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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

How would you classify a child as a 'Free Reader'?

54 replies

KEGirlOnFire · 09/09/2014 14:47

At the end of last term my DD was assessed for her reading (to decide on groups for the next year I imagine) and she was put on Level 8 (Purple).

While chatting to the teacher about this she said that while she was a solid Level 8 (not just reading the words but fluency and comprehension aswell) they would class her as a 'Free Reader' and that she could pretty much pick anything she wanted and read it (she was reading 'Goldilocks' to her classmates in the book corner at the time ). But I don't understand why she's classed as a 'Free Reader'. I know it isn't an official term but certainly, even though she's reading up to Level 10 at home (I've got the Ladybird 'Read It Yourself' Books that go up to Level 10), I can't imagine that she could pick up the local paper and read it fluently.

So what do they mean by 'Free Reader', is there some context to this dependent on age?

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redskybynight · 09/09/2014 15:08

The meaning of "Free Reader" is entirely variant between schools.

My DC were free readers in Y2, then went back to not being free readers when they moved schools at junior level.

Remembering back to previous MN discussions I think Level 8 is on the low side for a child to be called a "free reader" (and some primaries never referred to children as such even when reading War and Peace in Year 6).

The issue with being able to read what you want at too early a stage (as I discovered with DS) is that your child may well just pick easy books or just pick a certain type of book - whereas they are still at a level that they should be exploring different types of genre and challenging themselves.

Is this an infants only school with limited access to "harder" books?

noramum · 09/09/2014 15:15

In DD's Infant school they had to finish White band, so two more than purple, to become a Free Reader. You would normally be on chapter books with around 100-150 pages by then.

In her school it meant you were able to read age appropriate books without too much guidance and you were able to re-tell a complex story, read between the lines and comment on the meaning of words and find alternatives. You had to be able to comment on emotions, interpret actions, foresee what may happen in the next chapter or how the book would end.

You have to be able to read silently, put away a book and come back to it without "loosing the plot" because you didn't read for 2 days.

I would say 65% of the Year 2 children were free reader at the end of the year. I only know of 1 girl in DD's class who was a free reader at the end of reception and one of her friends at another school who earned the status during Autumn term of Year 1. The second girl (just 7) has now a reading age of 10.

I would ask to speak to the literacy co-ordinator at school. The problem with so young children being able to choose just any book they fancy could mean they come across books which are too advanced topic wise. The school should have a plan in place how to help the child to choose wisely and encouraging her to choose different style of books and different genre.

Original poster

KEGirlOnFire · 09/09/2014 15:29

Thank you Redsky and Nora. DD has just gone into Yr 1 (yesterday)and is Summerborn so turned 5 in June.

I wonder if they mean 'Free Reader' in that they are happy for her to pick any books in their class library and pick them up and read them (which she can do easily), so maybe it's not the 'official' term of Free-reader.

DD reads up to White Band at home (I've bought the set of 'Read It Yourself' books that go up to White) and doesn't struggle with any of the words, but isn't yet reading them quickly. But she is putting in the punctuation (which is the one bit they said she could start to concentrate on now) so it looks like she's moving in the right direction.

I was an early reader and my favourite books were Enid Blyton, The Enchanted Wood series and The Magic Wishing Chair so I'm going to order those for her in case she wants to give them a go.

Thank you again.

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thegreylady · 09/09/2014 15:43

My Y1dgs is a 'free reader' because he had finished all the ORT books in YR and is now choosing things like Horrid Henry, Roald Dahl and Oliver Moon. Certainly not up to the Times by a long way.

Heels99 · 09/09/2014 15:46

When you finish lime level at our school you are free reader. But in practice one of my dcs was free reading from white level, the other had a teacher that was more focused on choosing books within the level.

Purple wouldn't be free reader at our school.

Heels99 · 09/09/2014 15:47

Op like you I loved enchanted wood but when I picked them up in bookshop to look at them I thought they were too advanced for my dd I terms of amount of text etc. wishing chair less so.

Hellokittycat · 09/09/2014 15:49

My yr 2 ds is on level 9, my yr 4 ds is on god knows what level but still has a couple of boxes of ordered books to get through until he is a free reader. It simply means able to choose their ine reading books rather than books being chosen for them by the teacher.

Original poster

KEGirlOnFire · 09/09/2014 16:08

Thanks all.

I'm not sure the teacher was right in what she said about free-reading because DD has come home with a purple band book today, so clearly the teacher in her new Y1 class is still wanting to pick the books from a level. I'm happy with that.

I get her to read lots of different things at home so I'm happy that she works through what she needs to at school.

Thank you for all the clarification.

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CarpetBagger · 09/09/2014 16:30

my child has not been called a free reader, and yet she can pick up anything and read it, she reads Enid Blyton, Lemony Snicket, Roald Dhal for pleasure and many others. She reads with expression, fluency, and comprehension she is on stage 8 ORT books.

Original poster

KEGirlOnFire · 09/09/2014 16:40

Ahhh Carpet, so your DD is on the same level as DD at school. As I said in the last post, I don't think my DD's previous Reception teacher was right in classing her as a free-reader, I wouldn't class her as such.

Thank you for your post.

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Iamnotminterested · 09/09/2014 17:07

When they reach a L4B at my DCs school; for some this means year 3, for others never.

MollyBdenum · 09/09/2014 17:17

I think it was after Bug Club brown or grey level. I remember that it was at roughly the same time she started devouring the Harry Potter books at home.

simpson · 09/09/2014 17:45

My kids school class a free reader once they have hit NC L3 which is lime level (stage 11) although I understand that you can have kids on stage 11 who are not NC L3.

DS was a free reader at the end of yr2 & DD was a free reader around November of yr1.

But tbh each school varies & some have reading scheme books up till yr6.

Hulababy · 09/09/2014 17:50

Free reader at my school means a child who can choose to read any of the books in the "free reader" book box as their home reader. Though in reality it can be any book from home, library too.

However for guided reading sessions (I'm in y2) they would be reading a group reader - usually lime, or some other chapter type books graded above this.

So for us a free reader is above lime.

Hulababy · 09/09/2014 17:52

At DD's old primary all Y3 children were essentially free readers as they could all choose their own books and no longer read the tiered scheme books. One or two less able readers had some additional one to one with the LS teacher and read specified scheme books in those sessions, but not within class generally.

Very few were free reading in y2 as they had readers that went much beyond lime.

InfantSchoolHead · 09/09/2014 18:40

I would agree with most of the posts here that purple level is not advanced enough to be picking your own books from an open-ended range, however if it just means from the purple range, then that sounds fine. In my school a child would need to be reading at a very confident white, or lime level, to be a free reader. If DC is reading white level at home, you will probably find she moves quickly up to white in school as well.

You mentioned that DC isn't yet reading the books quickly. The speed at which we read is often more to do with what our brain has been taught to do (or has been accepted) rather than what it is actually capable of. One really useful trick that I learned when I did my Reading Recovery training was to push a lollypop stick (or narrow strip of paper) left to right horizontally over the sentence being read, so that you are covering up the words that have been read, but leaving the rest of the sentence still visible. You push the strip slightly quicker than the child normally reads, and this trains the brain to read at the quicker speed. This isn't something that you would do for a whole book, or even whole page if there is a lot of text, but doing short bursts of it regularly is a really effective way of training the brain to process print more speedily.

mrz · 09/09/2014 19:28

A "free reader" is the reader who can open any book/text and read fluently with perfect understanding ... a mythical beast!

jamtoast12 · 09/09/2014 20:52

Dd is on stage 15 and isn't classed as a free reader. She can choose library books from school but they are in addition to their scheme books which I think are used to gauge conprhension and understanding

Auntiemalcolm · 09/09/2014 23:11

My DS is a total book worm and was a free reader by the end of reception. Throughout infants/juniors he read constantly but always very limited themes and very easy books (for him). Despite this I have been told that he has a good story repertoire - so don't worry too much about reading difficult books and reading widely . He's in year 8 now, he's working 3 years ahead in English. The main thing for me is that my kids read stuff that inspires and interests them, however easy it may be. Developing a life long love of reading is desirable

Auntiemalcolm · 09/09/2014 23:12

By free reader I mean he had finished all the biff and chip levels

Auntiemalcolm · 09/09/2014 23:13

Being a free reader for my school means level 11 onwards

Original poster

KEGirlOnFire · 10/09/2014 08:03

Thank you all. This has been really helpful.

Infant, the lollystick trick is really helpful, thank you. I am not a teacher and therefore what I see as something that needs to be 'fixed' is likely something that will be seen as good in a teachers eyes. For example, when DD is reading she will often stop at a really easy word like 'the' because she's decided to read on in her head or look at the picture to gauge what is going to happen next. I have to prompt her to carry on (which she then does so easily).

She does struggle a little more with the 'non-fiction' books. Last night she came home with one about the Rain Forest and that was like pulling teeth! She read it easily enough but found it boring (and said so).

For me I want her to be as passionate about reading as I am. We still insist on reading to her every night and even when she's reading on her own, I sometimes think that being read to is still wonderful .

The other thing is that DD has only just turned 5 so at the moment, there are probably elements to books that she could likely read on her own (Roald Dahl etc) that she may just not 'get' yet in understanding terms. So I'm very conscious of reading something to her that she won't yet understand or reading something to her that isn't interesting enough. For example, I read her Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, but when I tried reading her Matilda, she very quickly became bored (as did I in fairness).

I will pick up a load of Purple level books when I go into school today and crack on with them.

Thanks again!

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Original poster

KEGirlOnFire · 10/09/2014 08:05

Sorry that should have said that when I read her 'Charlie and the Chocolate Factory' she loved it and didn't want me to stop at the end of the chapters when it was bedtime. Matilda didn't have the same effect...

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CarpetBagger · 10/09/2014 08:12

op the point being what the school calls your child and their book band, and their actual ability can be very different beasts.

My school has acknowledged my DD reading abilites as excellent and so on, but she is still on lower book bands. I used to get bothered about it but now I do not care so much, she has a huge library of books at home and can read anything now. sometimes we read the school book, more often not, and I just scribbble in she has read it. I her her to read her home chosen books to me.

Original poster

KEGirlOnFire · 10/09/2014 09:21

CarpetBagger, thank you .

I picked up some purple band books this morning and they are rubbish!! They're all non-fiction and there were only about 10 in the box, compared to loads in the other band boxes. I will work through all of the ones in the box (she reads one a night) and then move onto the next band I think. I didn't manage to get one on Chocolate though, I think she'll like that one .

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