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Primary education

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Original poster

are yellow reading books OK at that stage in reception?

28 replies

Coffeemachine · 02/02/2016 15:55

that's where DC2 is in. school say it is fine but I don't trust them fully.

DC1 has severe learning difficulties and ASD - I haven't got an idea therefore what is typical/within expected range.

OP posts:
screamingeels · 02/02/2016 16:06

Do you mean now in term 2? In which case: yes, fine - probably a bit ahead. If you google book bands, expected ages you can find plenty of charts on this (many which of which line up to old national curriculum expectations).

The sort of averge expectation on this is shown on reading chest. www.readingchest.co.uk/book-bands pink/red/yellow for reception, so yellow likely to be next term. But I think normal distribution is up to 2 bands either side of this and plenty of kids will show wider variation.

catkind · 02/02/2016 16:11

That would have been the top group of DS class. They didn't put them up till they were reading a level very fluently though.

Original poster
Coffeemachine · 02/02/2016 16:19

OK, thanks.sounds fine then.Smile

OP posts:
Fayrazzled · 02/02/2016 16:50

Yellow level books at this stage of reception is ahead of expectations. The expectation is children will be on yellow level books term 1 of year 1.

In light of the new national curriculum, we are moving children at a much slower pace through book bands as they must demonstrate a greater comprehension of the text, as well as an ability to decode, than previously.

Original poster
Coffeemachine · 02/02/2016 17:15

reassuring. I always worry I don't do enough with her as DC1 takes up most of my energy/time

OP posts:
EnidClowes · 02/02/2016 18:02

Blimey my DD is on red but ahead in her class. Should they be moving them so slowly?

screamingeels · 02/02/2016 18:03

That's interesting Fayrazzled - I think going slower, surer is probably the better course.

SmallGreenBouncyBall · 02/02/2016 18:07

any reading is good in reception.
imo

Jengaaddict · 02/02/2016 18:09

Daughter on yellow. Most advanced in class by a distance. She's 5 already and although couldn't read before school knew all of her phonics sounds. School supporting her to attend Year 1 literacy once a week. She's far exceeded my expectations tbh. Everyone else is red

bluespiral · 02/02/2016 18:53

DD is in reception and has been on yellow books since last term. No idea what anybody else in the class is on though.

Jengaaddict · 02/02/2016 18:59

Sorry just checked DD book bag. She is green. She's only just gone up so I'm confused. But like I say she's doing well and yellow is above everyone else

Ferguson · 02/02/2016 19:21

Although there are general average expectations, 'Reading Levels' is probably not an exact science, and different children in different schools may not 'match up' to the correct colours:

www.readingchest.co.uk/book-bands

Even though your two children have different needs and may be on different 'levels', could you not sometimes have them working together, and sharing books or activities? Or would that be too disruptive?

They might enjoy this book:

An inexpensive and easy to use book, that can encourage children with reading, spelling and writing, and really help them to understand Phonics, is reviewed in the MN Book Reviews section. Just search ‘Phonics’ and my name.

Letustryagain · 03/02/2016 14:54

DD finished Reception on Purple and was at least 4 levels ahead of the next child. So Yellow at that stage in Reception is really good.

Just hijacking slightly... DD is now in Y2 and has been on Lime level since 3rd term of Y1. As others are (naturally) improving whereas she was the only one on Lime level, there are now 5 of them on that level. I asked why she hadn't moved to Free-reader (they move to this after Lime in DD's school) as the Y2s when DD was in Y1 moved to Free-reader when she moved to Lime.

They said that they wouldn't be moving any children to Free reader until Y3/KS2. I'm wondering if this is also to do with the change in the curriculum this year...

Letustryagain · 03/02/2016 15:02

Sorry that sounded really confusing... What I meant to say was that essentially if they're not moving any children to Free reader until they reach KS2, DD will effectively be on the same level for over a year!! Luckily she reads what she wants at home but it seems completely crazy to keep her where she is when she is more than capable (both in reading and comprehension terms) to move up. When the Y2s last year were doing their SATS, she was in the group doing the Level 3 paper (in her case for practice because she was just Year 1) because they were all reading at that level. That was nearly a year ago... Ggrrrr...

Sorry OP - I didn't mean to use your thread to have a rant... as you were. Blush

WhattodoSue · 10/02/2016 08:57

Letustryagain - that sounds ludicrous to me. DD's school don't stop at lime, they go through the ORT KS2 levels, sp all the way to stage 16 (sapphire). And whilst that means my Y2 DD isn't free reading, it also means they are still working on improving the skills beyond comprehension and decoding that they all need (e.g. Being able to make explicit implicit understanding). It seems rediculous to stall a child's learning artificially. I would talk to them. I know you are only a parent, but if they want to keep children on a reading scheme beyond lime they should invest in levels beyond lime! Otherwise it seems to me they are teaching the child that school (and learning) reading is boring. Not a good lesson!!

WhattodoSue · 10/02/2016 08:58

I should add she is free reading at home, but she would have gotten incredibly bored and annoyed if they had kept her on lime!

user789653241 · 10/02/2016 09:30

Letustryagain, my ds became lime during spring term in reception, and officially stayed lime until end of yr2. But he was allowed to read whatever he liked. I think what level she is doesn't really matter as long as she is allowed to read other books than just lime books.(Or she read other books at home.)
Now in yr3, he is officially ruby level(last level for ks2 in his school), but he is still allowed to read what ever he likes.

WhattodoSue · 10/02/2016 10:05

Irvine101 I just don't get why schools would do that. If they have the higher bands, why not just move the children through it in a more natural progression. It seems so artificial. DD's school go through to Ruby (was thinking about DD's level when I put Saphire - which isn't stage 16), but they let KS1 read those levels of they are ready to. I don't totally get them as books, because despite what they are apparently levelled up, the vocabulary isn't massively challenging.

WhattodoSue · 10/02/2016 10:07

If they are ready, not of Smile

user789653241 · 10/02/2016 10:37

WhattodoSue, I had a same question at first, and asked the teacher. Answer was, they are only allowed to go up to nc level3 in ks1.
As he wasn't forced to read book band books, I just made sure he was reading appropriate books from library or home.

WhattodoSue · 10/02/2016 17:01

I guess that provides an answer Irvine101, but I don't understand why that would be the case! Seems odd! But if your DS didn't have to read the books, I guess it would make no practical difference!

HarveySchlumpfenburger · 10/02/2016 18:00

It probably wouldn't have made much difference even if he did have to read the books. As you say the vocabulary in the books isn't that much more challenging. The same skill being worked on at higher levels can still be worked on in the lime level books.

It's not true that they could only go to level 3 either. The test only goes to level 3, but TA, which was the result reported to the LA, didn't have a limit. Or at least not one that ks1 children were likely to reach.

user789653241 · 10/02/2016 18:04

Yes, I thought it was odd too. If he had to read lime books over 2 year period, I would have done something about it. But teacher was completely ok with him reading any books he choose, I didn't think there was no point of making a fuss. After all, it was better to choose his favourite books from library or home, rather than limited choice of school books. He didn't suffer from staying on same level over 2 years.

user789653241 · 10/02/2016 18:07

Rafa, I know it wasn't true. They gave him level4 for maths in the end.

MissRabbitHasTooManyJobs · 10/02/2016 18:10

Dd in top group and is a great reader but still on pink, one other child is red according to her mum and she is being assessed for asd. Yellow seems advanced but school must know your ds is capable.

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