which reading level?

[mousemousse]

Just after some advice. DD has just started school, she's progressed well with reading and now can technically decode orange band books BUT isn't reading them quickly. Is it better to keep her reading red/yellow until she's reading them as quick as us, or let her read the higher band books and get quicker over time?

What do you mean by quickly, do you mean fluently? I wouldn't be worrying about speed of reading/decoding. Comprehension and enjoyment are crucial at this stage.

If her teacher has moved her to orange and you/they are confident that she's mastered the earlier levels, then stick to orange.

My DD got the gist of phonics early and is pretty much a free reader now, however, a five year old's comprehension will only be so advanced as limited life experience will mean they won't grasp the more complex situations and scenarios in stories yet. My advice would be to focus on that and fluency.

I'd do both - in each session.

A quick run through a few relatively easy books - she chooses. Then have a go at some higher level books. This should make learning easier and faster.

Yes I guess I mean fluency, she's still sounding out/blending a lot rather than just saying the word.

I'll try both, thank you. She's not hugely keen on the early books but might be if we went back to them and she can read them easily. I'm most keen that she enjoys reading, whatever it is

I would read whatever book school sends home then if you're doing extra read what she will enjoy most whether that's the lower or higher level. Generally she should be both reading and understanding the book without much help.

I wouldn't be reading any of the banded books at home with her bar the ones the teacher sends home, they're not that thrilling. What's really important with reading is reading a wide variety. The best thing you could do for her is to read lots of other types of books to her, letting her hear how you put expression into the text and discussing what is happening, how the characters are feeling, does she think they would make a good friend, what does she think happens next etc so she can really develop her comprehension and have a wide experience of different types of texts.

DD reads everything school send home. I write honestly in her record any issues she's had or, if she's zipped through it.

She's been whipping through the school reading books for quite a while so I was delighted to see she's finally been moved up a level this week. She's still going through it pretty quickly but was the odd word that challenged her again.

We did exactly as pps have suggested. Read more widely at home. DD liked to help read her bedtime stories and once the sounding out is solid they can work out most words. I wouldn't worry about fluency in first year - it suddenly blooms. Practice is key.

I wouldn’t worry too much about the fluency at this stage it’ll come with practice. Accuracy is more important.

If you wanted to improve fluent you could always just ask her to reread what she’s just read.

Brilliant, sounds like we're doing ok, she's mainly wanting to read star wars books at home which pleases DH so will carry on that as she's actually interested in the stories, and we're in the library a lot as she insists on at least 3 bedtime stories a night which we discuss and do all the voices etc. Will just carry on and see how she goes.

My DC is in year one and confidently and fluently reading young chapter books at home (Owl who was afraid of the dark, rainbow magic, etc). She has JUST been moved to orange level.

However a friend at another school locally is on orange level and still sounding out every word.

Although I've made a thread on here before to ask for advice re the mismatch between school and home books, I would say becoming fluent quickly at lower level books has helped rather than hindered my child.

At the early stages I found it was a really tricky balancing act to find books that hit that sweet spot between too difficult and too boring. I found the Songbirds books were really good here, managing to convey a lot of story with not too much decoding. So long as a child is genuinely reading (not just guessing) and enjoying it, I'd go with what they seem drawn to.

That said, if it's the same book bands we use, there's quite a gap between red/yellow (bands 2 and 3) and orange (band 6). Have you tried her on the intervening bands (blue 4 and green 5)?

We have the songbirds books, I'll check which ones are blue and green banded. She's not hugely keen on those stories though, she likes comic book stuff, star wars, marvel but also ridiculously girly Princess and unicorn tripe. Bob bug isn't cutting it

My son started school this year and started to come home with turquoise books. I felt they were too tricky so requested he go down. He's now on orange books and doing much better. I think the fluency depends on how fluent you mean. As my DS reads most words without sounding but then any new word he sounds and decodes. If you think her school books are too tricky just have a quick word with her teacher :) if she's doing just fine with them but needs to sound out some words then that's just part of the learning process. Comprehension is probably the most important part (speaking as a TA) in my opinion. Don't worry too much about fluency as long as she's not getting frustrated and is understanding what she reads :)

My dd is year 1 and on turquoise. The band books are pretty dull but she reads anything and everything at home too, she likes reading recipes!