I know, I know: reading levels in Year 2

[IknowIknowIknow]

I KNOW you shouldn't compare, and children develop at different paces etc etc, but would you mind sharing what reading level (Oxford Reading Tree, with numerical levels, not the colours) your Year 2 child is on, and what month their birthday is?

Be aware none of the available charts match the expectations of the new curriculum.

Mrs that's interesting. How's it different?

Thanks for further replies. Mrz - yes, what does the new curriculum expect?

I'd be curious to know what guidance and teaching an able reader needs beyond a certain point. Genuinely curious - really honestly not trying to be snarky! Yr 2 children definitely do still need it obviously but what about yr 5 for example? My dd (age 9) is a real bookworm. She takes in books from home to read as her reading books. There is no input from school into what she should be reading, and she is not asked to read to anyone. She does not skip bits and has a very mature understanding of what she reads (I know this as she talks to me a lot about the books she reads). She can read aloud well when she chooses to (she sometimes reads to ds) but does not generally enjoy it. She loves The Hobbit, Susan Cooper ' s The Dark Is Rising series, Michael Morpurgo's books and demanded to read the first book of LotR but found it a bit heavy-going although she had loved having it read to her.
So should the school be directing her more in her reading? Are they doing her a disservice by just letting her get on with it? I'm pretty sure I was in the same position at her age and was just allowed to get on with it.

Dd is taught loads through the school reading books even at age 9. She can read most things fluently but that nothing in terms of what she gains with school-lead reading. For example:

With each book she'll get questions such as "which part of the book suggests this? how do you think xxx was feeling? What do you think they'll do next? Can you think of other words to covey similar meaning? What was the purpose of xxxx words? What do you think of the pace? Mood? How does the author do that? Etc etc

School lead reading gets kids analyzing the words, the punctuation and how together they create a sence of speed, tone, pace, mood, atmosphere etc. simply reading is the easy part I think. Any tone can be taught that eventually.

Whilst I encourage dd to read herself, I still hear her read to me 4x per week as discussion of the text will influence her own writing style etc in literacy. Send has great literacy skills as a result.

Also school schemes allow for a more suitable higher level text. For example dd brought home a stage 18 book on Sherlock holmes. The text was so difficult, we both had to discuss each chapter in turn as the plot was so complex and the wording/ old style language was as you can imagine in Sherlock Holmes. This was a very difficult book for her (and me!) introducing all the more complex literary styles without the blood, gore and bad language in the original books.

Dd would happily read David Williams everyday and whilst I encourage her to do so for pleasure, it's not testing her in terms of her literacy.

Reading the later level schemes allows able readers to get away from kid-type stories and read mature complex plots (demonstrating a variety of styles) but at an appropriate age iyswim!

I'm not keen on the Bowdlerised versions of classics in ORT. Something like Sherlock Holmes may be hard to read, but it is almost free of blood, gore and bad language, so why not just read the original? Whereas something like Jane Eyre becomes pointless when you remove the suppressed passion and desire, so why ask a 9yo to read a poor substitute and risk them saying at secondary school "Oh yes, I read JE years ago and it was a bit shit"? Take the wonderful language, madness and lust for power out of Macbeth and what is left?
Either read the original or read something else. Don't bugger around with second-rate versions of classics.

Most of the books in school reading schemes are not chosen just for the story but for their style. I'm not talking about ort in our case though.

Dd ort stops at stage 12 but the school reading scheme goes til 18. Some older style text isn't age appropriate but the style is still something kids need to get used to. Fun stories are fine but it doesn't expand their knowledge much.

Sherlock Holmes is a difficult style of text for any kid...you only have to read a chapter to find the language style complicated especially for a primary age kid. The books are also big. That would surely out them off. But that's just one example.

Personally I can't stand Jane eyre but the younger version will maintain kids interest enough to show how the author demonstrates mood, atmosphere and tension etc. it's not just about the plot - they tend to be just shorter which gives kids more time to cover variety of text which I think is key.

the reading scheme dd uses has loads of books but I wouldn't class them all as stories, some are articles, books that argue cases for and against something. The idea is that the books are chosen to demonstrate a variety of literary styles and to test their analytical skills - they've already proved they can read the words and kids can read for pleasure anytime.

Dec born. Level 15. Has to read all books in each stage before progressing. Still has level 16 to go, then is termed a free reader. All but two other children in (small, private) class free readers

Interesting. (I'm with you on the bowdlerised classics, Perspicacia.) I don't know if dd does much text analysis of that kind at school. It sounds more like the reading comprehensions she has for homework, although they are essentially SPAG sheets with a little reading comp thrown in - nothing at all sophisticated in the questions. I'll ask her, I think.

Her writing, though good, doesn't at all match with the level of her reading, which maybe indicates that she's not getting as much out of her reading as she could. I'm loath to start quizzing her myself on her own books though, for fear of sucking the enjoyment out of it. I did a largely literature-based MFL degree and it took a while before I really started reading for pleasure again afterwards!

DS2 and I wanted to murder Biff and bloody chip. Flat, uninteresting, uninspiring, humourless passages. My kids have got a huge amount from normal books and they read them with enthusiasm.

Years ago DS1's class teacher told me that quantity of reading is very important and that DD needs to read comfortably within his ability range. And that's how DS1 ended up with a level 6 in year 6 English

God yes, bloody Biff and Chip. Dd hot to the point where she used to read them in a deliberately bored, sarky voice and make silly remarks about them!

DSyr6 still likes Biff & Chip (nice & familiar).

DSyr2 was just made a free reader, I don't remember so much fan fare about it with my older ones. Thing is, DS still makes LOADS of mistakes when reading. People on MN (not sure I believe any of this) insist that he's obviously had terrible teaching and a horrendous lack of grounding in phonics.

DD is a Feb birthday. I am extremely proud of the progress she has made this year. She started yr 2 on level 3 (yellow) and is now on level 8 (purple) to say things have clicked for her is an understatement. I generally think book bands are a good thing but not when you attach ages and year groups to them.

The new curriculum States that pupils should be taught to "read aloud accurately books that are consistent with their developing phonic knowledge and that do not require them to use other strategies to work out word"

In other words phonic reading schemes which don't match the book banding system criteria which is mixed methods.

In addition to thus the expectations have changed (raised) for each year group

Very interesting Mrs. Thankyou. How much higher are the expectations?

It varies hugely between schools so this is unlikely to tell you anything imo.

I'm not sure how you could measure.

Thank you for further replies

Lots of info here. Thankyou

Comparisons between the old and new English curriculum, including word reading expectations and comprehension, are listed in this document (pages 7/8 have year 2 comprehension expectations new and old).

DD is a June born Year 1 but recently was reading with the top set in Year 2 who have just moved onto Lime - Level 11. DD has stayed on White - Level 10.

As it's a mixed class I know of the other levels for Year 2 and they range from Turquoise - Level 7 up to Lime - Level 11. So a wide range.

My year 1 grandson has completed all the 'ORT' colours and is a free reader. He can read any book in the school library however his comprehension is not always abreast of his reading skills. In terms of actual books he loves Oliver Moon, Roald Dahl, Mr Majeika and has begun to enjoy Tom Gates. His latest absolute favourite is Judy Blume's Superfudge.
His brother is in Year 3 and he was free reading by the Christmas of year 2. Their mum, my dd, was a very early self taught reader long before she started school.

DS, now year 2, was made a free reader in March of year 1 (March born). He was then allowed to "come off" ORT - praise the Lord - and read age-appropriate books from the school library. He is classed as g&t. Reads really widely now - current favourite is Mr Gum.

DD (yr2) is a Jan born & been a free reader since early year one. She adores reading.

A free reader in her school means taking a non scheme book home (although I provide her books). The school still use ORT up to L16 for reading in class to assess.

DS (now yr5) was on stage 11 at end of yr2. He is Aug born & did not develop a love of reading till early yr4.

We don't have any ORT books does that make every child a free reader?