Reading stage/level/colour band

[Cleek]

What book stage/level/colour band should year 1 children be reading?

There can be an enormous range of reading abilities in Year 1. If you google ORT reading levels chart you might be able to find a chart that gives a rough approximation of what levels are expected for each age.

Saying that, in Reception last year the teacher told me that she had a range of approximately 8 years between the most fluent readers and those who were getting started.

if you want some benchmarking, my ds went into year 1 on ORT stage 5, he was not the best in the class but one of the top 4 (out of 30)

Thanks witchwithalthetrimmings it helps.

For another comparison, my DD was on gold at this point in year 1. But the levels after that take a LOT longer to plough through...

Ds2 is Y1, he is young for the year, 5 atm, 6 in May. He is on purple, but is about to go onto gold. Tbh by this stage the levels ime are a bit silly, he can read anything, and at home is enjoying Horrid Henry.

I do know he is way ahead of all the others in his class, so where 'should' they be is a bit of a non-answerable question!

(to clarify, the scheme we are on ends up turquoise-purple-gold-white-lime, can't remember the early colours, I know there are different schemes about).

Y1 children can be on absolutely any book band. It depends on how things are done in your school.

Hopefully they're on yellow or above. But if they're on pink or red it does not necessarily mean there's a problem.....

Range in is everything in DS's current year 1 class. They've not pushed through the levels at all so I'd say a couple of them could read more. Top reading group is ORT Stage 6/7 at the moment. A good average is level 3/4

My daughter started the year on pink and is going to be moved up to yellow soon and I could not be more pleased. (she is also year 1)

Just wanted to add that DS (6.5yrs) is considered one of the top readers in Y2 in his school and he is on gold band. So don't panic if your child isn't on gold in Y1, it's definitely not the average - although if they are then obviously they are a v good reader for their age :)

DS1 is 6 already. He has just gone onto lime.

Children and schools are different so there is no definitive answer. How many MN DCs do we hear of who are Free readers in reception the spread is going to be anywhere from pink to lime

DD (5.3yrs) Y1 PM Nelson books orange band, I don't know where she is in comparison to the rest of the class, nor I care, she can read reasonably well.
Out of interest, How does PM relates to ORT?
DD didn't bring any ORT books home in Y1, sorry didn't intend to hijack the tread?

DS in yr one is on orange ( he started the year on red) , some of his friends are on red, or blue, or yellow, or whatever it is after orange. I believe there are one or two "free readers" I pity their parents- 2 years of flipping rainbow magic sparkle fairy books :-(

I have 2 yr 1's (twins). DD is a free reader. DS is still on pink level. I'm starting to worry a bit about DS but not enough to speak to the teacher yet.

I read with Yr1 children. Range is from Pink to Purple at the moment. Not sure if that helps!

mrz - what's a free reader?

here

my DD left reception on stage 2 and is now a third of the way through year 2 and on stage 8

a free reader at DC's school is someone who has completed all stages of reading up to, and including, stage 11.

They can then freely choose which books to pick and read.

I suspect this is different between schools though...

DD is 5.5 and on purple which is about average in her class.

At ours a free reader is when you no longer do scheme books from a particular level, working through them, and can choose any book you fancy in the library. The scheme books go up to diamond which I think is year 5 or year 6 so being a free reader at ours is harder than in many schools where schemes seem to stop much earlier.

Maybetimeforachange,

This is genuine curiousity, not sarcasm, but how do you know what the average reading book in your child's class is? I can honestly say I don't know one other child's level. Did the teacher tell you the average?

According to DD's teacher, DD is the only one on purple level in her class (yr 1). I think DD's class has children on all the levels up to and including purple. They weren't expecting anyone to reach purple until yr2. Everyone progresses with reading at different speeds, but they all get there in the end, and I wouldn't worry about what level other children are on.

Just to add.......... in my dc's school free readers are those who finished all the stages and the highest stages are either 15 or 16. These are books have no pictures. In fact, my dc's school don't let children go on to free readers until they get to junior school regardless how well they can read. Although children may have the reading abilities to read and understand the words and sentences they may not necessarily mentally mature and ready enough to understand the meanings and contexts. Because free readers books are for young teenagers ages are they?

Do these two help:
www.mcgraw-hill.co.uk/kingscourt/downloads/bookbands_12_2004.pdf
www.oup.com/oxed/pdf/ORTGuideForParents.pdf

It looks to me like for this stage in Year One that ORT Level 3 / Blue is about the target. Other schemes might have different numbers/colours.

FWIW, my son has been a free reader for at least two years and now suddenly isn't! The junior school have invested in a load of new books, so he's now on ORT Stage 14.

Disagree with Cleek though, think you can find age appropriate books which are not on a reading scheme.