Y3 Reading Levels - appropraite books

[Makinglists]

Bit of a back story Dc2 is just 8 and at the end of Y2 was working towards the expected level for reading. He has had glue ear since birth and grommets/repeated ear infections which i suspect has hampered his understanding of phonics. Hopefully at 8 he is growing out of these problems.

At the end of Y2 he was reading turquoise level quite competenly. He loves books and we regularly go to the library. Y3 starts and we are now on lexile books, he has a max score of 230 (retested at half term and stayed the same) and the books available to him are times such as Wibbly Pig, Nick Sharrat picture books, Knuffle Bunny (all books we were reading preschool). I understand the emphasis is now on comprehension but he is uninspired to say the least. Needless to say he can read them easily.

My concern is that though these books might be at his score level they are not age appropraite. DC2 says he wants to read books like Flat Stanley, Horrid Henry etc. Im worried hes getting demotivated and his self esteem is being knocked.

Ive mentioned this to school before but have been fobbed off - whats everyones view and how should I raise this with school.

Just buy him some Horrid Henrys to read at home - for what it's worth my kids started reading them when they were on about orange/turquoise level school bookbands (think they're white/lime bookband level themselves) and coped with them fine.

Mind you my daughter on orange band has just perfectly told me the plot of about 3 of her sister's Rainbow Fairies books she's pinched and read on the quiet!

If you're after them cheap btw - poundland often has them in.

DS2's reading Terry Pratchett's Father Christmas's Fake Beard and Other Stories, and the Roblox Annual.

Read the school books, and discuss them.
Then read any books you like at home.
My y3, reading gold books, also likes Beast Quest, Dinosaur Cove, Dr Seuss. And he has just discovered David Walliams, which I think is too hard, but I'm not going go stop him reading, and Captain Underpants.

Get horrid Henry early reader

Project alien book collection its turquiose onwards.
There is on mn a list of real books by level.
I agree with you op those books dont sound right for that band.
From orange or so on you can read almost anything.
Weve only had flat stanley as a free reader so after lime.

DS1 has just started on turquoise level and he’s reading the Horrid Henry Early Reader range at home.

DD1 is torquise level school and is currently reading George’s Marvellous Medicine at home. I’d just let him read what he wants at home.

I let my son read whatever he wants... and then he will read for literally hours! Big hits in this house are the Dogman series, the Phoenix magazine (you can only buy it online - its' brilliant) and gentle Manga like the Zelda series. We also then go to the library and pick up loads of books some of which get read, some which go back. The Horrid Histories series often go down well too.

Borrow or buy books (I buy second hand online, unless they are newly published) and let him read what he wants at home.

Not a big fan of Horrid Henry - there is a lot of sarcasm in the text which goes right over their heads.

Would concur the Project Alien books are well written and hold kids interest while challenging their phonics knowledge.

The Tashi books are great for 5 to 8 year olds. There are about 60 pages in a book, or you can get the Great Big Enormous Book of Tashi, that has about 1000 pages (I think 16 of the normal books in one). My DC loved them.

if he can read those books maybe video him doing it to show them.
Do read harder stuff at home as it is practice that helps.
Even if it is alernating lines or pages

Dirty Bertie is great! A proper chapter book but short chapters.
Dog man is a comic style book.

I would definitely treat the reading age at school with a pinch of salt. A friend who does dyslexia testing said it's unreliable and can vary massively depending on the noise level in the classroom, whether the child has had a good breakfast, whether you test in the morning or afternoon etc. I know my eldest once had his reading level tested twice by accident (he'd been away and he has two different teachers so both ended up doing it). The two results were about a year and a half apart.

If he enjoys reading more difficult books at home I'd definitely let him.

I have a 7 yr old yr 3 free reader and he loves David Walliams, diary of a wimpy kid, Roald Dahl etc

He did love the horrid henry early reader series last year so those are a great place to start - our local library had dozens of them as his reading habit was getting expensive !

Horrid Henry (loads)
Diary of a Wimpy Kid (loads)
Tom Gates (loads)

Charity shops are full of all the above!

Thank you for all your suggestions. I think one of the main issues is that he feels the books he is bringing home from school are babyish esp when he sees friends bringing home more age appropraite books. It concerns me the damage this does to his self esteem.
We are signed up to a new reading challenge at the local library which he is enjoying I guess Im frustrated with school not seeming to understand the difference between his reading ability and age appropraiteness of the book - Ive tried.to explain it to them but they still dont seem to understand especially when there are plenty of books with simple text that an 8 year old is happy to read (The KS1 reading books were much more engaging).

I can totally understand your concerns with the school. Reading is meant to be enjoyable and engaging. Part of the point is to extend vocabulary and stimulate discussions, provide humour etc. And of course it's embarrassing for him. I would probably go back to school and bring it up again. Perhaps send in a book he's read at home.

I think you really need to speak with the teacher. You can let him read the books he likes at home, but still, the books he gets from school is damaging his love for reading, as you say.
Want to read something is such a great motivator. They will learn quicker, and understand deeper about what they read.
I would ask the teacher to let him have books he wants to read, rather than stick to what he should be reading.

Have a look at the treehouse series - 13storey, 26 etc, he should manage them fine on turquoise and they’re quite big books for the number of words so they feel like they’ve read a huge book :)

YY to the Tree House books. DD7 loves these and manages them easily now. We are in NZ, but does he have access to non-fiction as well?

DD gets a variety of set material to bring home including non-fiction, which she enjoys often more than the fiction.

DS is in year 2. No idea of his reading level- his school don’t seem to do them? His home reader tonight was ORT level 7 but he usually gets New Way books.
At home he’s loving Magic Treehouse books to read to himself and together I’m reading him Matt Haig The girl who saved Christmas.
Magic Treehouse are American so I do get slightly annoyed with the grammar but DA is hooked. There are about 100 to get through.