Refusing to put dc on next reading level or even assess

[Blueschool]

Dc in in year 2. Has been on same reading level since September.

My dc may not be good at a lot at school, but reading is dc strong point. Not the top of class but quite advanced. Not just my opinion but her previous teachers and helpers.

Her current level is not a challenge anymore. Mentioned this weeks ago. Given a huge list basically telling me why dc is a crap reader in teachers opinion. Very surprised as one area always was praised on reading.

Took it on chin and we worked hard to resolve the issues like "not enough expression".

Dc reading is just fine. I can not find not fault.

My comment I wrote last week was the "book was not a challenge". Teacher took a whole page up in dd reading record to again tell me how crap dc is.

I felt the comments were utterly unfair and do not reflect reality at all. She also told me I could buy books to read at home! Very unfair assumption dc reads for pleasure all the time and has 100+ at home.

She said IF she wants she will assess her after Christmas she will.

My issues are

• I thought parents and teachers were meant to be in partnership with education. How is this a partnership?

• IF dc is genuinely reading badly at school WHY? Why is there such a difference? Why is her educational environment not making her feel confident and supported to show her real abilty?

• Another parent has told me they have had similar issues as the teacher gets herself stressed. Im sorry, but holding a child back because you are stressed is quite something.

What should I do?

You don't say exactly what level your DD is on, but if she is a good reader she is probably at a stage where she can basically read - as in say what words are on the page - pretty much anything you can throw at her. At this stage the higher levels tend to be about longer texts and understanding more complicated concepts, than actually putting in any "harder" words.

Obviously I don't know your DD, but it sounds like the teacher has tried to give you constructive criticism about what DD needs to work on. Unless she was genuinely using really negative words to talk about DD, you seem to have taken exception to this.

Can you honestly say that the comment she has made are unfair? Can your DD (without lots of suppport and prodding) really talk about inference, use of language or whatever it is the teacher thinks she can't do? From what you've said it sounds like there are things DD needs to work on in terms of comprehension, which is why the teacher talks about getting other books to read for pleasure.

You are right that home and school should work together. If you truly disagree with what the teacher has written, I would suggest speaking to her to ask what you can do to improve your DD's reading.

I should also say that pushing children up the levels at this stage can be counter productive. My DS was pushed up far too fast and it entirely put him off reading for longer than I would have liked.

You should let the teacher do her job ... she has told you why she isn't willing to move your daughter up a level ...it isn't holding your daughter back in any way.

I disagree mrz, of course She is holding my dc back though. There is no challenge. She is reading much more complex books at home. When there is no challenge at all it can turn boring as we all know.

The complaints are she cannot comprehend the text. This is not true. Both and DH ask at intervals what the plot is and she telling us with accuracy what it is. Not just with set reading but any reading she is doing.

The other complaint is she has no expression. This is not true at home, she does all sorts of voices for the charcters and has fun with it. I think this is really, really unfair.

If this teacher genuinley thinks Dc lacks these skills then the issue is- why is she such a different reader at school than at home?

What level is your child reading?

Purple level.

In Y2 she needs to demonstrate more than recall of the plot no matter how accurately. She will be expected to infer and reference the text when answering questions about why characters act in certain ways or why things happen, she will be expected to comment of the authors choice of words and presentation and purpose. She will be expected to relate the text to context ... many higher order skills.

If she is writing loads in the reading diary as to why she is not moving up, what does it say???

There are plenty of reasons why kids are not moved up at school but read better at home ie less distractions, more comfortable with mum than teacher and more interesting books than school reading scheme ones...

I went through this a little bit last yr when DS was in yr2 and just went with the flow tbh....

But comprehending the text is rather more than retelling the story in her own words, being able to relate the plot is a very limited measure of comprehension. Can she infer meaning from the text, explain not just what is happening but why, what alternatives there might be, how the characters feel about a situation, which words tell you, why an author chooses specific words ( eg why is enormous used rather than massive). As to reading with expression, again it is not just using different voices, it is using the punctuation to add emphasis, intonation in voice when reading not just speech but prose too.
Perhaps the teacher is getting stressed because parents are disagreeing and arguing with her professional views and she finds the pressure difficult!

Purple is average for 7yo according to the Oxford reading tree website so your DD is doing fine she isn't behind her age in reading

Mrs she does have the skills, honestly she does.

I think simpson has hit the nail on the head about being comfortable.

Though I don't think its a school/home thing though as she has done so well in previous years. My concern is she is not comfortable with the teacher as in my heart of hearts I know she is on an inappropriate level.

I know I'm coming across as the nightmare pushy parent, but we are very realistic with our dcs this is the first academic concern we have had. If the complaint was she was poor at PE or average at maths -fine. That would be a fair assessment. However with her reading- no. Its unfair.There is an issue somewhere here.

I had this at the beginning of yr2 and DS had 2 teachers (job share) and one teacher he was really comfortable with and the other not so much and they separately levelled him 4 book levels apart.

Tbh I did not stress about it (much!!) and just kept providing interesting books for him at home...

Cumbria, I have thought about your list and the only skill is missing is thinking of alternatives (but only as I have not been advised to work on this). I will make sure we work on this, but I still feel purple level has gotten stale.

In that case, just smile politely, go to the library and find books to read ( or if you are really keen, use Oxford Owls books at the next level) , keep discussing the books you get from either school or the library and look suitably modest when the teacher tells you after Christmas that your daughter has made wonderful progress and has skipped a level!

Thanks Cumbria. I think what I will take from this thread is I will just keep going at home with the reading as per your and Simpsons suggestions.

DH wants to get his Lord of the rings out if the loft but I suggested thats a tad ambitious right now!

Thank you all.

I am interested you say "purple level" is stale. What do you mean? Does you school not have a lively selection of books?

I am currently a mother of a Y2 DD on purple level who could also probably be higher. But she gets 2 - 3 books a week on purple level, which she chooses and which are usually pretty interesting. We knock those off and then get back to what she enjoys reading - Horrid Henry and Rainbow Fairies - now I would call those stale!!

I know what you mean about feeling stale on the same level - dd been on purple for well over a term (I had another thread about this exact issue)! We have a really limited selection of (terrible) books to choose from at school but fortunately have an older child so we just reading from our stock at home.

I don't think it's good that your request for reassessment has been treated in that way by the teachers. I agree it should be (within reason) a partnership between teacher and parent.

Does the school stick to one reading scheme or are there a variety of books to choose from?

Did the teacher really say that your dc's reading is 'crap'? or did she identify some areas that she needs to improve?

Rather than get into a head to head with the teacher, I would support dd to read 'harder' books at home as well as her school books.

If your dd needs to practice higher order reading skills, it is important that she is doing so with books that she can read fairly easily. She should be able to read around 95% of the text without support. I never understand parents who want their children to read books which are "a challenge"! Would you enjoy reading a book in which you had to stumble over decode half of the words, or didn't know what a lot of the words meant? I enjoy reading books despite knowing every word in them and being able to read them easily!

I would say 1/3 of the books dd has had since yr2, have been very dull factual books. Good for science; but I was unsure how non-fiction would help improve on her apparently lacking skills such as comprehension of plot to help her advance. There is a variety of books but non hold much challenge after being on purple since the Summer term iyswim. Its quite a while to be on the same level really.

Of course the teacher didnt use the actual word "crap" but sure what it felt like! She didnt counterbalance her comments with anything positive either.

It's important that children can read and understand all kinds of books and that most definitely includes non-fiction. If the teacher is focusing on non fiction texts it may be that she feels this is an area your daughter needs most work.

General Non-Fiction Questions
What did you learn that you didn?t know before?
What fact(s) did you enjoy learning about the most? Why?
What pictures did you find the most interesting? Why?
What text features (pictures, diagrams, labels, captions, etc.) helped you understand the reading more
clearly? Tell how it helped you.
What was the most interesting thing you learned?
What questions do you have now after reading this material?
Was there anything the author didn?t tell you that you really wanted to know?
What do you think is most important about what you just read?
Was there anything you just read that surprised you?

You have my sympathy but its just not worth engaging with the teacher. My dcs have had a range of teachers all different. When my dd was stuck with a teacher that didn't want to move her up I ended up ignoring school reading books and signing the reading record with no comment. In the end you KNOW your dc and you know its nonsense. There is great mystique to working out if a child is understanding what they read. Dd's teacher hadn't read with her for ages and comprehension was just an automatic reply to any parent that questioned a level, not a considered response. When dd was assessed for a change of school the external test had her two years ahead of her age in comprehension....

I should say there is NO great mystery -

Blueschool - what do you mean "none hold much challenge" - what are you after - stamina? harder words? more interesting stories to figure out?

I'm with Beezmum.

"You have my sympathy but its just not worth engaging with the teacher. My dcs have had a range of teachers all different. When my dd was stuck with a teacher that didn't want to move her up I ended up ignoring school reading books and signing the reading record with no comment. In the end you KNOW your dc and you know its nonsense. There is great mystique to working out if a child is understanding what they read."

It's pointless. You have to take on the task yourself, maybe even buy reading books, but just it yourself at home with library books or regular books. Unfortunately you'll have to work hard at combatting any disengagement in the classroom but that's not your fault. It would be even worse if you didn't challenge her at all and she got bored and discouraged at home as well as at school.