Moving up Reading levels in Reception

[HopeGarden]

DS2 started Reception this term.

He’s been bringing home pink band reading books since he started. The school splits pink into 3 levels and it’s the middle pink level he’s been getting.
He’s been managing these very well at home since the beginning of term, and the comments in his reading book from whoever’s been reading with him at school have also been very positive. (I don’t know whether it’s the teacher or TA reading with him at school)

Yet he hasn’t been moved up to the next book band.

So WWYD?

Ask the teacher what (if anything) he needs to work on to get moved up a band, or don’t say anything to the teacher and just get him slightly more challenging books out from the library for him to read at home?

I would supplement the school books with books from home. I've been a TA for over 15 years and in my experience the children who struggle the most later in school are those who have been pushed through the reading scheme at top speed.
Read the school book, read a library book, read a comic together. Talk about what's happening and what might happen and why. Talk about the words used.

Definitely have a chat to the teacher if your worried. I don't agree with schools that make a child read every book in a level either. The most important thing is your DS enjoying reading, not the band.

Just supplement at home with whatever books interest him. It's nice to try a different reading scheme at home anyway for some variety.

Could well be that they simply haven't covered the phonics content to move him up to the next bit they've split pink band into. We hit the point last year where they'd moved DD2 up beyond where her group were up to in phonics and I was having to introduce new phonemes as they were coming up in the books she was reading.

Same as what others say, we have a good local library so we go to the library and get the books that are for new readers. They have all the reading schemes. I don’t know how some of them map to the Oxford Reading Tree bands, so just go by looks if I think was suitable. Now, DC1 is at level 11, we get her to read young children books.

I think you should talk to the teacher if you think he's ready.

At my ds's school the parents can decide when their dc is ready to move up a band, which makes so much more sense imo.

We just read harder books at home. DD’s teacher knows she’s on a level that is too easy for her (in terms of actual reading ability) but as she’s already on a pretty high level for her age (also in reception) the school books at a higher level aren’t really appropriate content wise. So we use the library a lot!

Please relax. My son also started reception this year and is yet to have any reading book. They only start with them after October half term at our school. The teacher is even a moderator for other reception teachers in the borough, so I trust her initial focus on settling in the kids before homework starts.

I'd get the other side of the holidays and you could always speak to them in November if you're concerned then.

There are many different factors to the books... not just the content, but the understanding and expression from the child. If you look at the Oxford reading tree blurbs then you'll realise that they have to be able to do certain phonics and understand the context before moving on.

My child can decide most words and can read paragraphs of text but at a certain point is meaningless without the comprehension.

Dd is not yr 2. We ended up just doing reading chest in yr r and 1. because dd could read significantly better than the book band given by school (Still annoyed at wasting everyone's time selecting and us reading the book though).
Once they can read at say band 7 turquoise they can read all the picture books at the library and then move onto the chapter ones.
I would say that going fast through the book bands not an issue in itself but depends on the dc.
dd doesnt like books without pictures still , and gets bored of the really descriptive books maybe because the plots are slower moving. So whilst comprehension has not been an issue, due to immaturity dd isnt ready to read books she could read. However in general it has been good as we have 'front loaded' the work so now it's just maintenance of reading a couple of chapter books a week, rather than struggling through the bands 9-11etc that her classmates are doing.

I think Steak is spot on. The school should be using decodable reading books at this stage, so it’s not quite as simple as being able to read one stage meaning that he’s ready for the next stage. Depending on the scheme used, if he hasn’t yet been taught the phonics in the next level he might struggle reading those books without a lot of help/teaching from you.

Thanks for all the replies.

The school use the jolly phonics scheme to teach phonics. They’ve covered all the single letter sounds and are going through the digraph ones now.

I’ll leave it for a few more weeks in case it is what pp say about the teacher wanting to be sure they’ve covered the correct phonics for the next book band. Our local library has a good stock of reading scheme books so I’ll get some of those out as well to supplement the ones he’s getting home from school.

And unless they’ve changed things since DS1 was in Reception (different Reception teacher for him though), the school doesn’t have a policy of making children read all the books in one level before moving up to the next.

Our local library has a good stock of reading scheme books

Great - make sure they're decodable ones to match your dc's learning though.

I think one thing you have to think about is that teacher is still asessing children at first term of reception.

My ds was assigned a level when they started sending books home, I didn't think anything of it, since my ds loves reading any books. After harm term, he was jumped few levels.

half, not harm term!

I really don't think you need to worry just yet, it's still very early in the school year for Reception children.

Its generally best to try and get as much as possible out of one reading level before moving on to the next, there's no benefit to going too quickly. You sound like an interested and supportive parent, so you may well do some of this already, but with each book, get him to retell the story, think of different endings, ask how the characters are feeling and what makes them think that, which words tell you the most important things. Which sounds did they spot in the words they read?

You can get your ds to read a little more of picture story books that you probably already have at home that he's familiar with, but just from a polite and pleading TA perspective, please don't go and get all the books from the same reading scheme they use at school out from the library. It will mean they struggle to find books to give your ds at the time they think is right that he hasn't already read and lost interest in, and being given them again by school when you've already shown him them could be a bit demotivating for him.

My DS also started reception this year and they use jolly phonics. They get three new letters a week plus a reading box of words in their homework book which we go through and initial.

No one has been given a book to take home - they said they would do that after half term. Not sure how that compares to other schools.

DS2’s school have been sending home books since the start of term.

They ask parents to have children read every night and change books daily.

I think it’s still very early in the term to worry about reading books.
At our school, they have just changed the way they approach reading in Reception. My DD brings home a different picture book each night from the school library for me to read to her. She loves this - much more fun than the early reading scheme books. The emphasis is on enjoying stories and involving parents. In class they are learning sounds and they are going to start sending reading scheme books home some time after half term - once the children are secure with their sounds and beginning to blend simple words. (they adapt this depending on the child - there is one child in the class who is already free reading!!).

If your child is getting bored of the books he is sent home with, I would just suppliment with your own books.