Is my dd making mistakes because her reading books are too easy?

[BrrrIsland]

Or is it purely her not applying herself ?

Dd is in Reception. She’s reading turquoise (level 7) ORT books. Her teacher has been good at moving her up book bands when I’ve fed back that her the books were too easy. Dd doesn’t seem to read with the teacher other than the occasional guided reading session (less than one a fortnight) and during these sessions dd reads yellow band books (level 2?) as that’s the level of the other kids in her group.
Dd is pretty much fluent with reading her turquoise books. She can normally get through the whole book without sounding out any words, she uses expression and different voices. She follows the plot well and is able to make connections as she’s reading and answer the questions at the end. However, she has recently started making silly mistakes, eg substituting has/had at/in etc or sometimes missing out words. She wasn’t doing this when she started on the book band.
I had noticed that she was finding reading them easy, but I wasn’t going to ask the teacher to mover her up again as dd is already quite ahead of the others and I didn’t want to be that parent. I’m now wondering if the books being too easy are (partially at least!) to blame for her not concentrating properly and therefore making silly errors. I try and get her to point at each word as she says it but she’s reading them so quickly that that doesn’t help.
Any advice? I don’t want her forming bad habits this early in her reading development. Could Moving up a book band provide better challenge and therefore demand her attention more/slow her down and hopefully stop these mistakes? Or am I being delusional and just need to carry on as we are and make her reread the sentences she gets wrong?

Tbh after about orange they only get longer and more complex, the vocab doesn't change much.

Could she be trying to rush through the book and therefore predicting what the word is going to be has instead of had. We had this and the advice was slow down and make sure you are reading what is there, not what you think is there.

Most likely to be through rushing, but have you had her eyesight checked just in case?

Yes, make her re-read, it's a very bad habit to fall into.

Honestly? I still make these sorts of mistakes when reading aloud. It is because my internal reading speed exceeds my verbal reading speed. Which is fine when I'm reading for pleasure and being swept sling by the narrative. On the occasions I read aloud professionally, I make sure I slow down.
Your DD just needs to learn to slow down when reading aloud.

Yes reread and check understanding book levels at this point are as much about comprehension as they are anything else

Just get her to reread that sentence as you got a word wrong in there.
I'd ask the teacher to read her book to check it's the right level.
But tbh once you've cracked reading go to the library and find books she likes.

Id be asking why she is reading a different level at school. That's not right. The kids will be on a variety of levels, some will still be on pink and others in between.

Perhaps just try other children’s books and see if she makes similar mistakes?

Thanks all.
She’s definitely rushing them. I think she’s keen to get to the end out of lack of interest rather than because she’s finding the stories gripping. I’ll definitely start by getting her to slow down (if I can). I know she’s following the plot though because she will spot and talk about the small details as she’s reading.

She’s apparently reading yellow books at school because that’s where the next highest children are, and they only do guided reading unless the child is struggling. Dd said the last time she read 1:1 with the teacher was when she checked she could read the turquoise books well enough to be moved up to them. That was in December. I’ll ask if she can do another assessment.

She’s had her eyes tested a few times and apparently no issues.

I’ll try her on some other books to see how she gets on. Thanks. I think she’s almost tere at being able to read most child friendly text.
I hadn’t really thought that it could be a ‘reading aloud’ issue perspecacia. She does read in her head at night sometimes. Obviously I have no idea how well she does this!

Good lord you're really over thinking it (which is actually really normal for reception!). DS was similar in reception and once she was on level 7 books I just let her pick out his own books for at home- early reader, horrid henry, dirty Bertie, Holly Webb, Dragon masters then she just flew through the school reading book and got on with her other reading which captured her imagination more than the ORT books.

She was miles ahead at reading in reception and I worried she'd be permanently bored but now she's Y3 the gap has narrowed and actually some of the slow starters who were barely past level 2 by the end of reception are the best readers in the class. I'd just relax. Let her read what she wants at home and don't obsess over levels or little mistakes.

I think you need to just get less invested in this tbh. She can read fine. Just let the school do their thing.

Give her other stuff to read at home and listen to her read. That is your side of the deal - not suggesting stuff to the teacher. She might be your genius but she is just one of many at the school.

Like PP I definitely think you're giving this WAY too much thought. The teacher will have taught loads of kids like your DD before and will know what she's doing. Go to your local library or go on the book people and get her a heap of books she's chosen herself. Both of mine just read through the school book quickly at home but mainly read whatever it was they wanted to read. Once my eldest was in Y1 he didn't need the level books any more and just got to choose something a normal chapter book from the library (I assume with some guidance as it was always well matched to his ability).

My youngest is still in YR and you can tell the parents who haven't had a school age child before as they're so worried about reading levels and when they'll move up and how fluent they all are. It's fine. There's usually a massive gap in YR - we had some free readers and some who could barely blend. As they get older it really narrows and kids who were 5 levels apart in YR are reading at a similar level. Just relax.

I have a DD in reception who is on ORT purple level. She also rushes them as she finds them too easy/dull. I just make her go back and reread, then let her read books she actually enjoys and wants to read at home .

She does read in her head at night sometimes. Obviously I have no idea how well she does this!

Did the starting to make errors start around the time that she started reading to herself? I think some children can get a bit lazy at this point. It’s almost certainly worse when she reads to herself. Getting her to slow down will help as will insisting on accuracy. This is one of those areas where you don’t want to let the little areas slide.

I’d be a bit about the yellow banded guided reading tbh, It’s probably not doing her any harm, but unless it’s being exceptionally well differentiated, then she’s probably not benefiting from it either. Which would be fine if the school were listening to her read at another time, but they aren’t.

I wonder if other forms of speaking / reading aloud would help her at all - how about trying her with poems, and get her to memorise some fun ones and explore how the speed and rhythm of words is important. That might help her more generally develop accuracy in reading aloud, and give you a separate reason to remind her to "slow down".

I disagree with PPs that say you’re too invested. Your DD is getting into a bit of a bad habit which you’ve noticed and are sensibly trying to address.

My DD had a phase of doing the same thing: rushing through when reading aloud, and occasionally replacing words, missing them out or adding extras in. Her ‘storytelling’ focus was great, and almost always the meaning of the sentence was unchanged, but obviously at this stage the sort of skim reading you might do while reading a longer novel silently is not appropriate.

I just reminded DD very gently, at regular intervals, to take a little more time because it’s important to read every single word accurately, first time round. DD’s response was to pause at the top of each page or paragraph, and I could tell that she was silently skimming through to take it all in, and then she would read it all fluently, with expression.

I wouldn’t get too hung up on what she’s doing at school. You have to pick your battles, and doing guided reading a level or two below her own reading level is not going to do her any harm, as long as she has plenty of other challenging work. You are obviously supporting her reading well at home, and if you make sure you spot these little habits yourself and address them, she will continue to flourish with her reading.