Book band ./stage confusion

[sallythesheep73]

Is a book band the same as book stage? our school uses ORT.
I noticed DS2 coming home with different book bands - 2, 3 and 4 in random order. Some of these the odd word is too hard and its not something he can decode. Some of the sounds they have not done in class.
So I asked about it on Friday and asked what book band he is and they said stage 2. Is stage 2 the same as Band 2? In which case why does the sometimes come home with Band 4 books?

They could be referring to the stage in their reading scheme rather than the bands on their book. Could be phase 2 of Letters and Sounds, for example: www.letters-and-sounds.com/phase-2.html

If your child's school uses a mixture of books from a range of schemes, some of them old, you may find that the books he brings home don't exactly match his phonics knowledge. It's regrettable, but not uncommon.

Thanks for this. I have looked and we are on phase 3 letters and sounds.

Are you looking at the number band on the book or the colour band? Some ORT books have numbers from an older classification which were later reclassified into colour bands in line with other schemes. So you may find all your 2,3,4s belong to the same say yellow band?

Or it could be that school have reclassified themselves to match better to their phonics teaching order.

I think it's okay to have the occasional word they can't yet decode - you can tell them the missing bit of code. At worst they've had a sneak peek at something to come later, and perhaps they'll remember it already. As long as it isn't so many it disrupts their flow of reading.

He comes home with anyone between book band 2 and 4 from school. Book band 4 is what they are meant to finish reception on?
I wouldnt mind only he is quite lazy so when he finds it hard it gives him an excuse to stop! I think he would be better off getting greater fluency with book band 2!

Could be someone's just getting muddled up and choosing from the wrong box. Could be school have tried to line up older books with their phonics scheme rather than using the book bands or colours on the book. As I say for some ORT the book band number and the colour band don't match because again there was some reclassification between editions.

Maybe have a word with the teacher and find out what's going on if you think some of the books are being too hard for him?

Don't worry about where they "should be" - some kids will finish reception on band 1, some will start reception on band 10.

Lots of the original Biff and Chip stories span 3 bookbands per Level. It’s because the stages pre-date the bookbands levelling guide and they are levelled using different criteria.

If the school are only using ORT, they probably aren’t using bookbands since there is no need.

Sometimes dd comes home with a book from a different band - I think some days the teacher runs out of correctly banded books, and dd happened to be last in the queue. If the book is too hard I read some of the words for her, or if it's too easy I ask some questions about the story as well.