Comprehension problem white level end of Y2

[noramum]

We have a problem. DD is in a year 2 on White band. She can read very fluently but lacks vital comprehension skills and the teacher obviously is reluctant to move her up.

We have to problem since last Summer term in Y1 and the school only half-hearted tried to solve it by giving her 1/2 term extra support with similar children but fails to explain properly to us how we can help DD. She was moved reluctantly from purple to gold and then to white as she got very bored with the reading material in school. When she gets bored she only reads faster.

We get explanations like "she needs to read between the lines" but this doesn't help a lot. That the school also provides books like Rainbow Fairies for white level is no help as you read one and you know the storyline of all of them.

Does anybody uses any websites or worksheets to help with practical examples we can work with DD?

We know she can concentrate and read properly if she wants but the school only reads in groups and she gets distracted. At home she reads a lot more difficult books and when we talk about it she mostly gets the idea. But we feel she needs to do practical work instead of just talking to us. And we need to know what questions to ask.

We will speak to the school again but I just feel not a lot will come out of it and from September she will be in a Junior school with less support.

März, sorry but I just think it is not good not trying to help a struggling parent. We got the list back from DD's teacher, again pointing out what is lacking but again no point towards what can be done.

Yes, we talk about books, but I personally think if I analyse each book I read I loose the interest because I loose the fun out of just reading for the sake of it, not because mum is pestering me.

I come from a country where children learn to read without book bands. Testing comprehension is done in class and also as part of daily homework, it also enables the parent to see what is going on. Interesting enough DD's teacher also comes from this country, while she may not have been trained there, she at least knows the structure.

I just get frustrated when I clearly see that DD has problems since end of Y1 and nobody seems to be interested in helping. Looking back at DD's reading diary the comments from us and the teacher are virtually the same throughout the year.

So, off to check the mentioned links, hoping that the Junior school is more capable or will then be more pestered.

but I think some people genuinely don't know to ask some of the questions, especially in relation to inference. they don't realise they read between the lines so can't encourage a child or show them how to do the same.

my 2 don't SEEM (from what they tell me) to have done ANY comprehension at school at all yet in R or Yr1...

sorry that isn't strictly true - they have been asked what might happen next and what has happened but nothing beyond that and considering they are both reading chapter books I think they should have done a bit more than that.

So you would prefer I gave you bad advice rather than something you don't want to hear noramum? ... OK I suggest you go out and buy lots of workbooks because that is the best way to improve your child's comprehension

mrz are there no good quality work books available for parents who need to support their DCs, but are not getting guidance from school despite the school identifying the problem and asking that the parent helps?

Using common sense is all well and good but some people appreciate explicit instructions to help them gain confidence.

Some of the best free resources I've seen are those provided by Collins Big Cat.

Each band is catered for, with questions to ask about their books that link to the APP grid. I'm assuming the school have listed the APP criteria that correspond to white band (or there abouts) and this is the list provided to noramum.

noramum if you click on the link above and choose APP support pack KS1, then '10 white' you can download a winzip file. Once you've downloaded that and opened it you will find a selection of files, choose the pdf or word version of the White Assessment Examples. Here you will find many questions to ask, and the expectations for the child's response at white level.

You can buy Collins Big Cat books via Amazon, however I think you could easily use the questions listed in the Assessment Examples as a guide for the types of question to ask with any book.

Also scroll down to the Assessment and Support Guide. Guide D runs from White to Lime and has lots of worksheet type activities. Perhaps mrz will disagree but I think they could be adapted to any book and prove useful.

Finally the 'reading activity handbook sheet 1' has a specific exercise to use for supporting progress with inference.

Really hope some of this proves useful.

There aren't any I would use diamondage

Well of course not - you don't need to

What about a parent who doesn't have your skills, experience and confidence?

I'm sure that some workbooks might be worse than doing nothing, but I don't believe they are all worse than doing nothing. You said the problem with workbooks is that they tend to have a right or wrong answer. What about workbooks / sheets that just provide lines for the child to answer the questions in their own words (like the worksheets provided by CBC)?

What about a parent who doesn't have your skills, experience and confidence?

Thank you for assuming I have those atributes but I would tell such a parent not to waste their money buying workbooks.

What about workbooks / sheets that just provide lines for the child to answer the questions in their own words (like the worksheets provided by CBC)?

They are still looking for the right answer only they don't make it a game of chance

Just came across this - good place to start

Can I just say teachers out there - mrz's little handout or something similar you may prefer just requires printing it out and determining at what stage (level/ band/ etc....) you feel this type of comprehension exercise should be started.

Although many parents can intuitively work out how to support reading - little sheets with helpful hints like above really do help us use that 'reading with our child' time productively.

It is time well spent to communicate with parents. At core most of us just want to help our kids and in doing so we make your job much easier.

Forgot to mention - with mrz's sheet - if comprehension is the issue for OP's child - if the teacher had simply provided something similar to mrz's 10 questions sheet to noramum this conversation on mumsnet need never have happened....

Perhaps it's time for teachers to start thinking of progression through reading skills in terms of milestones - and once they're decoding well maybe it's time to provide 'next step' resources to parents about comprehension, literacy terminology (simile/ metaphor/ alliteration/ foreshadowing/ allusion/ etc...) once a child has reached that 'milestone'.

There have been far too many conversations over the years with parents confused about what exactly teachers may mean by 'you need to work more on comprehension skills now'.

HTH

PastSellByDate - I so agree.

I will have a closer look to all resources mentioned. Thanks again for the tips and input.