What is the average reading level by this point of reception?

[Adikia]

I don't mean what is your child on as there are some very smart reception children about, just what is the level DD should aim for?

My son is G&T so don't want to compare them plus he's 10, so I can't really remember where he was by this part of term other than him having better stories in his books.

Read to them everyday and get them to read to you as much as possible as long as it's not frustrating them and you (if it is back off). Most children will start reading fluently at some point by the end of infants. I wonder whether there is any correlation between early reading fluency and reading as an older child/adult? I don't remember learning to read but know it came easily and early to me. Nowadays I hardly ever read anything apart from computer screens. My sons barely read a thing either unless forced. One of them taught himself to read before reception and never used the school reading scheme and the other struggled for ages before having a lightbulb moment at about 6. Neither of them has a love of books particular ly, despite having a librarian for a dad!

I don't think anyone ever said that early reading equals career success, not parents or teachers. But reading must be done. It's one thing ticked off the list. No one ever said washing was all there is to housework. But that's not an argument in favour of neglecting it, being lax about it or pretending that it doesn't matter. Both are tasks which it makes perfect sense to accomplish swiftly and efficiently.

Learning to read to a fluent level is more like toilet training than washing, ime. You need the child to be ready AND give them lots of opportunities to learn and practice AND keep your cool and stay encouraging when they have setbacks. The vast majority will get there in the end with good teaching and practice once the readiness is there, imo.

This thread is very interesting and highlights how different schools can be - even when theoretically they are all on eyfs!

Our school is not using book bands in yr. The average progress seems to be compound phonic sounds like oo and oi this last week or so. This seems very slow compared to ds' school nursery where they did phonics in the latter part of the year and by the end were sounding out simple words. By the time ds started school he could read basic stuff but we had no idea how much..... He was taken out of phonics and reads with y1. Other kids do y1/y2 different groups depending on their stage. I think this is great fr our ds but think maybe the average pace for the rest may be too slow. I am sure the school whete ds was at nursery uses a phonics scheme which got them onto books (albeit simple ones) quickly. I am interested to see how all these different methods pan out. No idea if thid helps you op!?

I teach infants.

The average reception child... Doesn't really exist. Although I'd be happy enough with a child who knows the vast majority of their single letter sounds and can sound out and blend 3 and 4 letter phonic words. Most chn are still on pink at this stage in the year, some will be on red and a very few might be on blue.

Thank's all, DD has just moved on to yellow (as in moved up on Thursday). It's parent's evening next week so I'll talk to the teacher then, it's just because there's a group of super competitive mum's and loud conversations about 'oooh Tarquin, you've got a green book' are quite common at the school gates and starting to get to me. DS was a free reader by year 1 so it was never an issue with him as I didn't have a level to compare.

She's doing really well then :)

Pink, pink, pinkerty pink here/ level 1.
La, la, la and fingers in ears to all you other colours!!

We are year one and just moved from getting a mix of pink, yellow, and red - to blue, green and turquoise.
The books are loads longer! Summer born here.

DD, Autumn born, reading yellow/blue. However, rather like with her brother I am now finding that we are driving her reading. What I mean by this is that she has an ability, appetite and willingness to read more and more, to learn more sounds and basically LEARN TO READ (fluently), but school are rather stuck on the softly softly approach. So, as with her brother I am supplying books, and being led by her on how much she wants to do. For example today she read about 3 or 4 blue phonics stories.
More reading generally means more practice which means more improvement. However, you can't force it, their brains and motivation go in stages, it's a bit like catching the wave. If you catch the wave and go with it you can make a lot of progress in a short time. Then it will be time to back off for a while until the next wave etc.

We've found that free. I'm caught between giving her the next stage up but with an awareness that school hasn't taught some of the "newer" sounds yet.

So we often just revise books I know she can read so she gains confidence.

We like the oxford owl website generally. But it shows how rubbish some of the biff/kipper ones are as they're not all phonetically matched.

I think yellow is good to be honest. Am pretty sure my DD was on yellow this time last year. She finished reception on blue. She is a good reader who couldn't read when she started school. A few classmates were higher than this but they were the ones who started school reading. Your DD is doing fine.

I am teaching the new sounds as DD is eager and I don't see why she shouldn't learn them if she's ready. Go with the child is a good mantra. Ie if child ready and eager to learn, even leading it, go, go ,go with it. You are daft not to IMO.

I really wouldn't worry about reception reading levels. My ds was very slow off the mark and didn't bring a reading book home at all until te beginning of Y1. He was a free reader in Y2. I'm sure by the time they finish primary you won't have a clue who was first onto gold etc, just like I can't stand in the playground and pick out the kids who walked at 9 months.

just like I can't stand in the playground and pick out the kids who walked at 9 months

V good point