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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

reading levels, bloody reading levels (again...sorry!)

92 replies

MigratingCoconuts · 11/04/2011 20:28

I don't even know why I am writing this, I know this is insane, but I have these little gremlins in my head telling me to worry. My DD is in year 1 and quite young for her age, her reading age is spot on average and she is probably about to go up to stage 5 reading.
And yet I read all about these 'free readers' at age 3 on MN and I know of friends of hers who are 4 or 5 levels higher.

There is history of de-coding issues (I was slow to read) in the family and I know that she is making progress. And I also know that some of these friends who are on higher levels are 6 months older...

I guess what I need to be re-assured about is that she is not the only one out there (nuts, i know, she is 'average' so there must be!) and a metaphorical slap round the face to bring me back to my senses!

OP posts:

fan79 · 11/04/2011 20:41

My dd was on level 4 by end year one. Now reading within her correct level . No need to worry I would say.

Original poster

MigratingCoconuts · 11/04/2011 20:46

Thankyou fan! that's what I need to be reminded of!

OP posts:

hocuspontas · 11/04/2011 20:49

The one thing you have to remember is MN is nothing like real life.

Original poster

MigratingCoconuts · 11/04/2011 20:51

yes, but there must be some 'normal' kids out there and was beginning to think my dd was some sort of freak for being average!

OP posts:

jarralass · 11/04/2011 20:55

Hi,

My DS is in Year 1 and is currently on stage 5, he is in a private school and there are 7 in his class, this is what he tells me re reading stages:

1 on stage 8
2 on stage 7
My DS and 2 others on stage 5
and 1 on stage 4.

So I would say your child is doing fine.

Fernie3 · 11/04/2011 21:00

I get confused because i have no idea what level my daughter is all i can say is "orange" because all the books she brings home have orange stickers! this is aparently a level higher than green because we had a note in her reading diary a while ago that said "moving to orange level!!" then a big smiling sticker - no idea what level they are expected to be on though?! they seem to come home with all kinds of books whereas on here i read about oxford reading tree etc.

I can say is that she currently reading books with very short paragraphs on each page (maybe 2 -4 sentences) where as green level seemed to be more like 1 or 2 sentences and that she is slowly improving which is the main thing.

I have not met any children that read novels at her age no matter how many i have read about on mumsnet - they must be at very different schools :).

Hulababy · 11/04/2011 21:02

I work in a Y1 class.

The range in our class varies from PINK (basically non reader, still learning individual letter sounds and not yet blending sounds together to form a word) to LIME (our school doesn't do "free reading at this age).

Each of the children above are within the normal range, just have a couple or so at either end of the spectrum of "normal" in there.

hocuspontas · 11/04/2011 21:02

Fernie - your school sounds like ours. Lots of different 'schemes' but banded into colours. I'm sure that's more the 'norm'. I don't understand level 1,2,3, etc that I read on here either!

JemimaMop · 11/04/2011 21:02

Different school have diferent definitiens of "free reader".

God only knows when they become free readers in my DC's school. DS1 is in Year 3 and DS2 is in Year 2, they are both coming to the end of ORT level 11. There are apparently levels up to 16 So, as they have to read every book on every level I estimate they will probably have driving licenses before they become "free readers"

Children also vary in the speed that they pick reading up. I think DS1 was on level 3 at the end of Year 1, whereas DS2 was on Level 10. DS1 went through levels 4-10 in Year 2, whereas DS2 has only progressed through one level so far. I am not worried about either of them.

hocuspontas · 11/04/2011 21:08

We don't have free readers any more. All our 'free reading' books are now lime books - Dick King Smith, Young Corgis, Young Puffins, Banana Books etc.

activate · 11/04/2011 21:09

I cannot believe how many times I have posted this on this board but

I have 4 children - none of whom have read fluently much before 7 or 8 (youngest is 6 and just getting there now), none of them have been into reading until 9 or 10

My 16 year old had straight A*s and As across GCSEs and my 13 year old is on track to do early GCSEs and succeed similarly - my 10 year old in year 5 is considered very high acheiving.

Early reading has absolutely no bearing on academic acheivement later in life.

Original poster

MigratingCoconuts · 11/04/2011 21:13

Thanks everyone, its a huge help to be reminded of normality and to stop fretting over such a stupid thing to worry about. Honestly, thank you!

OP posts:

PoppetUK · 11/04/2011 21:14

MigratingCoconuts I totally hear where you come from. I thought my DD (year2) was doing pretty well with her reading (meaning average). We spent time helping her bridge some of the gaps between two education systems and at the equivalent of Xmas Year 1 she only started on ORT because school wasn't sending anything home. All my friends children the same age are reading Roald Dahl and other chapter books. They also read to themselves at bedtime. That isn't happening in my house. I still worry if average is ok and I worry that perhaps she should be doing all this rather than me sitting with her. I have to tell you though as much as I encourage DD to be independent she loves playing with her younger siblings, is full of life and I really must get to grips with that maturity and some things WILL,whether I like it or not, happen later.

mungogerry · 11/04/2011 21:15

I am guilty of starting a free reading post on this page re my DD1. She is year 2 and is free reading - looking into I further I have worked out that my DD's primary seem to follow the ORT to level 8 and then assess whether the children are best to continue on the scheme or free read from there. Just two of them in her year are "free reading", none of Y1 or reception are, just to add some persepctive.

easterbunnyhopsback · 11/04/2011 21:16

Often (very often) the children who progress steadily have a better comprehension than the early readers.

Original poster

MigratingCoconuts · 11/04/2011 21:17

yes, poppet, that's exactly it!

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queenbathsheba · 11/04/2011 21:27

Your daughter seems to be doing fine but if you want to help her I would reccomend Dr Suess books.

We home ed DS 6yrs and he has been reading oxford reading tree and a few other reading scheme books and progress was ok. However with the Dr Suess books I have seen a huge surge in progress and it has helped with his spelling too.

The books are funny and have lots of rhyme in them. It is very cleverly and subtely done but what you notice is that all the tricky phenomes become easy for the child to read. Ex: I and igh, ea and ee, oo, ou and ew, etc, because it uses various words spelt using different combinations of letters which make the same sounds.

By the time we have finished the last of the six books (we are on the fourth) I am sure he will be able to read anything!

blackeyedsusan · 11/04/2011 21:36

slap

now i need one back.. i know she is doing well , i know she is making progress... but i still worry

Easter bunny would you repeat that....

Original poster

MigratingCoconuts · 11/04/2011 21:38

we need to lighten up

OP posts:

mrz · 11/04/2011 21:43

If you like Dr Seuss you might find RagTag Rhymes worth a look

blackeyedsusan · 11/04/2011 22:32

phew, thats better...

Mashabell · 12/04/2011 06:49

The only thing a parent should worry about is whether their dd/s enjoys reading. If not, they should try to find books that their dd/s enjoys having read to and also help their dd/s find books they want to try and read themselves.

After basic phonics, for which most children need about a year (but many manage in a few months or weeks) learing to read English is a matter of imprinting all common words on your memory, especially the ones that are not entirely decodable: englishspellingproblems.co.uk/html/sight_words.html

The best way of doing this is to do lots of reading. And it does not much matter what children get hooked on to start with (the Beano, fairy stories, Blyton), as long as they get into reading.

Mashabell · 12/04/2011 07:05

Activate
Many children who get into their reading stride later (eg my son) do indeed still become academically successful.

But early readers have one big advantage: they generally learn to spell more easily. Probably because 'correct' English spelling needs even more word-by-word mental imprinting than reading does. So starting early and having longer for it is an advantage.

Unfortunately there is no surer way of turning children against reading for life than forcing them to start learning before they are ready.

Original poster

MigratingCoconuts · 12/04/2011 07:57

Thank you all again! I am grateful for very reply given as it is all a reminder of what I am trying to help my DD do. I think because primary school is so focussed on reading/writing (and I can understand why) that it is easy to lose track of what is important.

OP posts:

Original poster

MigratingCoconuts · 12/04/2011 08:26

Thanks mrz I have ordered those books. DD does like Cat in the Hat books...what I have noticed is that she loves looking at the pictures in a story (the detail in the floppy books for instance) and strikes me as being highly visual. this means her comprehension is very good but the boring sentence at the bottom of the page is secondary to her interest.

OP posts:

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