year 1 Reading

[Orangeboat]

Could anyone tell me what colour books a year one child should be reading at this early stage in the school year.

@Maki79,

Further to mrz's post. Is your dd getting any additional help now? Children who are struggling should be picked up as early as possible, not left to struggle. The idea of waiting until they are 7 is very outdated and based on a mistaken view that learning to read is 'developmental' process.

In my opinion, advanced reading isn't always a good thing! DD1 was such a bookworm and was desperate to read (she'd sit up in the dark in her cot when she was a baby, trying to look at the pictures in her books!) so I taught her how to. She was fluently reading by the time she started school but because she was so advanced, she's basically had loads of people telling her how fantastic she is at reading and spelling - which has led to her being a bit lazy in other areas because she thinks she's naturally really clever!!

The way I see it - most children read at a similar level by the time they leave primary school, so it doesn't matter too much (especially at this young age) how slowly they may appear to be getting there.

Maki - my friend is having a similar problem. Both she and our school feel that her child (6, not 7 until April) might be dyslexic but their hands are tied as she's too young to be assessed. The poor girl tries so so hard, but just doesn't seem to progress. My friend has just signed her up for a few months of Kumon English to see if that might help. She figures that if it does, that's great, if it doesn't then it's just her bank balance that's been affected.

Dd is on green, but can read almost anything. I am not keen for her to batter through the reading levels as I feel she needs time to develop comprehension. Its nice for children to have a range of genre before they move up the reading levels.

My boy got diagnosed with dyslexia in year 1 when he was 6 years and 3 months. Im in lincolnshire and it was in may this year he got tested x

Maki, my dd2 was diagnosed as dyslexic when she was 6, so it is possible. She wouldn't get an EHCP, though.

It varies so much, I would imagine average is around yellow/blue to start Y1. DS2 was only on red but DS1 was on lime starting Y1 so I know how much it can vary. I stopped worrying when I realised it actually doesn't matter too much at this stage, DS2 moved up 8 levels during that year, when he was ready.

Wow...just come across this - my little 5.5 yr old yr 1 boy is steadily working his way through endless stage 2 books (so...red?). This sounds very behind! I work and don't often do drop off/pick up, so I have no idea what his class mates are on (and it's a very small class of 12 in a village primary), but given I was hoping to move him at 7 to a prep school this does not sound encouraging...:-/

I read to him every night and he loves stories...but suddenly I feel a bit worried...

DD is July born and on yellow. She was on blue at the end of Reception and I asked the teacher to gently take her down a level since she absolutely could not read them. She had a surge of understanding in Reception however I had a baby in June, and failed to listen to her read for a while, lots of things going on, like my mum who was meant to be helping me falling down the stairs and me having to drive my dad to the hospital to visit, a nit infestation, ductal thrush whilst I was trying to establish bf all meant that I totally dropped the ball for her. I picked up again over the summer, but the damage had already been done. This has knocked her confidence a lot, but she is so little and really she should not be feeling bad. We are know concentrating once more to get her back to where she was before. I feel sad that this has happened.

Looking here red and yellow, for 5 is ok.

my dd is late spring born and was a fairly early reader and on gold books and has been since end of fs.

Don't sweat it, seriously, as a TA and a mum of 2 ds who have struggled with reading in ks1, just read most nights with your DC and let them progress at their own pace, the school should put extra support in place if they really are failing to meet their targets.

my 10 year old is predicted a level 5/ probably level 6 in his SATs this year, he was only 'just' reading green books (probably should have been on blue still tbh) at the very end of year 1 for comparison.

Claireper DS2 was exactly the same and also in a small class but he really did come along suddenly in Y1 and whizzed above most of the children. It has started to even out now in Y2 as those way ahead have slowed down a bit but it still varies massively.

I am just so sad that our situation has knocked DD, she keeps saying she can't do it. I read every night to her and her older year 4 sister. Thanks for the advice I will try not to worry too much.

Reading level at this stage is no indicator of future ability. Children learn and develop at their own pace, some do it in a steadier fashion, others go in leaps and halts.

Ds2 really struggled to learn to read and it didn't really 'click' for him until year 3. He's now in year 6, a free reader, on a par with some of the more able pupils and ahead of others.

By contrast, ds1 was the youngest free reader ever in his school, having shot through the bands at record speed - but has ASD and fell behind his peers later in ks2 due to problems around inference and character motivation etc.