How to find my daughter's reading level?

[Ixia]

I think I've got the opposite problem to a lot of Mners, in that my DD seems to be on a reading level that is too hard.

She's 7, Yr3 has just moved schools, got a 3c for literacy and was on silver band at the end of Yr2.

At her old school she was reading, but there were a lot of words she struggled with on each page, so she never really seemed to get into the story and it has taken her enthusiasm for books away. She didn't want me to say anything to the teacher and as we were moving schools I let it be, thinking her new school would reassess her anyway.
Her new school doesn't have the same book colours, but the books they've put her on seem to be the same type, she's currently reading Michael Morpurgo's The Guard Dog (even I'm finding it dull). She misses words out and guesses others, despite having a good phonics grounding at her old school.

I thought I might see if I can work out what level she feels most comfortable at and buy her a set of those books. But I wonder if there is something online that I can use to get this right.

I am doing Dancing Bears 2( or is it B?) with her, but she finds that easy.

I'm a bit stumped as to how two schools assessed her the same, when she seems to be struggling. Both have said she's a good reader.

She hasn't taken the official phonics test. Would she be able to take it in Yr3?

Ask your local librarian if she can help. If you've got a reading scheme in your children's section then you can assess your daughter yourself. If you haven't you can borrow books from another library. My librarian is super helpful and reserves books from other libraries for me.

I would just get her some slightly easier books, rather than worrying about the perceived level as such. She needs to rediscover reading for fun - and I agree, some of the Michael Morpurgo books can be quite hard going. My dd is the same age as yours and has enjoyed books like Daisy books , some of the easier Jaqueline Wilson books, Malory Towers and St Clare's by Enid Blyton. She also still likes reading good picture books to her little sister - things like the Gruffalo, etc. In my opinion, any reading is good reading so maybe get her to help you choose some that she thinks she would enjoy?

I think at the sort of level she's at (short-medium length chapter books?) there is a wide variation in the type of books.
If she's not enjoying the book and finding it heavy going, can she take it back to school and change it? She might well find another book at the same "band" which is more to her taste/ability.

I had the same problem as you - DS was pushed on to quite a high book band level by the end of Y2. He could read them just about, but it was huge struggle and was starting to put him off reading. When he moved to a new school in Y3, they did put him on slightly easier books - but only for half a term, but it helped to build up his confidence.