Reading year 1?

[Whowillsaveyoursoul]

Ds - June born - is reading ort stage 6.

Is this about average? He seems to be in the lower literacy group at his school.

DD - July born - on stage 10. She is above average-ish I would say but not the top.

DS - July born - was on stage 7 at about this point. He's now Y4 with a reading age of 13.

I don't think stage 6 is anything to worry about :-)

We got off to a slow start because it turns out ds is partially sighted in one eye and the other eye isn't great either!
He's moved up from yellow band to orange this term. Now he can see.

DD too - she is visually impaired - but she is also a swotty girl! DS was just a bit lazy ;-)

Honestly though - by the end of Y2 they are mostly all much of a muchness!

DS 5, Jan birthday - ORT 7, in top phonics set in outstanding school in very middle class area. ORT 6 for June born sounds great.

Ort stage 6 at this stage is very good. That's where he should be at the end of year 1. And, now he can see, he'll be eating through the levels.

Ds1 summer born band 10

Also started wearing glasses 6 months ago

Two bands above year 2 brother

I find these reading posts totally stressful....!!

My April born yr 1 boy has just been moved up to stage 4 ORT - he's chuffed to bits and I'm happy he's making progress. His school do seem to make them read every bloomin' book of the stage though - he was cruising through the last 15 or so books he got!

Anyway - sorry OP! From what I have researched stage 6 is the top expected level for yr 1 so he sounds like he's doing great!

Stage 2 here. Tearing hair

Don't get stressed, ChalkyC. My year 1 daughter has been moved to gold from orange, so did not read anything from the two levels in between. In a school like yours, she'd still be working at a lower level. It does not mean anything.

Her school's approach to reading is erratic and a bit worrying (books not changed very often, reading diary goes unchecked, daughter brings back random books from varying book bands except gold etc...). Your school sounds much more thorough.

My summer dd acts very young for her age all the time dd didnt start to read until near end of Reception. But her reading age is fine now and she became free reader by mid yr3 meaning her reading age was approx 10.5+ then. She s one of the top spellers in her year too. Strange but true. She had a lot of problems in infant school and was labeled sn but didnt give her any extra reading support. I dont think her infant teachers would believe how well she progressed. I think she was at red band before yr1. I would just keep going and let her read whatever she wants to read. As long as she started reading and recognising words.

May I ask what the point is of these reading levels? Is it to compare/assess kids across the UK? What is it a good predictor of?

I hear so much about these reading levels and there seems to be so much variation. My son is 3 and I am lost as to what this all means and when I should start worrying about all these reading levels business. Are they a necessary part of assessing kids? Is there a similar assessment for maths and writing?

There isn't any point in them beyond they help teachers to select books of a similar "level" based on number of words per page, length of words etc they don't actually match current teaching methods at all.

DD3 is still on dark pink books. She's April born. She'll get there, I guess.

I used to go in and listen to pupils reading in year 1. Ability range was vast, less so at end of year

August born DD was on Pink in September and is Orange now. She's massively behind behaviourally and in her ability to focus but we console ourselves with her reading level!

Yes this would be around the average at our school so I wouldn't worry but I would find out why in lower phonics set so you can support at home.

I have been reading with year one children for about 6 years and there is a huge range of levels in this year. Some children are on red or yellow and others on orange or turquoise. Orange is great at this stage in year one and nothing to worry about IMO

Ds is May born and is on Gold band but can't remember what level that equates to as the school has a huge range of books not just ORT ( and some of the books are a lot older than me!). There's only ds and one other girl on Gold in ds's year and there are some on pink so a huge range and orange is great!

Gold is 9

DS is an August born Yr 1. He's still on Red books. Looking up the bands I can see why he's apparently "significantly behind where he needs to be" according to his teacher. Jesus Christ, he's 18 months' behind. He just says he find reading and writing hard and has no interest in reading by himself or pointing out words in books, only in being read to.

It's just so demoralising isn't it? He's on the table with 3 other children including those with English as a 2nd language and TA assistance, but has a great vocabulary when you speak with him or engage him with things outside of school. He just seems to go into his shell at school.

Sorry Soul, I didn't mean to crash into your thread with a one-mum pity party.

My 7 year old is about three bands behind the average for his age

As long as he is making some progress I'm not too worried

He started year two on blue band (4) and is now on turquoise he has got a lot better this year and seems to find it easier