'free reading'

[zoemaguire]

Dd (yr 1) is a very fluent reader. She's now got through pretty much all the white level books in the school library. I mentioned this to the teacher and she told me that the school don't go any higher than white and that dd can now just choose from 'chapter books'. Dd and I had a look together in the school library and found a couple of books, but the selection was very limited indeed.

I feel pretty uncomfortable about the idea of her being 'free reading' from now on, with no guidance at all over what books to choose (they can swap as often as they like from the school library, but go there without supervision). She's only just 6, so however advanced her reading age, she clearly still has an awful lot to learn about reading books, to say the least!

So where to go from here? Would it be reasonable to say 'er,hang on a minute' to her teacher?! Or do we just ignore the school library from now on? Any recommendations for suitable books? I'm at a loss really at the idea that the school can discharge their responsibility for guided reading for a child only in her second year of school. While her reading is excellent, she's hardly a genius, just bright and clicked very early with the whole reading thing!

We have a reading scheme ( Big Cat) that continues until level 4/5 which we use in conjunction with graded library books-so books sorted roughly by year group although the children can access any. Once the children have reached Lime they select both a reading scheme book AND a free choice library book, we also use levelled books for guided reading. This enables us to ensure the children have a progression in their reading and understanding whilst still allowing a degree of free choice.

I had this problem with my DD. The schools system only went up to a certain level and she has been a 'free reader' since she was 7 years old. The school regularly keep track of comprehension so that they know the child actually understands what it is they are reading. The children are provided with tasks to complete every week based on their chosen book other than this she is free to choose any book she likes.

You should be able to find other providers of more advanced reading books online and your local library can order them in for you if you have the name of the author and title (ISBN number is very helpful)

Collins Big Cat series do go up to age 12+ on the reading levels so you should be able to source some of them. Generally modern books at a more advanced reading level (Age 11+) are unsuitable for younger children to read as they often deal with more adult themes that you may not want your 6 year old to read about yet.

I would suggest classic books such as Enid Blyton's The Far Away Tree/Famous Five/Secret Seven etc. Anne of Green Gables, Heidi, The Lion The Witch and The Wardrobe etc. My DD read Terry Pratchet (Bromeliad, I Shall Wear Midnight ) but only the ones in his 'Young Reader' category as the others contain unsuitable language for a young reader. My DD loved H.E.Bates The Darling Buds of May, its a very large book and took her around 6 months to read it.

Even though these are what my DD read I recommend you check them first to make sure they're ok for your DD to read. My DD doesn't like to read about anything evil/bad and she found Aslans treatment by the Snow Queen difficult to understand and quite upsetting in The Lion The Witch and the Wardrobe. I ended up purchasing the DVD to show her the happy ending before she picked the book up to finish it.

You really should find out from the school your child's reading and comprehension age so that you can source suitable books for her.

Good luck

The happy families books by Allan Ahlberg would be good for a child reading around white level. Also the Gaskitt books by the same author, which are a little bit longer/harder. There are about 20 and 4 of these, respectively. They are full of humour and more likely to inspire some enthusiasm for reading than scheme books.
The blue and red bananas books published by Egmont are also good for around this level. the blue ones might be a bit easy for a child comfortable at white level but the red ones are designed as first chapter books and go to a bit past lime level. The red bananas in particular are "real" books by good authors - Michael Morpurgo, Jacqueline Wilson, Kevin Crossley Holland etc. Egmont did a boxed set of these re-published as "the story collection" which had around 10 blue and 10 red - on occasion thebookpeople have had this going cheap.
Also, a second vote for the collins big cat books - I've been able to pick up sets of banded big cat books on amazon containing about 20 books per band with change of 30 quid, so not much more than a pound a book. The content is good and they're nice and colourful. It's the only scheme I could see that goes significantly past lime level and does not cost an arm and a leg if you're a parent, not a school.
Other than this we have stockpiled and are now working through: the easier Roald Dahl books (the magic finger, george's marvellous medicine), the mudpuddle farm books by Michael Morpurgo, the Ottoline books by Chris Riddell, all of which are very accessible to someone reading at white level (and hugely enjoyable). Hope that helps.

www.pandorabooks.co.uk/collections/primary-fiction-books/year-2/year-2-confident-readers

we use this company once children are reading confidently - they have put together collections based on school year and factors like reading confidence and reading reluctance

That company looks stunning, mrz! Exactly the sort of thing my DD2 in Yr6 likes to read, in fact she and her group have done some of the 'confident readers' ones in school. No wonder you get such good results with reading.

Our school had sections of the school library they were directed to.

You could use Mrz's link to look in your local library as they often have a first reader/ early reader shelf.Ours had a shelf with several in said link eg the Usborne fairy tale books,Flat Stanley,Dick King Smith etc.Both the town and city library had masses.

If you search on here there will be a fair few threads with suggested books of progression from those of us that had kids doing this before collections such as those in the link were made.

Thanks so much for all the suggestions, they are incredibly helpful. That website is ace mrz - age appropriate books for advanced readers is exactly what I was looking for. I will also check out public library. The school has been excellent about providing extension work so far so I was surprised at the teacher's response. I'm intrigued to see what happens from now on. There are 4 or 5 other kids also reading very fluently in her class so it isn't like dd is the only one. I hate this 'free reading' idea, I can see that schemes only work for so long, but for a 6 yo, no matter how fluent, to have outgrown them seems crazy to me.

DD1 takes her own books in to school, (she is also in Yr1).

ones she has read since finishing level 11 and the ones the school had after that include Magic Molly by Holly Webb, Rainbow Fairies, various Dick King Smith, various Jill Tomlinson (Owl who was afraid of the dark author), The Worst Witch by Jill Murphy, Secret Mermaid, Rescue Princesses, The Wishing Chair, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Enchanted Wood, My Naughty Little Puppy by Holly Webb and others I can't think of at the moment.

None of them hugely challenging, all age appropriate and she has enjoyed them. To me whilst Rainbow Fairies and a lot of the other similar series around now about fairies/princesses/mermaids and so on aren't literary classics they still have a place if the children like them and it encourages them to read and at least you know the content is harmless. I find DD might read 2 or 3 from a series and then move on to something else, then may go back and do another one from the previous sort she had been reading, then a different one and so on.

You can ask if your child can take their own books in which is what DD (yr1) has been doing since November. DD would refuse to read reading scheme books and quite frankly both her teacher and myself would rather she read something than kicking off about school books.

She reads Dick King Smith (Funny Frank was a big hit), Michael Morepurgo, anything by Holly Webb, the SuperFudge series and Ramona the pest series.

My dd loved Ivy and Bean at that age.

Ahh, Ramona, I remember her:) Thanks for all the suggestions, all noted!

Hello

Your DD is not alone lots of DC click at any age really, so do not fear! There are tons of books out there for her!

Have a look at some MN reading threads, try searches or the part of reading, I got some great ideas from there.

Obvious stuff is, clarice bean, roald dhal, madame pamplemouse, mr makejca, the worst witch, enid blyton and so...

Another great resource is amazon, if you look at say clarice bean, you will see other similar suggestions. You can also read parents reviews to gage suitability.

I get most books from charity shops, a few from Amazon, a few from car boots but charity has been best. we have lots of great ones all round our area but it was one of the shabby ones, on a depressing row of shops...that has the best quality yield!

The school library is almost irrelevant to us..she has a huge library at home!

To me whilst Rainbow Fairies and a lot of the other similar series around now about fairies/princesses/mermaids and so on aren't literary classics they still have a place if the children like them and it encourages them to read and at least you know the content is harmless

I was dreading Rainbow Faries TBH after reading about it on here.....my DD picked one out herself from charity shop and my heart sunk...however she read it, murmured about there being more...and then went onto her next book from home.

Provide variety.

Sorry one more thing, if your near a TK Max or Homesense ( same company) check them out too, I have often seen amazing box sets RRP £70 or more for more like 15 ( classics)....as well as loose books on this and that, often educational.