What is so difficult about this??.

[Smallstuff]

DS2 is in Yr 1.
He went up to orange book band books (after I had written a note in his book diary) at half term. 6 plus weeks ago. At that time his teacher said she didn't think he would be on them for long.
At parents eve three weeks ago she said he was ready to go up a level.
She told me his year end target is a 2b (which I think equates to gold book band 3 levels higher than orange.
Then nothing for a further three weeks. No change in book level. Despite every time he reads (which has not been to her since parents eve) the comments saying lovely fluent reading, good expression etc etc
I just cannot understand why she would raise my expectations and then do nothing about it?!?!
I went in yesterday and asked for him to go up and she was fine with it.
I just feel like I have to be in her face all the time to get him moved up...when its she who wants him at level 2b!!!! I hate being pushy but 6 weeks at one level seems a long time to me....
Anyway rant over!!!!

[23balloons]

I remember around y1 my son got lots of Happy Families books from the library, there were about 20 of them & he really liked them. Our libraries do have early reader sections though

[mrz]

Books don't need to be colour banded but if parents are really stuck they can use e books www.oxfordowl.co.uk/Library/Index/?AgeGroup=2&BookType=Phonics

[choccyp1g]

mrz Thu 07-Apr-11 23:08:40
I'm not suggesting you moved him up only wondering if the teacher had heard him read prior to the test because that might account for the sudden discovery that he is able to read well.

Well exactly, that's why I felt a bit worried about such a big jump, I inferred that the teacher hadn't heard him read for a long time. But it's not the end of the world, he is happy and doing well, maybe reading with me made a difference. [preen]

mrz. When I said practise practise practise I was not suggesting children practise skills that are beyond their capability so no it isn't moving away from phonics at all.

BUt when the school doesn't let them change books often, the onus is then on the parents to find books at the library that are not beyond their capability phonics-wise. The books in my local libraries are not colour banded, so it can mean you pick something that looks easy, with not too many words and it turns out to be aimed more at parents reading TO the child, rather than graded reading practise. Though of course reading WITH them is super, it might knock a child's confidence, if "I can't even read baby-ish PICTURE books"

[emy72]

In my limited personal experience, I'd say the book band levels and how they move up can be a combination of the child plateauing and the teacher's approach. My DD1 (also Y1) moved up 6 levels so far this year, but frankly I'd say that she probably started Y1 able to read at least 2 or 3 levels above what she was, so this huge progress is in reality just some cathing up by the school and obviously some of it her progress.

Finally, in my experience, once the reading has clicked it is easier to improve it as it is much more possible to choose a variety of books from other sources such as the library. I found this a little harder when they are emerging readers as it can be a bit daunting for them to read hard books that they struggle to decode.

OP, sounds like your child is doing very well indeed, and possibly it might be worth having a quick chat with the teacher about how to improve your child's reading and whether 2b is still a possibility in her view.

[blackeyedsusan]

not obsessed with book band levels, just trying to find books at the one that is appropriate so that we don't push through the bands too quickly.

thanks Baroque. that is helpful. i guessed that we need about turquoise, but books that we actually know the band for come up so rarely in the library. I suppose everyone else wants to know too. we will chug through a few blue bananas.

[Chandon]

A Y1 on Turquoise at this time of year can be considered to be doing well.

(am a Parent Helper, and read with y1s. They are all at different levels, some plateau for a bit, others suddenly jump up two levels. it's all very changeable. Kids do not follow a steady line of progress, it really is leaps and bounds! (and plateaus))

Book bands linked to age HERE:

www.readingchest.co.uk/book-bands

[Mashabell]

Mrz is right. The best way to improve reading is simply with practice.
The reading levels are related to the irregularities of English spelling. In other languages identical letters or spellings such as 'ou, ea, ough' never change their sounds, and once children have learnt to decode them, once they have mastered basic phonics, they can read any word.

Because many English spellings have more than one sound - englishspellingproblems.blogspot.com/2009/12/reading-problems.html - there is far more need to learn to read words by sight. The more words with irregular sounds (one, only, once, other, woman, women) children can read, the higher their reading level. The more children read, the better they get at recognising the tricky words.

[mrz]

I'm not suggesting you moved him up only wondering if the teacher had heard him read prior to the test because that might account for the sudden discovery that he is able to read well.

When I said practise practise practise I was not suggesting children practise skills that are beyond their capability so no it isn't moving away from phonics at all.

[choccyp1g]

MrsZ, I assume it was the teacher who moved him up; I'm certainly not qualified to do that. If it was up to me I'd probably have moved him a band at a time over the last 18 months. I daresay the teacher wanted to get his confidence up ,or he had a bad day last time, or a good day this time, or his eyesight has suddenly improved. Or something.

My point about the library books is that unless they are also colour banded, you are bound to encounter words that they can't decode yet, so will be moving away from the sythetic phonics system.

[MollieO]

Ds spent the whole of reception and most of year 1 on pink. He eventually made it to blue by the start of year 2. He is now on white which I see from mrz's list is equivalent to 2A. I found it a struggle to get him to read until he got more interesting books. It was a vicious circle as he wasn't given more interesting books as he struggled to read (didn't really struggle, just wasn't interested but difficult to tell the teacher that without appearing pushy).

At the start of year 2 he was a long way behind pretty much the whole class, he is now in the top third.

[BaroqueAroundTheClock]

oh - have just moved DS2's book bag out of the way so I can iron (yes really at this time of night ) and noticed on top of the "card" we're given with comprehension guidelines is says "turquoise book band".


Still don't have a clue what that means though (but it does now mean I know what book band he's on.........)

[23balloons]

Ds is in year 3 now I can't remember much about the bands but last year his teacher decided he was a free reader - he hasn't brought a school book home since. I admit I never hear him read anymore but he reads books every night, to himself. Not sure what I am getting at really but if your son is progressing at reading then just buy books/take him to the library regularly and don't stress too much about the colour band he is on at school. In a couple of years you won't remember the colours either.

[Smallstuff]

Thank you teacherwith2kids will look at your link

[mrz]

Obviously a struggling reader will be practising at their level while a confident reader will be practising at theirs, choccypig so not at all inappropriate.
If the child was not reading the lower books well I would be looking at lower levels not higher ones. Has he read with the teacher or just with you?

[Smallstuff]

Hi again thanks for all your comments. I do enjoy reading with my children. And discussing texts, emotions etc. We read widely together at home from chapter books to poetry to picture books to star wars comics and Lego catalogues. I understand school books are a small part of that.
I also understand DS2s frustration at reading books that he considers too easy. And yes maybe I should just not bother with the school books and ignore them. But I am trying to support my sons education.
He wants to progress. I can say that the school book bands are irrelevant. He won't believe me and does compare himself to peers. If bands are irrelevant why do we have them??? And publicly mark each book accordingly....at least in my sons school....
I will try to relax more and forget about the targets the school have set. I guess in the long run it is irrelevant..... Thanks for your input
PS clam I do have a life....

[choccyp1g]

Jumping six levels in one go meant going from (I think) green books to lime or white overnight. If I remember correctly he was stuck on blue or green (can't remember which is the higher) for so long that he had read them all. Wh en I read with him last week, and he proudly said, I have moved up to (whatever colour) and I said well done, and he said "it is six levels", counting off the colours in the library. I can't remember the exact colours, but I can visualise the shelves, and it was definitely 6.

FWIW, he read the latest book just as well as he was reading the easy ones. Which was not perfectly. My theory is that he is a SLOW reader, rather than a poor reader. They recently had comprehension tests, so maybe he did surprisingly well on those, so they tried him on the book band
indicated.

Mrz on your point about the practise, if we are really sticking to synthetic phonics, is it not inappropriate to practise on something you have not yet learnt the decosing rules for?

[teacherwith2kids]

It is probably worth looking at the details of what a child needs to be able to do to reach a NC 2b in reading.

Look for example at the document attached to nationalstrategies.standards.dcsf.gov.uk/node/153537

A child who is working securely at 2b would be able to do all the things under Level 2. You will notice that none of them mention 'read books from book band x', they are all about inference, deduction, analysis of punctuation, knowledge of different types of books, knowing about features of different book types etc.

Does that help?

[BaroqueAroundTheClock]

clam - I presume she means

[mrz]

If a child is reading confidently then the way to improve is practise practise practise. If a child is struggling they need to practise practise practise choccypig ... no contradiction

[clam]

What do you mean, six levels in one go?

[BaroqueAroundTheClock]

choccyp1G - not quite as dramatic - but at the start of this school year DS2 jumped up 4 levels in one go. His reading just suddenly took off, from struggling a bit going slowly through the levels something just "clicked" with him and his teacher saw no need for him to work his way through the ones in between where she uut him. It was most dramatic, one day DS2 was still struggling to decode simple words, the next thing I know he's volunteering to do readings in Sunday school and decoding the simple, and much harder, words with ease ! And his comprehension leapt with his decoding as well. 'twas most bizarre and I had the shock of my life when he did it (actually accused the Sunday school leader, who is my best friend, or lying to me )

[choccyp1g]

Since a child who I read with went up 6 (SIX) levels in one go, I am a bit less inclined to trust the judgment of the teacher.

[choccyp1g]

Whenever there is a thread like this, someone says, just get lots of books, read them to him, read them together etc. However, when a child is struggling a bitgoing a bit more slowly through the colours, we get the whole argument about phonics, and people saying you shouldn't ask them to read a book they can't decode.
Is this contradictory or am I failing to "comprehend" ?

[forwantofabetter1]

Why cant MN parents not just enjoy reading with their children ? The majority of you (or maybe it just seems that way) are obsessed with bookbads and getting to the next level.

My DS1 is in year 3 and has been a free reader since year 2 though very rarely has a school book as he prefers his own and DS2 just started reception and comes home with all sorts of different phonics based books

I cant remember ever thinking "what band are they on" or "they must have a harder book" I trust the judgment of the trained teacher and we read lots and lots of real books together at home

[mrz]

blackeyedsusan there are published lists which are updated regularly
www.ioe.ac.uk/about/5826.html
www.ioe.ac.uk/about/15889.html

education.staffordshire.gov.uk/NR/rdonlyres/6276FB49-C18C-4C1A-86AA-EAD1CF4E8E29/17210/BookBandsNCReadingLevels.doc