Y1 reading

[Ladylulabelle]

Hi, my DD is in y1. She is on level 9 Oxford reading tree but has been since reception (started school reading). I’m not really bothered about what level she is on as long as it’s appropriate for her but I think she could have moved on ages ago. However, she hasn’t read with a teacher since October. Is this normal? She has read with the TA (approx weekly). All the entries say vague things like ‘lovely reading’ or ‘very good’.

I let her read whatever she likes at home so I haven’t restricted her reading but I’m starting to feel like school aren’t trying to get her to improve at all. How often do your DC read with the teacher?

Ideally we’d like him to be doing a bit more work - the freedom him and the other high achieving kids get seems a little bit lazy and I’m actually concerned in a way that it’ll catch up with him later if the other kids have a deeper understanding due to hearing things explained more/in different ways and he just accepted and remembered a statement.

Its frustrating that there’s so little attention to engaging the higher achievers in the lower primary years (although I definitely get that the teachers/TAs have their work cut out trying to get the whole class reading and the children struggling actually do need more attention to help them keep up, which I do get is more important in a practical sense than widening the attainment gap in the class even further by stretching the best).

I’m remembering back to my own days in a school (I was definitely a higher achievers too then) and I do remember always being the first to end up in the “play area” when we had set work to complete and I don’t think it actually harmed me academically, except sometimes being bored waiting for a friend to join me.

Have you looked in your local library? Ours have them all. She often chooses them

Not sure if this is still currently how school reading schemes work (mine are all teens now). But 2 of them were very ahead in their reading ability so the school gave out two reading books one was from the general reading scheme which they worked their way through, the school insisted they read them so that they had covered the correct comprehension and grammar etc for their year group they also sent them harder books to keep them interested in reading. With the ones that were esay the teacher sent questions home that we asked/discussed to make sure their comprehension skills were good (they didn't realise most kids didn't get these), this really helped with comprehensionskills goingforward to. I was told when a child is ahead they need to concentrate more on depth of understanding to make sure they understand all concepts but at the same time they need to prevent the child getting fed up and switching off to learning. I also got them choosing books from the library and read a lot of chapter books between us. I just concentrated on the books they enjoyed and felt it was more important to have a love of reading and left school to do what they felt they needed. Dc are predicted 8 and 9 in English so it's not held them back.

Hi,

I'm an ex-KS2 teacher and I have to say, teachers have very, very little time to read with children in their class. I used to find time for weaker students sometimes in assembly if I wasn't required to be there and occasionally in an afternoon if it was a lesson that did not require too much teacher input (but that was very rare). We used to do reciprocal reading in KS2 once a week and KS1 did guided reading so a KS1 teacher would usually hear each child read during that. And possibly during phonics lessons. As well, I have taught in schools where some classes didn't have TAs so that also made it harder to fit reading in.

In schools, usually children who are weaker and whose parents do not tend to read with them at home are targeted more frequently. I can understand how frustrating that can be for parents with higher ability children as you want them to be pushed too.

Definitely go into school and speak to the teacher before class or at the end of the day. Children should get roughly 10% of words wrong when on the right level of book. It is also really important to make sure comprehension as well as fluency are strong for each level.

Hope that helps.

@evemillbank

yes we do go to the library and choose books but school are fairly insistent that we read theirs.

I have asked the teacher but I’ll bring it up again. I’d say there’s roughly one word per book that she doesn’t know so 10% is way off that. I don’t necessarily want her to be pushed way ahead but I’m not keen on her being dragged back either which is currently what it feels like.

Bear in mind, 1:1 reading isn’t the only way of hearing your child read. They probably also hear them in guided reading and phonics lessons.

1:1 reading is an extremely inefficient use of the teacher’s time. 5 minutes with each child in a class of 30 takes 150 minutes (not including any time at all for the child to come over, find their book bag, for the teacher to write in the bloody reading record). So in every 2.5 hours of doing this, your child will get 5 precious minutes of being heard, and left to their own devices for 2 hours 25 minutes with no adult input. Can you see why it’s mostly left to TAs? (Who, by the way are often perfectly capable of and allowed to move kids up levels.)

That said, children who are capable shouldn’t just be repeating work that’s too easy or being ignored. Ask again about the book bands, especially if it’s been promised, and at parents evening do ask how they are stretching her.

Sorry for jumping on the, but 10% of words wrong sounds really high and I’m curious (10% of words wrong would have my DS reading absolutely any book in terms of words, obviously not comprehension though).

Does this 10% of words wrong include things like hesitations?

I’m following a similar track to the older reading schemes at home and would have guessed my DS was white/gold, when he probably gets a word or two wrong in the book but hesitates maybe every couple of pages. Would this have been enough to “move up” in a school setting?

My DS school follow Little Wandle religiously (after they were slated by Ofsted for following it too loosely) so won’t talk old book bands at all, but have said to keep up whatever we are doing because it’s worked so well for my DS.

DD is 23 now and she had the same problem at her Primary. As I was one of the few who went in to hear children reading I knew it was possible for her to be reading off the bloody stupid tree, most of which she'd read while at nursery or in reception. When I collared her teacher, with a pile of books she read alone at home and the idiotic thing she had at school, the teacher blustered and said dd didn't always get the jokes. Jokes she'd first heard over a year ago and was thinking way beyond, you mean? I asked.

No avail.

When we moved house and her reading was checked in her new school, she was put straight onto free reading. Drastic thing to do, perhaps! We did have other reasons for doing it, mind. 😜

DD is in year 1 - they read weekly with a TA (lovely reading! / very good! comments in the diary. I think the most 'personal' one we've had was 'expressive reading') and they get assessed every half term to check they've properly learn every sound they should have. If they can't do the alien words etc then they go back a few books.

Our school don’t do formal 1:1 reading with the teacher at all (they might for children who are struggling, there is an afterschool phonics intervention club for children not meeting expectations) but otherwise the teacher goes on their performance in phonics lessons, ability to read in topics etc.

They also haven’t changed reading books since before October half term (I don’t mean same book band, he literally has the same reading book in his bag as he had in October, so I just take him to the library instead). He’s on orange book band, which is meeting expectations so I don’t think they are focusing on him. It’s an outstanding school, with excellent Sats results, so their approach obviously works.

I’ve reconsidered my expectations for school tbh - I’m happy they will ensure a good baseline and fill in any gaps in knowledge, and I do the stretch activities/consolidation myself (maths games, going to the library for reading books, science holiday club, trips to museums, etc). Which, in retrospect, is what DM did for me as a child as well, so I don’t think this is a new thing. You might get individualised stretch activities and enrichment in an expensive prep school, but I don’t think you are going to in a state school, or even a standard private school - they just teach to the curriculum.

I agree.

I have two DCs and both are very good readers. They choose their own books at home and have never really complained about the books they get at school🤷🏼‍♂️ they just love to read anything and everything (even back of cereal boxes!)

I was under the impression it was “not being able to sight read a word” - so if your child is sounding a word out, hesitating, makes an error etc that would all count.

I wouldn’t count “lazy reading” like skimming, guessing from the picture etc, which might actually be down to the book being too easy/boring, as long as your child can actually read the sentence when you make them go back and read it properly.

1:10 is about 1 mistake a page, and yes if your son is doing better than that it is worth moving up, in order to challenge him.

My DD is reception, not Y1. However, I felt the same as you re her reading level so I messaged the class teacher and TA and they put her up a level. Even with the next level up, the books aren't challenging enough for her. I subscribe to The Bear Can Read, which has really accelerated her reading so I think the work we do at home is more advanced than what they're learning in the classroom, but with a class of 30 I like to extend her at home as I think the more able children can sometimes get lost as focus tends to be for those who need more support.

Can I ask what reading scheme your school uses where there’s a possibility of “moving up” when you’re ready rather than following a strict timetable?

Little Wandle is a total nightmare for keeping able readers in line with class ability and there’s no way we can move up because we’re restricted by what phonics is in the books (so my son who is reading short chapter books at home is still reading early Phase 5, one sentence a page books at school - and there’s better readers than him similarly held back).

Yes, sorry if I caused any confusion there. It is roughly 1 mistake in every 10 words. So getting around 90-95% of words correct over the course of the book is about right. And yes, like @Changechangychange says, this can include having to sound out or hesitating.

For books they read independently, you'd expect them to be getting much less wrong - about 5%.

Hope that helps @RachelSq - I would say if your child can read most words correctly but doesn't show a good understanding of the text, she probably is on the right level.

No confusion and thanks for the reply!

On that basis the band my DS would be on would be very much dictated by understanding rather than reading the words (where he’d probably have completed the bands as very few words cause an issue). We’ll continue reading the reading scheme books we’ve got at home - mainly for the ease of having questions printed in the books to discuss (I’m definitely not a natural at making up questions about a text!).

DD's school uses the Sounds-Write phonics scheme. The books they use are the Dandelion Launcher ones. I think there may also be an element of restriction because looking on the back of the books at the units (levels), DD is reading at level 11/12 at home, but we are on a 6 from school and following the phonics lessons. This is why I do a subscription because I feel DD is more able and she needs extending beyond what the school is currently offering.

How do you know what phonics scheme they’re on?

My dd is in y1 and reads once a week with a TA or teacher at school.

The school is pretty poor at changing over her books and writing in reading records. DD can read chapter books independently. I don't worry about what does or doesn't happen at school to be honest because she has plenty of books to read at home and we also still read to her at home (as she has a little sister so we read to them both at the same time).

I wouldn't worry too much about the level of the books at school. Just dutifully read it once a week and read whatever else you like at home. Early chapter books etc. My DS (August born year 1) is currently on book band 5 and they are absolutely delighted with that, so chances are they are prioritising the kids that are struggling more. I'm not entirely sure what they do with the book bands at that point as when our DD was in year 1, 3 years ago, we went into lockdown when she was on book band 6 or 7 and when she came back to school for year 2, they were all just on free reading. If you're old in your year/very able I can imagine a lot of things get boring and repetitive.

Our school has it on their website, plus they do various online “understanding phonics at XX Primary” sessions.

The school should be informing parents of their phonics scheme/ approach.

Any school that is using the ٪ incorrect method for reading books is not keeping up to date with the new early reading guidance. Books that children are reading should be read completely fluently with only sounds and words that match their phonic level.

My DD is in year 1 and on level 10; up until a few weeks ago, she would go weeks without reading to the teacher or changing her book. We just make sure she reads a variety of book at home.

Perfectly possible for a child to stumble over a new word despite having already covered the constituent graphemes in class though? Otherwise everyone would get 100% in the Y2 phonics test….

DS knows “know”, “knee”, “blew” and “flew”. Still paused and thought about “knew” though, even though he has covered the individual components before. Doesn’t mean he’s on the wrong band. The same book contained “extraordinary” - again, he could break it down into syllables and read it, but he had to think about it. The point is that he is only needing to think about one or two words per page, so it isn’t interrupting the flow of the story.

How else do you learn new words, if not by reading books with new words in them?