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Primary education

Join our Primary Education forum to discuss starting school and helping your child get the most out of it.

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Original poster

What book band is your reception child on?

44 replies

howmuchyousay · 03/02/2011 10:45

Just colour/number please.

I'm not trying to be competitive and don't want to discuss it with mothers at school.

I'm just curious.

I also realise that some schools don't even start sending books home yet.

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Original poster

howmuchyousay · 03/02/2011 10:45

ooh, yes.

DS1 is on red, stage 2.

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Hullygully · 03/02/2011 10:47

Lavender, stage 9

ruddynorah · 03/02/2011 10:49

She has 3books from 3different reading schemes. The ort one says level 2.

PatriciaHolm · 03/02/2011 10:50

At this stage last year in reception, we had children from pink (level 1) to white (level 10). All are normal.

ThingOne · 03/02/2011 10:54

My DS2 is in reception and I help in the classroom so I see all the book bags. Ours have ORT so different colours. The majority are on lilac, three or four children are on green, two or three on blue and two (I think) on red. One of the red readers was five in September. The other is not five until July.

In general there is a great range of ability. Some came to school reading, some have picked it up quickly. Some aren't interested at all! DS2 (4.8) is pretty sharp generally and is on ORT blue.

DS1, on the other hand, wasn't reading by this stage in reception despite being older. He wasn't interested at all, and is at seven now reading way ahead of his national average.

So it really, honestly, doesn't matter at this stage!

Wordsonascreen · 03/02/2011 10:56

I sneak into all the reception classes at breaktime and look in the book bags.

Melissa is still on ORT 1 despite her mum boasting about what a great reader she was,
I shall laugh and point at pick up.

LilRedWG · 03/02/2011 10:59

DD went onto red/2 yesterday.

Original poster

howmuchyousay · 03/02/2011 11:07

Words on a screen, that has made me laugh.

I'm happy with DS's progress really. He was quite reluctant to read his books and it was an effort getting him to look at them. But this week he has suddenly been much more interested and seems to be enjoying it more.

Lots of his class are still on lilac or pink (I think) but I was a little last week when someone said that their DS have gone up 3 bookbands this term

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crazygracieuk · 03/02/2011 11:12

My ds in on red and he is of average ability at his state school.

redskyatnight · 03/02/2011 11:19

The majority of DD's class are on pink or red. A handful on higher bands. But DD's school deliberately does not push too hard in Reception but concentrates on buildilng basics.

howmuchyousay - my DS went up 3 book bands in half a term. He had a "Eureka" moment and went from labouriously sounding out each word (and then mostly not having a clue what it was) to reading very fluently without sounding out literally over the space of a few weeks. According to his teacher some children just suddenly "get" reading like that.

ElinElin · 03/02/2011 11:20

My DD is in Reception, She turns 5 end of March. She is on ORT stage 1 (in her school it is coloured red). However she only started getting the word books after xmas when I mentioned to the teacher that she was still getting picture books teacher said she has to be able to match the characters with their written names. I was stunned. My DD has been able to do this since September. THe day after she got a stage 1 reading book. What do you make of that? I am thinking that if she got these books before she would have been further ahead.

redskyatnight · 03/02/2011 11:29

ElinElin - lots of schools don't give out reading books till after Christmas in Reception anyway.

Sounds like you read at home and she will have been having phonics teaching at school and probably some sort of guided/individual reading as well. So not a complete reading wilderness!! School reading books are really not the be all and end all. In fact DS (see my post above) hated the school reading books so much that we quietly stopped reading them for a while and just let him pick out the odd word/sentence in books we'd picked from the library.

I actually have the opposite problem with my DD - school tell me that she is doing really well and starting to sound out words and recognise common words, whereas at home she mostly stares blankly at the page.

StrawberryMess · 03/02/2011 11:31

My son has just finished these yellow books and is about to start these yellow books.

Original poster

howmuchyousay · 03/02/2011 11:33

I can't imagine what Floppy gets up to in those :o

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montmartre · 03/02/2011 11:33

Just finished green/started orange... but really can read anything she picks up.

I read at 2.5yo, DH at 8yo- we can both read as well as each other now...

montmartre · 03/02/2011 11:34

heheh- actually just clicked strawb's link... DH does read those! (and I couldn't ever)

ElinElin · 03/02/2011 11:39

Hi.I know some schools don't give them out until after xmas but in my dd class a lot of kids did get them before(but I only found out after). I am a bit concerned since she has been put in the 'lower' ability group. When I saw the teacher she mentioned a few things that my DD did not demonstrate in school in literacy and numeracy but I know she does these things at home. I don't mind if she is in that group cause that is where she needs to be but I find it hard to believe that she is at the bottom of class. I don't think she would be top of the class but at least in average group. And because the teacher said she didn't know she could match the characters and the day after she said she can do it and gave her a book I am worried how things are being monitoring?!

Michaelahpurple · 03/02/2011 11:41

Our reception class covers a huge range. At one end, quite a few of them are still on the ones with "my cat", page 2 "my cat" page 3 "my cat is big", whilst the other end are on ORT level 9/10.
Learning to read is a really weird skill in that it seems to involve weeks of flailing in the wilderness, then they leap off the plateau. As long as the child is happy doing it, has learnt/is learning proper phonetic letter sounds and is getting good phonetic support, it seems to come together over the course of the year for the vast vast majority.
Top tip though, if you think the child's books are too easy and you want them to move up, ask. Mine are at a academic prep and they still seemed to leave them on a level until otherwise bumped. Equally, probably best not to turn into a maniac, demanding new levels all the time, as can just turn the child off!

orangepoo · 03/02/2011 11:42

DS is reading ORT level 2 and ORT level 1+ at the same time (the books are from different ORT collections I think?). Incidentally, all the children in his class are doing these same books because that's what the teacher wants.

caffeinated · 03/02/2011 11:45

Ds1 in reception last year was on red ORT 2 at this point.

Ds2 in reception this year is currently on red ORT 2.

At their school their guided reading book it also their actual reading book. They are sorted by ability for guided reading. Everyone in the group has same book. Ds1 was in top group last year ds2 one from top. Regardless of ability nobody races ahead on the reading scheme. They have a very steady approach last year it frustrated me a bit because ds1 was so able but I figure a school that has consistently had 55% of children achieving level 3 at the end of ks1 probably has more clue what they're doing than I do regarding the education of my children.

sofaslug · 03/02/2011 11:48

Our Reception class ONLY has Pink and Red books to give out for home reading (or has done up till this stage in the school year, maybe they will get different stock in soon).

Most of the children are still on Pink. Mind you, the Pink band seems to cover a confusingly large range. The Pink 'picture' books have some really difficult three syllable words.

Whereas some of the supposedly harder Red books have much more straightforward stuff like 'do you like my hat'.

Both bands have a mix - some ORT, some Rocket Readers, plus a few other publishers. I think it's probably good to have a variety.

Oldsilver · 03/02/2011 11:51

Just gone up to Turquoise which he was reading by mistake anyway as the green & turquoise boxes got mixed up (Level 6/7 I think). Third level this term. He's speeding along since we left Biffo, Floppy et al behind .

ThaliaKeith · 03/02/2011 11:52

DD is around blue band (level 4) comfortably although she and another child are being challenged a bit now and she is bringing home some higher level ones at the moment as well.

There is a very open system of choosing books from boxes with various books of the same colour sticker on and her teacher is very happy for you to discuss with her which books your DC has. I was thinking DD needed something a bit more than the red band ones she had recently and her teacher seems to agree

ThaliaKeith · 03/02/2011 11:53

Am also glad there is ORT and other books. And that there is no rigid "you must read every single book in order or the world will end" type of thing.

Roastchicken · 03/02/2011 11:54

Just to add balance - DD is on level 1+, though is reading it easily now so may be ready for revision. She couldn't read anything before starting school, and has had books home once a week for less than a term. As far as I know, most of the class are similar.

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