Reception class / reading stage

[Btfly]

Is there any mum who have a dd/ds in reception class? I want to ask that which stage level reading book is your dd/ds reading?

DD2 (4.8) is on book band 4 at school, can read slightly harder stuff at home and is always willing to give stuff a go (found her trying to read poetry a couple of weeks ago). She sounds out some words but majority of her reading at this level is now quite fluent.

She started school though already able to blend simple cvc words and knowing all her basic phonics, now she is starting to pick up ae, ai, ea, igh etc although not being taught them yet. If she comes across a word with them in I just tell her what sound it makes and help her blend it into the word.

I don't know in her class but I would expect the average to be pink/red at this stage of reception.

My DS, just turned 5, is on pink band at school, but can read stage 2 songbird books.
He is in the top phonics ability group, so he is at the top end of their reading abilities, but it is a school with a lot of children with English as their second language, so perhaps why.

He doesn't like reading though and always makes a fuss about doing it. He loves books and looking at the picture and getting me to read to him for hours, but lazy when it comes to attempting to read himself. We've done some Reading Eggs too which he likes better as he thinks it's a game so that has really helped.

DS is in year R having started knowing pretty much all his letters but not having done any reading before october (for ages he just couldn't get the hang of blending, and would sound out /c/ /a/ /t/ but be unable to comprehend that this was equivalent to cat, so started school able to recognise his name when written but nothing else)

Now that blending has clicked, he seems to be put up to the next shelf every 2 or 3 weeks - the school starts with lilac for the books-with-no-words, then pink a, pink b and pink c, red a, red b and red c etc and he's on red b now. Other schools I know just have a single band for each "colour" which means the progression events are less frequent, I like the system we have. Each shelf has a mixture of modern phonics books and older books from a pre-phonics system, the school uses mixed methods which I think is sensible because English is full of words which have no rational reason for being pronounced or spelled as they are so being flexible is a key skill!

There does seem to be a huge range of levels within the class - some kids are taking it more slowly, others according to their mothers are reading Dostoevsky mainly with a bit of Dickens and Bronte for light relief! I think it's important to not let it be a source of stress either for parents or for children the main thing is to develop an enjoyment of the fun of reading and if that is best fostered by sticking within pink and lilac for a while then that is absolutely the best thing to happen.

Ds was reception last year he is late august born, he finished on level 5 he was about middle in his class, some were on level 7 some on 2 so it varies a lot

I think Dostoyevsky and Dickens is a bit much. I'd recommend either one, but not both and perhaps a little PG Wodehouse.

Oh but if you only read the Dickens then the kids miss out on the chance to practise their Russian.

I assume you are reading the originals, like my DS.

Oh God, we forgot all about Russian. Spent too long reading all those German books we inherited. I've got a bit of spare time tonight. I'll pull the attic apart and see if I can't find any of those gloomy Tsarists.

In DSs YR class it varied from pink to white level, it really has very little bearing on what happens over the next couple of years.