Is my daughter behind?

[tealstars]

My DD is in year two. She turned 6 in June. After speaking to the other parents of children in her class I can see that she is further behind than them when it comes to reading and writing.

She's currently on Oxford Reading Tree level 3. She seems to find this level easy and breezes through the books, but she's not being given a higher level.

I've attached a sample of her writing.

What can I do to help her? We have parents evening after half term, so will have a more in depth chat to her teacher. So far, teacher doesn't seem too concerned! But I'm very aware she's at the bottom of her class and getting worried.

The best thing you can do is listen to her read as much as possible. You don't have to stick to the school books.

Learning the sounds yourself is useful.

Don't fall into the trap of panicking about this or thinking that you need to do work at home with her. Keep things interesting and think outside the box.

Try to bring reading and writing into her every day life in interesting ways.

Get her to write a shopping list before you go to the supermarket, set up a vets in the corner of the living room with clipboards. All that.

That does sound like behind on book bands.
That is more like end of reception.
Ask for more books at once. Have a look at higher bands to see which ones you think she could read. Or theres reading chest.
The writing does also look behind. But both mine had not so great writing but that is practised at school.

You must remember that she's 10 months younger than some of the other year 2 children.
You can go to the library regularly, read non school books at home etc, you're not tied to what the school provide.
My dd's handwriting was very similar, then from absolutely nowhere she had a huge leap and her writing improved drastically.
Don't worry about it, just do what you can to stretch her learning but keep in mind she's doing year 2, not A Levels.

@tealstars My first thought is give her lined paper. Letters to be formed of correct height and relationship to each other. I’ve attached a check list so you can judge BUT it’s end of y2. Not now. So give her better paper designed for ks1 writing. Lots of practice books are available.

Thank you all for the great advice, it's all really helpful. I needed to be told she was behind, so I appreciate that, but it's also comforting to know that she's still young and has a lot more learning to do.

It didn't actually cross my mind that the actual handwriting/letter formation was something you were worried about. To me, that's such a small aspect of writing.

Strengthening her grip will help. Colouring, play-doh, puzzles, small world etc.

You can get coloured handwriting lines which can help some children understand where letters go.

I actually wouldn't worry too much, especially if the teacher isn't concerned. There can be huge gaps between kids at that age, and your daughter is young for her year. It does even out as they get older.

My DD was behind, but had caught up massively.
Try reading eggs, books from the library/charity shop and make sure she reads every night, even if just 15 minutes, I had a reward chart with a sticker for every book and when she read so many we went to get a toy.