Purple band and above books

[Kanga59]

Sorry, it's another book band question.

My son has been bringing home purple books since start of term. The last couple of weeks, he hasn't had any tricky words and his reading has been great and good comprehension. He finishes a book over two nights (32 pages).

I asked the teacher if he could try a higher band over half term and she sent home a couple of lime and gold books.

the reason I asked her, was because his comprehension is fine and he isn't getting any tricky words. And I'd like to see him continue to decode and get stuck on words occasionally, to feel like he isn't standing still.

Anyway, the books she sent are fine. My issue is the length of them. With the purple books, if it's yet another magic key story then my son is happy to read it because he loves reading. But he isn't urging to turn the pages and continue with the book ,like he is if it's a story that grabs him or something like "titanic survivor".

I feel with the purple and above books, it's almost a waste of our time, spending time reading these long books. For the sake of a few new tricky words. It's taking time away from the stuff I know he will love reading and the books we choose together from the town library.

Now I don't want to just ignore the books they send him and read our own stuff, I don't want the teacher to think I'm not in board with what they are doing in school. Or is this the way that reading eventually goes?

Does anyone know of any higher book banded books, that are shorter than 32+ pages, but that are of that vocabulary and comprehension, or is the point of the higher bands that they are long aswell?

I am now wondering if we have just suffered death by Biff & Chip these past few weeks.

I wouldn't think there are shorter books. One of the criteria for banding at that stage is that the books are longer.

How many nights are you taking to read the book?

After the purple level our school no longer uses the book bands. They have their own levels of Fiction and Non Fiction books starting at 0 to 4. Each level has a huge range of books from lots of reading schemes. My DS favourite, in Fiction 0, were from the Happy Family range. He could finish these in a night or 2 if he was tierd. He also enjoyed the Jack Stalwart series at a slightly higher level.

I have been using Project X Alien Adventures with my son (6) to supplement his Biff/Chip School books.

Have a look at Book People. Series 2 would probably be more appropriate for your son.

Alternatively, perhaps consider Usborne Young Reading Series 2/3. Although these are averaging about 64pp (amazon sell them ).
www.usborne.com/downloads/book-bands/urp-book-bands-nc3.pdf

My little boy (Y2) enjoys the DK reader Star Wars and Marvel books - lots of tricky words in them. They are quite long but he is engrossed and eager to read them so doesn't seem to notice the length. I bought them from the book people website £15 for a set of 15 books.

Do you think it's the length that's the problem, or more that these particular books aren't engaging to him at the moment? My DC would happily read hundreds of pages of the right thing but would baulk at 5 pages if it's not grabbing them. If it's just length then wait a bit and read more other stuff till he has a bit more speed and stamina. If it's interest then ... read more other stuff!

I'm sure there would be something in some scheme somewhere of a different flavour that he might like better, but does that help if the scheme your school have isn't working for him at the moment?

When you get to the higher levels it becomes less about decoding and more about other reading skills though. (including being able to read longer texts and keep track of the story!) Hence why the banded books are like they are!

If you want him to be exposed to "tricky words" then I'd suggest getting him to read something like a newspaper article (one aimed at children).

Can you explain why you are focusing on "tricky words" these are simply words that contain alternative spellings for the sounds the child won't have been taught at that stage and need to be taught so that the child can decode the word. By orange book bands the most common alternative spellings should have been taught and there shouldn't be any "tricky words"

I assumed OP means words that are tricky for the child, i.e. longer words/new vocabulary, so that the child keeps practicing decoding.

Yes that's right catkind. words that he couldn't work out.

The book people have a set of Biff and chip books at the minute about what happens when they are older. I think they are purple and higher.

The school Ds is at have Mr Majeika books as Lime my older Dc loved the stories in those .

Surely you don't need book band books for that, you just read stuff that's interesting, song lyrics, newspapers wikipedia pages, whatever they want to read. Sure, that meant I was asked to explain to my 5 year old what impotent meant, but it means she's had lots and lots of reading practice, even though we've never spent more than 5 minutes on reading books a week.

How long does it take to read 32 pages of a book? I've no idea what's normal, is it really that long?

IME children usually read the books of that length over two nights.

And it was about that stage that DN's school switched from giving 6 books a week to 3.

15 minutes on the school book should be plenty if he's not particularly enjoying it.

By orange band a child should be able to decode any word they meet although they may need support with the meaning of new vocabulary.

Lots of those higher band books have glossaries in too, to stimulate discussion with your child.

My 5 yr old loves the horrid henry early reader series. They are a lot more than 32 pages though but they are chapter books so there are natural breaks.

The school I work in has a really limited and quite boring selection of books once you get to purple band. We always encourage the children to record anything they read in their reading record, their school book, library book or a book they are really enjoying at home. Scheme books are definitely not the best way to develop a love of reading. Personally I would read 1 or 2 pages of the school book then much more of the book your DS has chosen per night.

By orange band a child should be able to decode any word they meet although they may need support with the meaning of new vocabulary.

And presumably which of many phonetically plausible pronunciations is correct? DD can certainly read anything and she's currently on Orange so seems sensible to me - only gets 1 or 2 books a week though, which don't take 15 minutes in total.

"And presumably which of many phonetically plausible pronunciations is correct? " children often self correct pronunciation if the word is already in their receptive vocabulary if not it's the role of the adult to supply the missing information as in all teaching/learning.

Thanks all for the wonderful help. The project x books are a hit and he's also enjoying some shortish early readers from the library.

ah that makes sense then about having no tricky words. i guess he is at the point where he decodes everything, albeit needing help with meaning of alien words.

Another loving the horrid henry books - my 6 year old.
He's disliking the books the school send, but will happily read a couple of chapters without arguing if it's a Horrid Henry one.