How are your year 1 readers doing?

[imamearcat]

I know there's a big range etc. And have looked over previous posts, but this year has been a bit different to usual years!

Summer born DD in an independent school. She was on red for ages until I emailed her teacher this week and not she's come home with blue! I'm a bit annoyed at the teacher tbh but that's another story.

I'm hoping blue is ok for a younger Y1? I have read with her a lot over the summer and it seems like it's starting to click. But I know some kids in her class are reading chapter books!

Dc3 is yr1. No idea what red and blue levels are. He doesn’t want to read his school books out loud. He reads them in his head. Then I ask him what happened on certain pages, to check he understood and did read.

He does read his bedtime stories to me instead. (Think supertato, usborne fact books etc) No idea how this compares, but he seems a cheeky clever cookie, so I don’t worry about it.

I also have 11 yo dd and 13yo ds1. Although things are so incredibly different, I wouldn’t say there’s any difference in their schooling at this age. Dc3 is definitely adapting quicker than the other two to the Covid changes, as he knows no different. I would say try not to worry too much this year, but ask the teacher for different level books if your child is struggling / finding it too easy.

You won't get an answer that will actually help you on Mumsnet, everyone's children are geniuses dontcha know?

Our school have only started giving reading books this week, 7 year old DS has moved down about 4 coloured bands and now is almost 2 years below his expected level (likely dyslexic but still)

Assuming your school are using Oxford Reading Scheme there is a chart on their website to compare
home.oxfordowl.co.uk/reading/reading-schemes-oxford-levels/oxford-reading-tree-levels/

I work in a Y1 class.

After missing a whole term of school, most are below the level they would normally be at. (We had no Reception children in school during lockdown).No one is yet at the stage of reading chapter books.

Personally I would say that making progress is more important than the colour of the bookband. Some of our children are still on the lowest levels but have already made huge amounts of progress since coming back in September.

We're still getting the same level of books DD was on in March. Actually, I lie, she's been moved up half a level so now gets one from that level and one from the level above.

The massive issue is that she's didn't fall behind over lockdown or the summer, in fact we read everyday with her and is reading fluently and comfortably with great understanding far above the level school have assigned her. Unfortunately, because of the recovery curriculum, they are still reviewing phonics learned in Reception (which DD knows back to front) and haven't moved on yet. They've read ONCE at school this year so far.

So pissed off, I have queried this with her teacher, but apparently she's been assessed and they are happy with her level. We're doing our own stuff at home. Think reading chapter books together (I read one page, she reads the next) whereas school have her on blue level.

I teach first grade abroad (as in, the kids in my class have so far been in school for a whole of 10 weeks and this is their first year of school...no teaching of reading or writing or phonics was happening in pre-school). In terms of reading, my weakest ones are on Lilac, while my most able ones are hovering somewhere around Turquoise. Their expected level at this point would be Red, which is where the bulk of them are.

Mine is a July born year 1 and she’s on green books (recently moved up). Reading is her strong point. Most of her class are on red or blue from what I know, so blue sounds perfectly normal.

Dd1 is June-born Yr1, and is on Orange at the moment. She is a strong reader, although I think there are stronger in the class, but what I would say is that she came on suddenly when it just “clicked” for her. I worried a little about her slow progress through most of Reception (to myself, obv) but that was like the uphill bit of a rollercoaster. There came a moment when the tipping point came and she’s been rushing away ever since.

Mine is a November born year 1 (6 next weekend). Can't read at all. Is 2+ years behind in reading and writing according to her year 1 baseline. She has got most of the phase 2 sounds in isolation (b/p/d and k/ck still an issue) but absolutely can't blend them. Not even started on phase 3. She was in throughout lockdown and has had daily intervention 1-1 for 15 minutes since March.

There's others in her class on chapter books but there's a huge variance.

@LD22020 im sorry but I don't believe for a second there are year ones being assigned chapter books. How do you even know what other children are being assigned?

[quote YerAWizardHarry]@LD22020 im sorry but I don't believe for a second there are year ones being assigned chapter books. How do you even know what other children are being assigned?[/quote]
I agree. My y1 dd is good at reading and if I gave her a chapter book she could read it but would get bored very quickly so it would be pointless. She needs books with lots of pictures and not too many sentences per page to keep her interested. She reads her bedtime stories (lots of Julia Donaldson) because the books she gets from school are too easy. I don't think anyone has listened to her read within the last month tbh but we just keep up with her reading at home.

@YerAWizardHarry the little boy I know for certain is reading (short!) Chapter books in her class is my way friend's little boy. Has had a phenomenal reading and comprehension ability since he was tiny.

[quote YerAWizardHarry]@LD22020 im sorry but I don't believe for a second there are year ones being assigned chapter books. How do you even know what other children are being assigned?[/quote]
DD1 was on the accelerated reader programme in year 1 and was given chapter books. She did a comprehension test on each book which she always passed. It does happen.
DD2 is a strong reader but nowhere near that level in year 1.

There might be some rare exceptions but it was written is though it was more than one child and something common for Year 1s to be reading chapter books. I'm a student teacher (albeit in Scotland) and I've never seen a Primary 1 or 2 be assigned a chapter book

There are at least three children in my sons Y1 class who are assigned purple reading books at school but read "chapter books" at home - there are chapter books and chapter books, the ones they do are the Horrid Henry early reader (one story made into six chapters with pictures on each page) or the usborne level 1 (similar with pictures on every page). Not Lord of the Rings....

It is advanced but definitely not rear exceptions for y1 children to read chapter books. In my dd's class, kids in top reading sets get chapter books. I think they started at the end of reception. My dd is nowhere near that though.

I think this year it really depends based on what the school did with reception kids when they could go back in June, and whether they tried to teach the kids anything new during home learning.

DS's school actively discouraged us from sending DC back (we were in a low area so no reason for this), did playing rather than any teaching when they went back and didn't cover any new material in home learning. They have just started covering the same material they were going to cover in Easter term of reception. They aren't allowed book bags, from what glances I've caught of the books other DC are clutching I'd say most in year 1 are pink to yellow book band with the majority on red.

With the chapter books, won't that depend on what you mean by a chapter book? DS is orange book band in school and reading Green Bananas books at home which have 3 chapters with lots of pictures and a few lines of text per page. I'd have thought that's a pretty common level for year one (unless like ours they did nothing for 6 months) and your DC will get there this year. If you mean proper chapter books I doubt there are many year 1s reading them.

My DD is in yr 1, May born. She’s just moving up to purple, she loves reading though and reads a lot at home without being asked. She reads her older brother’s old early reader chapter books at home.

She is at a non selective independent school and there’s everything from red to purple in the class. Most are on yellow or blue.

Mine is on turquoise, her closest friends are on yellow and purple.

If you google "ORT levels" there are lots of charts that give an idea of where children should be at what stage. The charts don't actually all agree though.

My May born dd is on yellow. Her teacher said she's lockdown behind and not to give it a second thought!

I'm shocked at hearing children haven't been heard reading at school in a month or more.

@Ratbum

I'm shocked at hearing children haven't been heard reading at school in a month or more.

Me too. Mine in years 1 and 2 are heard weekly.

DS has finally been promoted to red after weeks of writing ‘This is too easy’ is many different ways in his reading diary. But at parents evening they said he was exactly where he should be. Judging by this thread he’s way behind. So who knows?

It's baffling - and I'm a teacher! Mine went into lockdown on yellow, refused point blank to read and came out of lockdown on red. Got 'developing' on his report which meant 'met early learning goals but only just'. Read write inc middle group. Over the summer it has just clicked and school have him on blue. I subscribe to reading chest because school are sending one book home a week (if you're lucky) and I have him on green which he manages well. I get the impression he's still middling. However in the school I work in which is very high EAL and deprivation, he would be the second highest reader in the year group. Don't get me even started on maths...

BTW he is late July birthday so only 5 and a bit which definitely makes a big difference.

I have a 5 and 7 year old. 7 year old is on level 18 (for 7 - 7.5 years)

5 year old is on level 4 so can read one or two sentences per page using the picture. He can recognise 70 words by sight. I did work all the way through lockdown but took the summer off.