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Original poster

ds moved down reading level

39 replies

curtaincall · 18/01/2011 11:01

Any teachers able to tell me why my ds (Y1) was sent home yesterday with books a level below those he was reading end last term and beginning of this one? Could it be to do with the typeface in one of them which is a bit funkier than ORT? Can he have gone backwards?

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piprabbit · 18/01/2011 11:07

Talk to your DS's teacher. It might be a mistake.

piprabbit · 18/01/2011 11:08

Also - not all reading schemes use the same levels as ORT, so you may not be able to compare like for like.

cheekymonkey2 · 18/01/2011 11:34

It's bound to be a mistake or the teacher would have writen why in his reading diary. I would just say ds came home with wrong book band, can we swap them.

Original poster
curtaincall · 18/01/2011 11:53

cheekymonkey well the book band is the same colour - just the stage is a level lower. Could be that pip is right about not comparing but they do seem easier.

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Hullygully · 18/01/2011 11:54

He's suddenly got rilly rilly fick and all his life chances are gone bye bye.

gabid · 18/01/2011 12:06

I noticed some weeks ago that Ds (Y1) brought home a book that was a lower level. It was about what someone did on each day of the week. Last week I noticed they have learned how to write the days of the week. So it may have something to do with the content of the book?

IndigoBell · 18/01/2011 12:12

They go by book band not stages. One book band colour can often have 3 stages in it - but they are all deemed to be the same level.

cheekymonkey2 · 18/01/2011 12:14

I've noticed there is a big differences within the book bands, some easy some harder. Some say one ORT stage and others say the next stage up. I don't understand how they split them into bands but i think just as long as he has the same book band he has brought home the right books.

Original poster
curtaincall · 18/01/2011 12:23

thank you everyone who has real knowledge of this. (and Hullygully for your particularly helpful comments.)

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Northumberlandlass · 18/01/2011 12:30

In DS Yr 1 class, it is up to the kids to put books back into the correct boxes (sorted by levels) and then pick another one.

It is quite possible that one of the other DC has put a book back in wrong box and your DS picked it up.

Just send it back with a note "DS came back with this by mistake" - it's happened to us a few times !

Sure it's just a mix up !

x

Bramshott · 18/01/2011 12:34

Will he be irreparably damaged by reading a book which is a bit easier than one he's read in the past? I don't know about you, but some days I feel like reading something quite challenging, and other days I might rather settle down with a magazine. The fact that sometimes I read something which has easier words in than I am capable of reading doesn't somehow make it intellectually damaging surely?!

PaisleyLeaf · 18/01/2011 12:41

ah, just read your Chinese mum post.
Are you cracking down on all the academic stuff?

As IndigoBell says they are going by bookband (a band can encompass a few levels). And a level on one scheme may also be different from a level on another too.

MarniesMummy · 18/01/2011 12:48

It may not be a mistake at all.

I think most schools use more than one reading scheme.

For example at our school we do ORT, but there's another (that I helpfully can remember the name of) that has a completely different level system so that ORT stage 3 =this other system stage 2 etc. It covers different topics rather than just Biff, Chip and co. so helps broaden the childs vocabulary but maintaining their reading level. There's another (guess what? can't remember its name Blush) that focuses on specific words that a child may be struggling with, I don't know the ins and outs as that's proper teacher-y territory.

In addition sometimes other books that I've no idea if they belong to a scheme or not pop up.

I don't think it's a mistake but I'd have a word with the teacher about it if I were in your position and just find out what's going on and if you can help.

seeker · 18/01/2011 13:10

Or it could have been a book he fancied, or one the teacher thought he would enjoy. Or one with some vocabulary he found tricky. Or it has lots of something, like speech marks, for example, that they want him to practice. Or the been got put in the wrong box. Or it's a mistake - the ta read the wrong level next to his name on a list.

Can I tell you a secret? It really, really doesn't matter. The fact that he has a mum who is interested and notices stuff like this means that he will be fine. Read the book, send it back and relax.

mumto2andnomore · 18/01/2011 13:18

Could be for all sorts of reasons you need to ask the teacher or put a note in the reading record book.

Or just chill and enjoy the book and dont worry about what level it is !

Original poster
curtaincall · 18/01/2011 13:25

Yes paisley I'm cracking down. Hard! Think I'll back off a bit as it's probable this isn't an irreversible slide backwards to Floppy learns 2 words. Smile Will ask the teacher anyway as some suggest.

In fact I wasn't really unhappy because one book was a story set in India and his good friend is Indian so this all goes towards broadening his education in other ways.

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seeker · 18/01/2011 13:26

You can't unlearn to read!

lovecheese · 18/01/2011 13:30

Agree with the others. There can be a huge variation between different books within the same book band; I guess they are all grouped within the same band though because the teacher wants to use different books for different purposes, eg. a very short, easy vocab-wise book may be used to help children predict the storyline or characters feelings, whereas a longer, trickier book may well be to introduce them to new words. I shouldn't worry.

ragged · 18/01/2011 13:31

Our school uses their own banding scheme which isn't the same as ORT bands.
I honestly think you're overthinking it, OP.
As long as he's reading, he's progressing!

flaime · 18/01/2011 13:35

They changed from number bands to colour bands a few years back as they realised some books contained words that were harder or easier than they should be.

For example the easier level 2 books were put in one colour band and the harder ones in a different colour band so a colour band may have the harder level 2's, average level 3's and easier level 4's in it.

Don't get hung up on it, every book they read however easy helps them progress Smile

MarniesMummy · 18/01/2011 13:40

You're lovely Seeker!

mrz · 18/01/2011 17:27

curtaincall ignore the stages if the book bands are the same to books have been evaluated to be at the same level of difficulty

Original poster
curtaincall · 18/01/2011 22:28

thanks mrz that sounds like the answer to my question.

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2pinkmonkeys · 19/01/2011 16:20

i know that in dd's school they send home nonfiction books that are a stage below what they would normaly read. This is because they may have more unformiliar words in or are a different format to what the children are used to reading and they find that it works better that way.

was it nonfiction?

Original poster
curtaincall · 19/01/2011 20:52

2pinkmonkeys have just looked at the books properly and although both the fiction and non-fiction books were same stage, looking at the non-fiction one about fish, it has words like camouflage, burrows and Sarcastic Fringehead Fish (!!) as well as measurements given in cm. In fact this looks like the sort of book where you'd do well to have to have an obsessive interest in weird, monster-like creatures with deadly features. The photographs are very scary. There are fish with deadly poisonous spines/ electric shocks/razor sharp teeth to bite off a person's finger that it may hinder my attempts to get him in the sea this summer. I wouldn't blame him Confused

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