Year 1 reading

[Sipperskipper]

DD has just turned 6, in year 1. She's a pretty decent reader & enjoys reading. We've got plenty of books at home / go to the library etc. She reads children's chapter books to me - think Zoe's Rescue Zoo type books. Her comprehension / expression etc is good.

Looking at her reading diary, at school she reads to TA 1-2 times per half term, but the books are often yellow band, basic phonics books. She also brings these home. Her report etc says she is exceeding in reading, so they have assessed her, but am I right to be a little frustrated by this? Should she be assessed as being on a particular bookband? Or do other schools work like this?

My DD sounds very similar. Year 1 aged 6, loves books, reads chapter books and seems to understand most of what she reads. Her school does the accelerated reading scheme but before that she was on turquoise and that was last September. It sounds like your DD is on a band that is far too low and you could request that she be moved to turquoise/purple/gold level books if her school aren't on the accelerated reading scheme. My DD reads with the teacher once a week and with a TA once a week x

That does sound frustrating - however the band colour depends on the reading scheme. If you find out what scheme it is the you can find more information on the assessment criteria to work out whether she should be pushed to more advanced books. I’m more concerned that she reads to a TA so infrequently. Minimum should be once a week so I would bring this up with the teacher or KS1 lead.

There is no minimum that someone at school should hear a child read. Many schools can no longer afford class TAs, so having a TA available at all is often a luxury. It is up to the school, not parents, to decide how to use this precious time.

OP, you're right to feel frustrated, even more so because of my point above. Given limited staff time, it ought to be used very wisely and on reading books closely matches to the child's current level. Focus on raising that with the teacher.

I agree about the colours being different between schemes and schools (my DCs' school have their own unique colour order once past the phonics scheme), but OP says the books are clearly well below the DC's ability.
There are unlikely to be enough TAs to hear every child read even once a week, unfortunately. The school will focus their scarce resources on those that are behind, have SEN, or pupil premium DCs. A good number who are behind the school will know will have no one reading with them at home. I work in DCs' school listening to readers once a week; I'm given the struggling DCs, and I can see from their reading record that they often aren't listened to between my visits. On the rare occasion I finish that group in the time available, I pick others at random. It isn't unusual that no one within school has listened to them for 6 weeks (sometimes more). I go to KS2 where reading is less of a focus overall, but I've found from my own able-reader DCs, that someone listening to them in school is a rare thing and often only happens when they are being assessed each half term.

This has been our experience too OP. In my DCs' cases, it was initially a case that their writing level needed to match their reading book that saw us being sent very easy books, then we found school had rules about not officially moving them past a point (eg no one moves off the phonics scheme before the end of yr1 and no one can be classed as a free reader until yr3). We just gave the easy book a quick once through, then let DC read what interested them from their own bookshelf. It's a fairly short term issue IME, as if they're a good reader they fly up through the levels once off the phonics scheme.

DC3 in Year 1 was moved onto the accelerated reader scheme sometime around Christmas. At his school they move children from the banded phonics books to accelerated reader once they’ve reached a certain ability level with the banded books.
Since then there’s not been many notes in his reading record where the teacher or TA have been listening to him read.

I think the teacher and TA have been focusing most of their attention - when it comes to one on one reading - on the children who are struggling with reading, or the ones who aren’t reading with an adult at home.

Although having said that, if you feel the books your DD’s getting are too easy, I’d ask the teacher whether your DD’s reading can be assessed, or what she needs to work on to move onto a higher bookband.

Thanks all for your input. I'd love for her to be listened to more regularly (and just found out it's with a parent helper, not the TA!) but I know they have quite a high level of children needing extra support in her class. We do lots of reading at home, so I'm not too worried about that.

I spoke to her (lovely) teacher this afternoon. She said they don't do book bands at all in school now, and strictly follow the phonics scheme. She acknowledged DD is on chapter book level, but said they just have a selection of books & the children can choose whatever. She said in year 2 they move up to the next stage of the scheme, but they are not on bookbands.

This seems mad to me, but I suppose all I can do is carry on supporting her reading at an appropriate level at home.

Either way round it seems a waste of time sending home a yellow band book to a chapter book level reader? My reception age child moved past yellow as needed to be challenged by the next level up. He is a good reader but by no means one of the best.