DD cried tonight because she didn't get moved up to next colour book band

[PotteryLottery]

I'm a regular but have NC.

Y1 DD 6.3 loves her reading scheme books but cried tonight because she is on blue but some of her class has moved to green and she feels left behind.

I've told her she will be moved up when she is ready, but is there anything I can do to help her progress or is at this level or is it something that just clicks in their own time?

I want to ask her teacher if there is anything I can do to help but how can I ask without sounding like I am questioning her decision not to move her up? I also don't want to come across as band-obsessed, when I'm not - it's a marathon, not a sprint, right?

you will probably find it is actually only 1 or 2 children who have moved up and she just happens to feel a bit competitive with them.

Perhaps just pop a note in her reading record asking what in particular she should be working on with her reading at the moment, decoding quicker, fluency, comprehension, prediction, expression or whatever. At that level I would expect it is just a case of fluency so she just needs to get quicker at decoding so that her reading becomes more fluent.

Please tell her about one of mine. Aged 7 he was still on red and finding school v v hard. Way behind everyone else in year. Reading started to come to him about year 5. Still found it hard and was very reluctant to read. He is now in final year at Cambridge. Admittedly for maths but he always found book colours very hard. His advice, find things at home that want to read and remember it's not a competition(even if it feels like one).

My DD is also Y1, but she's 5.3 . I don't really remember which order all the colours are in as we went more by the numbers, so apologies if I've misremembered.

DD is currently on stage 8 (purple) but she just suddenly clicked a few weeks ago. She was up to stage 4 (which I have a feeling is blue) by last Christmas and then spent many months stuck there. She moved onto stage 5 at the end of the academic year, and it was hard-going. Then she got the hang of the sounding out and blending over the summer hols, became confident at stage 5 in the first half of the autumn term and moved onto 6 a couple of weeks before half-term. Her reading then just took off - she's read the odd stage 9 book no problem, she can read chapter books from the early readers series, eg Horrid Henry, she just basically got it. We are definitely still working through the stages though, because there's a system there.

However, the months that we spent on those stage 4 books nearly killed me - and DD - I teach literature at university and I was honestly starting to wonder if she'd ever learn to read. The impression that I got was that the stage 4 books were the hardest stage in terms of developmental/intellectual leaps, and it really is a case of just going over it and over it and over it until suddenly they work out how to break it down and build it back up again. And then from that point on it all gets easier because it finally feels like you're moving forward.

I know at least four other parents of Y1 children who've been complaining this past week about their DC being stuck on stage 4 and not seeming to make progress, so I'm now really intrigued from a professional POV as to what it is that makes those books particularly hard. And if that's not the blue stage then I'm talking bollocks and ignore me.

And I'm sorry, I don't mean to sound boastful, but reading back it does sound a bit like that. My post was meant to encourage though and reassure you it sounds normal - I really do think your DD will just get it one day soon and then she'll be away

Yeah it is. Stage 4 phonics is a... pickle. That is mostly the reason. Your child can probably read loads of books in the higher stages but is stuck because they are stuck on the phonics.

Check out the Oxford owl website as it has loads of free ebooks (school ones) to read online.

Maybe try her with the stage above where school have her.

When she reads her school book, how do you feel she does? Does she struggle with any words? If not then either (a) she needs to work on her comprehension/understanding of what she is reading (ie reading for meaning) or (b) she may read better for you at home than at school (more distractions) or (c) she is ready to move up but the school/teacher haven't realised yet with a class of 30 (a gentle nudge may do the trick!)

Agree with blackbird that blue level is a tough one & I have known kids on it for ages till things click.

I suspect my post may not be quite what you are after

School reading band books are boring as hell, my 3 found them totally demotivating. I'd instead encourage her to read, and to read with her, good quality texts and beautiful books containing proper writing.

In terms of her upset/disappointment - you need to give her other ways of dealing with that. Someone will always be better/quicker/progressing faster than her at something. She needs to know that it isn't a race. I kind of imagine doing anything extra or different with her re getting up to the next band might reinforce her unnecessary idea of being behind.

I think people talk about competitive parents but the kids want to be top. My DS came home from school in September not in top maths group. He is above average according to levels.. I told him there would always be someone who found some things easier somebody who finds it harder.

With books I focus on how important it is to enjoy reading.

Complete amateur here but I think the best thing you can do is find some non-reading-scheme books she loves. I think the key for my DD was developing a deep love for Rainbow Magic . She was suddenly desperate to be able to read them, even though they were way too hard for her. It was really painful picking through them, and having to read vast chunks of them to her, but she was absolutely determined. Reading clicked for her in the summer of Y1 - literally one weekend she decided she could read independently. We left her to it, and she was off. Since then she's been a complete bookworm. Annoyingly she still reads rainbow magic regularly, but now they only take her 15 mins and she reads lots of other things too.

Also I think reading to her is even more important than usual when she's in a bit of a rut. Fun & inspiring, and all that... Easy for me to say, I know. We've not found that "spark" with my Y1 son yet.

Could you talk to the teacher and explain that dd is getting a bit competitive/anxious about reading levels, and ask for her advice? You can stress that your concern is not the reading level itself, but rather dd's feelings about it. Perhaps the teacher could talk to the whole class about the fact that it isn't a race, and how they will all progress at their own pace?

I would second and third simply reading more interesting stuff with her. If you've regularly read her school readers and word selections with her then you can help her to point out and find the words that she knows.
A more interesting story will capture her interest and motivate her imo

Oh dear , I wonder where that is coming from?
I would help her by reading with her as much as possible -little and often is the thing. Instead of reading once for 15 minutes , split it into 3Literally a few sentences in the morning, a few when she comes home and a few at bedtime.
It is a lesson that children have to learn though. some people are better at some things than others

I think you need to deal with the disappointment and competitiveness and give your dd help to judge her progress/achievement in other ways.

It's a good idea to talk to the teacher about how you can help to support her reading progress, but please make sure you are reading/discussing/looking at lots of books which are not from the reading scheme. This total reliance on (often fairly dull) reading scheme books is not healthy for her self confidence or reading progress.

PotteryLottery:

So been there. Like Littelfish suggests you need to deal with the disappointment/ maybe competitiveness. At core your DC feels left out - so a good way of getting them reignited on reading is to say - gosh we'll have to work really hard to catch up won't we?

I know for my DD1 (who found reading quite a struggle until about Y4) - the solution was just faithfully reading regularly with her. She also got very bored with the school guided reading - which was only changed once a week in KS1 - and then was no longer sent home in KS2. So we started swapping/ borrowing/ buying in lots of books to keep that reading going.

Oddly enough - real breakthroughs came in surprising places.

We purchased a comic book about Pokemon because we needed some reading for the airplane on summer vacation and it was the only thing in the airport store that appealed to DD1. She devoured it. At the start of the following school year she came hurdling out of class and said 'Mum, you'll never believe it - my arch nemesis is sitting at my table!' Thank you Pokemon.

If your DC likes particular cartoons or tv shows - have a look in the magazine sections - there are tons of children's magazines with lots of reading there. DD1 became a huge Dr. Who fan sometime in Year 3 - and devoured these magazines trying to learn all she could about The Doctor.

HTH

DD is Yr1 and has undefined issues and has never really cooperated with school reading. We basically ignored phonics and ORT and read Puddle lane and the Ladybird reading scheme with her, two books a night before bed. She got jumped from pink to green at the beginning of year one, I think because of the work we did over the summer getting her to read lots of different books rather than the same, very dull book repeatedly.