DD gone back 3 reading levels in year 2

[bookwormbeagle]

Not sure what to think of this. DD started Y2 on level 10 ort reading scheme, always reads for pleasure every day and seems to enjoy it. I like reading too so we regularly visit the town library and give her free rein to choose her own.

All good at home but school don't seem to have registered this at all, she went up to lime and sapphire books for a while (until they ran out) and over the last couple of months she's brought home level 7 and 8 ort books which she's finding ridiculously easy. For context she's read all of the Roald Dahl collection (except Boy, Going Solo as not age appropriate yet), a gazillion rainbow magic fairies, tons of Enid Blyton stories, the worst witch etc.

Also annoyed that her reading diary has not been signed once by the ta all bloody year - only know she's seen it as there's a few green ticks scattered here and there. It's too late to do anything now but just wondered if this is normal in schools.

Also, her guided reading group have been reading chapter books for ages so they must know she needs to be on a different level.

We started the year , in Year 2, with some children on high (ish) reading levels, only to discover after a few weeks that the comprehension required just wasn't there, and ended up putting some back a couple of levels.
It was hard to do, and the parents were a bit , but it needed to be done.
Some children give the impression that they are great readers, use expression and can sight read unusual words, BUT, you ask them to explain vocabulary, or what is inferred by the text, and they haven't got a clue . Just being able to recount a story, or read chapter books doesn't necessarily mean they understand.

It could be that, and if it is for comprehension reasons and to develop her inference skills then I don't have an issue with that at all.

Towards the start of the year they seemed to be short on books and kept having to borrow them from the y3 classroom this carried on until spring term. It's really been since Easter that they've dropped down to earlier levels. Sats results were great, teacher assesment put her as ahead of age related expectations.
So don't think she is struggling with understanding things.

I don't think I agree with that jamdonut. Are there not more opportunities to work on vocab and inference at the higher level? NC says books should be matched to their decoding ability not their inference.

Hoping DD won't be stuck on a silly level because we just let her read and enjoy books and haven't practiced quizzing her on them! DS at a similar stage was quite good at inference as inferred from his general reaction to books, but put him on the spot with questions and you'd get "dunno".

Ah well nearly end of term now, will start afresh in September and see how we go.

Just keep on doing what you're doing- give her lots of brilliant books to read and talk to her about the books and the characters and what she thinks will happen next etc

The LSA not signing isn't great, keep an eye on it maybe next year? Does her teacher hear her read?

I think the teacher listens during the group guided reading sessions, but not sure other than that.

I'm well aware how stretched the teachers are, so don't expect them to be listening to her individually on a regular basis. My main concern (and she doesn't seem bothered by it at all, so it's probably just me over thinking it!) is that my daughter might think she hasn't made any progress this year - which is far from the truth.

Bookworm, oh yes, I can appreciate that. Such a shame that they're so stretched that it can't happen more.

Although it would be a shame, at least the teacher not realising can't actually 'undo' her reading skill, and as she is picking her own books and has access to challenging books, she will always progress regardless.

Hopefully next year she will be assessed more accurately early on.

Thank you Scary, will carry on as we are.

Incidentally, I loved the same books as your DD. I'm now an English teacher ☺️. I was very lucky that I had a great library in my village, free reign to pick my books at school, and plenty of people who let me read to them and talk about the books I read. And read to me! I honestly think that is sometimes just as important as listening to children read, when building their confidence with pronounciation, annunciation, expression and reading to demonstrate comprehension.

Enjoy the summer! Will she do the library challenge?

I'm not saying that you shouldn't let them read and enjoy books, of course you should, but be aware when it comes to the Ks1 SATS, (and I'm sure KS2) that is exactly what is being looked for! The children have to be able to give the 'right' answer, even if it is asking them something ' in their opinion' .
I'm just giving a possible reason for ' going backwards', and a suggestion to remedy that.

We try to listen to the whole class read in the space of a week, and also have Guided Reading , which should be at a level just above their take-home reading book, as well as all the other times with various subjects where they need to use their reading skills.
I just think that some people worry unnecessarily that their child hasn't read the entire Harry Potter, or Lord of the Rings by age 7. (I have to focus hard on Tolkien, and re-read passages for it to make sense...it seems incredible to me that young children can fully understand it!!)

Definitely Scary, she loved it last year! She's doing one through school too where you read the book then submit a book review.

It's sooo lovely seeing her enjoying books so much, had a little tear I my eye when she chose an abridged version of Black Beauty from the classics range (God I loved that book, poor Ginger, still makes me sob!)

Believe me Jamdonut I have no intention of forcing her to read books that are not age appropriate/beyond her comprehension. There are so many fabulous authors out there that there's just no need. She regularly chooses picture books if they appeal to her, not just chapter books.

Incidentally she took her ks1 sats this year and did incredibly well, 40/40 for reading and 57/60 for numeracy so we're very proud of her.

Bookworm, we had the inference chat in year 2, I felt my Dd had full understanding of what she was reading, her teacher felt she needed work on it, she told me she could not understand the characters, or predict what would happen next. She began not wanting to read, after being an enthusiastic reader, I found this a real shame, And decided to just let her read rather than keep trying to dissect the books, she was only 6 after all! Luckily her year 3 teacher let them read whatever they chose, once they reached a certain standard. She hasn't stopped reading since and has just scored full marks on reading test in year 6, I believe understanding comes after the love of something...

Our children choose their own home readers to take home. As a rule we listen to all children read 1-1 at least once a half term, some children are listened to daily. It all depends on how much support they need. Guided reading happens every week (sometimes twice) and children generally read a higher level book then you would expect them to read at home.

Have you tried speaking to the class teacher?

I am very skeptical of this idea that they need to fully understand everything they read. We pick up most of our more sophisticated vocabulary through reading, but most children don't use a dictionary to do so - it's seeing the word in context multiple times that consolidates and shapes the meaning you inferred, and your memory for it. Similarly with factual understanding - if you read books about pirates, you may not understand the facts about how the ship works right away, but keep reading and you gradually build up a picture, along with the accompanying terminology.

my ds's school doesn't put any importance on reading scheme books.
They do have kind of official levels(may be for grouping in school activities?), but allowed to read any book you like, as long as you read every night.

Just to let you know we had similar issues with some teachers not letting our DC onto higher level reading books when they were easily capable of reading and understanding them. My personal view is that small children may just not want to discuss everything they have read in fine detail - for some I actually think it can suck the joy out of reading. Depends in what context the discussion occurs of course.

Anyway my main reason for posting is that fast forward to Secondary and the teachers are very keen to get them reading some pretty complex literature. My DC, who teachers in the past made comments about 'not understanding text' (not my experience), has done brilliantly in English and has been actually praised for reading comprehension.