About to begin reading with a Year 5 child - what should I expect?

[Campaspe]

I help out in my DD's school as a reading partner. I've been asked to support a year 5 child. My own DD is in year 2, and up to now, I've only worked with KS1 aged children. What should I expect from a year 5 child? What is normal in terms of reading ability? I'm expecting to maybe encounter a little more cheek/attitude than you would from younger children - should I? I'm looking forward to the challenge of supporting older children with their reading, but am unsure of what to expect. Thanks

The year 5's I've read with are english as second language or dyslexic. So mostly low reading standard rather than av year 5 level.... always very polite etc. Focus on comprehension - what do you think the story will be about (from title & cover), how would you react/answer this problem (mid way) and at end questions about plit or what could have been done different etc. Many children read the words, but had no clue about the plot at the end.

I read with yr5 kids at my DC school. The ability varies massively. We talk about what is happening in the story, how characters feel, any predictions they would make on what might happen next and why think think that and also whether they like/dislike the book and why.

Reading ability in Year 5 can vary a lot. However, I would suspect that they give you weaker readers, since they are the ones that can do with more practice. (My weakest Y5s are on a 2a/3c in reading, my most able are on 4a/5c.)
I'd agree with working on comprehension. They need to be able to understand the text, what the characters do...possibly why they do it. They need to begin to infer information. One thing I constantly work on with mine is evidence ("tell/show me how you know"). Even my weakest ones are beginning to refer back to the text and identify basic quotations by now.
The idea of "more attitude/cheek" would irritate me slightly as a teacher. (I've just had a teaching student make a similar comment. She hadn't been with the older ones before. I think she was surprised at their good behaviour,...but to be honest, I don't expect anything less of my pupils.) Just because they are Y5, that's no excuse for poor behaviour or rudeness. Certainly with a reading partner, mine wouldn't dare be cheeky or rude. They love getting 1-2-1 time with an adult, talking about books and sharing their ideas.

Campaspe:

I agree that odds are you're being given a weaker reader from Y5.

They could be a weak reader for any number of reasons though - so the various pieces of advice above all seem pertinent.

My only advice is to try and sort out if you can what the issue is:

Sounding out/ blending - especially for new words.

visual - letters move or dance about on the page (can be indicator for dyslexia).

lack of confidence - maybe they speak oddly or stutter

lack of interest - the books selections at our school are very girly (all teachers in KS1 are women) - and this can be a huge problem for the boys who find the books silly or uninteresting.

With DD1 - who had help in Y4 - for her it was discovering what type of book she enjoyed reading. Turns out she likes a good adventure - doesn't mind if it is about a boy or a girl. The volunteer kept suggesting books and she suddenly became an avid reader. It was very late - but we were so grateful.

So my advice is along with working on the skill of reading (out loud/ to yourself) - try to discover what type of reading the Y5 pupil enjoys and then try and find other books he/ she might enjoy reading.

HTH

Where's this coming from? You can't go around expecting parent helpers to do comprehension and all the rest of it with children, can you? Listening to the children read is one thing. But actively getting involved in the nitty-gritty on school premises is surely down to the TA/teacher...

Column

I don't think I talked about comprehension. I was suggesting that a parent volunteering working regularly with a student might pick up on what seems to be the problem and feed that back to a TA/ Teacher.

It was a parent volunteer and a TA (formerly a parent volunteer) that worked with my DD1 thoroughly in Y4 and improved her reading beyond recognition.

volunteered reported to TA she thought the issue was pronounciation, especially with new words. Partly lack of confidence, but real problem working out how to sound out new words.

TA then took that information from one on one reading volunteer and worked on that for a term - with some great results.

volunteer worked out DD1 was Dr. Who mad and picked out Dr. Who books to kick of reading. They were the right level (TA had told her what colour code to look for) and when those were a success, the volunteer kept making suggestions.

So that's where my advice was coming from column golumn.

1. Parents can sometimes be more educated and perceptive than teachers. Especially if they've been there and done that with other children.

2. Teachers can't spend large amounts of time on one on one reading - but parent volunteers working regularly with students can and are on the frontline of gathering impressions of what the problem might be.

3. Ideas come from everywhere. The children, other teachers, training days

and column golum

even we lowly parents.

In my case I'm tremendously pleased a dedicated parent volunteer took on my DD1, reading with her for around 30 minutes a week, and was determined to help. She agreed that it wasn't an issue of learning disability or stupidity (which the school had told us - as in 'Mrs PSBD you just have to accept your DD1 is a bit dim') - that there was a confidence problem (slight speech impediment made reading out loud a real trial for DD1) and DD1 was very resistant to trying to work on it at home with me.

Perhaps because this volunteer wasn't Mum or Dad, or a teacher DD1 (who DD1 tends to be a bit frightened by), this lady got through to her. I don't really care about the why's or wherefores. I'm just so grateful someone cracked it and got her from reading Biff and Chip to reading Harry Potter books in two terms of Y4.

She's now Y6 - and since the summer has read Robert Louis Steven's Kidnapped, Jack London's White Fang, Young Sherlock Holms (can't remember author sorry) and is currently reading Eoin Colfer's Artemis Fowl.

I'm beyond thrilled and truly grateful.

I did this for a year. Two or three Y5 readers each week. I would listen to them in the school library while the rest of the class was doing guided reading. I was sent more boys than girls, and I was often sent children who were less confident readers or who weren't reading at home.

Things we worked on:
Phrasing / observing punctuation.
Noticing alliteration and commenting on why the author used certain words.
Summarising what they'd read so far: I asked them to pretend to be the voiceover saying "previously on..." at the beginning of a television programme.
A bit of prediction about the content of the next chapter: "next on..."

I experienced no cheek/attitude from any of them. They were all polite and respectful. I'm not aware of Y5 being a particularly insolent age, and I have two of them at home.

Y9 on the other hand...

The weaker y5s at our school tend to be reading Diary of a Wimpy Kid series.
All are polite, and enjoy being listened to.
I start with "tell me what has been happening so far" and go from there.