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Primary education

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Original poster

Anyone with age 4-6 on the ORT

54 replies

samanthar · 15/03/2008 23:08

Just wondered how old? which school year? your children are and how they find it

ds is on level 2 and finds it very hard ..he has very little idea and is only getting anew one each day as we got through them and he memorises them

dd is on level 5 and racing through them with never a word out of place...does it suddenly get alot harder in level 6 plus
sorry to ask but with parent consultation evening coming up i have one with one issue with it and one with the opposite

many thanks

OP posts:
PaulaYatesBiggestFan · 16/03/2008 20:33

I think ort is fine and imo the reading scheme LEVELS are wholly dependant on the school's attitude towards learning to read

My older dcs started school as fluent readers but the school insisted they did the whole ORT thing from scratch - this was frustrating

this time my dc4 started school unable to read and is going with the class - which is harder for ME but much more satisfactory for a child not having to repeat stuff

Prep and private schools are much more pushy ime with reading books and pride themselves on whizzing through levels

Our state school is incredibly 'mutually inclusive' and does not even start with reading books until the january after a child starts reception

Comparing levels is really quite irrelevant at this stage - infact up until about 7 really

dont worry - as long as your child is progressing in the right direction - they will achieve their potential with an interested parent - over time

I am a HUGE believer in genetics!

maverick · 16/03/2008 21:07

Lots of information here about 'decodable books', which are what all beginning readers should be using for reading nowadays post the Rose Report:www.aowm73.dsl.pipex.com/dyslexics/resources_and_further_11.htm

Hulababy · 16/03/2008 21:11

DD is 5 and in Y1. She was doing ORT level 5 at the end of reception and start of this year. But we haven't had L6 this year. We have a couple at home and she was reading them in the summer holidays no problem. She reads various other reading schemes at school now.

DD's school has a policy of not just using one scheme and rushing through them. They have a whole range of schemes, so children read loads of different books at each level. It builds vocabularly and confidence. Some she picks up and reads fluently, others there are much tougher words that take more decoing, but her reading skills are really developng well now.

Trouble with only using one scheme such as ORT is is quite limiting on the words used, until they get to the higher levels with a lot of words per book.

Hulababy · 16/03/2008 21:14

Notherner - don't worry about it at all. Some children in DD's class on are a lower level of ORT than that and school are not concerned. So long as he is picking up the decoding skills and making steady, gradual progress then he is doing fine. And then eventually it clicks in and they seem to just get it and can suddenly start reading anything and everything.

Reading seemed to just click in more firmly wih DD last summer and she started reading to herself for pleasure. It really is all of a sudden when it happens.

gemmiegoatlegs · 16/03/2008 21:17

flippin eck, i had never even heard of ORT! Whaddya know, i look in my ds' book bag and find an ORT book (only level one). I am finding the reading thing really taxing as he has only started trying a few weeks ago, before that he would refuse to look at the words on the page. He is reception and one of the youngesst in hisclass so i'm hoping he would catch up. I hate the way there is a standard already. he's only 4 and he is being graded - how miserable

Novicecamper · 16/03/2008 21:27

Ds2 is 5.5 and in reception and the ORT books he brings home are level 4. The book he has at the moment is called 'Addressing a Letter', but I'm not sure if that's an ORT one.

Like Hula says, our school uses a range of schemes, not sticking to just one.

I think some of the ORT books are quite hard with non-decodable words quite early on.

When ds1 was in reception he went through Jolly Phonics books and did more Literacy Land/Story Street which I thought were much better.

I agree with others that you shouldn't worry at reception stage - ds1 read fluently in reception and raced through books but those that were way behind him in year 1 have closed the gap in year 2 (I think ds1 and a couple of others in his class are pretty exceptional readers, but the majority are now on a level playing field).

I would recommend the Apple Tree Farm books - you can get the box set of 20 or so from thebookpeople. Ds2 loves though, as did ds1 - there are short easier sentences at the top of the page and longer ones at the bottom with lovely bright pictures in the middle. Ds2 sometimes reads the bottom sections but often he likes to read the top sentence and I read the harder bottom bit.

Novicecamper · 16/03/2008 21:31

gemmie - ds3 starts reception in September and he's only 4 right at the very end of August, so I'm preparing myself for the fact that he may not pick up reading as quickly as his brothers did. He may do, he may not do, but having seen 2 children and their friends go through it - how different they are to start off with and how much more level it is at year 2 - I'm determined not to stress about it!

Butkin · 17/03/2008 12:54

DD is just 5 and in reception and is reading ORT - level 4. She has just done the More Sparrows books which are about a Muslim family - as opposed to the usual Kipper, Biff and Floppy gang.

She enjoys them and it is definitely about memorising words rather than phonetics - which I don't think they really start until after Easter.

We read them through to her at bedtime with her other bedtime book (she gets one a night and two at weekends). Then in the morning she had to read them to us before school so she is ready to read them to her teacher on arrival. She can normally read them through perfectly and without the robot way of speaking that she had before Christmas.

She tells us she is one of the first kids in her class to be on "red books" ie stage 4 but when we read together her non-ORT books she struggles to read many words - especially if there are no pictures so definitely not blending well yet.

TheHonEnid · 17/03/2008 12:56

dd2 is in recept and has just finished level 4 - they then go onto other schemes and boks adn dont do lev 5 till in year one - if her reading is deemed better than level 5 she will just miss it out

kaz33 · 17/03/2008 13:00

DS1 (6 - year 2) is off the ORT level as he can now read pretty much anything and takes books to bed every night. However, in reception he was very slow and finished on ORT 2.

DS2 (4 - reception) just moved onto ORT 2. Proud mummy.

They get there in there own time, most important is that they are enjoying it and you continue to read to them. That is what turn them into life long readers and learners.

Playmobil · 17/03/2008 13:02

Ds1 is 5.7 and in year 1 and has just last week moved to ort level 2. Some in his class are on level 8 and up. He will get there I'm sure as dh didn't read until 8, but it is frustrating for him.

ingles2 · 17/03/2008 13:05

ds2 is 6 yr 2 is now on ORT stage 11...
but he started the year in Sept on ORT 7 and has got reading in the last couple of months.

dinny · 17/03/2008 16:57

God, my dd is still on level 3 (and is year 1 and is 6 in May)

asked the teacher if she could move up and teacher said they want her to be reading a bit mnore confidentally first. argh!!! we've been on it for AGES

imaginaryfriend · 17/03/2008 17:15

My dd is 5-and-a-half, Reception, and reading level 4-5 books from school, most of which aren't ORT though. They seem to do ORT in the class for guided reading but bring home different books for home reading. One series is called Lighthouse or something like that. She can read a level 5 ORT book but it would take her a while and first time through it there would be a few words she wouldn't recognise.

As so many others have said though there's no real point worrying at this age. They'll get it when they get it.

schmoopoo · 17/03/2008 17:48

DD is in reception on stage 3 ORT ahead of most in the class there teachers like them to read a range of books at each level and be really confident before moving on. She read very slowly one of the cousins stage 7 books it does make me wonder do different schools do different things with regards to moving up levels

kaz33 · 17/03/2008 17:54

Dinny - my year 2 6 year old (august baby) only started to read properly in the summer holidays between yr 1 and yr 2 - now you can't stop him So don't worry, if you were IFYSWIM

dinny · 17/03/2008 18:45

thanks, Kaz

get a bit despondant about it all really, so many of them in her class are on 11 and above!!!!

outofteabags · 17/03/2008 18:51

It all seems to depend on the schools way of doing it. Friends children (state) class one all seem to be on another planet - two have completed ORT and are free reading, one is on level 11 and her mother is holding her back as she feels the school is pushing too hard. At our school (private) class 1 noone is higher than level 8 and some are level 3-4. Doesn't matter in the end, they will all read in the end, some just 'get it' quicker

SpringSunshine · 17/03/2008 19:55

My 2 were taught by synthetic phonics.

ds 5.4 is on about stage 9, just beginning chapter books. Dd 6.9 in Yr 2 is a free reader and has been for over a year.

They both learnt using Jelly and Bean and the Jolly phonics readers, before moving onto ORT at Stage 5 when the stories actually become more interesting!

But then neither of them can ride a bike without stabilisers and ds still struggles with buttons so they definitley all do things at different times

aintnomountainhighenough · 17/03/2008 20:35

I think the problem lies in the fact that there are so many different reading schemes and in fact different ORT books - Floppys Phonics, Songbirds and of course the old ORT books.

My DD in reception just turned 5 is on level 3 but this is the old ORT books with Biff and Kipper etc - these books do not support synthetic phonics and are full of words that cannot be decoded and additionally words that contain sounds/blends that havent been covered. I really don't understand why schools insist on using these out of date books. I am lucky, my DD is fine reading these, however if your child is struggling a bit they do not support and help put into practice what they are learning in school. I am not surprised so many children are still struggling with reading - I think phonics is brilliant however schools need to teach it properly and have all the supporting materials.

samanthar - if they are the old books get some phonic based books (libraries are normally a good source) and see how he gets on. Good luck.

ChasingSquirrels · 17/03/2008 20:42

re your original question on level 5/6 - there is a bit of a jump, more words per page etc, but not a massive jump if she is confident with level 5.

We only got a couple of the level 6's as the school said they wanted him to broaden his reading (which was a shame as he was really enjoying them).

For ds it sounds like he might be better with some decodable books.

For dd some different books might be better than just racing through the ORT's.

imaginaryfriend · 17/03/2008 22:32

Just out of interest then, are all the Biff, Chip, Kipper ORT books considered to be the 'old' ones? And not relevant to phonics learning?

TheHonEnid · 18/03/2008 10:14

I like biff and chip

both dds really enjoy reading them and at least the illustrations are quite amusing

TheHonEnid · 18/03/2008 10:16

dinny dd1 was on level 3 at this stage ni year 1 - she is now in year 3

mind you I have to say we have had some issues wtih her reading and tbh I wished I had pushed a bit earlier

dinny · 18/03/2008 10:20

what issues, Enid? and how would you have pushed her?

just feel she is being overlooked, in a way, she reads to me every day and I read them tons of stories after school and before bed

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