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

[MigratingCoconuts]

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!

My oldest left Y1 on level 4 ORT and was a level 7 when he started Y2. Over the summer holidays we read daily. I really think that non-ORT books helped massively and that he was at some sort of biologically pre-determined age when he'd get it. His writing and numeracy also clicked over the holidays too.

My middle child started Reception unable to read but took to reading like a duck to water. She was a free reader in Y1 (finished level 11) but now in Y3, she is not unusual at all.

You have to remember that some schools (like ours) don't require children to read all the books in every level and allow skipping levels when children have a reading spurt. Some schools make kids read every book in every level and allow free reading to happen a lot earlier than level 16 or whatever the last level of ORT is.

Good to hear all the posts. Add me to the list of posts that need slapping.

I think it's very easy in the UK to get caught up on levels. I wonder with my daughter if actually listening to her read every night actually puts her off. We are often tired (me included) and I can see a similar trend with my reception child. I wonder if I'd actually be better backing off of it all sometimes and putting them to bed. There is actually only so much that parents can do and I've got some equally important things I want them to learn i.e a walk after tea is a nice thing to do, eating healthy, participating in sports, playing with each other. Sometimes if I cover all of this we've done enough in the day to really not want to read at the end of the day. I totally get the importance of reading / school though but sometimes I heap the pressure on by not allowing short cuts. If only we could judge how much to encourage them and when, parenting would be so much easier!

I know how you feel, Poppet, as I'm sure most parents do. I find myself unable to enjoy my children sometimes; to let them potter about and just be, because I feel as the mum - and chief-in-charge-of domestic issues, health, nutrition, education, socialising, exercise etc! - that there is always a thought in my head along the lines of "They can play for half an hour, then X needs to practice her flute, Y has numeracy homework and Z needs a nappy change right now; Y can read to me after tea and before Rainbows, whilst X does spellings and then hopefully DH will be home to bath Z whilst me and X do some research into the climate...etc etc" Am I doing the right things with them ? I don't know, only time will tell I suppose, but I am doing my best!

Incidentally there was an article in The Times at the weekend basically saying that if you only do one thing to encourage your child let it be reading; All the ballet lessons or dance workshops in the world fade into significance with regard to a child's development when they are older, but a child who is read to and is encouraged to love books will do well.

Food for thought.

Thanks lovecheese. That sounds like an interesting article. Your post in like my house. I was just thinking to myself about number 3 getting a nappy change. Obviously I do change him but I bet I changed the others far more often :) Off to try and enjoy my kids without worrying :)

I agree that reading is really important, but I think it is fine to "bend" things according to circumstance. DC is particularly overtired and crotchety one evening? - still do reading but read alternate sentences/paragraphs/pages. Nearly all children learn to read fine and your child's school should alert you if they think there are problems.

In response to OP, Level 5 roughly corresponds to a reading age of 51/2 to 6, so spot on for a young year 1. If she finds particular sounds difficult to remember, perhaps you could invent games to help her ( like noughts and crosses for example with a different sound on each square to be read before putting your o or x)

good idea Sarah. I totally agree also wit the tiredness thing, especially with this long term. I have cut back on some of the few clubs she was doing (with her agreement) so that her time is much more flexible as homework starts to build. She still doesn't get a lot of homework but I can see some nights she is just so tired.

Heard Terry Gilliam - film maker extraordinaire - on Desert Island Disks the other day. He had an idyllic upbringing in the middle of America. His father was a carpenter and this, as much as the freedom to run around outside in the prairies, or wherever they were, was the one thing that influenced him to make things and express his creativity. Don't believe there was a Floppy in sight.

I am a parent - and have been for 15 years.
A parent helper.
A governor.
An aunt.
A great aunt.

I mention this to show that I know whereof I speak - although i am putting on my hard hat just in case.
There are several subjects about which people lie - sometimes unconsciously, but usually blatantly.
!. How much they drink or smoke

1. What their children eat
2. Whether their children sleep through the night
3. What their child is reading.

I woul never believe a parent who was tellling me that their child was reading chapter books on their own in bed at night until I had actually heard that child read. Seeing them doing it wouldn't be enough - lots of children are happy to sit for 10 minutes with a book in front of them turningt he pages because they get such positive reinforcement for doing it "Oh, Jocasta always has her nose in a book - I positively have to chase her outdoors for some fresh air" sound so much better than "Jocasta spends most of her time watching TV" or "outside dressing the cat up in dolls clothes"

What I'm saying is that they all get there - when did you last say about an adult "Oh, she's such a good reader"! So don;t worry - read to them loads and loads, have lots of different books lying about, let them see you reading and enjoying it. And if they are boys, make sure they see their fathers reading books and enjoying them. It'll be fine.

at seeker! I think you are right!

certainly we are a book loving family on both sides and DC have always loved books themselves. I need to chill and let it happen.

I think DS (child 2) has it so much easier coming along second after DD has had us properly trained in what to fret about and what not to!

This is such a lovely thread. Migrating Cs, I am in a similar frame of mind at the moment although my DD1 is in reception and I recently read a thread which indicated that she is slightly below average for this stage in the year . She is still on pink. She is bright and articulate, funny, kind and happy with good social skills. She loves being read to and has good comprehension. But, the machanics of reading are slow and it doesn't seem to come too easily to her.

I also (like OP) had problems learning to read and had a very late diagnosis of dyslexia. I think this makes me particularly anxious about the whole thing. Maybe this is the route of some of your anxiety too OP? I know what it is like to struggle and to feel stupid. I obviously don't want this for my children. However; hand on heart I don't think she is dyslexic. Just not one of these children who picks it up within weeks.

Thanks to activate, I found your thread very reasuring and also thanks to Mungogerry for putting things in perspective.

Jezabelle, I think that's exactly right! I do think I am anxious about this. I moved schools at 7 and suddenly got called 'remedial' because I couldn't do the decoding style reading test but I had always read by working out context. The school judged everything by that test and I had a reading age three years below my actual age, so I must have been thick all round in their eyes

That sudden shock of not seeing a 'problem' coming has stayed with me a long time (with the feeling I'm thick/lazy for not being able to decode new words out loud properly...even now I can't do that).

My daughter is not me and this isn't the seventies...its worth me remembering that!

Jez, its kind of nice to know someone else who knows where I am coming from!!

You have to remember that MN life is not RL-my DS in Year 1 and about where your DD is-he is also ASD and dyspraxic and I am inutterably proud of what he has achieved because he has further to go than most of his peer group-I am also the total opposite to most and have often asked for him to be kept down a reading level because I know that whilst he can read the words,his comprehension is often poor because of his difficulties in inference and the how and why questions. IMO most people who post on MN about the advanced levels or "free reading" their children are on in reception are fully aware of thoses levels, they just want to boast about their children-and why not-I am sure they are also as proud as I am and rightly so-its just they cant do it in RL-so un-middle class to boast dont you know .
I hope your DD continues to delight in the whole reading experience-thats what matters.

That's a nice post oddgirl! thank you.

seeker, both my children loved looking at chapter books at age one.. they loved mimicking mummy.

Oddgirl, I think you might be onto something there! Have been mulling it over and I was thinking that when you get those threads where the OP has a freak of nature very high achieving DC, all the posts that follow seem to have DCs at a similar level. This is probably because, those whose DCs are "just average" are not wanting to join in that thread. I know I don't! And I expect plenty of them go to Style anbd Beauty, Promotional codes or even Housekeeping just to avoid the inadequate feelings that those threads have provoked!

So, us gluttons for punishment who still lurk in Education will be the minority with the average/ below average DCs in literacy/ numeracy. That's maybe some of the answer to why MN seems so far off from RL.

And you're right Oddgirl, everyone has the right to feel proud of their DC, whatever their academic achievements. I know I do, and would love to have a good boast! But that's another thread!

Jezabelle

Lots of children find learning to read very hard. Helping my son to do so during his first school year was really traumatic. (He started at 5).

Because of my foreign background and not starting to learn English until I was 14, I found learning to read and write English a complete nightmare to begin with, after first learning those skills with the regular spellings of Lithuanian and Russian.

So a lifetime later, after having to retire from teaching English and modern languages in Dorset at the age of 50 for health reasons, I decided to investigate more closely which English spellings make learning to read and write so hard, and explaining it to others. As a teacher I had come to see that many English-born children found learning to read and write English just as hard or even harder than I had done.

Learning to read English is hard because letters are often allowed to do what they are not supposed to - change their sounds: the - he, end - English, on - once.

Jezabelle-I have to have a giggle at some of the threads though esp the ones which are "oh, I didnt realise that being on level pink with blue spots was so unusual...little Tarquin has just sped through them all...in fact the school has run out of books for him...and he is only 4...he is enjoying doing a precis and critique of each one though..." When the rest of us are still at the stage of roaring at our DC " C..A...T..what do you think that might be??...just sound it out for Gods sake" it is a bit much...

If the education boards of MN were actually representative of real life, we would have lots of lawyers/drs/architects but no bloody nurses/cleaners/plumbers...what a dull dull world of utterly brilliant people...

at that! Is that the same Tarquin that has been doing ballet, French, Tiaekwondo, gym clubs and learning three music instruments during a busy schdeule of before, during and after school clubs....all since aged two?

mine do a busy schedule of watching 'league of super evil' and digging muddy holes in the garden whilst running around the house with a 'tail' stuck in her pants shouting 'I'm a lizard, I'm a lizard!'

However, if fretting is your thing, be reassured that each new year brings new and different opportunities for educational anxiety!

oh joy! ...actually, now i think about it, it all began with 'is she latching on properly?'

My middle 2 girls didn't get off the first stage until after the Easter of year 1. The one who was born the end of August ended up on free readers by the following February - I remember the teacher telling me that by the begining of year 2 it had pretty much evened out and you couldn't tell which children could read before they started school.

Find yourself something very pointless to fret about, perhaps it will make it easier

"Mashabell Tue 12-Apr-11 07:05:37
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."

I have seen no research nor had any personal experience that would back this up tbh - would be interested in seeing it though

I agree with you there

I quoted another poster who said there was one so I was interested to find out more about it - as it goes against all my experience