DS2 is great at reading, advice needed

[NeverKnowinglyUnderstood]

DS2 is in reception, school have just advised he should go onto ORT7 I am delighted, getting ds1 to read has been like pulling teeth.

however, he is galloping through the books they are sending home, the teacher has suggested he should find 20% of the book " a bit tricky" and he isn't finding it that tricky (1-2 words in the book)

Should I turn into that pushy parent and suggest he tries a harder one or should I wait for the teacher? (she is aware that he loves reading)

I'd gallop through the school books and join the local library so that you and he can choose more interesting and challenging stuff at home. If your DS has a reading log, write in it which words he found tricky and what you've talked about comprehension-wise, so that you can evidence what you're doing - hopefully he will replicate this kind of ability in class and the teacher will soon pick up on that.

I know how it feels when reading takes off like that, DD2 ended Reception on ORT9 and was pretty much unstoppable - but the school handled it beautifully, as a good school should. She's now in Yr4 and predicted a L5c for reading for the end of the year, so all the anxiety is worth it.

DS recently went up a reading level. The next day the TA's comment in his reading folder was along lines of "DS found books easy, will look for harder ones tomorrow". He never struggles with the actual words when he changes level, just sometimes with the new length of books. We tend to race through the school ones and then (as his school only change books, once maybe twice a week) read his own things on other nights. The school books being easier than his home reading are giving him great confidence in his own reading ability. IMO there is more to just reading the book easily to go up levels - how well the child reads and remembers/retells the story etc. Can they think of different endings, talk about how the people are feeling through the story etc.

Just find some more interesting books to read at home- see the thread about this- www.mumsnet.com/Talk/primary/1493778-Please-suggest-some-good-books-for-a-5-year-old.

I don't think any of mine have ever brought home a reading book that even 10% was difficult for them. We just used to quickly go through the reading book and get books from the library.

DS's school places a lot of emphasis on comprehension, being able to talk about the book afterwards - what happened, why people did things etc - as well as actually reading the words before they will move DCs up book bands.

LittMiss - my DS is exactly the same. He never finds the words a problem, it is just the length of the new levels.

School are happy to work at his pace, so he gets one book on a Tuesday, to read over two evenings, and two on a Thursday to last over the weekend.

I am happy with this, and think I am a bit unusual, as I love the scheme books. We play with them - he reads, I read, sometimes he reads in his head, then tells me the story and then we back and read it out loud.

I am not in a rush to climb the levels, and he reads plenty of other things too. I just think the scheme books ensure that he is secure in the phonics, punctuation, story flow etc. In fact, I thought DS1 was quite lost when he lost the security of scheme books.

brilliant, thanks ladies, we will start to read some of DS1's easier books as well as the books DS2 is bringing home.