a different school they'd think she was struggling
I'm not worried about her she is progressing beautifully and I find the week after a half term break she has a huge leap but I just can't see the class going up 2 bands before July 🤣not a chance
my mum is a phonics teacher assistant ( retired teacher too) and her school target pink also for the year so I'm baffled so many online target higher

My DD year 1, Sept baby, would NEVER read at home on her own. She hates reading but it on Purple band.

My DD4, Reception, is reading to her elder sister's levels and would read constantly if we let her.

Children are all so different and will all catch up and be able to read eventually 💕