advce/understanding of reading in reception, any teachers out there?

[bethelsie]

My dd is in reception. at the present time she is on level 2 ORT books. The system in dd class is that they must read every book at each level, to move on. They change the books 2x a week. The books she brings home she is finding quite easy. So i did a little experiment today and bought a level 4 ORT book. She did ok, needed a little help. My question is why do they have to read every book in each level, what is the educational theory behind it. I have no problem with the level she is on as we do lots of reading at home. Im just wanting to understand the process of learning to read and why so many schools vary in their approach to reading.

There are other skills in reading than decoding - perhaps the school want to consolidate and ensure adequate comprehension before moving the children on? Finding a book easy can be confidence building (as long as the child is not bored).

Every book on every level sounds a little prescriptive. But I do know that teachers introduce aspects of text like punctuation and speaking with emphasis that parents usually don't when they're reading for pleasure. I think that sort of thing is probably easier if the words themselves are not distractingly challenging.

There isn't any reason behind it but it may be school policy. As constancereader schools will take into account the level of understanding/ comprehension as well as simple decoding skills.

keep writing in her reading record - 'dd finds this really easy, can we try something else please?' and see what comes home!

bit jobsworthy imo - she'll get fed up and switch off if the work is too easy.

I would just make sure that your dd reads lots of fun books with you (at all levels of difficulty) - imo reading schemes tend to be on the boring side anyway.

Have taught reading using ORT books alongside others for over 10 years now - there is nothing within the scheme that says they must read all books, as it has been mentioned previously that must be school policy (ime a bit extreme).
It is really important that they have good comprehension skills and understand what they're reading as well as being able to decode words.
Think both Lucycat and constancereader's advice is excellent.
Good luck!

It could be to do with numbers of books availiable in the whole school. At dc's school they tend to read every book in the level with only a few children going onto higher levels. I think it has much to do with not wanting to move them on too soon to books that are being used by other years.

My dc's school has this policy, but in fact the regularly monitor the childrens progress and skip them up a level if they think it's appropriate. I think they just tell the parents they have to read all the books so that if your child is a plodder you don't feel put out iyswim.

no im not at all concerned about the level she is on, although it does get a bit boring for me as i hear the same key words over and over again. Im just curious to why they have to read all the books in each level. She does understand all the comprehension as we have questions to answer at the end of the book, which she understands. For example she has a level 2 book, but the questions she brings home at the top says level 3.

In DD1's class they bring home books from the level below the one they are reading in class. They are meant to be fairly straightforward for them to read, so that they can show off what they've learned.

They used to read every book in a level, but were happy to skip children ahead if they were finding things too easy. Now she's on a higher level (in Yr1) she just picks any book she fancies, as long as it has the right colour sticker on it. It's interesting to find out how different the various schemes are.

Also, when you get a bit further up ORT, there are books which follow a sequence, so you do need to read them in order. So the school might just be in the habit of doing them all in order unless a child really needs to miss a few out.

My DD is in reception and they too do all the books in order which I find really annoying. Recently she had some Wrens level 3 home, they seemed a bit easy to me so I looked it up on line to see that they had been down graded to a level 2!
Another idea for getting through them more quickly is to simply ask for more books to be sent home. Lets face it if you DD is finding them easy I am sure she is whizzing through them and an extra one or two will help move her through them. Lastly I do agree with other posters, for me it isn't so much about the level but the range of text and the practice with different sounds. I like to get lots of different books from the library, makes life much more interesting.

no im absolutely fine with the level, as she reads lots at home, im just curious to why schools seem to make them read all of the books.

that is really strange anmhe, because my dd just brought a wrenn book home level 3 and i thought the same thing, did exactly what you did and realised it was now a level 2. how weird is that?

My dd's in Reception and she never brings ORT books home. I know she's reading level 5 ORT in guided reading at school because her teacher told me. She brings home a range of different books by different publishers, usually level 4-5.

Can you arrange a meeting with the teacher to ask why they have to read all the books at one level?

Can I just post a note of caution; I hear readers in school and one or two have very keen parents - "Can XX have a new book pls" with the result that there are a few children who have rather rapidly read every book at a level but are not ready to move up.

I agree that reading stuff that is too easy can make the child bored, but similarly speeding up through the levels can have a detrimental effect if they are suddenly faced with a wall of words they cannot understand.