Year 4 Lime Books and struggling

[CoperCabana]

Would really appreciate any advice. DD1 is 8 and summer born and just started year 4. She hates reading and it is a battle to get her to read. She is slow, uses her finger and guesses unfamiliar words, usually incorrectly. She has had a reading intervention every year but remains working within year group at the end of each year, but never at end of year standard. She passed her phonics screen though. I read all the time and read to both girls most nights. I will admit I have not enforced her reading every night because it is such a battle. I work full time, have health issues and she flies off the handle a lot. However, I am making a renewed effort this term, have made her a chart with rewards for daily reading etc. But she really does struggle. She met end of year standard in both maths and literacy so school are saying there cannot be an underlying problem like dyslexia. I just don't know what to think but how bad is lime in year 4. Is this recoverable? Do I need to force an intervention of some sort? I trust the school overall, but the teachers she has had in the last couple of years have been relatively newly qualified, and this year she has yet to read with a teacher but I guess this will be because most kids are free readers now?

Would appreciate any advice.

Most schools have their own levels I think but the Oxford reading tree lime is age 7-8 so nothing to get stressed out about.
I would find something she enjoys reading....comics, pony books, flower fairies, secret seven...whatever and try make it enjoyable. I think getting her to a stage where she likes reading is the best thing you can do

I sympathise with the problem finding time to get the dc reading every night - I was fine with dc1 but for a while found it hard with dc2 as well. We really saw a lot of progress when we rigorously ensured dc2 read aloud for 15 minutes a day, for a term: better accuracy, fluency and expression. We continued it for a school year before moving to alternate between 20 mins aloud and 20 minutes silent reading.

Thanks both. Really appreciate the advice. I have been desperately trying to find 'the book' that inspires her. Every time she mentions one she is interested in, I buy it, but it soon fizzles out. She has so many books now! I suspect I am putting her off by being so intense. I am now enforcing the 15 minutes a day, so good to hear that does pay off. I am generally a pretty relaxed parent, but her younger sister in year 1 is not that far behind on reading already, and I know some of the kids in year 1 are only a band or two below lime. I have DESPERATELY tried to not fixate on the bands, and have kept telling myself she will get there, but I worry I am doing her a disservice or missing something.

Thanks again for the advice / reassurance.

If she isn't keen on reading a book but willing to do quick 5 minutes reading/ comprehension exercise as an alternative, I recommend these sites. My ds sometimes read me an article from these sites instead of reading a book when we don't have time. Especially readworks are good since you can pick an articles yourself, that suit your interests. Doing everyday as pp said is the key to progress, ime.

readtheory.org/

www.readworks.org/

I'd speak to the school, say you think she's a little behind and can they offer any extra help. This come in the form of an intervention, or it could be that she goes on the list for reading with a volunteer.
Don't assume that her reading history has been passed on to her new teacher; the handovers that I've seen in the last several years have been pretty sketchy, especially if her reading is only a bit behind. FWIW, I think Lime band is the equivalent of an old 3C, so she isn't a lot behind, maybe not as much as a year.
Most schools use a tracker system to check progress, so it will flag up eventually which children are not progressing as well as expected. However it will probably take till after Christmas before much happens, which is why I would suggest flagging it up with the school now. It might be worth speaking to the SENCO/Inclusion manager to ask what they can do to help - in my experience this means that then the teacher and the SENCO are aware of the issues, and the teacher may get a bit more help to support your child.
I agree with what other people have said about enjoying reading being important, and if it turns into a chore at home, then she won't enjoy it, and your time together in the evenings will not be fun for either of you. Keep reading to her, from a book that she can see, talk to her about books, just go for anything that might interest her rather than what is "good" for her. Maybe get her to help you by reading instructions for things, reading to younger siblings/cousins. Try comics, recipes, TV guide, anything that crops up in daily life.

Do you visit the library (I know full time working makes it hard, but we go on Saturdays)? It'll save on book costs for sure.

Does your daughter read for pleasure? By lime stage, kids can read a variety of books, including comics, for pleasure, and even if they aren't reading every word/aren't doing school-ish reading/are flipping through the book, they'll be practicing nonetheless.

Can you introduce a reading for pleasure time (with library books to keep it fresh)? My kids get to "stay up" and read in bed past bedtime (they go to bed 15 minutes early, get to read 30 minutes, and have stayed up for 15 whole minutes -- I win 15 extra minutes of kidfree time too).

Try to get daily reading in, even if it's only for a few minutes. If you can get your daughter reading for pleasure, then that practice will make a huge difference. Lime isn't terribly behind for Year 4 anyways.

Thanks so much again for all the advice. Yes library visits are tricky but will try. I did the stay up later than your sister and read thing last night, and that does seem to work. She also told me this morning about a book she has found really interesting at school so I have found another one in the same series on Amazon. I know the teacher has been assessing them all in the first few weeks but I don't think she has read with him yet. Hopefully it will be her turn soon but I will also try and speak with him.

Thanks for the reassurance about the levels. I should stop reading all the mumsnet posts about free readers in reception probably!