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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

Yr 3 DD and reading levels frustration - wwyd?

37 replies

PiedWagtail · 21/03/2012 12:59

DD is in Yr 3 and has always been a fab reader. She's very confident, can read anything - is reading Enid Blyton, Harry Potter, Michael Morpurgo, lots of horrible histories and non-fiction etc and is on green level at school.

I asked her teacher at parents eve if she can go up a level as she has been on green since November and is getting bored with the books as she can read them so easily, and also demotivated. Teacher agreed but, after parents eve, got a note in book bag from TA saying that she has to read more green books first!

WTF! What would you do, leave it or go and see teacher again??

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Iamnotminterested · 22/03/2012 14:30

mrsbaffled Ah, right, I'm with you, ORT level 13 rather than the book band 13 in my DD's school. Yes, they are shorter, deffo do-able in one sitting.

mrsbaffled · 22/03/2012 21:03

Sorry to be thick, but what's the difference between the ORT levels and 'book bands'?

pointythings · 22/03/2012 21:56

I think (though I may well be wrong) that ORT is a reading scheme with its own levels, whereas book bands are a more general grading of books in terms of difficulty (length, topic, language used, complexity of storyline etc) which can include ORT but will also include other schemes as as well as books which are not written to be part of a scheme.

As an example, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone might very well be a banded book in some places (i.e. it has been rated for the above criteria) but is clearly not part of ORT. (Though I quite fancy putting Floppy in the Goblet of Fire)

mrsbaffled · 23/03/2012 09:09

Yes, but I thought they were graded similarly so ORT 13 would be 'book band' 13 as well ...???

feetheart · 23/03/2012 14:04

I would have quiet word with teacher who may not be aware of what TA has said.
Happened to my DD in Yr3 - TA did reading books and DD was on same band nearly all year until she got fed-up and I raised it on her behalf. Have since found out that her teacher-assessed reading level at the end of Yr3 was 1 1/2 levels higher than her book band level No wonder she was fed up.
Still had to follow it up (a lot) in Yr4 but she is finally at an appropriate level.

DS (Yr1) however has always been on an appropriate level and moved up when ready so different teachers/TAs different experiences in our house

Iamnotminterested · 23/03/2012 14:07

mrsbaffled what pointythings said.

An ORT stage 13 book would probably be a book band lime (?) at our school, which is band 11 nationally.

mrsbaffled · 23/03/2012 14:11

He was moved on from lime last year. These books are much harder than that....

Doesn't matter really. Just interested/confused!

As I say he finds them too easy anyway.

hillyhilly · 23/03/2012 14:13

My dd is a gifted reader and does not read school books at all, she is set some reading at school and does a lot of work on comprehension but has been a free reader since the beginning of y2 (which is the year she is in). Her teacher seems to be excellent at differentiating work between students and had graded her as 3a for reading. Having said that, she still frequently reads books from the various bands as she will essentially pick anything up and read it. She does quite enjoy some of the simple books so maybe the key is to find the best books you can on the level they want him to read and then just let him read as quickly as he wants to before moving onto what he is interested in. I occasionally fill in her reading record with what she's read at home so they can see.

mrsbaffled · 23/03/2012 14:18

I write down everything that DS has read just so school is aware. They like to see this and always put a nice comment like "well done!".

Iamnotminterested · 23/03/2012 14:36

Mrsbaffled I suppose one schools' grading system isn't the same as anothers.

learnandsay · 23/03/2012 16:01

I was trying to get free samples of ORT reading books, rather than the resources page, which seems to have puzzles on it. I came across Oxford Owl, and that has tons and tons of free graded books on it. I downloaded four or five of the age 7-9 purple books and they did seem a bit on the simplistic side for a nine year old. The ones I read were well illustrated and on interesting subjects, one was a story about its hero circumnavigating the globe. But I'd be expecting a nine year old to be reading chapter books not picture books, The Secret Garden, Narnia Series and so on.

Presumably there is a wide range of what reading systems give nine year olds to read. If a nine year old chose to read Oliver Twist and Swallows and Amazons I'd guess she wouldn't be reading the books I've just been looking at.

Eggrules · 23/03/2012 16:17

Oxford Owl is a great resource and will allow you to see the types of books your child will read if their school uses this scheme. Some of the books available for the 7-9 age group are simple chapter books. Secret Garden is on the 9-11 age group and so there is a cross over.

In my DS's school reading books are given to complement his sound group work. Whilst they are simpler than his normal reading books, they still have have merit. My DC is progressing through phonic sounds and demonstrates decoding through the books provided by his school to read at home.

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