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Primary education

Join our Primary Education forum to discuss starting school and helping your child get the most out of it.

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Original poster

What stage (reading) is your DS at in Year 1?

48 replies

Mummyto3tobe · 02/04/2014 14:53

My Ds is 6.2 and his teachers have expressed slight concern that he needs to be encouraged more in his reading - he has just started stage 4 of the biff and chip books.

As he is my first born i dont really have a lot to compare it to to know where he stands for his age so wanted to hear from other mums with children in year one and what stage their child is at?

thanks for the help.

ps i know i shouldnt be too concerned, and i'm not at this stage, just if he is below average due to me not reading enough with him then i would like to do all i can to help him improve it thats all.Hope this hasnt come across like i'm a pushy parent becos im not at all. Just dont know where he should be for his age.

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Original poster

Mummyto3tobe · 03/04/2014 12:28

thanks for all the great advice!

i joined the oxford book site a few people mentioned last night and we read a book from his school bag and also a book from the site on my ipad which he found much tougher even though it was stage 4 phonics, his stage 4 books in his bag he read first time no problems on tuesday night but teacher hasnt read with him yet so he came home with the same books again last night.

compared to his sister who is a complete bookworm - shes due to start school in september just before she turns 4 he doesnt really have much interest in reading, the teachers tell me how advanced he is in maths and much prefers to do sums in chosing time rather than sit and read so maybe its just not his thing. I am going to make an efford to ramp up the amount of reading we do together though and ensure we read every night at least one of his short school books as i quickly noticed an improvement just since i have been reading with him every night since friday so my goal is to get him on to stage 5 asap! :-)

OP posts:

givemeaclue · 03/04/2014 12:36

Stage 11 but there are a couple in the class still on 4, do you listen to your ds read every day, with the Easter hols coming up you could bump it to twice per day, just 5 mins each time.

Agree with pp some of them in class have jumped up 5-6 levels this year who started yr 1 on level 1 pink, your ds may be taking longer to get hang of it and will then suddenly make a lot of progress really quickly. Also I have heard yr 2 is when they all level out. Keep reading as much as poss and really go for it in the Easter hols

nonicknameseemsavailable · 03/04/2014 12:43

Biff Chip and Kipper are very easy to read IMO. certainly my daughters both found them so predictable that they required little effort whereas the phonics books at the same levels are written in different styles, use more complex language but decodable language so they do actually have to think more. Well that seems to be our experience anyway so that could explain why the stage 4 he read online seemed harder work for him. obviously the more practice they get at decoding words the quicker and more efficient they become at doing it.

Original poster

Mummyto3tobe · 03/04/2014 13:08

i think tbh that i am to blame, i dont read regularly enough with him if i did i think he would have progressed much further than he has so far. I dont really have many people around me with children in school to even have a clue about what stage is normal for his age and have learnt a lot from this thread alone.
I think i will pay more attention to things like this from now on to ensure he is getting as much help as he needs from me.
Do any of you actually go into school and request new books even if they had new books the day before but found them quite easy?

OP posts:

allyfe · 03/04/2014 13:17

Don't blame yourself. It isn't a blame thing.

We only get two books a week from school, which my DD would get through in two days. It is frustrating when you are encouraged to read with your children every day, but they send so few books home. At my DD's school you can't go and get more books. At some of our other local schools, you can get one a day if you want (or more). So ask your teachers. But, if they won't give you more books, then try the library if that is easy (although they don't always have so much choice for the very early levels), or buy your own. That is what we did. School jumble sale got us the Biff & Chip read at home ones. And Bookpeople got us a lot more. If you have younger ones, then at least you know they will get read again!

minionmadness · 03/04/2014 17:31

Ds just turned 6 is on gold (stage 9). In his class children are on a whole range of books from blue to white. He wasn't particularly ahead in foundation, but loves reading (as do we) so will happily pick up a book and read. I appreciate not all children feel this way though.

They read every day in school (parent helpers) and he reads to me every night. They generally get a new book every day and if I though he needed to go up a band I would discuss with his CT (never had to do this though).

IMO I believe reading is key to helping with writing too, ds's writing skills have improved in line with his reading.

KTMP16 · 03/09/2019 17:19

My son started yr1 today and has been given a stage three blue book (biff, chip and kipper) and he has read it so easily..i came across this hread looking for stages/age ranges. Im hoping they realise and bump him up afew bands so he has a challenge! I Hes 6 next month

sparkla · 03/09/2019 20:52

My daughter is 5 just starting year 1. She's reading chapter books independently.

1AngelicFruitCake · 06/09/2019 14:24

Sparkla
How is that helpful apart from you wanting to brag?

SadOtter · 07/09/2019 01:48

Oh @Sparkla there is always one, you know chapter books come in different reading levels right? In year 1 DS was on dark blue, DD was on grey. That doesn't actually really help anyone though does it?

@KTMP16 average for this point of year 1 would be blue, green or orange, but there are always a few above and below that. First week back we tend to go for the slightly easier end of where there were at the end of the year R, assuming that most won't actually have read much at home and its better to find a book too easy and get moved up quickly than to struggle and knock their confidence.

KTMP16 · 07/09/2019 16:48

@SadOtter I thought his reading would have been on the higher end of the scale tbh he loves to read and we do alot and we've carried on over summer :-) I uderstand its the beginning of the year & teachers need to decide where everyone is at - the flipside is i dont want hi to get bored of reading the same easy book over & over

Also....the OP asked what reading stage people where on - there was always going to be people come along and brag and rightly so to be proud of their child! :-)

SadOtter · 07/09/2019 17:01

@KTMP16 - what is his comprehension like? that's usually why children are on lower books than the parents expect. Nothing wrong with putting a note in the reading diary saying he found the book easy though, I'll always check if I get a note like that because realistically I don't hear every child every week.

Canttasteanything · 09/09/2019 16:10

My year 1 is reading these, I have tried googling but haven't a clue what level this is compared to the others?! Does anyone know what age shes at with this book?

What stage (reading) is your DS at in Year 1?

Erismorn · 10/09/2019 19:25

DH went to DD's Year 1 orientation session today. There was quite a lot of talk about reading and supporting the children who needed it most. He could see the chart of where everyone was, and out of a class of 29, 11 are on level 2 (red). Most of the rest of the class are on levels 4 or 5.

Sounds like your DS is doing well!

minesadecaf · 10/09/2019 19:42

My daughter is on orange level 6 but she's a strong reader. In her class of 14 they range from blue to orange.

KTMP16 · 10/09/2019 21:41

@SadOtter I think so...but now you've said that im thinking maybe he isnt verbalising and is just saying "i dunno" to everything they ask lol
His reading diary shows he has read once to his teacher and once to a teaching assistant - but not the same book as he is bringing home..and hes still got the same one. His yr1 induction session said parents need to request the book is changed. Last year they had a set day of the week to read to someone and then change his book - he was very proud afew weeks before summer to tell me hed read all the reception books and now had to go chose from year one :)

user1573624 · 10/09/2019 22:45

This is a zombie thread. The OP's son is 10 now and posted this in the spring term, so everyone comparing is irrelevant.

SadOtter · 10/09/2019 23:29

@Canttasteanything level 3 Reading 360 covers Blue and Green/ORT level 4 and 5, so year 1/P2.

@KTMP16 ha yeah, definitely would't be the first child to say "I dunno" when their comprehension is actually really good.

KTMP16 · 12/09/2019 16:31

@SadOtter Im confused but im happy - i requested a new bok and the one he has come home with today is much better.
We have gone from a blue one which said stage 4 with around 10 pages around 6 words per page to another one also blue coded but says stage 7.... which has 35 pages and upto 40 words on a page!

Much better :-)

SadOtter · 12/09/2019 23:29

@KTMP16 Excellent news. Are the labels different shades of blue by any chance? level 7 is turquoise but they wouldn't be the only school to use cheaper blue stickers.

KTMP16 · 12/09/2019 23:51

They must be different shades then. They are clealy alot harder..but a lot more interesting too - its bringing back childhood memories of the magic key :-) Is level 6 green? After summer, someone had written GREEN across the books he read before the sumer hols

minesadecaf · 13/09/2019 05:53

@KTMP16 see the picture below of colours and levels.

Minesril · 16/09/2019 06:52

I had no idea that Biff Chip etc were considered to be easy. My son loves them and i was really chuffed that he was reading a turquoise book (just started year one). Guess I'll try him on some others. DH was considering a non fiction book - are they more challenging?

He likes chapter books but only with his dad reading them to him. They've worked their way through a fair chunk of roald dahl.

BTW I see nothing wrong with commenting on a zombie thread like this - people are always going to be wanting to talk about these things and surely it's better than having loads of identical threads?

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