I think my son has regressed and I blame myself!

[bangingmyheadoffabrickwall]

My DS is 5. He is in YR and in October 2016 he began the dandelion launchers. He has only
Progressed to unit 6 since then! His school has a pink sticker on them so am assuming they book band these!

I am a teacher but not at all familiar with these books as my school use a range of other books that are book banded.

He has basically been on these books for the past eight months!!!

Surely he should have progressed to red or even yellow by now even for home readers???

My children are assessed half termly and every one of them (admittedly Y1) have moved up at least 2 book bands the majority being 3-4 book bands!!

I blame myself! I don't know why I haven't picked up this sooner. It wasn't til I saw his friends book (I know, don't compare) and saw she was on blue band (very high for YR I know) but it actually brought to my attention that my son has not progressed!

We read ' Viv can run' tonight and he read it with no enthusiasm at all. I asked him why he wasn't reading as well as I know he can and he said reading the stories are boring and even he realised that this book hasn't only 4 worded sentences and one sentence to a page yet the book previous to THAT had two to three sentences per page.

I don't feel as though they have encouraged him enough and didn't to the easiness of these books he is reluctant to read.

He loves writing and writes all the time at home independently and sentences with capital letters and full stops. He is even reading phase 5 high frequency words.

Am I being too pushy? Am I barking up the wrong tree? Is the school not encouraging him enough?

Obviously speaking to school on Monday about it but wanted some views on these books!

Boys are different. Just read TO him and forget trying to get him to read. If he had be born in a different country he wouldn't even be in school by now. let alone sounding out F L O P P Y...

Does anyone ever read threads like this and wonder if UK education has gone mad?

In what way?

Luckily he isn't being expected to sound out F l o p ee

Don't be too hard on yourself, there is a reason gp's don't diagnose and treat their own families!

My ds was on pink books for ages, think he was lacking confidence in his phonics knowledge. I found many of the reading scheme books, at this level especially, a bit bland. Biff, Chip and Kipper seemed marginally more exciting, we bought a pack of these from the book people. We also bought Julia Donaldsons songbird series, again these were a bit lighter.
If I were in your shoes (I was this time last year) I would not worry about reading scheme books too much, get out lots of rhyming picture books, and get him to read along with you. My ds used to do 'the last words' so the ones that rhymed, so he had quite a few clues and to begin with I'd start sounding out the first letter. He then would sound out or do some I knew he knew like 'the' and 'dog'. We had a list of tricky or high frequency words from school, which we used to play 'silly stories' with, so I would start the story with (home made) flash card in hand, something like 'once upon a time there was a (dog- hold up flash card) and he had a (big- hold up flash card) stick' - this means the word had some context and it was also funny as you could make them a bit silly and inspire a giggle. I can send you our list if you like, but imagine you have a word list? I think if you can re inspire his love of reading over the summer break, he'll start year one ready and raring. (I would brief dh and grandma that they need to read with him EVERY day)

Awww! thank you everyone!

I am calming down. I am panicking especially as they said he was doing great at school - no issues. In fact, no real information on what he is able to do, what he needs to work next on (next steps).

I am beginning to wonder if maybe I actually bombard my own class parents with too much. Parents evening is very much as 'your son is lovely, he's doing really well, he has no issues'!

Just to put it out there, I am not going to go into school angry or demanding 'this or that'. I simply want it explaining to me how reading is taught in YR and why my child has not progressed through the dandelion launchers as quickly as he should judging by his phonic ability group and the HFWs he is bringing home.

My son has just finished Y1 and is 6.5. His school uses read write inc for phonics and Oxford Reading Tree - he has not been overly keen on reading. We have just restarted using the free ebooks on Oxford Owl and he loves the Project X series, which I think is designed with reluctant male readers in mind.
However I agree that we do push childen too early and risk them being switched off learning. Reading a fun book to your child which he/she loves, or is interested in, is more important at this age. Would your DP do this?

We now read picture books (as opposed to graded reading scheme books) he wants to read together, a few words or a sentence each, depending on the difficulty. He also loves non-fiction lift the flap books (Usborne make some great ones) and he manages the small chunks of reading himself.
I volunteer in one of the local school's reception classes to listen to the children who are struggling with their reading or whose reading isn't listened to at home. Most children there don't get regular individual reading with the teacher or TAs as they don't have time with a class of 30, once all the required interventions are carried out.
Good luck OP - hope you & your DS get to relax & share some lovely inspiring books over the summer

Well knock me down with a feather!

I am already registered with Oxford Owl as my school follow Inspire Maths. I didn't even notice.

Will find a large rock to hide behind ...

Dds school didn't teach her to read, I did that. They did phonics lessons but didn't relate it to reading. Slowly and only Letters and Sounds. They did guided reading which was all " look at the picture/ first letter of the word/ shape if the word".

She spent half an hour a day silently reading to herself for most of y1 and 2. She's read to a teacher it teaching assistant about 10 times in her school career-Y3.

I did it myself with the help of mumsnet and their friends :). It will be so much easier for you as you don't have to learn like I did.

I suppose I'm saying, don't stress, do it yourself. You're not likely to change anything at school so channel your energy into actually doing it.

I'm not in education but I do read very widely, of the Ken Robinson/John Holt type, and it seems to me that reading and learning to read has become hugely over complicated and pathologised somehow, possibly for the benefit of those who prescribe the (largely arbitrary) curriculum. Personally I believe that most children will learn to read in their own time, when ready, a bit like potty training! There seems to be so little focus on the individual and everything is about levels and tests instead of the actual function of reading.

I will introduce the e-books on Oxford Owl tomorrow. I think he will like it on the tablet and definitely doing the activities.

The biggest issue I have is why his reader is not matching his ability in phonics seeing as it seems to be his only reader.

He was one of the first to begin actual reading in his class. To be at 'level 6' of the Dandelion Launchers stuns me! He should be finished or just about finished!

And his reading log does not actually detail any issues!

Eggplantssundays - I totally agree with what you say!

I feel like it's a catch 22 situation though. Damned if you do and damned if you don't.

My son was great with his phonics and red words, but it didn't translate to reading. Then one day it clicked and he was away!
His teacher is not keen on pushing them rapidly through the stages, and prefers they build up confidence and find the reading easy.
Be careful where you put your fingers on the Oxford Owl ebooks - we had some funny things (frozen screens) happen. Now I just don't touch!
Active Learning from Pearson is also great, but you have to pay. They have fun maths games too.

"This supports 'guided reading' just calls it shared reading" guided reading isn't the same as shared reading they are two separate things.

Shared Reading
In shared reading, the teacher leads the class in reading or chanting a text a book, poem, or message on a chart that is often enlarged for the whole class to see. Shared reading allows students to observe the reading process and to practice reading strategies or concepts in the safety of a group. The same enlarged text is read and reread several times over a few days. Initially the teacher takes the lead, and then gradually pulls back as students progressively master the text. In each reading, children are encouraged to focus on or discover new concepts about print.
Guided Reading
In guided reading, the teacher guides small groups of students in reading short, carefully chosen texts in order to build independence, fluency, comprehension skills, and problem-solving strategies. The teacher often begins by introducing the text and modeling a particular strategy. Then students read to themselves in quiet voices as the teacher listens in, noting strategies and obstacles, and cuing individual students as needed. Students then discuss content, and share problem-solving strategies. Guided-reading materials usually become increasingly challenging and are often read more than once. The teacher regularly observes and assesses students' changing needs, and adjusts groupings accordingly. Guided reading allows a teacher to provide different levels of support, depending on the needs of the students.

Both were part of the now scrapped National Literacy Strategy.

Book banding is closely linked to guided reading and the failed Searchlights method. I can see why teachers cling to them but the criteria used to decide bands doesn't match the new curriculum at all.

Do you know which phonics programme your child's school uses because Dandelion books are written to support a linguistic phonics approach which is very different to that found on Reading Eggs (balanced literacy) and Oxford Owl.

Mrz-letters and sounds (using jolly phonic actions). I am assuming this because in the school based Nursery he was using jolly phonics (childminder also did this) and had completed phase 2 successfully before leaving nursery and WAS reading cvc words then.
His HFWs he comes home with match EXACTLY what is taught in the phase of letters and sounds.

I am sure I have asked before and they have said 'jolly phonics'.

Your DH sounds awful - did the school not do parent sessions on phonics and reading to drill the importance of daily reading?

Anyway, just make sure you've got plenty of books at home for your ds and you can play catch up over the summer.

It's playing on my mind (obviously).

I wouldn't have minded so much if he was using the Dandelion Launchers as a home reading scheme and using a separate scheme/book for reading at school but he isn't!

TBH early on, I asked about HOSM home reader being changed more often as some weeks it was 10 days! I was told them that the head (now left - wasn't there long) wanted to scrap home reading. The teachers were against it as were parents and it was kept. Nobody said Shen would scrap guided reading so the only book he reads I see that one Dandelion Launcher but we read it once and waited for it to be changed (Wednesday's but seemingly the day has changed now) because it was so easy. He flew through them. I didn't see any point in going over something he found a chore and we had exhausted the 'comprehension side of things op' during our time reading.

I just want to emphaise (seeing as a poster above has no sympathy for me as a teacher who never noticed her child hadn't moved up the book bands that THIS book he brings home was 'sold to me' as a home reader, a book we enjoy that's is not instructional. At no point did the school say that this was his ONLY book and it isn't certainly NOT instructional. My own failings aside, the school should be teaching my child to read a book that I am instructional not piss easy that he was managing way back in October!

Not HOSM his! Bloody iPhone!

I work late too and everything changed for us when i read for 5 mins in the mornings instead of evenings- could you try this?

His home reader should be matched to his current phonic ability (skills and knowledge) if it isn't there's a problem. Either he's not demonstrating what you see at home to his teacher or the school isn't ensuring books are closely matched and are simply moving him through the books very slowly. At unit 6 not all the initial sounds are secure.

The Dandelion launchers are very simple books and are usually used in parallel to the Dandelion Readers books which offer slightly more challenge.

Thank you Mrz! It is exactly what I thought! But for them to tell me that his reading is fine at parents evening in March ... plus I know he has been 'signed off' on the phonemes learnt during phase 2 and 3 (2 being in nursery and phase 3 he knew securely by Christmas) means I have every reason to be suspect.

I am hoping he had a dandelion reader at school too! I am hoping they can prove me wrong. But if I find out that they have failed my son ... well... I am not sure what to do!

Ktown - yes we often do that sometimes but on my days at work, not possible as he is at the childminders for 7am! Struggle to get him up at 6:30 never mind read too. It's these days I don't get home til 6:30 BUT my mum and DH have been told to read with him.

Thank you again. I feel like I have no choice but to take his learning into my own hands. Teacher or not, i shouldn't have to do this.

Dandelion books don't follow the phases

Sorry missed out stupid phases