Dd's reading in Y1, a bit puzzled

[imaginaryfriend]

Dd's just gone into Y1 and reading is her strong point. Writing and spelling need some work as does maths but she's a great reader I think.

So she brings home reading books that are level 9 (Storyworlds) which she reads a few pages of with the teacher first then finishes at home. This is changed twice a week. But in her group when she does guided reading they're reading level 3 / 4 books which she finds way too easy she says.

Is this the sort of thing to mention to the teacher or do you think she'll be changing the groups round at some point?

Very early in the term yet, so it may be that the teacher will be setting the class properly within the next few weeks. I'd leave it for a bit.

Children who are reading well may still need to spend time on "simpler" books to improve things like comprehension. If she's bringing home reading books at the right level, then I'm sure the teacher is aware of what she's capable of, so there will be other reasons why she's reading the level 3/4 books apart from just moving ahead with reading.

Both my boys have always read far easier stuff in guided reading than they were reading in their spare time. DS2 was off the reading scheme by second term of Reception, and in guided reading in Years 1 and 2 they were still reading scheme books. But they do other things in guided reading - they talk about the use of language, punctuation, comprehension, predicting the storyline, reading with expression etc. So I long ago stopped worrying about it.

What singersgirl says
Guided reading is a different sort of activity and the teacher clearly has the measure of your dd's excellent reading skills
Her confidence and, I'd guess, expressiveness is going to help the other children who are still solo reading at level 3/4

My DD does not work through the levels progressively.
the teachers give her books to stretch her some nights and then books to read fluently and confidently to reinforce and absoloutely set in core concepts on other night.

I tend to assume that my DCs teachers know what they are doing until I have evidence that they don't.
There will be a parents evening this term. Whty not ask about it then.

Oh, I meant to say that I used to worry about it too , particularly with DS1. I was able to be more relaxed with DS2 as I saw that it didn't hold DS1's reading back in any way.

Ok, thanks for these replies. I think there may be a re-shuffling of the groups and it's probably good for dd's confidence to read something a bit simpler in class. One slight problem is that she read quite a lot of the same books in guided reading in Reception a while ago. I keep telling her to mention that to the teacher but she's too shy!

Oh yes, and in Reception they tended to read the same level books in guided reading. That was why I wondered. I guess all teachers do things a bit differently.

When DD1 was in Year 1 their guided reading books were a level higher than the ones they brought home. So that they could read the home ones fairly easily, but something more challenging in class, with help.

A couple of times in Year 1, I reported to DD's teacher that she was complaining that the books were "too easy", and asked her to investigate. So that it wasn't me making the judgement. That seemed to be quite acceptable to her teacher and where there was a good explanation for the "easy" book, she was quite happy to discuss it.

But I'd probably still give it a week or two before asking.

I think I will give it a while. I put a brief note in the reading diary that dd had read a lot of the guided reading books a long while ago in Reception.