Reading levels

[LoisLittsLover]

Hi, I was just wondering if someone could give me some advice please. Dd is in Reception and could read a little on starting, but since being at school has just grasped the idea of reading very quickly. She has always found her school reading books easy and I have filled in her reading log accordingly but also given her books to read at home which she finds more challenging. Since being at home I have subscribed to Oxford Owl and initially just let dd read what she wanted to. Over the weeks I have now guided her a little, and have settled onto a book band which challenges her but she is ae to both read and comprehend. However on looking at the guide, this band is suggested for children a couple of years older. School have always seemed that they want her to 'work through' the bands, rather than simply placing her at a higher level and letting her work up from there.

Sorry about the essay but my question (finally!!) is should I be making her read 5 book or so books at each level or is it okay to just let her read the stuff at the higher band and skip past the lower levels completely?

Thank you

The books are phonetically in order they learn at school so she may have missed some.

There’s no right or wrong as long as she is able and happy to read.

What you're describing is not unusual. Phonics is the best way to learn to read because it will help the 20% of kids who struggle with other methods. However a bright reader will tend to just absorb things themselves and get ahead of whatever phonics is being taught at school. She'll still learn the phonics at school when they go back and it will probably be helpful for spelling etc but let her read books she enjoys at home. Both my two would race through their school reading book then get to read whatever books they enjoyed afterwards (if a book is too challenging they won't be able to read it fluently and won't enjoy it) and I think this is fairly typical.

Luckily my DC's school didn't insist on level books beyond ORT 9 so by Y1 both mine were 'free readers' (in my DC's school that doesn't mean they can actually read any book - I think they were still directed to age and ability appropriate books but they did get to choose it for themselves).

What’s the bookband?

Generally, a mix of books is used to establish a band. Phonics are fine for decoding but tell us little about inference skills and comprehension plus a child’s ability to use syntactic or semantic cueing.

Either way, sounds like she’s doing great.

You need to remember that book bands correlated to mixed methods and aren't based on phonics

Just let her read 😊 read picture books together too, a page each etc - practise doing voices and acting out. Variety is super important, and there is more to literature than decoding. If she’s up to date from a phonic decoding perspective - develop comprehension and the love of books.

Same OP. My DS has gone up a few levels but the level changes have been guided by his teacher after listing to him read a new book via zoom / loom or whatever! I wouldn't hold her down - if she's reading freely and understanding content and context she needs more challenging books.

Just let her read whatever she wants to. If I were you I'd move away from banded books (as she'll come across those at school) and let her choose from a range of children's fiction.

My DD has been signed off as purple band at school but is reading lime books at home, but I also get her to read a range between those two. I wouldn't religiously stick to one band as the writing style changes. We are working more on expression etc rather than band per se

At their last two schools, my DDs stayed on a level as long as they needed. Children even skipped levels. They got 2 books at a time and were changed as often as needed. Current school insists books are read in exact order, changed once a week and all books in a level are read. They now hate the school books... So I find appropriate books at home, help them break down any word that's tricky, and they now enjoy books again.

Read the books the school wants, but read your own as well.

I'd find a level that's she's reading with about 95% accuracy but be sure to question her during and at the end of the book to gauge her comprehension. Some children learn the mechanics of reading very early but need support to develop their understanding.

The 95% rule is based on flawed whole language theories and is no longer considered good advice.

Really? That's the level of accuracy required to progress through the book band levels. Can you post a link to this research please?

Really ...it's a low expectation!

I've googled it and found nothing. Can you post a link based on actual research please?

Try Stanovich and Gough

William R. Powell and C.G. Dunkeld,

Juliet Halladay

Fisher and Frey

Timothy Shanahan

How are we supposed to be assessing readiness to move up then @Norestformrz?

We shouldn't be using levelled reading schemes if we're following the national curriculum. Books should be matched to the child's phonic knowledge and decoding accuracy as is the statutory requirement. Once a child is decoding accurately any age appropriate book can be used to develop fluency and expand understanding

I wouldn't really worry about the band levels. Our daughter turned five this month and entered reception reading. She gets year2 and year 3 level books from school.
I would just provide a good variety of books to the child and let the child read. When the school starts, the school will be able to assess the level and provide the level books. While you can keep supplementing books at home by providing a good variety.

My ds started school as an able reader. We just provided him with lots of different books at home including cookery books, gardening books and more besides. Was never an issue in school.

Our school reading scheme seems to more like a shackle to me than something useful that moves with the child. I had 2 different issues.
I had a 7 year old dd1, reading the whole lemony snicket series, Roald dhal, Charlie on her own. Understanding inference, comprehension etc. But on a very low reading band! Teachers said she was an amazing reader but they saddled her and all the great readers on the age appropriate bands.
By year 3, I didn't push the school books and let her read what she wanted. Many times I just signed off the school books as read.

Dd has spelling age years ahead of her actual age, now at secondary she's top sets, still reading. Infact on starting secondary she did the school reading challenge and started on gold band. She read all the gold band books and went to the library to get her '' prize ''. They told her the challenge encompasses the entire school and that she needs to read silver and bronze before getting any prize! She's read most e. M forster, bronte etc 😂😂😂😂😂😂.

My other problem is dd who is now 7 and massively struggling to read. She's in lowest reading group in the class! My problem at that end is dd is making slow progress but progress non the less and she's working had, can now for instance fluently read level 5 ORT but the school won't move her on so she doesn't fail the phonics test!
But she's loosing motivation to read at all because she's able to read level 5.

Anyway now one ordered reading chest we can tackle it ourselves... And keep the motivation and momentum going.
It's a one size fits all scheme and some schools are peculiarly rigid about it.
When it comes to the point the reading scheme is killing off your dc interest in reading I would take matters into own hand.