Should I raise this with school?

[princessglitter]

dd is 4 and in reception.She started reception reading and now is on stage 6 ort. They have identified her as able and she reads with y1 for guided reading.

She seems to find her books very easy and usually knows every word. She reads with expression and has good comprehension too. I feel they are making her read every book in the stage rather than matching her ability.At home she is capable of reading 'The Twits' reasonably well.

She also does spellings each week - but knows how to spell each word on the list without having to learn them, so it just seems pointless having those spellings to learn!

Don't want to come across as pushy and it probably won't harm her to read easier books - but was wondering if it might be worth mentioning my concerns?

No, probably not.....

Just keep widely with her at home, and whizz through the school books as quickly as you like.

Just keep reading widely...

my dd was the same got to year 7 and now can't spell to save her life!!! Also was and still is way above her reading age but it's not helped with her spellings now. Teachers aren't concerned. I'm just confused.

I'd raise it with school, my DS1 is a very able reader but finds the biff and chip books dull as the proverbial and stopped trying. Yet at home he's started picking up DH's books and reading them! School have been great and have switched DS onto a different reading scheme. About Monsters and have offered more non-fiction stuff as that is his interest!

DS1 is in reception too.

Am debating whether to leave it and casually mention it at parents' evening in April?

They don't use ORT at our school, not that it makes a difference to my answer! Ds1 was the same, and his books he brought home seemed too easy. I just popped in and mentioned that I knew he could read 'harder' ones, and what did they think? They told me that he had free choice from the boxes and the ones he brought home were the ones he wanted to read, which I was happy with.

Not long after though I noticed the ones we were getting were longer/more words per page, so I guess they found another box

That's a yep btw - just a quick word with teach at drop-off/pick up time.

It is really difficult to get to mention it, as I can never do drop off or pick up (am working full time) and a note can come across the wrong way...

If your DD is bored by the books, or thinks they are too easy, then I'd mention it. Otherwise, I'd just give her varied books at home or from the library and wait until parent's evening.

dd loves reading anything - signs; cereal boxes;Roald Dahl; even boring old Biff, Chip & Co; so I doubt she minds. She has hundreds of books and sits in bed every night reading them, as well as going to the library.

Just feel she should get a bit more of a challenge, but it probably can wait till parents' evening. Don't know if it is worth saying anything about the spellings?

She's only little, I'd just leave it. Just keep her interested at home and watch and see what happens at school.

The thing is, as well as reading the words, they do cover a variety of subjects that, at only 4, your dd would probably enjoy and benefit from.

When you say they make her read every book in the scheme, they do like them to read across the scheme for adding to their knowledge.

If she is getting around 10 errors (both words and grammar) per page, then the difficulty is about right.(a teacher told me that) but that could be for older yr 3/4 kids)

I think as well, just reading any book/looking at pictures/chatting about the story etc and making sure her comprehension is sound, is important.

Check her comprehension by asking her to answer stuff about the book afterwards. It's fine being able to read the words but they have to be able to understand and process it too.

and like dearprudence says, mention it at parents evening - you could take a book she has read at home and say "this is the sort of book she is reading at home". Perhaps she could read a bit to the teacher to show what she can do.

I had this prob with dd when she was in yr 1/2. They reassessed her and said she could read yr 4 books. however, it was a good job I checked as she was bringing books home about boyfriends! They were harder books but emotionally not appropriate.

My DS (aged 5)taught himself very early and now reads anything and everything (likes science books). School had no idea until we pointed it out (nicely) and now he gets to go to the key stage 2 library and choose wildly inappropriate books for a 5 year old! .We leave those in his bag. Get some yourself second hand. I can recommend Captain Underpants (sadly), Roald Dahl, Harry Potter and world / science atlases. They don't have time to notice in a class of 30 . You know best and it's down to you, even if you work full time (so do I)

She makes one error or less per book, which is why I think they are too easy.

This "not long after though I noticed the ones we were getting were longer/more words per page, so I guess they found another box"
reminded me of a situation with ds' teacher earlier last year, when I went in for a meeting with her and discussed how ds was finding the books very easy and was making no errors and understanding them etc.
She said 'oh no I think ds still needs to work on his understanding because he does x sometimes'.

But lo and behold two days later he was moved up a level. Funny that

Also, as we read she says things like: 'dad was silly, he forgot to put Floppy in the car' and can answer questions about the story.

That's fab then. Her comprehension is obviouslmy great and yes, they should put her up.

princessglitter - a friend told me about some books on amazon that have an old fashioned name but are basically spelling books with loads of spellings in to learn.

If the school are not testing your dd's spellings (and they won't in Reception), you could check out a few of those however at lower primary level, they are really just trying to encourage them write anything and have a flow of thought, rather than correcting everything they write.

sounds like my son who was on free reading by the end of reception. he was given extra words on top of the normal ones and i just had to go to the library for interesting reading material as the class books were so dull. maybe wait til parents evening then raise the subject. It might be that her comprehension is just a bit behind her reading age.