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Original poster

Quick question about the Magic Key - ORT stage 5.

34 replies

Smithagain · 23/01/2008 19:38

DD1 has come home today with her first book from ORT Stage 5. She was really excited. But is now completely gutted because the teacher has skipped her ahead a few books and she has "missed" the main, magic key stories at the beginning of stage 5. She has, apparently, been really looking forward to reading them. (Yes, I know she is on her own there !)

Can anyone who is just ahead of us tell me how long it will be before the Magic Key reappears if we just carry on from here? The one she has brought home is A Monster Mistake, and they are reading them in order. She wants me to ask the teacher to give us the first few books of Stage 5, but I'm kind of reluctant to ask for her to go "backwards"!

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LIZS · 23/01/2008 19:42

dd read them out of order It jsut depended on how many and who else was reading the level as the books recirculated. The order doesn't reflect difficulty within the same level. You only get Magic Key for 2 or 3 levels then it starts to peter out (we missed out the end ones !)

Original poster
Smithagain · 23/01/2008 19:43

Oh, don't tell me she is going to skip rapidly through the levels with the exciting stories! She will not be impressed!

OP posts:
TrinityRhinosDhWonHerAnIPOD · 23/01/2008 19:45

tell her to keep going and get her ecited about being OFF the ort
How old is she???

Original poster
Smithagain · 23/01/2008 19:48

I know - but she's five and gloriously uncompetitive about it all!

OP posts:
ChasingSquirrels · 23/01/2008 19:48

ask the teacher if she reall wants them, it's not going backwards, all of a level are the same stage. BUT they might not have the resource to be sending them home in the right order.

Original poster
Smithagain · 23/01/2008 20:48

Thanks for replies. Think I'll ask the teacher if she's going to cover them later and if not, see if we can borrow them as "extra" books. Especially if they are going to peter out in a couple of levels anyway - I don't want to be hearing "It's not fair, I never got to read the Magic Key stories" when her little sister starts bringing them home!

OP posts:
Hulababy · 23/01/2008 20:49

Sounds like a good idea. See,s a shame to miss them if she is so interested in them. After all at this age the interst and excitement about reading is far more important than levels and advancing IMO.

TrinityRhinosDhWonHerAnIPOD · 23/01/2008 20:50

that sounds like a plan

sorry thought she was older
dd1 thankfully got rid of the ort when she was just turned 7 so I have been on much more enjoyable to listen to books for a while now lol

Cappuccino · 23/01/2008 20:51

if she is so excited about reading I would think that getting the books that she wants is more important than her getting to Stage 6 2 weeks earlier

just imho

TheHonEnid · 23/01/2008 20:53

just ask the teacher for them! why wouldn't you?

Original poster
Smithagain · 23/01/2008 20:57

Because she skipped ahead as a result of a comment I made about her needing a challenge so it seems a bit ungrateful to turn round and say "sorry, not quite that far ahead please" And because they read in groups and it might muck up their literacy planning to have her in the "wrong" place.

Anyway, I really only wanted to know how often the MK theme reappears, so I know what I'm asking.

OP posts:
TheHonEnid · 23/01/2008 20:59

buy them for her to read at home?

dinny · 23/01/2008 21:01

hmmm, there is such a danger in schools of reading becoming not for enjoyment's sake but to compete in terms of which level kids are on - what a pointless waste of time. not referring to OP or any posts on this, just thinking of a few parents in dd's year getting all upset when their child isn't moving up the levels as they see fit.

frogs · 23/01/2008 21:10

Lots of libraries have them. Dd1's school only seemed to have a subset of ORT at any level, so we used to get the missing ones from the library, as she was so keen on them.

The progressions are a bit hit and miss anyway ime -- some of the lower end of eg. stage 6 can be easier than some of the top stage 5.

Cappuccino · 23/01/2008 21:12

I bought some magic key colouring/ join the dots books from a cheap bookshop

AbbyLou · 23/01/2008 22:13

You can buy them but a lot of book shops seem to have the more modern ones now which are bigger. There is a set of 6 magic key ones at the start of Level 5 the first one being called 'The Magic Key'. Then there are about 12 of the ones your dd is on. Then there are 6 more magic key ones at the start of Level 6, starting with 'In The Garden'. By the way, she is doing very well reading Stage 5 at 5 years old.

Dottydot · 23/01/2008 22:18

Borders sell them - probably most big bookshops do.

I have to say the magic key stuff is a bit baffling... Ds1's been bringing them home and we must have missed the first one as well - I don't get it? Where did they get it from?? And how come Gran's just been able to go to somewhere else with the kids as well???

It's all a mystery to me...

Original poster
Smithagain · 23/01/2008 22:20

Thanks AbbyLou - that is exactly the information I was looking for.

And yes, reading suddenly seems to have clicked for her and she's loving it. So good to see.

OP posts:
ChasingSquirrels · 23/01/2008 22:21

dotty - level 4 (i think) is where it all kicks off. Level 4 should really be read in sequence to follow it.

Dottydot · 23/01/2008 22:22

maybe he did that one at school? Wish he'd brought it home so I understood it all...

Original poster
Smithagain · 23/01/2008 22:22

Ah well, Dottydot - I can answer the "where did they get it from". They found it in a mysterious room in their new house, at the end of the "trunk" stories on level 4. And then they wandered off and had all sorts of other (rather more tedious) stories, before getting on with using the magic key at the beginning of level 5. Hence DD1 feeling a little cheated at having skipped those ones!

OP posts:
Original poster
Smithagain · 23/01/2008 22:23

sorry - xposted with ChasingSquirrels there.

OP posts:
Dottydot · 23/01/2008 22:24

Well it's all a bit odd - not like in my day when we had Dick and Dora, Fluff and Nip and Dick helped Daddy with the car and Dora helped Mummy in the kitchen - nice and straightforward...

ChasingSquirrels · 23/01/2008 22:24

I quite enjoyed level 4 onwards, but they don't really use them at school and we get all sorts of stuff home - quite alot of it as old as me (and as tattered at the edges!).

Blu · 23/01/2008 22:25

Do not worry, Smith - the magic key goes on and on and on. You would think that the word 'glow' was the mainstay of the english language, such is the tedious frequency with which it crops up! DS's school doesn't seem to offer ORT beyond level 9 but it's still glowing in level 9.

Ask the teacher for the other level 5 books.

But in case you never get to the bottom of it, here is a quick summary:

The family move onto a new house, where, in an attic the children discover an old doll's house...umm, where exactly do they find the magic key? MN-ers will be able to help here, I'm sure!