Reading (again, sorry!)

[invisibleink]

Was just wondering what level the average reception child is on at the end of reception, generally?

NOT being pushy AT ALL, just a first time parent wondering! :)

I am aware there will be a massive variation and wanted to know if there was a 'target' as such?

(Disclaimer: I dont know what other children are on/doing, and nor do I care ( :) ) was just asking about MY child so I could gauge where they are at, because I think they might be a little behind and wanted something to reassure me!)

Crap. That came across wrong!!
I meant the other children in DC's class, so I am not being a competitive parent i the school yard, iyswim? I meant is there a target the teachers aim to get students to?

the end of reception is a long long way off.
Some will be reading well by then, some will have come into school reading, some won't be able to read.

At THIS stage of reception you will also have a massive variation - from those that came into reception reading (as my ds1 did) to those that don't recognise any letters.

My ds2 has just started reception, knows maybe 1/3 of the alphabet, can't blend, and is a long way off reading.

I know what you're asking invisibleink, and I've been wondering the same thing myself.

My DD1 is 4.2 and just starting to beable to read some simple words, I'm curious to know just how much she'll know by July. Guess we'll just have to wait and see.

My daughter started school probably knowing the letters of the alphabet and could recognise her name. She finished reception on orange band/stage 6 ORT. I'm not sure if this is average or below or above as nobody ever discusses what stage their child is at!!! I'm very pleased with her though and her progression has amazed me!

Of course, a lot depends on what they are actually taught in reception. A few Jolly Phonics actions, then straight on to ORT books won't get them as far as good systematic teaching of letter/sound correspondences with plenty of decoding and blending practice with decodable readers

DD has just gone into year 1 and is concentrating on books with 3 or 4 sentences per page. I think she is probably in the top third of the class but the variation is huuuuge there are still some children who really can't read at all and some reading Harry Potter!

The teachers are certainly very happy with her level of attainment though.

DS has just gone into reception and can read probably 40-50 words and as such has books with short sentences full of repeated words. He is slightly ahead of the majority of his class having done a year in FS1 overseas and being competitive with big sister.

the impression I get (and it is only that, I am sure a teacher will have a better idea) is that the school are happy if by the end of reception the children can read short sentences made up of familiar words and can sound out new words.

True munch!!
Thanks chasing! There truly is a wide variation isnt there!
Pixie I know it is impossible to extrapolate now, but I was wondering what the target was for the average child, and then I can have an idea of when to start worrying! Will google, though!

Thanks for taking the time to reply everyone :)

Xposted.

teachers wow that is great progress! Proud Mummy moment indeed!

MaisieD Yes, the teacher seems to be following the curriculum 'groupings' of letters and blends as far as I can tell. They have been given a sound book of the first 'group' to practice.

Nancy Ok, thanks, Thats interesting.

Have a look at rhis. You may find it helpful
www.oup.com/oxed/primary/oxfordreadingtree/chart_2010/

omg. my head is spinning.

Do i really need to be worrying about this already?! have i been too blase about my child's education .

DD knows her alphabet verbally, and recognises probably half the letters visually, she is starting to show an interest in what words say, although she does not know many words, other than 'no' . she asks about words 'what does that say'. She is more interested in numbers, recognises all numbers, and wants to practice adding and subtracting.

She is learning letters at school, each day she has a new one, they do songs/actions for each letter and we help her identify new words with that sound at home in the evening. She has reading books with no words in.

Should she be doing more? . She is so young...

Books with no words sounds normal for this stage. We only did what school sent home for us to do...and spent about 15 mins each evening doing it. Sounds like the same sort of stuff you're doing Pav, so don't worry!

phew! DH and I promised each other that we would ensure DD was not pushed too hard, to fast, so that she became a lover of learning, but also that we would show an active interest and know/encourage her. Its so hard to get that balance right!

I think it really depends from school to school too. Some schools make children read every book in a stage before moving to the next stage, other schools will skip ahead a stage or 2. At my child's school I know the top literacy group finished reception on ort 4. I don't know what the other groups finished on. But on moving into year 1 ds1 skipped stage 5 and was put on stage 6. At my child's school they are in groups of 6 for literacy and they all read the same book so the child that reads best in the group doesn't move on until last child in the group is ready to too.

There is such a huge difference nationally in children's reception class experiences that it isn't really practical to say what an "average" child is never mind assign an average level.
Some children will have had 1 term (part/full time) in reception and others will have had 3 (with all the variations in between).
My target was always to get the children to the highest standard possible for that child given the diversity of the "average" reception class.
I would expect anywhere from red level to gold level

dd1 (now in Year 2) hated reading in reception. Refused to do her letter sounds and hated the wordless books that used to come home. She loved stories being read to her and resented having to waste time on such boring stories. She did make some progress in reception but was below average (something like ORT stage 1+ ie books with very very simple words) at the end despite being a very articulate child.

Anyway, in Year 1 something just clicked and she started reading and progressing almost a level every other week. Now in Year 2 she's well above average.

I think the main thing is not to worry and to try to ensure that your child enjoys reading as much as possible. IME, pushing young children when they're not ready can cause more harm than good. I don't think dd1 would have done any better if we'd pushed her and now she actively enjoys reading.

Not all schools use books without words. Personally I only use them for children with language delay for speaking and listening. They don't really serve a useful purpose for teaching children to read.

There is a eyfs stages grid you can look at. Dd's teacher showed us it at an induction meeting. It has lots of attainment areas and maybe 9 levels? Can't remember exactly. But then that's out the window for yr1 and they start on key stage 1 national curriculum.

I'm a parent helper in dd's class. I listen to reading and do phonics games with them. The difference between the children is quite dramatic. But then some of the best readers are the least confident at speaking up in front of the class. Some of them cant recognise any letters but are the most chatty, witty kids of all.

DS1 didn't do any reading in Reception as his teacher felt they should be playing rather than worrying about reading schemes. By the end of Year 2 he was on ORT level 11. So a slow start doesn't necessarily hold them back.

domesticsluttery it is possible to play games and learn to read in reception

What the average child can read is irrelevant.
The main thing is that what they are doing is right for that child.I am not a teacher but I did help in infant's class for several years.A really sad thing I have seen on more than one occasion is when LOs start on the reading process with huge enthusiasm and then when they can't 'get it' become disenchanted , hate it and eventually begin acting up.
Two last-week-of-August-born boys particularly stick in my mind.I don't think the parents were very wise to send them fulltime to school a few days after their fourth birthdays.But I also don't think the teacher should have persevered with pushing something on to them they were clearly not ready for.
Therefore I think it is best to err on the side of caution.Children can suffer a huge detriment and be put off education for life by starting too early , wheras their doesn't seem to be any detriment to starting later (as shown in scandinavian schools)

I don't think you can base it purely on age/birthday some of my best readers have been summer born and some of my biggest strugglers have had September birthdays

"domesticsluttery it is possible to play games and learn to read in reception"

What I meant was that they weren't given reading scheme books to bring home and read, as I know many Reception classes do. I am under no doubt that they were learning letters, phonics, blending etc through play, otherwise they wouldn't have picked up reading so quickly once they started it formally.

I think many schools/teachers crumble under pressure from parents and give children books (reading scheme) before they are ready ... and publishers rub their hands and lilac level