Which 'Read at home' level is your Reception child on at this point?

[WiganKebab]

Mine is on 1+, but I wondered if there was a benchmark of roughly where she should be around now?

Definitely Learnandsay,its exactly how my friend went unnoticed. I am not convinced its that hard to spot though given the various tests etc that have been introduced now.

Can't remember what level DD1 was on this time last year but she could read pretty fluently (was reading Enid Blyton, Roald Dahl etc), despite not being able to read at all before school. She just 'got it' really quickly.

DS is currently on 1+ and it seems about right for him.

I am not convinced its that hard to spot though given the various tests etc that have been introduced now.

Like the Y1 Phonics Check

I am assuming you are being sarcastic about the phonics check Maisie

I wasn't thinking of the phonics check actually as there are other ways teachers check childrens progress that are not structured tests aren't there. Not that I diasgree with the phonics check in general as it can of course pick up some issues but I think it has its limitations of course as with any other test and should be used as an additional tool by good teachers. FWIW there was not 1 surprise in DSs year group with the phonics check.

I don't think 'tests' was the best wording - I meant more progress checks and the need to report on progress etc.

I think maizieD was pointing out the Y1 phonics check is a very effective way to pick up possible reading difficulties especially among those "good readers" who perhaps aren't as good as the teacher believed.

I think I've spoken to maybe 2 (max) mums ever IRL whose DC could read before they started reception.
Whereas on MN it always seems like 50%+ of parents have DC that read so early.

Does that mean MN is 25-times removed from Real World? I increasingly believe so.

lljkk

I'm still that it is normal to have a child on white band in reception.

I've read with reception children for a few years now and haven't yet come across a child reading at that level. The vast majority leave reception on either red or yellow and this is a school in a fairly affluent area!

It's normal to have children spread across a wide range of levels ...it isn't normal for the majority to be at the same point at the same time.

Black...like her soul .

I can't believe all you know offhand by heart what the colours mean, the little stickers on book binding edges. I have no idea (will admit to faint interest) which colour is 'higher' than another or whether my school even uses the same colour banding as so many MNers seem to have etched into their brains learnt to recognise. I think maybe a few times in the last 8 years I saw a chart showing the colours in their nonsensical order. I don't know if the chart is the same from one year to next. I struggle to remember to make sure DC even get the same colour sticker book each time, never mind remember what colour it is for later.

The books all have the colour sticker printed on a banner all the way around and say ORT level... on them. That's how I know what level corresponds with what colour DD gets

I read with yrs 1 and 2 so that's how I know.

Although DD has had a few Australian books which have not been labelled.

Lijkk - some sense for a change rather than mumsnet reading in the womb prodigies!

plainj, I don't think you quite understand; if the parents study reading hard enough it lasts for several generations.

Pretty sure my Ds was on ORT stage 6 in reception, then ended up back on stage 3 in yr 1 even though his reading was fine, still have no idea what happened there. he is in year 3 now and just finishing stage 7 due to him being put back.

I am assuming you are being sarcastic about the phonics check Maisie

Indeed not; I think the Phonics Check is a Good Thing. I was being ironic...

(apologies for not keeping up with the thread; I've been out..)

I don't think you can 'push' a child to read. Well you could chain them to a table and make them do it until they can read war and peace, but I really don't think people do this irl... I know from my experience, when ds has had enough, he's had enough. You can encourage, provide books, listen to reading most days, but why is this seen as a bad thing? I don't understand this mindset. Sorry.

I think it is possible to drill a child so they memorise whole tests but that isn't really reading although some people seem to believe it is.

texts not tests !!!

I think I know what push reading means. I think it means go on about not only doing it constantly but doing it above the child's ability, a bit like the mother who tried to force her son to learn the Koran and then lost the plot when he didn't seem to be learning it fast enough.

Yes mrz, and as you say that's not reading. I really don't think I could have pushed ds into actually reading - he got it when he got it. He could perhaps have been later if I hadn't practised with him but this wouldn't have been pushing him because he liked books, if he was saying 'no stop' there isn't really a choice but to stop as he wouldn't have absorbed it anyway!

Sorry Maizie with the wink added to it I thought you were suggesting it wasn't a good thing - my apologies!

Mrz If the phonics check had existed years ago it may have been spotted that my friend could not read and I actually believe the outcomes for him would have been so so different. I am glad those sorts of checks are in place but I have read lots of negtives on MN about it so maybe I am a bit naive about it?!

Lljkk I think its the children that actually know the reading band and tell the parents. My DS definitely did. The same way as the children seem to know the level of group they are in for subjects in general.

My DS (6) and his friend were telling me what groups they were in the other day and whether it was top group, 2nd, third etc. I wasn't sure if it was actually correct or not but when I was at the school for a family session the groups were only the wall not very cleverley disguised by using shapes. Circle being the lowest going up to a hexagon being the highest.

The DCs think they are just coloured groups but of course they are based on the number of sides. Its daft as the children still know which is the top and bottom groups. I wonder if it is for the parents benefit

The books ds had from school were a little hard to start with, I couldn't have pushed him to do it - to want to do it he needed books at the right level. Maybe it's just my ds!