Still on Stage1 ORT

[Fluffymonster]

Dd1 is 5yo and in Yr1. So far this term all the reading books she has brought home have been Stage 1 ORT or equivalent - simple sentences of 3-4 words, 1 sentence per page, entire book has 5 or so pages.

I think she's utterly bored and in danger of becoming disengaged. Even in Reception, dd was at least on Stage 1+, so she seems to be going backwards! At home she can read simple 'ladybird' fairytales.

I've been wondering whether to say anything for the last couple of weeks as it's still the first term, and the teacher is new, so I thought I'd see what happens. However, each week it's been one Stage 1 book after another, even after I mentioned in the comments book that it seemed a bit easy.

So in mulling it over today, I've looked at a couple of threads to try and figure out what is an 'average' ORT level for a 5yo - and to my dismay, discover it appears to be around the Stage 4 mark, give or take! Therefore I've just realised she appears to be languishing behind, and am annoyed with myself for only just picking up on it.

Her end of year school report last year, was very good, it said she's a quick learner, could recall all reception high frequency words, and already progressed to some Yr1 high frequency words, and had the potential to become an excellent reader. From what I gather she also goes into a juniors class for her phonics group. She loves stories and I think she is interested in learning to read and is a good learner - I have not been told of any problems with her reading up til now.

I was wondering if it's really unusual for a 5yo to be still on Stage 1 after a year of Reception, and how to address it with the teacher without coming over as too PFB.

mrz No worries, and thanks for your input.

It's been a very, very long time since I was at school and as dd is my (precious?) first born, I really have no idea about what happens at school these days.

OP I would not be happy at all about this - at all.

We are in Scotland so it is different - aged 5 in primary 1 they learn phonics from scratch and start ORT reading. It sounds like she should be on at least level 4 not level 1. I would ask for her to be assessed by the teacher and put on the correct level. Just for reference, my DSs class ended primary 1 in 3 groups reading ORT levels 4, 5 & 6. Now they are in primary 2 the top group is up to level 10 ORT.

You need to the get to the magic keys stories - they get a bit better then.

There are lots of threads going on around the same points at the moment. At the risk of cross posting it's better to have stage four/green ORT as a target for end YR than put Y1s on ORT 1+

If it's well within the bounds of possibility to expect most children to reach s4/green ORT from no letters and sounds in YR, then for the life of me I can't understand what's pushy about it. What's pushy about expecting what's well within the bounds of reality? I don't truly understand what pushy means, but to me it means a parent who tries to alter the school's behaviour because she believes that the school isn't doing enough. (Maybe believes it correctly.)

If my child is still on ORT 1+ at the end of YR (which looks possible from the appearance that that is the only book level her class owns,) then I'm not going to ask the school to get special books for her. I'll just get them myself. My daughter's not going to fall behind because her reading progress will come from home. And the school can do whatever pleases it.

Ahhhhh posted a reply and just lost it

Will summarise....

OP, have you looked at the reading chest?? It's very good but you have to pay for it....

DD is in reception and currently gets yellow books (but they are jolly phonics ones not ORT). They seem quite wordy though and she has had one about saving rainforrests, the current one is about catching fish...but she hates them and we have a battle every time to get her to read them. She reads level 5 with the reading chest/ Oxford owl....

The gap between her school books and Oxford owl is not too big ATM but I worry that it will become bigger as time goes on (like it did with DS) but I guess my worry is how much she hates reading the school books and she will literally read anything (or try too!!)

Why does she hate the school ones? Too easy/not engaging (dull)..? Is it worth asking the teacher for an alternative? I didn't ever get DS hating the school books- guess I was lucky. Hating is not good and best avoided. .
It got to the point where he brought home something we'd read at home a couple of months previously at which point I would go speak to the teacher to get her to move him on, or I would write "DS read this at home a while ago so we read x instead"- and I didn't make him read it if he'd already read it with me (and it was rather dull often as well!).

Not sure why DD does not like them except they are rather dull, tbh I would rather have Biff et al than these ones!!!

Going to leave it till parents eve next month and have a word with the teacher then...

My main concern would be that half a term into yr1 the teacher does not appear to have read with your child AT ALL, and that having alerted them to a problem they still haven't assessed her. Moving up one stage/band is no use if she is actually ready for band 4 (or whatever). The teacher needs to make time to assess her reading properly and decide what level is appropriate.
I don't think it's always a problem for them to be on a lower band than their reading ability. My son (age 6, Y1) seemed to be stuck on orange band/level 6 for ages, and when we spoke to the teacher about it she said his comprehension was lagging behind his reading ability, so we worked a bit on guided reading and then she moved him up a level. He can read books way beyond that level but they are too complex for him.
It sounds like you could be doing more reading at home. School have made it very clear to us that this is the number one thing they expect from parents. It also keeps life interesting to read something other than the school approved book.

Can I just butt in as the parent of the world's most reluctant reader.

Who just happens to be an August baby : and physical brain development is still highly variable in KS1

I still have his reading record from Year R and Year 1 - the teacher's exasperation is palpable in her comments.
He just wouldn't.
Then one day, about half way through year 2, he decided it was time to read.
So he did.
Rapidly taking over much of the class
getting 3 in his KS1 SATs
5a in his KS2 (6 paper not offered)
he's now in year 8 and all of the stresses of KS1 reading are (happily) a distant memory
and he's in top sets of a 300 pupil cohort

When, and How children start to read is INCREDIBLY variable.
Sadly the constraints of KS Education so not allow for that.

OP - it WILL be OK

TalkinPeace - thank you. You have filled me with confidence that DS may, one day, be happy to write!

radicalsubstitution
DO NOT get me started on making the little sod write.
He drove me and his dad to some of our MOST serious rows!

He is naturally ambidextrous - drew the outline with the black pencil in his left hand and simultaneously coloured it in with the green pen in his right hand.
Absolute effing nightmare when it came to writing.
BUT
by the end of primary again, 5a
HOWEVER
by the end of year 7, writing was again holding him back - in that his brain worked faster than his pen.
I swallowed all of my egalitarian principles and went to see a tutor.
It took her 20 minutes to spot that his grip was all wrong and 40 minutes to massively improve it.
At the next session she worked out that the reason whole paragraphs of work looked dire was because he was mis-forming five letters
they got sorted in that hour and he's not looked back since.
The best 2 X £22 I've ever spent in my life!

BUT
the tutor said that his was so easy because he was old enough to comprehend and act off his own bat.

Hang on in there but do not panic.

When they become lippy grunting teens, ORT gives a warm fuzzy glow!

Hey all - I have an update

simpson - sorry I missed your suggestion about the reading chest - thanks! However I've just bought the ORT Phonics and First Stories 4-6 collection from the Book People, so they will probably keep us going for a bit.

Also she is now reading her bedtime stories to us. At the moment going through a Ladybird Tales 'Hansel and Gretel', which I feel is at a challenging enough level for her at the moment.

She was reassessed today and has jumped a few levels - and her latest home reading book from school is blue band, which as far as I can see is fine for her age group, and she reads it confidently. So am very happy that my concerns seemed to have been listened to (albeit it took a couple of weeks). Also glad it didn't have to go further than a couple of informal chats at parent-teacher level! Phew, now I can go back to singing the school's praises!

Fluffy, I'm really glad things have sorted themselves out.

Thanks Learnandsay, to you and everyone else who has replied - it's been very helpful, and much appreciated.