What would you do, DTD2 has been moved down a reading set and I disagree (I am not being prentious, I will explain why in post)

[SlightlyMadShrek]

DTDs have both always been in top set for reading, currently Yr2.
Apparently DTD2 has been moved into a different set (which is basically the second set).

DTD2 has always been capable of reading more challenging books than she has been sent home with, and I have accepted it, given that they group read so she has been limied by the ability of teh weakest member of the group. I have been helping her to select more challenging books from the library. Father Christmas brought her Flat Stanley books which she reads *fluently. Her spelling and reading of words out of context far excels that which DTD1 is capable of, although other aspects of literacy may not be as well developeed (through laziness), for exacmple her story writing.

DTD1 is reading at a level which is "about right" from her school books, occasionally needing a little support and encouragement. She often needs more support sounding out words and her reading just doesn't flow anywhere near as well as DTD2's. She has to work much harder at spelling and reading words out of context, although her other literacy skills are probably better developed, nd writes more detailed story's etc.

Their teacher last year was surprised when I said DTD2 was a better reader and we came to the conclusion that maybe she just wasn't relaxed in class. Maybe a similar thing could be happening this year, so it may be a real observation in class.

Do I tackle this with teacher? How do I tackle it with out demanding to put DTD2 back in the top set like a pretentious mother?

Incidently parents evening isn't until end of Feb so I don't want to wait until then, and I will wait to see what the difference in texts they bring home i before I talk to teacher.

has the teacher given you a reason why DTD2 has been moved down? maybe there is a reasonable explanation? Are the groups literacy groups or just for reading? If they are literacy then maybe it's to do with her other literacy skills?

well first, are you sure the groups are actually graded by ability?

but if they are does it really matter? you siad yourself her writing etc isn't as good as your other twin's, suggesting that perhaps she has some catching up to do there. It may not be laziness that's causing the problem.

as long as your dd isn't actually complaining of being bored, or being put off reading then I really wouldn't worry.

love the word prentious btw. is it a mix of precious and pretentious?

erm - has the teacher mixed them up - are they identical?

Agree about making sure these are reading groups not literacy groups. Literacy groups can have a range of readers

This happened to my ds2 last year. In reception teacher said he was the best reader in the class, but year 1 teacher put him straight into middle group. I queried it with teacher, she said it was because of 'her' assessments. Ds2 practically lost all interest in reading that year, books sent home far too easy, some he'd read in Reception. Yr2 teacher put him straight into top set and said he's 'one of' the best readers. How much more progress he'd have made in yr1 if he'd not been moved down a set I don't know. Thankfully he's now reading books more suited to his ability and is a bookworm once again.

OK, to answer a few questions,

pretentious is what I meant (as you can see I am not the best speller in the world ).

I am not sure if they are literacy groups or pure reading groups, that is definately something to ask, and a useful coment.

They are identical, but the comments in their reading diaries are always more complementary to DTD2 (or equal), so there is implication that DTD2 is hte better reader in their records.

I know the teacher hears them read less often than the TA, so the teacher would see more direct evidence of her general literacy than her reading IYSWIM.

I do want to wait to see what texts they bring home, I shall be if DTD2 has to repeat texts they have already done. If they bring the same as each other I guess there is not necessarily anything to discuss.

WRT to being graded by ability, at this stage I can;t be 100% sure.

I know they were last year as their teacher told me, and they are identical sets this year. It only seems to have been DTD2 which has been moved out of set (and I can't even work out if it has actually been a swap).

TBH she is perfectly happy as the love of her life is in her group , so I suspect she will be doing more swooning than reading in class

I was never that interested by the worthy books read at school and my love of reading came from the books I had at home or selected at the library like your los do.

I'm going to show my ignorance here of the primary system, but does it matter which group they read in?

It only matters if they are not sufficiently stretched by the material they are working on.

We have dropped the library books over the last 3-4 weeks as they were uddenly bringing double teh school reading home and we had no time for it.

If the reading she starts to bring is not stretching enough I shall start going back to library, at the expense of her school books, and send her reading record in incomplete every week

Also, on the other side of the coin I am equally worried that DTD1 will become overstretched if the reading gets significantly more difficult. That is somethin I feel more comfortable challenging though. She has reached her level, but DTD2 hasn't...

I've always done that anyway . Well, not now, because ds is a 'free reader' and can bring home what he likes, but all through year 1. And the teacher was quite happy with that.

Is there no chance of just whizzing through the reader she brings home and then getting onto a good book? Or is it more involved than that?

My mother wrote my diary entry for me when in kindergarton lol! Bored me to tears and never knew what to write.

I always start from the position that I know my children better than the school does. Which is kind of arrogant especially if it leads you (me) to dismiss areas where they may not yet have developed certain skills.

I'm going through something very similar with my school at the moment with swimming. Which is not as important as reading. My DS is 7. I have taken him to private swimming lessons since he was four. He is a boy of many badges. He swims a lot on holiday too. He is actually a pretty neat little swimmer. I am particularly partial to seeing his little bottom tip up when he does his lovely little dives .

Now I took him for a practice swim a few weeks ago for his mile. We swam the mile together. Much huffing and puffing from DS. So I am sticking him in for his mile this term.

At school however he has been put into the second group for swimming. I happen to know that he absolutely should be in the top group because when I took him for a practice for his mile, his chum wanted to come as well. His chum could not swim a length without bursting into tears and his stroke patterns were awful. His chum is in the top group.

I am truly pissed off because DS is so disincentivised and he really does deserve to be in the top group and he knows it. I've spoken to his swimming teacher. Said swimming teacher claims to be infallible. His words. He's never made a mistake in 25 years of teaching. No sirree (Not that he's admitted to anyway - bloody nit).

So I've escalated this to the Head. Sorry about length. But it's the demotivational aspect of being demoted that I really wanted to highlight.

I would tackle it with the teacher. You need to understand why this has happened, you need, as Quattro is doing, to fight your DTDs corner. Thats what we are here for to look out for our childre.

TY for your words of wisdom, that is exactly where I am coming from Quattro.

If they were demoting DTD1 I wouldn't question it as I do not know the relavtive abilities within the class. She may well be ranked 8th (for want of a better discription) which drops her into teh 2nd set. I would trust the teachers judgement because I have no first hand experience of those who are ranked 6th, 7th, 9th, 10th....

BUT I know DTD2 should be ranked above DTD1, so DTD2 should be in a higher or equal group to DTD1. DTD1 has just read tonights bedtime story, and that has proved that. DTD2 made lots of corrections to her pronunciation & sounding out, as the book she wanted to read pushed DTD1 (but not DTD2) to the limits - it was a childrens bible BTW.

I have asked DTDs again and they insist that these are their reading groups. There literacy work is done as table groups which I know are mixed ability.

Neither of them have read in class since the change, so I will wait and see what that brings, but after that I will tackle the teacher.

why don't you have a quiet quick word with the teacher and say I think you've got the twins mixed up when you moved x to the lower reading group, type of comment! At least she may listen to them reading quicker IYSWIM