Little wandle year 1 reading

[Wonderingpurple]

Can anyone tell me how reading levels are assessed in year 1 (and reception too) in the little wandle reading program? I am trying to understand the rationale behind the level of reading books he is bringing home. He is currently getting books marked phase 2 set 5, this hasn’t changed since the last term in reception, he doesn’t seem to move up levels very regularly at all. When I asked his teacher about it last year she said they only have the opportunity to move up levels at the end of term (although another parent has told me their child in the same class moves up at least every 3 weeks, although of course this child could be in an advanced reading group).

I am just really baffled why they still have him on such basic books. I signed him up to a reading subscription in January which moves him up levels automatically and he is easily reading books at a much higher level to those the school are sending home-(the school books are very dull, it’s hard to make a good story out of basic cvc words!).

I have asked his new teacher who said she would do a quick reading assessment with him but I don’t think this has happened (I expect she’s very busy and doesn’t need the hassle of dealing with fussy parents!)

I would love to hear any insight from other parents/teachers. His reports all say he is exactly at the right level.

Many rave about this scheme and it does seem to get very good results with teaching most children the basic foundation of reading but it doesn't suit the more able readers.
In the end our school took my child out the group and allowed them free reign of the library as it was holding them back! Poor kid was bored and frustrated by the text and it nearly turned them off reading completely!

Little Wandle doesn’t allow them to take books home with sounds in that they haven’t been taught at school. The first few weeks of year one is a recap of reception, it’s about now that they’ll start to learn new sounds. Children have an assessment every 6th week and this is when our school would move book bands.

I get it, but I’m not a massive fan of this as like you say, the books are boring and I think able readers are held back. I have always supplemented at home with reading books I’ve bought or borrowed from the library.

Thanks for this, I know they are recapping phase 4 before starting phase 5 in term 2, although he is still only getting phase 2 books home which seems so far behind current teaching, yet they still claim he is on track!
he is much more interested in the books I’m getting via the subscription- they are so much more interesting!

OP, could you give an example of a sentence your son can read independently? I would expect the only children on phase 2 in Y1 to be ones who can barely read (“I s….i….t… sit o…n… on…” for example). Assuming your son is above that, I would assume the school (or teacher) is operating weirdly. Expected level at end of YR would be secure Phase 3.

He can read, for example ‘farmers need land for farms but big cats need land too. The cats need lots of room to hunt for food’. He is confident with all the digraphs that have been covered, he would sometimes sound out two syllable words like ‘farming’ on a first read.

It's fluency. They need 90% fluency (reading words without sounding out) before moving up.

The only thing I can think of is that perhaps he is less confident reading words randomly listed on a page. He does have quite good comprehension of stories, he often spends a long time looking at the pictures and guessing what happens next. He’s never engaged very well with the homework sheet list of words when they’re not in context (ie not part of a sentence in a story). So perhaps he doesn’t perform well on the assessments? although whenever I’ve asked his teacher she has said ‘xxx did so well on the assessment I am so proud of him’.

I also wonder if he got placed in a remedial reading group very early on, he started reception unable to read anything besides a few basic words (his and his sisters name, mum, dad). They didn’t give him an actual book with words until Christmas (although he was reading worded books with me much earlier). Perhaps once he’s in this reading group it’s hard to move out?

@fuckityfuckityfuckfuck so if he doesn’t perform well in one reading assessment at the end of the term he’s kept on the same level for another term? He easily has 100% fluency on the books they are sending him with, maybe 90% on the ones I am getting for him

Little Wandle is a whole class approach so they (shouldn't) be teaching phonics in ability groups, although reading practice sessions are grouped by ability.

The reading assessments at the end of each half term are just lists off sounds, words, tricky words and then one sentence. But this is on purpose so children cannot guess from context and have to be able to read the words using only their phonic knowledge.

If he's not good at reading words out of context, is he actually using his phonic knowledge to read? Reading from context is a great skill to have but LW is all about securing the Phonics.

Ah I see. I think he can read the words out of context but is not interested in it- he is a stubborn one and he does love a book!

Op hopefully in the next few weeks you will see some movement as they start teaching the Y1 sounds. DS' school started that this week. (They have subtly made it know that they don't love the lack of flexibility imposed by Little Wandle.)

DS knows the phase 5 sounds so we supplement with banded books from the library.

I would just give it time for him to settle well into year 1 and all will come good. In a way, he’s practicing lots with you but also perhaps getting the support with comprehension/fluency/expression at school. Reading is a range of skills and we as parents don’t always see them whereas the teachers do. So he’s got the best of both worlds and it will come together soon enough. DSs class get reassessed every 6 weeks which doesn’t seem to infrequent.

My DS has this scheme at school, currently in year 2 and reading Phase 5 still.

He’s been reading chapter books since reception and finds these very, very easy as the whole class works at the same level.

Honestly I feel a bit let down that this is what the government thinks is necessary as the scheme has bored my son witless for two years, and other parents of fairly able readers are saying the same.

We’ve just left him to pick whatever he wants to read at home, which is all we can really do.

My son has just started reception and his school have moved to this scheme. Can I ask anyone in the know why the whole class work at the same level? Surely all that will happen is that the kids who are reading already will become very bored?

Is there a reason why they don't work to the ability of the child?

I presume because it’s easier to teach to the full class, and then all kids get more teaching overall.

My son went to reception able to read, but couldn’t spell. He needs to learn to spell which is also part of the lessons in phonics and earlier on needed to learn letter formation which is also part of the scheme.

The phonics schemes are about much more than reading, which I have to keep telling myself every time we get a book home!

Guessing is a really poor strategy long term. As is using the pictures. Maybe when you are reading the books at home, get him to do a few isolated words first to check?

@drspouse he’s not guessing the words, he is predicting what will happen next in the story like ‘I think that the frog will jump next’. We do usually do the words listed in the front of the book first. What I meant was he is more engaged with reading a book and more likely to want to do reading practice than when the words are just written as a list. I have tried various reading games but he just loves books more

I guess it seems like there is more to it than just the book which is sent home. I will continue reading our own books with him and try not to dwell on the level of book the school sends. The most important thing for me with the books is to develop a love for reading, our home books have helped a lot with that, the school ones not so much!

So we transitioned to little wandle when my eldest was at the end of year 1 and it was painful as she was reading very well. You could directly compare the same books that were updated little wandle ones versus the older ones and they were all a little bit duller and the repetition made my child bored shitless. It was also pointless as she learnt it off by heart on the first read through so it became a memory thing for her. All of the top group kids found the transition a bit odd and it didn’t seem to be great for them but it seems to work on a whole class basis.

Meh blame the government. One scheme and one type of book matched to that scheme. Fluency prioritised.

I understand the reading program a bit better after seeing everyone’s comments here. The books they are sending home are definitely not at the right level for my son but if I separate reading for school and reading for pleasure in my mind (with more emphasis on the latter) hopefully in the long run the two will eventually align better.
thanks everyone for taking the time to share your experience

I'm struggling to understand the reading program with my reception starter too. He is being given books that don't have words, I realised he could read books he hadn't seen before over six months ago. How quickly will the reading scheme books catch up to normal picture books like Julia Donaldson or similar? He loves reading but he likes real books.

Wordless books are real books. And very important for skills like inference. There are many truely excellent wordless books for older children/adults too. Look at the journey trilogy by Aaron Beckett.

These books are not like picture books with high quality illustrations but few or no words. DS is not showing interest in the school book, he is choosing to read library books instead. He likes well illustrated books but loves words and reading most. I was worried it was hyperlexia but his comprehension seems fine.

My DD is y2 and still on little wandle - she's bored to bits of it - we read other books at home to keep her enjoyment of reading going