Reception Reading Level

[louisejxxx]

Shamelessly asking how your reception child is doing with their reading? Not a stealth boast - my ds is floating about between pink and red book bands (seems to get a mixture of both home) just interested really as I'm not brave enough to ask any other mum's in the playground!

I think ds is probably average but am interested to see how others are doing..

Waits for flaming - at least I'm admitting I am just being plain nosey!!

Sorry, digraphs, not trigraphs. Trigraphs were learnt a little later.

DS is on blue band 4. I haven't really paid much attention to what that means or which ones he started with, he likes reading. He sounds out some words, but not many. He was sounding out words at pre-school though, they did some phonics with him. He really enjoys it which I think helps, it's not a chore, whereas writing is and judging from some of the christmas cards that have arrived, rather behind on that.

Dd2 is classed as high ability in her school and is still on pink/red. She showed no interest in reading at all before school, and we deliberately chose a pre-school that was entirely focussed on play and developing the social side of things, so she only started with words in Sept.

I'm not at all worried about her, she's doing fine and is about the same as her big sister was at this age.

DS1 is in year 1 now, but he was on orange band this time last year.
He knew all the letters and could blend some cvc words before school; this was self-taught though, so he only learnt to read properly in reception. It clicked straight away though, so he progressed quickly.

DS is on red books (mixture of phonics and Look and Say or whatever that's called!). But I think that's the top end of his class. He was in the Kindergarten at the same school so they started introducing phonics then but there's a real range of abilities - some are only just starting to get books to bring home. He seems happy enough though - although I suspect he could probably move up a level, but why rush him when it's building his confidence?

The minimum target for end reception is yellow so your son is doing fine op.

I intentionally send my children to pre-schools where they DONT teach them to read early. They often pick up a lot of the letter sounds, but we focus on love of books and just follow their interest genuinely.

I also chose an infant school where reception was genuinely play-based rather than a lot of formal time. Schools interpret the guidelines differently.

They don't send home books at this stage at all, and I'm pleased about that. For the rest of reception they only send home one book a week and some RL little booklets.

My daughter was still on Level 9early on in Yr 1 as she suddenly found her speed and "got it". I'm glad we did it this way around....

So er - at this stage I'd really not worry about reading levels (and purposely chose a school that didn't!)

My Ds1 was on red at this stage of reception, he started school not knowing letter sounds as he had been far more interested in riding the trikes & outdoor play at pre-school.

I think that's more the expected level at this age.

Also I think that's a huge amount of progress if they start as a non-reader.

Ds is August Born and is at the end of Pink- he gets 2 different biff and chip books a week and 2 phonic blending stories. I would say that his blending has really clicked in the last 3-4 weeks.

His spelling has also just clicked and was writing simple words like cat doll dog in his own the other day for his sisters Christmas list.

He's the youngest in the year and considering he's just turned 4 I think he's doing well but some of the older children in his class are a loooong way ahead.

Sorry not pink, he's at the end of red (doh)

April born DD also goes to a school where they focus on phonics and HFW for the first term but no reading books sent home. She should start bringing home reading books in January I think. But she can sound out and blend words like - cat, tin, dog, tap, mug etc very well. The school likes to get them confident before introducing the simple reading books so they can do so independently and it really bolsters their reading pride and confidence (so the teacher tells us, which makes sense!)

Her writing is excellent though - she's even started writing cursive even though they school don't teach it until Y1 (there's a child at her childminders who writes with her who is in Y1)

op its usually those with advanced children who answer these threads .

dd's in year 1, a good reader according to her teacher and she was on red this time last year.

My experience of her is it suddenly clicked and away we went.

Yes I'd figured tobysmum77 - it doesn't bother me though to be honest, I just find it interesting to see how others are doing :)

DS (late spring born) has been mainly getting red books home in the past few weeks. I am struggling to see a difference to pink actually.
He can sound out words of up to 4 letters but does not yet combine the words fluently in one sentence.
He is struggling to write his own name but I am sure he will get there soon.

I don't really understand why kids should learn to read at 3, i.e. at preschool. My DS was mainly playing and running around when he was at kindergarten. There is still plenty of time to learn all the more academic stuff.

MillionairesShortbread that sounds like my kind of school! Ours is so much more pushy at this stage and I am thinking hang on a minute they are only 4!

I'd just say that reading levels at this stage in reception are mainly a reflection of who had been taught to read before they started school, rather than anything else.

A child who hasn't been taught to read before entering (for whatever reason - no interest/no opportunity/no ability) may only have had reading books for one term, or half a term even, or in some cases no part of the term.

I do hasten to add that I'm not suggested that children who do start reading before they start reception are just doing so because they have been hothoused, just that comparing levels at this stage isn't going to show much more than who could read before reception and who couldn't .

Exactly. My relatives abroad start at 6 and don't seem to be a nation of non readers.

I totally agree that those who are on the higher levels at this stage were probably reading when they started, my child included!
I would disagree that he was actively 'taught' to read beforehand though. He has just been interested in letters from a very young age, in the same way some toddlers go through an 'obsessed' stage with cars or similar, he did that with letters! His favourite toy for about 18 months was an alphabet peg puzzle, he would take them all out and carry them round in a bag, lay them all on the floor, collect them up again, etc etc. He is pretty good at writing as well, he wasn't interested in using a pencil until he realised that he could create his own letters with one and he was off. He does draw as well now, but his early attempts at putting pencil to paper were always letters (and sometimes numbers) rather than drawings.
On the other hand, he has next to no interest in physical activity (bar climbing), I remember having a chat with preschool about his development when he was about 3.6 and the best thing they could say about him was that he could now run across the garden without tripping over his own feet

Like WhispersofWickedness my ds was reading before he started school, he is one of the oldest in the year, but youngest in the family so he saw his sisters reading, or trying to, and wanted to read too. He is also very determined and good at pattern matching and phonics. He is about level with dd2 now who is in yr3. It isn't a race though. Dd1 struggled at first but now is as confident as her peers who read much earlier, and her comprehension is very good.

Have no idea about colours.

Ds2 is 4 and in Reception. He's on Level 2 of the Biff & Chip ORT books. He's been on level 2 for quite a while now and he's flying through them so quickly I think he'll be moved to level 3 soon.

I'm not clear on how reading levels are assessed. Is it just the ability to read the word or does there need to be understanding of every word, some words or the book as a whole? Does being able to answer the questions at the back/start of the book mean that the child understands the book? I read somewhere that the correct reading band equates to the child getting 90% of the words right but there was no mention of comprehension.

My ds is in reception at a private school. He gets books but none have these colours ( or any colours) on them. None were given out until after October half term.

He can read at a basic level ie; Fred sat on the red bed with ted. Which seems to be on target..

Oh and they have to understand what's happening in the book not just read it before they can swap it

iggetty I don't believe that 90% thing. At the higher levels if they got stuck on one word in 10 it would be exhausting! I also dont think it's an exact science whatever people claim.