How do you know when a child is ready for the next level book?

[Living]

Just that really. DS is 4 and in reception. He's on ORT pink and gets one reading book a week. I don't particularly care what level the school think he is but he reads his one book in about five minutes. I'm not in the UK and just don't have access to many learn to read type books. The ones I can get tend to be non-phoinc and just a bit too hard for him so he gives up.

I spoke to the teacher about whether he could have more library books a week but they just don't have enough books of the right level.

She suggested he might move to slightly harder books but it hasn't happened. I assume that's because she's decided he isn't ready .

That's fine but in just wondering how fluently he has to be reading pink level to move up to the exciting realms of whatever comes next. What does being able to read competently at pink (or any other level look like)? Or, alternative, what does not being able to read competently look like?!

ps just to add the reason I think the teacher decided he's not ready was that I specifically said it was her call on whether she thought he should move up or not.

You can get books online, try www.readingchest.co.uk/?

I'm not sure if you're doing a non-phonic model. But I'm doing Songbirds with DS (also not in UK, but he's not at school yet because they don't go until 6 here). You can buy them on amazon and they keep their value, they are progressive phonic based readers.

What I've done is check the sounds covered by each story (they're inside the front covers) and before we move onto that book I'll play some games with him like looking for letter S when we're out or trying to think of as many words as we can which begin/end with ch or sh or have oa or ee in the middle, so he's familiar with the sound and then once I'm sure he's confident we read the story. He's at stage 3 which is yellow, I have no training in this, just stuff I've picked up online.

You could also practice reading with him in other ways, like write little notes to him and get him to write them back. They'll be illegible but he'll have fun trying! With look and say you'd probably have to keep a list of what words he's come across in books so you know what you can use. With phonics it's easier as you start with words that are simple like cat, dog, get, in, off etc and add in sight words (which are a much shorter list) as he comes across them. What we've been doing recently is I made a whole load of little cardboard tiles with the auxiliary words like "with, and, the, of, some, are, be, is, am, I, you, she, he," etc and then asked him to think of words which have a particular sound in and if they are decodable at his level then I wrote them on the back of the tiles. Now he has a decent amount of words to make funny sentences with (I let him put some slightly rude words in like poo and bum which he thinks is hilarious) - this has proved more use than trying to get him writing because he has a more limited pool of words to choose from.

Really? I thought reading chest was a delivery thing. That's very exciting.

Any ideas on the 'what is fluent reading thing'? He has other areas where he is actually behind (writing / find motorskills) so I don't particularly want to push the reading but I'd quite like to have him reading a (short) book a day. He gets read to as well of course.

I can tell you what sounding out looks like, but I don't know if it's the same for look and say.

Sorry cross post Bertie. He's on ORT at school and has a song birds book home this week. He certainly knows all the basic sounds in these books - it's the really basic phonics! Loads of great tips though.

reading chest doesn't seem to do online books (I'm not in the UK) but Oxford Owl does so maybe I'll just try one slightly harder and see whether he can read it!

songbirds phonics are good so that is reassuring they are using sensible books.

google oxford owl - you can register free on the website and then they have a lot of free books online (and some maths stuff too but I haven't looked at any of that yet)

They're using proper books it's just it's a new school that is having supply issues on books. Will try Oxford Owl. Thanks all.

Are you somewhere very remote? I can get songbirds (in English, they don't exist translated) on my country's amazon site and also delivered from UK amazon, often it's worth calculating the difference in postage. Stage 1 phonics is just basic alphabet sounds, stage 2 is also alphabet sounds and then right at the end, wh ch sh and th. So he could probably read all of those, there are 24 stories over 3 books. In stage 3 now we're starting to cover other vowel sounds.

But yes oxford owl is good as you can read the books on a tablet :)

Living - i'm in a similar situation as you in so far as my DD is still on pink level and is now getting 2 x pink level books home per week (ORT, mostly Biff & Chip). She reads each book twice in one sitting, and doesnt seem to have any issues doing so. Only 2 kids in her class of 30 have moved up to red (the next level) and they did so some time ago, so i'm not sure what is holding the rest (i.e. majority) of the class back.

I'm not too worried in that it'll come in the end, its not a race, and my DS1 was a slow starter with reading. We are lucky in that we can supplement with other books from home - we're currently working our way through the Usborne early reader / first reader range to supplement the biff & chip. I think our reception teachers are making sure the kids are really confident on pink this year before putting anyone up to red but....its nearly easter and I have to confess I would have thought more would be moving up to the next level by now. Parents evening coming up soon so i'll ask there.

This is just my limited experience, but it seems there is range within each level, so he might need to do more of the harder end of the books before he can move up.

Other factors, is his comprehension good? Do the school want him to read every single book in the level? Is it just because there aren't enough books at the next stage?

I'd ask the teacher to explain their approach.

Thanks everyone. DS is refusing to read this week's book because he's had a look and it's about a dog (that looks like our dog) being hit by a car.

Couldn't get Oxford owl to work on our tablet this morning (couldn't get audio to stop!) but will get DH to have a play this evening.

I could get order a reading scheme but need to work out which one - I don't want to go ORT and have home reading the same books twice.

Majority of kids in the class are ESL and they havent made it through all the phonics yet. I think thats why the school is going slow. also DS is a reluctant reader and may not be making much effort at school.

No issues with comprehension - he's actually complained some of the books are boring as it's the same words over and over. Very much 'Sam got a pot' stage.

Regards the audio issue on Oxford owl: I just turn the volume off!

I suspect they haven't moved him up as they haven't covered the phase 3 phonics yet, he doesn't need to be reading fluently to move on to red band. It's a shame that they're holding him back though :(

I agree Peso, they probably haven't covered the sounds for the next stage.

I don't think that's a good enough attitude from them though really.

Thanks. I think we'll just use the laptop - the two page view also means the words are two small on our 7inch tablet.

Interesting point about attitude of the school. I'm reluctant to make a big deal out of it if I can get books to read at home. There are a couple of native English speakers in the class who are nearly a year older than DS (DS would not be in reception in the UK) and I'm sure at least one will be willing to have the fight in due course so I won't have to That said they may be on higher levels (I havent asked, don't want to get involved in levels competition) but the teacher has given me the impression everyone's on pink.

I just turn the volume off too - in fact I actually didn't realise there was audio there as I always have the volume off on my laptop, discovered the audio existed by accident.

My daughters wouldn't read that book about the dog either. there was another one my daughter didn't like about a deer and an earwig because someone was hunting the deer and that upset her.

Just wanted to bump this to say: just had DS's termly report (not in the UK) and it says he's above expectations in reading.

Now thoroughly confused! He's still coming home with pink books!

I tried him on some the level up but the 'magic e' was throwing him and I had to help him quite a bit so I'm not sure he's actually ready.

Ho hum

living, are you paying the school for his education?

Yep. I am really, really happy with them except for this one issue. He loves school and is thriving.

If he wouldn't be in reception in UK then he is still very young. If he's a reluctant reader I wouldn't push it. There is no rush. DD was reading in the Summer of nursery, age 4.5, but stayed on the basic level- probably pink/red until about January this year in YR when she started flying (she's now 5.5). I did go through some phonic sounds with her so she could progress, otherwise I think she might still be on pink too! You can buy these cheaply:
www.amazon.co.uk/Read-Write-Inc-Phonics-Storybooks/dp/0198462530/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1397165061&sr=8-3&keywords=RWI+green
or the next ones:
www.amazon.co.uk/Read-Write-Inc-Phonics-Storybooks/dp/0198462557/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1397165127&sr=8-1&keywords=RWI+purple
etc.
I found the songbirds books (yellow book band and further especially) really good once she had got through the basics, but she really enjoyed reading the green RWI books during Autumn term YR and did all the non fiction ones too.

Oh yes, you can't be "ready" unless someone has taught you the sounds . I think there's a lot to be said for practising at the pink/red level so you are really solid, just those early songbirds books don't have many words in. Try the RWI ones, or Jelly and Bean.

Thanks. As I'm otherwise really happy with the school and the teacher I think I'll leave it to them and chill out.

Are all reading schemes even the same? Dd is in reception and on blue. This was the next level from red and everyone else talks about yellow It just makes me wonder with all these online comparisons!

I find reading books more than once is good for building confidence. Only having one change a week is pretty poor though.

Are all reading schemes even the same? Dd is in reception and on blue. This was the next level from red and everyone else talks about yellow It just makes me wonder with all these online comparisons!

I find reading books more than once is good for building confidence. Only having one change a week is pretty poor though.