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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 in reception

34 replies

applecrumbleandcream · 10/11/2011 20:30

Just wondering, my dd has been doing really well with her reading and her teacher has just moved her onto stage 2 ORT (only one in her class). Is this really good at this stage and what stage should most be at by the end of reception?

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mrsshears · 10/11/2011 20:38

I don't think the teacher should be telling you she is the only one in her class on that level,it just causes problems imo.
My dd is in y1 and i know some of the children were on band 2 at this point last year,at the end of the year the levels ranged from band 1 to band 7,with most of the class finishing reception on band 4.

Tiggles · 10/11/2011 20:39

Having been in a reception class room recently, I can say that there were books up to level 3 ORT in their classroom, so presumably that is the expected end level in reception.

DS2 is currently on level 3 ORT (reception) but his older brother had a reading age way above that when he was in reception (was reading books like the Faraway tree), so no idea what is 'really good', 'above average' or 'normal' TBH.

fatfinger · 10/11/2011 20:51

What is ORT?

HoneyandHaycorns · 10/11/2011 20:59

It's good, yes, and she is doing well, but tbh there will be loads of kids in reception on much higher levels than this - maybe not at your dd's school, but at many others.

It isn't a race - stop worrying about where she is in relation to other kids, and just enjoy the wonderful discoveries that she'll be able to make now that she is able to read.

wobblypig · 10/11/2011 21:18

Ds not special in his class re: reading but just started ORT 4 so not sure . Suppose it depends a little on how old in your class. Most DS's similarly aged peers are ORT 4-5 from what I gather

Catz · 10/11/2011 21:45

In DDs class they don't follow the ORT scheme but have colour coded boxes that include a variety of books including some ORT. She's the youngest in her class (reception) and brings home level 5 at the moment. I do not talk about book bands with other parents for obvious reasons but judging by the scrum round the boxes in the morning it looks as if a good chunk are on level 1 and 2. DDs teacher told us all at the start that she is very keen on building confidence and comprehension at this stage rather than stretching them to the highest band they could possibly stumble through - I imagine different teachers would band the same child in different ways depending on their approach but I am quite happy with that at the moment.

DeWe · 10/11/2011 21:57

Just because the teacher said (or she said) she's the "only one" doesn't mean that she's the top... there might be a couple on level three... or higher. That happened when I was at school.
Another mum told dm that her daughter was the only one on a level, and the teacher said were running out of books to give her... then I arrived out of school clutching my book clearly several levels above. Dm said she didn't know what to say.

Ds is currently on level 4-5. Dd2 was reading level 9-10 before she started school. When dd1 was there the head had a strange idea that reception shouldn't go over level 3, so she was a free reader through reception.

Plonker · 10/11/2011 22:06

Dd is on level 1

Just thought I'd give a bit of perspective

schmee · 10/11/2011 22:08

Loving you Plonker!

Tgger · 10/11/2011 22:09

She's doing great, but they all go at their own pace. I think reading is a little like learning to walk/talk. Some go fast to start with, some go slow. Where they are at the end of Year 2 may well not reflect how they started in Reception. So... yes, she's doing great, keep her interested but don't expect her to be a genius!

My DS got to about level 2 just reading with us over the Summer. They haven't really started reading in his Reception class so he has stalled, but I'm not bothered. A friend's boy was only about level 2 end of reception but now in year one is whizzing through the levels, about level 6 already.

monstermissy · 10/11/2011 22:14

my reception boy brings home little books without words, just pictures to talk about. He also has four words a week to learn to read, last week he only learnt two of these. There you go... your child is doing great. feel better now?

PatriciaHolm · 10/11/2011 22:15

She's doing nicely, but I'd be very surprised if there weren't children on higher levels; there is generally quite a spread at this age, with some coming into school with no idea about reading and some on levels 4/5 plus! DD's class finished the year on anything between Level 1 and 9; DD finished on Lvl 3, but by the end of Yr 1 had completed Lvl 12.

She's making good progress, which is what you want, and if she's enjoying it, that will continue.

Original poster

applecrumbleandcream · 10/11/2011 22:21

Thanks all for the comments. No its not a competition and I wasn't intending to sound boastful as one poster seems to imply. Just really pleased with her progress and wanted to gauge if this was good level to be on at this stage.

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Original poster

applecrumbleandcream · 10/11/2011 22:23

Monster missy why the sneery attitude?

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MinginInTheRain · 10/11/2011 22:29

DeWe That seems way ahead of anything I've come across and lots of good readers at the school. Is she gifted?

academyblues · 11/11/2011 07:38

The sneery attitude is probably because you mentioned in your OP that your dd is the only one in her class go have been moved up an level.

You know that it's 'good' for reception.

Though on MN you can also expect to be told about all the free readers in reception and that others will catch up very good.

Iamnotminterested · 11/11/2011 08:01

Minginintherain An early reader does not = gifted.

No offence DeWe.

MyChildDoesntNeedSleep · 11/11/2011 10:47

I went to dig out DS's Reception Year diary to give you my input, but if people are starting school on level 9, then I think we can safely say that levels seem to mean Jack Shit!

Its like the old 'free reader' malarky. In our school there's excellent readers in Year 4 still on the reading scheme, whereas I know some children who are free readers and yet not what I would call fluent.

MyChildDoesntNeedSleep · 11/11/2011 10:51

I didn't think monstermissy was being sneery...in fact she was being really honest considering everybody else was piling in with tales of their little geniuses

Original poster

applecrumbleandcream · 11/11/2011 10:58

No didn't know it was good level for reception or wouldn't have asked, whole point of my post. Knew it would turn out like this. Thanks for helpful comments.

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MASKEMO · 11/11/2011 11:48

Hi there, sorry you feel upset the way your thread has turned out, it isnt always clear to us as parents what the levels mean ect, my son did the phonics books, started at phase 2 in reception leaving reception at the end of phase 5, children who were a little behind him seem to be catching up thick and fast and the reading is evening out more rapidly. Glad your child is enjoying school and reading :)

omgomgomg · 11/11/2011 12:01

DS2 currently brings home ORT level 1 books (with no words). He also brings home other another reading scheme books with 3 or 4 words per page but these are the type where he can read 1 or 2 of the words per page and has to guess the rest by looking at the pictures.

However, he can read and is reading ORT songbird phonic books at home with me and has just started level 2 of these. I used this method with DS1 and he raced on compared to many others in the class, possibly because the ORT songbird phonics books gave him more confidence in knowing he could read every word on the page using his phonics knowledge. He also read some old fashioned Peter & Jane books with my mum which are highly repetitive "look and say" but he remembered many words from them just because he had seen them and repeated them over and over

DS1 finished reception on ORT level 9. I know all children are different but I will be sticking with songbird phonics and hunting out the Peter & Jane for DS2 as IMHO assessing children's reading level using only one reading scheme can be a weak indicator of their ability and is dependant on their learning style fitting in with that of the reading scheme being used.

DeWe · 11/11/2011 12:23

MingingIntherain/Iamnotinterested:
No offense taken. I don't consider my dc to be gifted in literacy, they are just early readers, which I think is a different thing and a lot to be down to what is done by parents before hand. Being early readers has meant that they are able to read books at their interest level, which then encourages them to read more, which brings them on further...

Dd2 was very interested in reading, mostly because dd1 did/does a lot, so she would pick up a book at 2yo and work through it sounding out the words etc. She was reading ORT level 9-10 before school simply because dd1 was in year 2 and that was the highest level they had at the infant school so it was her reading books. Dd1 thought it was funny to palm all her homework off onto dd2, and dd2 thought it was fun to do it.

But obviously in reception it is a good proportion what's been done at home and although so far they have stayed at the top end in reading, I wouldn't expect them to be high fliers in the subject long term. Hope that makes sense.

Iamnotminterested · 11/11/2011 12:43

Perfect sense. I agree with you about the early reading skills being, to a large extent, down to the home environment and whether there are older children who are keen readers and kind of pass their interest on to younger siblings etc.

2littlecherubs · 11/11/2011 13:54

In my ds reception class a lot of the children are racing through the ORT levels because they have learnt the words by sight from flash cards. They learn phonics at school so what I have been doing is working through the phonics songbird books at home (on levl 1) but my ds can now read 3 letter words by decoding them.

This is not being reflected in the ORT level he is on at school so probably apprears behind some of the others in his class. I imagine quite often parents may think their child his ahead of everyone else as they are on a higher reading level but I dont think it really means anything.
I am trying not to focus on what level book my ds is on but improving his reading ability and ensuring he enjoys it

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