Early puffin readers

[Wobblypig]

Since starting yr 1 Ds seems to be 'unlevelled' books chosen by the TA . They include books such as the Witch's dog series and Blessu and POppet by Dick King SMith.
We get one a night and they are on average about 30- 60 pages long but I have no idea what level these are. Does anyone know?

Anyone can look inside the text of one of those books here: www.amazon.co.uk/Poppet-Colour-Young-Puffin-King-Smith/dp/014130264X#reader_014130264X

To be honest I'd say that the text inside that book is (although mainly simple) contains enough difficult words to be beyond any scheme book that I've yet seen. (But then I've seen very few and not that far up any of them.)

But I'd suggest that if your son is reading these books without any problems then he's doing well. I'd be inclined to veer towards library books and start to depend less and less on scheme books.

If you google "essex library books reading scheme bands"
there will be a pdf file called Books for Children beginning to Read, which is by a library who try and match their books to the reading bands.
If I have the right books, they put some of the Puffin books at ORT level 10

Ok, yep they have Blessu at level 10 :)

Learn and say it doesn't work on mobile version. Grrr

DS got "Poppet" when he was on lime level...

White/lime I reckon. Equals top of old traditional reading scheme, but easier than Roald Dahl etc

Can he read the books ok?

Sounds to me like he's a free reader

Yes generally fine, one of the books had a long passage including words like dexterity and nasal appendage which I had to explain, he has just turned 6 so thought that was Ok.
Don't think they do 'free reading' at Ds 's school.
Thanks for replies

One a night is a lot for that length book- do you keep up!? DS, same age, is reading similar, but we get two on a Monday and two on a Friday so we spread them out and don't always finish all of it which his teacher doesn't mind. He also reads his/our own stuff the other time. "Dexterity and nasal appendage"- quite tricky eh!

I wouldn't class white/lime book bands anywhere near being a free reader but it's down to what schools and individuals mean by the term. To me it is a child who can read any book. White and Lime are certainly age appropriate for KS1 children and more able reception children.

Wobblypig your son is doing well congratulations to him. I wouldn't expect most 5 or 6 year olds to read a longer book like this every night (perhaps 2 a week)

Mrz, just out of interest, if a KS1 child can cope with harder than white/lime, what do you give them to read? Is it appropriate to give Y1 children harder books and if so what?

grey, brown, crimson and navy book bands if the child has the level of maturity and understanding. Personally I would give them "easier" books but work on higher order skills - that way they can focus on things like inference and author's voice within texts they can decode/read comfortably, shifting the focus of teaching/learning.

Ah I see. Ok. That's interesting, and helpful. I can see why DS's teacher has him reading the white/lime ones then. He can manage these very easily, but perhaps he can improve the skills you mention.

I think I could improve these too .

Don't know what is beyond these, but these are fine for Ds wouldn't want harder because the phrasing seems to become more complex requiring greater maturity.

a very sensible attitude