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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

Could the average Reception age child read this passage?

227 replies

Avocadoes · 03/02/2011 12:52

"I want to go to Lily's party. I will go on the bus, then I will walk. There will be cake and lots of fun. Do you want to come too?"

My DD is nearly 4 and a half and her reading has just been assessed (by school) using the passage above.

I am just interested in whether most Reception kids would be able to read all the words in that passage and do so without halting to figure out each individual word.

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dikkertjedap · 03/02/2011 21:38

DD is almost 5 and could easily read this. She started reception in September and was a fluent reader by Christmas. I assume that all the kids in her reading group can therefore easily read it. Not sure about all the children in the class though (teacher divides children in different groups for literacy, numeracy, etc.). However, would it matter? I think they just try to find out her reading level to find out what group to place your dd in? So if she can't read it at the moment, it doesn't matter at all, quite soon she will be able to. DD's teacher told us at the first parent's evening that dd would be a fluent reader by Christmas, we didn't believe it at the time, but the teacher has been right. I mean to say, once they get the hang of it, they can go really quickly.

MoldyWarp · 03/02/2011 21:43

means bog all. Its all too often the real bright sparks in reception are average by secondary age and vice versa

Oldsilver · 03/02/2011 21:43

DS 5.1 yes fluently apart from "Lily's" seems to have a blind spot for names.

cazzybabs · 03/02/2011 21:46

i haven't read everyuone's response...but i wouldn't take the teacher's response as negative. i would think she knows where the child is and where she needs to go next

madwomanintheattic · 03/02/2011 21:50

my odd three out would have been able to, but they are a bit wordy and weren't considered 'average' in yr r. as a reading buddy, i've worked with yr 2s who would struggle with that passage, and then would be reading fluently in the next term... when it clicks, it clicks. it doesn't mean a lot.

PaisleyLeaf · 03/02/2011 21:52

I don't think you should take the teacher's comments too negatively. I think the point in the assessing is what to work towards next. So for your DD it'll be to read more fluently and better understanding. I think the teacher saying that is fine.
Maybe a smiley face with the comment wouldn't have gone amiss.

dikkertjedap · 03/02/2011 22:09

I really wouldn't worry OP. I think that it is positive that the teacher has high expectations, all research shows that teachers with high expectations can get a lot more out of children. The assessment gives a good starting base and the teacher can now make a plan to improve your dd's reading. Also, in many countries children don't learn to read until much older, however I expect that your dd might grasp it really quickly if she has a driven teacher, so who knows, comes Summer she might easily and fluently read (and if not, don't worry, she will get there in her own time as long as she keeps enjoying it). And yes, my dd reads fluently, no halting or anything but that is only since right before the X-mas Holiday, even in November she was still stopping for certain words. It was suddenly like a large step up. Sometimes a double edged sword because she insists in reading whole books before bedtime which does take about 30 mins rather than the usual 10 mins I had imagined.

TheOriginalNutcracker · 03/02/2011 22:11

Ds certainly couldn't have read that in reception, or yr 1 tbh. Reading only clicked for him half way through yr2.

MerryMarigold · 03/02/2011 22:13

Blimey. What kind of school do your kids go to? My Reception Age child is learning 'mmmm', 'mmmmmm', 'd-d-d-dinosaur' etc. They will start putting words together one of these days !

dikkertjedap · 03/02/2011 22:14

OriginalNutcracker, most boys become fluent readers later than girls, so that is entirely normal as well. Boys and girls just learn in a different way and boys tend to be ahead with building games/ 2D and 3D shapes etc.

PfftTheMagicDragon · 03/02/2011 22:14

i's not about whether they can read it though, as some might be able to. They should be able to understand the words and the sentence and what it means.

pointythings · 03/02/2011 22:27

DD1 - No, not until end of YrR
DD2 - yes, definitely.

It means nothing though - children develop at different stages and reading especially goes in leaps, not in a steady improvement. Reading clicked with DD1 early on in Yr 1, with DD2 term 2 in YrR - they are now both well above average readers but I tell them not to get smug because people will catch them up!

allchildrenreading · 04/02/2011 02:37

pfft -

"i's not about whether they can read it though, as some might be able to. They should be able to understand the words and the sentence and what it means."

How on earth can you extract meaning from text if you can't read the words?

And how are children expected to read words that are in advance of their code knowledge? This is a very misguided 'test' - it certainly isn't testing the appropriate alphabetic code
knowledge that would give accurate and useful feedback for teacher and parent.

duchesse · 04/02/2011 02:47

2 or my older three could have done- they were reading at 4 on the dot. The oldest one would have been able to do it by 5, but is young for his year so turned 5 at the end of reception. Having said that he was writing before he went to school so maybe he could have read that and I'm just misremembering.

PfftTheMagicDragon · 04/02/2011 07:58

allchildren - eh? Clearly I mean that some children will be able to read the words, yet not all within that group will be able to fully comprehend the meaning of the text that they are reading. Not the other way round, you numpty.

KangarooCaught · 04/02/2011 08:12

DS1 - yes
DD2 (4 yr 9m) who is not as good as her brother and ability wise at this stage average, just read it but v e r y s l o w l y, sounding out the letters as she went and struggled on 'Lily', 'cake' and 'walk', so similarish to your dd.

If I saw that comment, I'd be ok with it because it's a statement of fact. What it also shows btw, is that your dd has consolidated all letter sounds and is blending them well, but maybe that is not what the assessment criteria was.

littlebylittle · 04/02/2011 08:20

Dd, 5, can. What are we all to do with the results of our assessment now!!

coccyx · 04/02/2011 08:53

its all madness. Reception is the year group with huge variations in ability. A child who has turned 5 in September is more likely to be further on the average just turned 4 in August child.
All evens out . Concentrate on fact that your child is progressing. sod the others

systemsaddict · 04/02/2011 09:39

Tried it with ds last night, he only got as far as "want" and then told me it couldn't be "want" because that would be spelt "w-u-n-t". So I was wrong, and he refused to read any more. From this I conclude:

phonics knowledge not bad
sight words need work
awkward sod and pedant in the making!

BaresarkBunny · 05/02/2011 11:53

DS is 5 in May and read it confidently but that's his thing, he struggles in other areas.

mrz · 05/02/2011 13:57

I'm still not sure what the teacher hoped to achieve by asking a child to read that particular text not much of an assessment IMHO

mrz · 05/02/2011 13:58

"want" isn't a sight word

ElsieMc · 05/02/2011 16:21

Got him to read off the screen and he could do most of it, some with prompting. I am told he is slightly below average in his year as they are all quite good achievers, but I'm not worried any way - they all learn to read in the end fgs.

I'm just grateful he's grasped some of it fairly early - my eldest daughter didn't get the basics til the very end of reception and I remember wanting to scream if I ever had to look at a Bangers and Mash (she's in her early twenties now) book ever again.

NancyDrewHasaClue · 05/02/2011 16:43

DS (4.10) can read most of it fluently (paused with cake and walk but did get them).

But he started prep school nursery age 3 and is pretty much top of his class for reading.

purplearmadillo · 05/02/2011 16:54

My DD is in year 1. I don't think she could have read this at this stage in reception, but she is now reading lime books and one of the best in her year as far as I know. She didn't really click with reading until Easter of reception.

Seems an odd "test". Perhaps it is being used just to work out what level they are currently at so that they can work from there?

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