lower group in literacy not helping ds learn

[mumoftheAteam]

My little boy is in y1 and is in the lower literacy group for reading and writing. He has a late summer birthday so is one of the youngest in class, and whilst he's not as good as others in his class, he is very bright and loves to learn. At the end of reception his report card said he was where he needed to be in all areas except writing where he was "emerging".

Going into year 1 he has been given very basic reading books (pink and red) and very basic words to memorise (it, an, as, in). It's all very easy for him and i feel he needs to be challenged more.

I feel that some of the words he knew off by heart last year (e.g like "going", "into" etc) he is now forgetting as they are giving him lower level stuff.

I also worry he is getting forgotten about a bit as he goes to a very over subscribed school that are big on academic achievements so focus on the higher and middle ability kids.

Anyone else experienced this or have any advice? Mich appreciated.

This isn't about 'lower literacy group' this is about being given work that is too easy for him and isn't bringing him on.

If they are big on academic achievement they should be focussing on all children not just middle and high ability.

Did you read with him over the summer regularly?

Is it possible he is not showing his capability at school due to e.g. shyness?

Ask the teacher to have a word, and say you are concerned he is stalled in progress / not being stretched.

What reading are you doing at home? You can get books from the library or via e.g. The Book People if you feel books home from school aren't hard enough.

I am a bit baffled, how can he forget " going" or "into"? Unless he is memorising words instead of decoding, he shouldn't forget them. If his phonics knowledge is secure, he should be able to read what he was able to read last year.

He can decode the words, its just that last year he was reading them without needing to decode out loud.

We get him to read the books the school give him each night, and over the holidays we did more writing practice with him than reading, but his reading has always been ok- just the writing that was "emerging".

He seems to be going backwards is all. Not shy at school but i do think he struggles with confidence when he sees others doing better than him. He has told me a few times after school "I'm not good at anything". We encourage him loads of course and tell him he is great at loads of things.

If you didn't read much over the summer then when tested at the start of y1 he could have gone backwards compared with where he finished reception. Other children who continued to read daily would have improved.

I don't understand why he's been given words to memorise. Very poor practice.

Do you get books with him from the library? I would do this and see what level of books he's comfortable with. (He should be able to read the book only pausing for help with 5-10% of words). I agree with PP that if he didn't read much over the summer he might have temporarily regressed and been assessed as being behind. Does he have a reading log? Have you commented with your concerns?

I used reading chest with dd from feb of yr r (summer birthday) and she could read anything by the end of year r. Still ahead of most of the year now in year 2.
The advantage was beibg able to read extra books at a higher level chosen by me.
Because school read with them about every 2w but that was either ta/parent helper so the kids were not assessed except termly (and not very well!!) An able child progresses so much better with more storyline, more words for practice.

I would have a chat with his class teacher about his school reading books being easy for him and I would go to the library every weekend and let him choose a wider variety.

If you are worried about his reading ask for him to be benchmarked - this will give a very accurate assessment of both his decoding and comprehension skills (which are key to selecting books at the right level!)
There are many more factors to grouping for reading other than reading a word!

If he's in Y1 his reading book should match his current phonic knowledge and skills.
Benchmarking is based on discredited whole language methods and has no place in the classroom.

Maybe it's to build confidence or comprehension? My son is reading yellow books. In reception he had got to blue level but this year's teacher spoke to me to explain she was putting him back to yellow just to increase his confidence when reading out loud. He's never had a problem reading any of the words in his books but I do now see a real improvement in his expression when reading out loud. Try and have a word with the teacher if you can so you know you he's not being overlooked. At my son's school they read 3 times p/w with the teacher and the teacher fills in a diary with comments. Is there anything like that at your school? If so... even a little note for the teacher there just explaining you feel your son is capable of more.

The statutory curriculum says

read aloud accurately books that are consistent with their developing phonic knowledge and that do not require them to use other strategies to work out words

re-read these books to build up their fluency and confidence in word reading.

.

Norestformrz

I've never known any child or school manage to teach so that zero non phonic knowledge is needed. No child decodes the word "the" for example, they just learn it. My eldest was a natural sight reader and learned words as he went (although could decode confidently when needed).

Look at oxford owl online and sign up for the free books

It's the same as most schools reading schemes

I've never known any child or school manage to teach so that zero non phonic knowledge is needed. No child decodes the word "the" for example, they just learn it

Plenty of schools teach this way. And even the government’s own publication, which is followed by most schools, doesn’t say the ‘tricky words’ should be taught by sight. You point out the tricky part and then blend in the same way you would a word that is decodable with the child’s current phonic knowledge.

If you don’t know a school that does this, then that’s more a reflection on the lack of good quality training for teachers than anything else.

"I've never known any child or school manage to teach so that zero non phonic knowledge is needed." It's worrying that these schools are still so misinformed

No child decodes the word "the" for example, they just learn it.
You may learn it at the start but once you've got the digraph TH and you know that sometimes E can sound like UH you can decode it.