Active discussions

Are your children’s vaccines up to date?

Set a reminder

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Primary education

Join our Primary Education forum to discuss starting school and helping your child get the most out of it.

Original poster

Why is DD having to go through each of the ORT picture books when she is reading chapter books at home?

70 replies

morningpaper · 13/11/2008 08:39

Why is DD having to go through each of the ORT picture books when she is reading chapter books at home?

Is there really a point to it?

She isn't on War and Peace or anything but it seems mad that she gets 10-sentence-books to read at home every night when she spends an hour every night working her way through The Famous Five collection.

I had hoped that year 1 would be a tad more challenging - or am I missing something?

OP posts:
Are your children’s vaccines up to date?
Set a reminder
fishie · 13/11/2008 08:49

does the teacher know? i got a bit confused at that age and pretended i was plodding through the silly books, which i had actually read in about 5 mins. i didn't want to stick head over parapet and there didn't appear to be anything else to read but of coruse there was.

Astrophe · 13/11/2008 08:50

I have no idea -that sounds annoying for you both...can you look at it like "comfort food" though - surely she can just whizzz through them and you can have a giggle together about them being easy? It is daft though.

Buda · 13/11/2008 08:54

In Yr 1 DS was still on the v early ORT books but wasn't reading chapter books. I would have a word with the teacher.

Some schools really like all the books ticked off though.

tortoiseshellWasMusicaYearsAgo · 13/11/2008 09:02

I think they often use simpler books to learn things like punctuation or particular words.

Do the school use the assessment thing where they have to get 90-95% of the words correct before they move up a level? Could be she's got a few 'holes' that they're covering?

I wouldn't worry tbh though - if she's got plenty of reading matter at home.

tortoiseshellWasMusicaYearsAgo · 13/11/2008 09:04

Also, ds1 has just gone into Y3, got level3 in KS1Sats, and he plus all the other level 3 readers were given books that were SO easy (think was the Treetops ORT books), but a couple of pointers to the teacher meant he was bumped on to the top level of those books, then within 2 weeks was back free-reading - all the kids were complaining, but I think they were just checking they hadn't slid backwards over the holidays. Ds1 is reading things like Horrid Henry, CSLewis, Swallows and Amazons, so ORT really did seem very easy.

Original poster
morningpaper · 13/11/2008 09:16

hMmmm, I think the teachers want to make sure all the letters and words are properly learnt, but it seems daft.

She doesn't mind - she reads them to her baby sister which saves me from entertaining EITHER child

The teachers were very lovely at parents evening but I do worry that the whole thing is just too nice

OP posts:
snorkle · 13/11/2008 09:40

Don't know, but it's almost a rite of passage to plough through ORT - if she didn't she'd miss out on part of our culture. I know with ds they said they wanted him to slow down and read expressively - difficult when the plot's that simple & you just want to finish the damn thing, but reading aloud wasn't a strength of his as he always read fast and silently. Not sure ORT actually helped this but it didn't do any harm in the long run either.

elliott · 13/11/2008 09:46

Can't you fill in her reading record with something like 'tonight we read chapter XXX of XXX?'
My ds's new school is like this. ds2 is in reception and really enthusiastically working his way through jelly and bean readers at home - his school won't let him bring home the first ORT books until he has learnt all his reception words??!!
ds1 is in year 2 and since transferring schools (when he was put on a really crazily low reading band) I have been nagging to get him put on a more appropriate level - he is now happily tackling chapter books at home but still stuck on boring old unchallenging readers at his new school (at his old school I'm sure he would have been 'free reading' by now). His teacher however says that no-one in his class is on a higher band than him (which shocked me actually as ds1 is not a particularly outstanding reader and I am sure there will be better readers in his class - that was the point at which I realised I was fighting a losing battle!)

I've just decided to carry on doing our own thing at home and just do the school reader once a week to show willing.

hippipotami · 13/11/2008 09:52

My dd (also Y1) reads Horrid Henry at home (okay she is unsure of some of the big words but she enjoys them and can follow the story) but is on ORT level 9 at school which she whizzes through.
I asked the teacher at parent's eve on Tuesday what the point was and she said each level of books has certain 'objectives' which the teachers have to be able to 'tick off'.
She was however a bit vague on what these objectives are.

elliott · 13/11/2008 09:55

I was even more dismayed when at parents evening the teacher made a comment about her 10 year old's class readers...can't believe they are going to keep plodding on to year 6, surely once they can really read fluently they should just be free reading for pleasure??

nailpolish · 13/11/2008 09:55

MP, you need to talk to the teachers
i had this and i spoke to them (made an appt etc) andn= now dd reads Indie Kidd books isntead of ORt. she gets the odd ort but its cos she doesnt wantt o feel left out at school

there is another wee girl who is also reading indie kidd

good luck

witchandchips · 13/11/2008 09:56

I remember my mum storming the school gates when she saw the stuff that i had to read. The teachers answer was logical, we have to see her doing it, if she can read it then she will get through them all really quickly and then we can give her free access to the school library (well cupboard of books) for her to chose her own chapter books. Was great and actually far better than if i had been given anything more structured at a higher level as got to read proper books. SUre they could sort something out like this for your daughter

hippipotami · 13/11/2008 09:57

Oooh Elliot - to Y6 that seems mad

Luckily dd's school is an infant school, at the end of Y2 they feed into the junior school next door, but for some reason the junior school does not do formal reading schemes. They do guided reading with the children x number of times but the child can choose his/her own book from the school library. (Ds loved Horrid Henry in Y3, Jeremy Strong in Y4 and now the Horrid Histories in Y5, sigh)

Original poster
morningpaper · 13/11/2008 09:59

lol hippo at 'a bit vague' HMMMMMMM it is a bit worrying

"it's almost a rite of passage to plough through ORT - if she didn't she'd miss out on part of our culture."

lo, perhaps that's it!

TBH I don't pay much attention to what she is reading or doing but she has her nose in a book pretty much all the time that she isn't being bothered by her little sister

(My Naughty Little Sister is one of her fave reads )

But when she brings these picture books home I do think it is a very pointless exercise.

OP posts:
CountessDracula · 13/11/2008 10:02

dd is the same

She reads the Clarice Bean chapter books, the Worst Witch etc in bed to herself every night for about an hour.

Yet they send home ORT books (and others to be fair). She was reading level 9 in Reception - yesterday we got a level 7 ffs

Must talk to teacher

CountessDracula · 13/11/2008 10:02

Oh yes
My naughty little sister
milly molly mandy
etc

hippipotami · 13/11/2008 10:04

MP your dd sounds like mine - permanently attached to a book!

Yes, I did at teacher's vague responses but she is an NQT, really lovely, dd adores her so I did not want to come across all pushy-mum-tell-me-what-the-objectives-are as she might not yet be used to those kinds of parents...

I think the teachers have lists of tasks to tick off for each child, and I guess ORT features heavily on that list

Original poster
morningpaper · 13/11/2008 10:05

I have talked to the teachers but I don't want to seem too pushy

Parents evening was about a month ago - they were very lovely

I will probably wait until next term before my next whine

OP posts:
Kate161203 · 13/11/2008 10:31

My DD is almost 5 and is now on ORT Stage 5 in class.

Teacher has been fab. She recognised that DD was reading well and raised it with me at Parents Evening and changed her book level accordingly.

Mind you DD is reading more advanced books at home but she is happy doing this, and I'm relaxed about it too.

haggisaggis · 13/11/2008 10:48

We were told that they give out what seem easy books as they want teh children to look at type of text, punctuation, contents lists etc.
ie they do not just concentrate on the reading.

elliott · 13/11/2008 10:58

yeah I was told that too
Not entirely convinced - I mean you do get punctuation in more difficult books don't you??

tortoiseshellWasMusicaYearsAgo · 13/11/2008 11:43

elliott - you do, but if you are having to think more about the words then you can't concentrate on the punctuation so much.

Makes sense to me. As a piano teacher I will often give a piece that is technically easier so that they can concentrate on tone production or pedalling or something like that - I guess a mum could think 'this piece is too easy' but they'd miss the point of why it had been given.

Kate161203 · 13/11/2008 11:52

Forgot to mention that dds reception teacher is very keen on the comprehension side of things which is very important.

Im always asking dd questions about her understanding and we chat about the book.

Being able to read well is great but I think comprehension is key.

mumnosbest · 13/11/2008 11:55

As a teacher, I agree with tortoise to a point but there are more interesting and challenging reading schemes that can be used to teach the same things. The difficulty comes in finding books that are challenging but age appropriate but teacher should be able to sort this. I would talk to her and not leave it till next term. The last thing you want is for your DD to loose her obvious enthusiasm for reading!

quickdrawmcgraw · 13/11/2008 12:03

I talked to ds's teacher and she gives him the ORT book and also another from the school library. He enjoys the ORT even through he reads them easily. He reads them like a play with lots of animation because there are fewer words whereas he'll read chapter books silently.
each has it's advantages