Year 1 Reading Books

[PasDevantLesElephants]

My DD was slow to get started with reading in reception, but now in Y1 it's really clicked and she's in the top group. Her group have just started on the AR scheme and she's working through the levels quickly, but the books she's bringing home are not really challenging her yet.

She gets 2 AR books a week and then 1 normal reading book. The reading books she's brought home have always been a bit easy for her (as in she can read the whole thing with no input from me), and before she started AR I was getting her books at least a couple of levels higher from The Reading Chest and she was doing really well.

I cancelled the Reading Chest subscription when she started AR as we weren't really getting time to read them on top of the school books but I've noticed that her reading has slipped a bit since then as she's not being challenged.

Today she's come home with a (school) book which she rattled through easily before Christmas when it came from Reading Chest which is obviously ridiculous. I want to speak to her teacher about this again, but when I have before I've been fobbed off and told she has to stay at the same level as her group. It's frustrating as I know that's not true because there are two children in her class who are able to move through reading levels at their own pace are consequently much further ahead.

How can I get the teacher to give her challenging books without seeming like a pushy bitch? It's so frustrating to see her say she doesn't want to read books which are boring, but I can see her point. What to do, or does it not really matter? I can't tell at this point!

Don't think you can force school to give appropriate books if you've already asked and they're not interested - so maybe just read other stuff. I'd probably do one school book a week and go to the library for challenging/interesting books for the rest of the time. (Well actually, we're currently not kicking up any fuss about DC rejecting school books completely, but the school books on offer in our case are pretty dire and have no plan or learning point to them. )

It doesn't feel that far from the end of the school year anyway, hopefully new teacher will do things differently.

AR has placement tests and the books she's given should,in theory, match her reading ability, based on the test results. It's a flawed system IMHE

Does she have a reading diary that you fill in whenever she reads? If so, do you write "[Child] read this book in x minutes with no trouble. She said that she found it very easy"?

Also, whenever she reads another book from home, write in her reading diary then too. Include stuff like new words and how many pages she reads at a stretch. The reading diary is there to communicate how she is getting on with reading between home and school so there's nothing too pushy about including this information.

Having said that, provided she reads stretching books every day at home, it won't really matter what sort of books she brings back from school. If she whizzes through the school book, it will leave longer for the home book.

If you're not getting the opportunity for her to try more advanced books through school, I would suggest library books to supplement her reading at home. As previously said, note down any reading of other books too, not just school readers. When I've had children who are reluctant readers (different from your case, obviously), I have asked that any reading they do at home is recorded.

Read your own or library books at home instead. We rarely read schools ones.

Is she getting 100% or close on all the online AR book quizzes? If so that should be a strong indicator to the teachers they should reassess her book level. Maybe you could ask what her quiz scores are (the teacher can get a printout recording every book she has done a quiz for, its book level and the score) and use that as a starting point for discussion with the teacher.

Does she always need to be stretched and challenged? She should also be able to enjoy a book and if she can read it confidently that's ok. Spend time discussing it with her and developing her comprehension and inference. Those skills are just as important as fluency, if not more.

Thanks for a your thoughts, I think the trouble is that with 2x AR books a week which we read two consecutive nights and a normal reading book, we don't have much time when 3 other homework tasks are factored in too. I tried ignoring the school books, but got a note in her reading diary saying we had to read them which was addressed to DD, not me, which then made her worry she'd be in trouble.

@mrz and @user1955 with the AR, she's whizzing through the levels as fast as possible (100% on each book) but the determination that she sticks with her group means that's not impacting on her book band IYSWIM. Hopefully the AR scheme will find her level eventually, but we're wading through lots of overly simple books to get there.

@CruCru yep, always fill out her reading diary noting what books (including non school books) she's read and which are easy/challenging. I noted when she went up a band with the Reading Chest books but it is never acknowledged at all.

@Pud2 I'm not desperate to push her or anything but she's bored with the easy books. She was enjoying the more complex stories in the white books and then to be handed turquoise and told she must read them means she's lost interest in reading to some extent.

Oh well, maybe I'll ditch the school books let her carry on with the AR ones because she likes getting to do the quizzes and as @catkind says, hope the Y2 teacher is more receptive.

Thanks again!

AR isn't intended for groups it's a way for teachers to monitor a child's independent reading practice.

@mrz sorry, I wasn't being clear. Her AR books and tests are individual. It's just that whatever progress she makes in terms of AR levels is not reflected in the level of the other (book band) reading books she's assigned because that's dictated by the level her reading group is at.