Question for clever teachers (or parents with experience of this)) pls about yr 2 reading yr5/6 books and comprehension

[nicknamealreadyinuse]

Ds has been put up to free reading which, because our scheme goes to 'diamond'/ yr 6 books is quite a feat as he is only in year 2.

He can read pretty much anything in terms of decoding and his comprehension is fine/ good BUT the year 5 and 6 books e.g. harder Roald Dahl's have quite a few unusual words for him e.g. desolate, ramshackle which are beyond his experience.

In a chapter of a Roald Dahl he read last night with us, there were about 8 words he needed explaining. He didn't find this frustrating though and seemed to enjoy learning their meanings. It also meant that his reading was teaching him something again, which it hadn't for a long time with the lower level books he had been on.

So my question - if there are about 8 words he needs help understanding per chapter (probably 1 word in every 40 or 50) in this level of books, is that okay or does it mean they are too hard for him? I know of the 1 in 10 words guideline but that was more about decoding.

My dd1 has been reading the Malory Towers books recently and she got to the 4th one before asking me "Mummy, what is lacrosse?", which must have featured a number of times in each book. She had the gist that it was a sport which was actually probably all she needed to know about it. If he's enjoying the books, he'll work out the words for himself - I would try not to suck the joy out of it by analysing it too closely.

If they are reading for pleasure they will manage to get the meaning-if they don't get it they won't continue. I would practise using a dictionary.

Sticky did you mean to redirect us to a wiki on David Cameron? Are you suggesting AF to be something rude?

Definitely wont worry about the book level and words then. I like the way this thread evolved too, with some of our experiences.

Petersham, I expect a lot of year 2 are reading the eaiser dahls at home and a few the harder ones, but they are not on that level at school at our primary. I don't know why.

AF stands for Assessment focus

which means .... by this stage your child can read the words fluently and can understand what they are reading so now they have to develop these advanced skills

so let your child read what they like at home for pleasure and let the school teach the skills needed for school

I always tell my free readers to do the 5 finger test.

Read the first page of the book.

Hold up a finger everytime you get to a word you can't read or don't know.

At the end of the page if you have more than 5 fingers held up then the book is too hard for you.

That's a great idea cece. Ds (yr3) recently had a go at reading sky pirates & I was really concerned when we read the intro together as it was really complicated, however, the actual body of the text was a lot better & he could make sense of it. I think the key is let them read what they enjoy (as long it's not beast quest every time,) & be on hand to help with word meanings when they ask.