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Primary education

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Original poster

Leap from ORT 9 to Horrid Henry novel, dd struggling (Y1)

54 replies

imaginaryfriend · 22/12/2008 22:36

DD's doing great with her reading. She's in Y1 and has been reading ORT stage 9 and other reading schemes of similar difficulty. We've got a big range of other books at home for her to read including some first Corgi chapter books.

On the last day of term she was given a Horrid Henry chapter book to read over Christmas and she's really struggling with it. There are many words she can't read on every page such as 'circumstance', 'tendency', etc. It's got such a hugely different range of vocabulary to anything she's read so far.

Anyhow what I wondered is should we plough on with it? It's rather a painful process. Or should I put a note in the reading book to tell the teacher it's too hard for dd? I'm assuming she thought dd was up to it as she wouldn't have given it to her otherwise. How much of a challenge should a reading book be?

OP posts:
NotanOtter · 23/12/2008 22:58

thanks hula dont know those - will check out amazon

NotanOtter · 23/12/2008 23:02

in basket!

Hulababy · 23/12/2008 23:02

This series about The Gaskitt family:

Man who wore all his clothes

the children who smelled a rat

the woman who won things

the cat who got carried away

They are broken down into very short chapters. The text is a good size and the text well spaced out. The voca s good, one or two more taxing words, mostly easily soted though. And they are silly stories - they make DD laugh, which has to be good.

Hulababy · 23/12/2008 23:03

DD can actually read far in excess of these now but she loves them Have bought the final two for Christmas as she loves the other two so much and rereads them all the time.

NotanOtter · 23/12/2008 23:06

they look lovely

ds is 6 in january so perfect timing!

Hulababy · 23/12/2008 23:07

Definitely. We got first two last year and DD keeps rediscovering them,

tigermeow · 23/12/2008 23:09

My DD tried some of the earlier Roald Dahl books but she found the text too dense and small to read so we've saved those for later. Same with Milly-molly-mandy.

The Magic Kitten books are an easy read but some of the story lines were too old for DD and she just didn't get the books despite being desperate to read about kittens lol!

If your DD likes Charlie and Lola then there are the Clarice Bean chaper books- too old in content though for my DD.

The Happy Families series are excellent- not chapters though but long stories.

As for HH- send it back to school and say she didn't enjoy it and so read xyz book instead.

Hulababy · 23/12/2008 23:10

Happy Families also by Allan Ahlberg, DD read those in Y1 at school and loved them. Had forgotten about them fr a bit. Def recommedn them as well.

Original poster
imaginaryfriend · 23/12/2008 23:21

Thanks very much for these suggestions, am heading to Amazon now!

OP posts:
Reallytired · 28/12/2008 14:58

Are you sure she was supposed to read the Horrid Henry books. It does seem a ridiculous jump. Are you sure the idea was not for you to read them to her.

If I was you I would read the book to her and get her to read something else.

My son likes the Young Usborne readers. They are a very good bridge.

seeker · 28/12/2008 15:52

Sounds like the Horrid Henry was a mistake. I would read it to her if she's enjoying it, and take it back unread if she isn't.

Have you tried Milly-Molly-Mandy? Or Amelia Jayne?

Original poster
imaginaryfriend · 28/12/2008 21:55

Yes, she was definitely meant to read it as she told me when I collected her from school and I immediately checked it with the teacher. Plus it was written in her reading book that she'd gone into Y2 to choose a reading book.

We laboured through one chapter and I've filled in in the reading diary that she didn't really enjoy it and we're reading some of her own books instead.

Seeker, she loves Amelia Jane books. I bought her a Dick King-Smith book, All Because of Jackson for Christmas and she's reading that and loving it. It's a challenge but not so much so. She isn't reading it fluidly apart from here and there but I'd say there are only a few words she really can't read without help per page.

OP posts:
Katiestar · 29/12/2008 22:10

We had a literacy advisor come and talk to the parents at our school last term.She said that in the guided reading they do at school (their teaching level) the children should be able to read about 90 % of the words. Their home readers should be a level easier than this and should be read for enjoyment and not a challenge at least 95 % familiar words.
I let my kids read both to me and to themselves whatever they want at home ,we don't do the 'school reading book' thing.I think if they enjoy reading ,they will succeed.So I would say if your daughter is enjoying HH and wants to continue then let her do so, otherwise have her find something else.

Katiestar · 29/12/2008 22:14

Forgot to say I think HH is like Marmite ,you either love 'em or you hate 'em.My 2 boys couldn't get enough of them but DD isn't interested. She still loves Amelia Jane (even though she's 7!) and also anything with animals

Original poster
imaginaryfriend · 29/12/2008 22:32

KS, that's what I thought, that the home readers were generally quite easy to read and designed to practise fluency etc. rather than vocabulary. At parents evening the teacher encouraged me to give dd more 'challenging' books to read at home.

Anyhow HH has been back in the book bag for well over a week now, not being a hit on any level!

OP posts:
melissa75 · 30/12/2008 17:01

I would say speaking from the teaching perspective...if your child is really struggling with it and not enjoying it, then do not force the issue, but if she is enjoying the challenge then keep ploughing through...chances are her teacher obviously thought she would be able to handle it, as perhaps they had read books of the same level in a guided reading session in class...definately write in the reading log though that she struggled with it, and what your thoughts are as to her continuing with this level of books. This always helps the teacher to make a more informed professional decision as to whether to keep her on that level of book or a more challenging book in the previous level.

critterjitter · 30/12/2008 23:09

The transition from ORT to other reading schemes and books can be difficult. The ORT books can be quite simplistic and very predictable. You might want to look at other reading schemes to do at home (along with the ORT books at school) to ease the transition to other books outside the schemes.

My DD is Year 1 and reading level 11 books. However, getting her out of the ORT way of reading was difficult and at one point she refused to read anything other than ORT (think there was a certain degree of security attached to reading them). I did however persevere, we tried GINN and Peter and Jane as a bridge to reading other more challenging non reading scheme books and she's now a far more confident reader and able to tackle most reading.

Nizf · 31/12/2008 16:34

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn

Original poster
imaginaryfriend · 02/01/2009 22:50

I think she does enjoy the challenge of a more difficult book. I should stress, as I said in my OP, she has never read only ORT scheme books. The books she brings home are mostly from other reading schemes, I used ORT as an example as it seems to be so commonly used that the level would be recognised by most MNetters. We also read all kinds of other books at home plus I get her to dip in and read paragraphs of whatever I'm reading to her, mostly Roald Dahl at the moment.

I just thought HH was particularly challenging as there's more 'slang' and short passages of dialogue, snappy language, than a usual story book.

Dd said she was the only one in her group to be taken to Y2 to choose a book although I'd always thought she was possibly the 'weakest' reader in her group (she's a great reader but she's in a group with some absolutely genius kids who blow me away with what they can do).

OP posts:
dollybird · 05/01/2009 21:29

My DD is not reading the Biff & Chip ones any more - not sure what level she was on but think she found them too easy, but she hasn't moved onto chapter books yet. Her last reading book was 'This is the bear and the picnic lunch'. She also enjoys the Zigzag books from Red House - I think the next level up from that is chapter books. It seem to me they just need more of a story to read - the Biff & Chip ones didn't have much of a story. Agree the Rainbow Fairies are dire for reading aloud - they make me fall asleep! I love Roald Dahl for bedtime stories. We also got some Michael Morpego stories - Mudpuddle Farm - they're fun to read and I think would be ok for your DD's level by the sounds of it (my DD not quite there yet, but she is youngest in yr1!)

dollybird · 05/01/2009 21:33

she reads her brothers reading books (he is yr 2) but they aren't chapter books either and he is a good reader (apparently)

Original poster
imaginaryfriend · 06/01/2009 12:44

I've never heard of those dollybird, I'll look them up, thanks.

OP posts:
dollybird · 09/01/2009 15:02

Hi I.F. We also got DS for Christmas a set of four books with short stories in. We're on the Christmas ones at the moment (there is also 'Spooky','Animal' and 'Magical' stories. They're really good - good variety - bout 10 stories in each book. They're from Red House too

Original poster
imaginaryfriend · 09/01/2009 22:30

What are they called DB?

I've found that dd responds really well to the Corgi First Readers first chapter books. They really do seem to be just the right level.

She brought home a little book called 'Rhyming Russell' tonight which is a chapter book with quite a lot of dialogue also in speech bubbles. She's enjoying that - a challenge but not too much of a challenge.

OP posts:
dollybird · 12/01/2009 22:19

Hi IF. Just looked on Red House website and they're not on there any more. they're called Super Shorts. I actually have a spare set (bought as birthday present but they didn't arrive in time). Not really into selling stuff online tho. Just looked on Amazon and they're on there & the Mudpuddle Farm ones (they're not on Red House any more either)

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