Oh wise mnetters.... blasted reading levels - AGAIN!

[OohMrDarcy]

DD, year 1 (5.9) was is currently on orange band books.

Reading going really well. Just before half term she brought home a sharing book 'rumplestiltskin' which was banded as purple. All fine as she originally wanted me to read it to her, then after one chapter she asked to read it. She then read a chapeter a night - no real problems, just the odd word here and there she needed help with. She finished it and was really proud at finishing her first chapter book.
So I put a note in her reading record saying how she'd read a purple band book with no real concerns and asked politely if the teacher could reasses her.

So this week we are back after half term.......... DD tells me she is now in 'horses' reading group yesterday, and today comes home with a new group read book - green band She hasn't been on this level since the end of year R

How the hell do I approach this politely with the teacher who is lovely and I wouldn't want to offend ??

fair point yellow - thats certainly what I was planning to do in the meantime

row I always listen to the parent, sometimes their child genuinely needs moving, so I do our reading assessment and see if the are ready for the next level (we do them every six to eight weeks or so but obv I will do one ASAP if the need arises) so I welcome all feedback, and often parents are right.

Sometimes though, parents don't realise that it is not just the decoding that we look at, their child may be superb at decoding (reading) using phonics or other strategies but have no clue about what they have just read and not have any clue about what has happened, or be unable to infer, that is ' what could have happened if ....?' or 'what might happen when they get home?' etc.....

Generally though a ' I wondered if I might ask you about ...... How is their reading, what can I do at home to help them reach the next level?' type questions are good!! Not 'what haven't you put them up when they are reading these books easily?' accompanied with a menacing glare....

Have held off the menacing glare for now! Have asked those questions -nicely- with no joy. We do look at grammar, punctuation, intonation and do do what.....questions. I have an English Lit degree and did a yrs teacher training with yr 1's many yrs ago (I have utmost respect for teachers after this as it wasn't for me) so have a basic grasp of stuff. We read books at home to, trust me we have lots of books ! Thanks for the insight though.
Can you get ORT books from the library? Have never seen them.

Why would you want ORT books from library (or from anywhere for that matter) .... but yes you can get them

I have seen them yes, however I have also seen normal books grouped by band

my personal route at home though is just to encourage reading her own books - feeling it will help bridge that gap into choosing to read for pleasure. So sometimes she chooses one of her toddler brothers books (which she reads to him, lovely) and sometimes one of her proper stories - a la rumplestiltskin which started this whole debacle!

Well done row sounds good, just one more hint - to be at the right level children should be getting 90% of the words right but finding they need to sound out or use some other strategy to decipher the remaining 10%. So if she is reading it well but still needs a bit of help with a few words then it is the right level. If she is sailing through no problem and is able to recall the story/facts and infer what may happen in a slightly different scenario then go for the menacing stare hopes I am not *minirow's teacher

My DD is Yr1 and finished YrR on turquoise. She started Yr1 on purple after being assessed in the first week and is now on gold... But, she does seem to bring a mixture of turquoise, purple and gold books home . So long as DD is happy, we're not too bothered. She happily reads whatever she has brought home and I just ask her some comprehension and recall questions, and ask her what she thinks the next few pages of the book would be like, had they been written. If she finds the book boring and far too easy, then I record that in her reading record.

Other than that, we go to the library every fortnight and get a 3-4 library books each time - the Gaskitt series are a real favourite of hers at the moment.

Goonatic, as a teacher, what do you do if a child reads far better than their ability to comprehend? My DS is on Ginn 360 level 4 (I don't know what this level equates to in ORT), but I am aware his understanding is lagging behind his reading ability. What can be done to help him to understand the content of what he is reading, if anything? He cannot manage inference as yet and his recall is not good (he is autistic). Is there any kind of strategy I can use when he reads at home?

Sorry for hijack OP Maybe I should ask in my own thread...

I would look thought the book together first, chatting about what is happening, kind of feeding him the relevant ideas if you like, then as you read each sentence or paragraph, ask one or two easy ish questions. Remind him to look at the pics to help if he is not sure.
Just do really simple ones, what is the boy called, how did they get up the hill, what colour is the dog etc. what year is he in? (not sure about Ginn books either!)
He might find the inference harder.

Thanks for reply, he's in Reception, is a young 4.

I'm not sure whether he's reading level 4 books because his teacher has assessed him based on reading ability only, or if she has tried to ascertain how much he does understand. I do ask him questions about the content but as you say, the inference is so much harder. Currently the books tend to state the story quite baldly so he can cope with questions like you suggest, but if I were to ask Why did So-and-so do this, or Why is So-and-so upset, then he wouldn't be able to answer.

Saying that, the parent-teacher meeting is soon, so hopefully I can find out more.

It really bothers me that he will fail assessments in the future because he cannot articulate or define something that he does know. Do OFSTED take this into account when testing children with autism? His teacher thought not..

Found an old thread where someone asked the question re Ginn/ORT:

Feenie Sun 14-Dec-08 21:51:31

Ginn Level 4 is approximately equal to a 1a (and ORT Stage 6) - which is where an average Y1 child (no such thing!) would be by the time they leave Y1 in July.

Hi OohMrDarcy:

Just to say having been through this with both DDs (DD1 now Y5/ DD2 now Y3) in KS1 - don't get too wound up about reading groups/ levels.

First of all sometimes the books planned for giving to a group aren't available and so a quick last minute alternative has to be made (because another year's lower group/ top group haven laid claim to the only set of 6 of those books earlier that day).

Second - every now and then the entire class reads the same book, for whole class work together. This can often mean that stronger readers are suddenly reading a much easier book. Yes, teacher's should send a note explaining this week everyone is reading X and we'll be doing all sorts of in class work on this in relation to our X theme/ literacy/ etc... over the next few days. But sadly it isn't a perfect world....

Finally as many on this feed posted when I was asking these questions a few years ago, you don't have to just read the school books. There are all sorts of great books out there, libraries, book shops, charity shops and you can also swap with friends. The point is that they're reading.

If you're running out of ideas the guardian prepared a lovely list of books for children by ages: www.guardian.co.uk/books/series/building-a-children-s-library

Oxford Owl: www.oxfordowl.co.uk/Reading/
Oxford Owl has advice on supporting reading at home and a wide range of free on-line books banded by age.

One thing I've learned through experience is just because your child is reading more and more on their own, don't think that it means they won't want to hear you read to them still. Both our girls actually really enjoy us reading to them - our solution has been to read them stories that are our childhood favourites, but which are either too difficult for them to read or which we could take turns. Currently DH has declared that they will be reading the Hobbit before they can see the movie. Sadly, having never read the Hobbit (not my thing at 9/10), I've been roped in now. We find the variety of nights when DH reads to the girls, nights when they read entirely to us and nights when we share the reading helps keep it interesting. It means we may have 5 books on the go - but it seems to work.

HTH

So I looked at the group lists and DD was definitely with a group of kids who are in a different group, and that group does contain the other girl with the same name .... Can I hope it is just a bad mistake?!

DD changed her free choice book today and went for a gold one! (don't know if she can read it yet mind!)

Fingers crossed it is just the wrong group. We dont seem to get choosing books anymore like we did in Reception. Good luck with the gold !

Ooh gold, sounds random!! But as long as you read at home she will be fine!
stabby most assessment (except sats) is done by the teacher, certainly reception and yr 1 so if the teacher feels he can do something then he will reach his potential. Teacher also mark the sats but the results are a level that is just from the paper rather than an overall view of the child based on loads of evidence.
The teacher will support him with inference too.

1a in autumn term of reception sounds pretty exceptional so he is a clever sausage!

They get free choice from the book corner to bring home - she read a big paragraph of it, but it was a big jump even from the purple one and she was tired so we left it there and she read 2 of her own ORT ones (gift from someeone last christmas)

This is why I have a bit of concern, the group read book is the only one to come home at the 'right' level so I can't really just ignore it - though I do encourage her to choose orange or above in her books from the book corner, she does sometimes bring home a red one

Thanks for all the info Goonatic, will be sure to update when she brings home the next book and probably be asking for advice for how to word anything with teacher!

My year 1 DS asked the teacher if he could move up a level today and she said 'No', then said 'actually, go get one and we'll see', and then let him. That was out of the blue and I hadn't encouraged him but actually was a good way to do things.

Always obliged mrdarcy !

She's come home today with another Orange book

I think I'm just going to leave it with the school, its only her group read after all and at least half the time she is bringing home a purple / turqoise book out of her free choice ones... if she's not gone up before christmas then I will bring it up again!