Why are people so anti ORT?

[seeker]

They are often funny, they are often anarchic, they show children lots of different ways of living, the pictures have lots of interest and detail, the vocabulary is lively - you can usually find one that has something to interest an individual child, they are proper stories - what's not to like?

When I think about the Janet and John type of books people of my generation had - ORT is in a different universe!

[mrz]

Problem with that is not many of the early books have 100 words in the whole book never mind any passages I'm afraid. There are some reading tests available on line which give a reading age but the results can vary a great deal from test to test.

[Blandmum]

if you want to work out the reading age you can use this

fry readability graph

[imaginaryfriend]

This is so helpful! So I've placed dd in band 6, orange.

[ReallyTired]

This links shows how ORT links to book bands

ORT and book bands

I'm surprised how wide the gold book band which is supposely level 2B there is a huge difference between a stage 9 and stage 7 book.

[imaginaryfriend]

But how come the ORT level 6 overlap so many different colours in Rigby?

[Hulababy]

Ah, thanks.

What a shame it is nly available to buy and not an onine document

[mrz]

The newer reading schemes are using colour coding and are easier to "level" but there is a document available which has all reading scheme books and some "real" books organised into levels just a very long job organising books shelves which is probably another reason most schools stick with a single scheme.

www.amazon.co.uk/Book-Bands-Guided-Reading-Foundation/dp/0854737871?tag=mumsnet&ascsubtag=mnforum-21
we use this one but there are different versions

www.thegrid.org.uk/learning/english/ks1_2/literacyhour/guidedread/bookbands.shtml
links to NC levels

[Hulababy]

MB - that would make sense. Thanks

[Blandmum]

There are ways of working out the reading age. these methods vary, one to another, but they all take account of things like length of words, numbers of words in a sentence, and sentences in a paragraph.

There are charts that you plot the results on , and they will give you an approximate reading age

[Hulababy]

DD brings home so many different types of books from different schemes. It is very clear to me that the levels don't match up number for number. So it baffles me how they do it, unless it is just professional judgement.

[imaginaryfriend]

Good question Hula... one which I have no idea how to answer. It's a baffling puzzle to me.

... ummm ... mrz? yoo--hooo ....

[Hulababy]

What I always wonder - there are so many dfferet reading schemes out there: jolly phonics, ORT, Ladybird phonics, adtbird keywords, Ginn, PM, Lighthouse, etc.

How do all the elevels fit together? How does the teacher know which books are the same reading standard? As clearly level 4 or one is not the same as level 4 of another.

[imaginaryfriend]

That's just brilliant. Exactly what I needed. Thanks!

[mrz]

ORT level 6 overlap several bands of Rigby

Blue level
Stage 6 More Owls
Playscripts
Dad?s Grand Plan
Don?t be Silly
Mirror Island

Green level
Stage 6 Owls
In the Garden
Playscripts
Land of the Dinosaurs
Robin Hood

Orange Level
Stage 6 Owls
Kipper and the Giant
Land of the Dinosaurs
Robin Hood
Stage 6 More Owls
A Fright in the Night
Christmas Adventure
Rotten Apples
The Go-Kart Race
The Laughing Princess
The Shiny Key
Stage 6 & 7 Owls
Pack B
Dad?s Grand Plan
Don?t Be Silly
Mirror Island
Traditional Tales
Stages 5-7
Jack and the Beanstalk
The Donkey that Sneezed

Turquoise level
Stage 6 Owls
The Outing
The Treasure Chest
Stage 6 & 7
Owls Pack B
The Willow Pattern Plot
Submarine Adventure
The Joke Machine
Stage 6 Robins
The Dump
Stage 6 Woodpeckers
The Boy and the Tiger

purple level
Stage 6 More Robins
Max Makes Breakfast

www.edventurebooks.com/Rigby/Rocket/orange.htm

you can download sample pages
www.rigbystar.co.uk/teachers_resources.html

[ListersSister]

IF - try this link ;

rigby and suggested ages

scroll down to page 3 for the chart. FWIW, I recall that ORT Level 6 is roughly equivalent to Green level on Rigby, so 2nd half of Yr 1.

Hth, and I am no expert, so hope Mrz comes along too for additional insight

[imaginaryfriend]

mrz - if you're around, could you give me a basic outline of what the colour levels for Rigby Rockets stand for? Don't worry if it's a pain. I can't work it out from the website and I'd like to buy dd a couple as they look quite fun. For what it's worth she's reading, generally, level 6 books in the dreaded ORT and the other schemes her school have like Storyworlds.

[imaginaryfriend]

You're entirely welcome mrz. I've followed your advice a number of times and, so far, all your suggestions have been really good ones. There is frequently so little information given out from school that it's like a breath of fresh air having it explained by you.

[mrz]

Thank you imaginaryfriend I'm pleased you find my posts useful

[MsDemeanor]

Ok, I called you aggressive, but that was after you aggressively accused me of deliberatly posting to wind someone up, which is absolutely and entirely wrong. I was responding, entirely politely to her remarks about sounding out being 'agonizing' and simply, mildly and politely pointing out that if a child has a good background in phonics it isn't at all agonizing, and a subsquent poster came on to agree with me. Was she 'winding up' too? The fact that I haven't read every single post that mrz has ever made on this website is hardly a crime. I would be a nutcase if I had.

[MsDemeanor]

I think you are terribly confused. I didn't call anyone aggressive, that you was you.
You owe me an apology as you are entirely wrong, but I don't expect people like you, who jump on threads just to be rude to one person, do apologies. Ho hum.

[imaginaryfriend]

Well I'm happy to agree to differ but I think you were being provocative and passive aggressive with all that 'ho hum' stuff. And the constant mis-reading of everything mrz was saying. It will always get someone's back up if they're writing passionately and someone mis-reads them then tells them they're 'aggressive' with a . I call it a wind-up.

However it's not the subject of the thread. And I really don't care if you think I'm being aggressive. I just wanted to be happy mrz hadn't disappeared in frustration at your posts.

[MsDemeanor]

It is not at all 'agreeable' to accuse me, personally, of deliberately winding someone up when I was doing no such thing. It's rude.

[imaginaryfriend]

Personally I think accusing people of being aggressive when they are being perfectly agreeable is actually ... um, aggressive.

[MsDemeanor]

Oh stop being so aggressive. I wasnt' 'winding up' mrz. I was addressing her points entirely politely.

[imaginaryfriend]

I agree nooka, phonics learning seems pretty indispensable, I can't think how children learn all the twists and turns of the English language without it!

MsDemeanor I've no idea why you were winding up mrz earlier, he/she's been a complete font of wisdom on every thread I've come across on the subject of Reception / early reading. Keep posting mrz, you make such a lot of sense.