6.6 year old (Year 2), reading stage 5 books (in the Kipper and Chip books)

[HandleMeCarefully]

At the end of Year 1 apparently dd's reading age was 5.3 and her actual age was 5.11; so something of a gap.

I've had bugger all feedback regarding how she is doing during Year 2, but I suspect she is behind her peers.

From what I can ascertain other classmates are reading books at much higher stages than stage 5.

I do intend to meet with her teacher to ask for feedback

...and I am going to administer the Burt Reading test over the weekend

But she should be achieving higher than stage 5 books at this point shouldn't she? ..and what input should there be from school to bring her up to speed?

(Btw - recently she had a stage 5 book for 12 days without it being changed, and it seems during that period only one person heard her read - a volunteer parent. I had to prompt the teacher to get it changed...is that reasonable?)

She will be 6, maybe 7, cory - in Y2

I havent read all the replies so might just be repeating what others have said

dont get stressed about what book shes on

you can buy these books in whsmiths so she can practice at home

you dont need a course just 20 mins of an evening reading together anything her comics your mags her books etc .....another good idea is to have subtitles on the telly she can then read the spoken word too.

Title says 6.6

If you go onto the DfES website you can order a copy of the Letter and Sounds phonics guidance which a lot of primary schools are now using as the basis for phonics teaching, and even better, it is free.

Thanks for everyone's help and suggestions on this thread - much appreciated.

I've just done the Burt's reading test with her and she scored 33 correct. That translates to a reading age of 6.11 compared to her actual age of 6.6, so I suppose I have been over worrying.

She is behind her class mates but I guess they must be relatively advanced readers. That would fit the social demographics of the area I suppose....

She does still have issues with her reading - confidence etc, (she isn't fluent and it can take an age to read a sentence) but it is reassuring to see that the problem isn't as big as I imagined it. I still intend to discuss with her teacher though...

Hi my Daughter is Nearly 5 and in YR , she is reading stage 5 ORT books at school and also has comprehension homework too. She is a fluent reader with good expression and is comfortable reading stage 6 and 7, At her school they change their book 3 times a week and a forth book for their comprehension homework which they keep for the week. I know most in her class are on stage 1 or 2 and don`t do the comprehension, I have always been able to talk to her teacher about any concerns which is so important. Even though I know she could be reading a higher level I trust in her teachers because they would have nothing to gain by holding her back. Also I think its good if they read a variety of books, she really enjoys The Cat In The Hat ( green back ) books !

I would recommend the Floppy Phonics (ORT) someone mentioned - they really build on the phonics system and are great for building confidence. The other ORT books (Magic Key etc) use phonics, but then seem to throw in random words like ice cream which the child then has to work out from the context of the story. Ds1 was in reception last year and found this system easy, but Ds2 definitely prefers the Floppy's Phonics books, as they seem more straightforward and there is lots of repetition of the phonic sound they're working on.

HandleMeCarefully
I'd be a little careful about the reading tests (Burt etc.) I've done a few (different types) with my DD and they've never been consistent.

Books I would recommend would be Peter and Jane (for some reason, my DD started to fly with her reading once she started on these) and the Floppy Phonics.

I'd definitely get her some alternative reading books to go through at home.

I was curious to know, though, what the teachers say to you about where she is when you have parents' evening?

my ds had only just started stage 4 in january.I was really concerned about his reading and getting very little help from school. The lack of being able to read was effecting his other work. On the 3rd febuary i started the toe by toe method (available online).Last week he was moved onto stage 6 completely missing out stage 5. It is incredible to listen to him now after just 4 weeks of doing toe by toe for 20mins a day.

Just before the school holidays (last week) we were blown away to learn of our daughters reading level...Our daughter is 5 years and 6 months old and she is on level 17 reading, 5 levels above the unit standard for her age and 10 levels above the 2nd highest level in her class, she just received a huge reward & acknowlegment from her school for this achievement. She helps the other children in class with their readibg when it is reading time with the guidance of her teacher who we regularly communicate with in regards to my daughters day/week at school. Since she was a baby I have read to her every day and night and whenever we were waiting anywhere eg. Dr's, on the bus we read or sang songs or played games eg I spy. Everyday straight after school in the car on the ride home sometimes she will read her books from school, and her home books she reads to her little sister (9 months) after dinner, also bed time her and her Dad read to each other or otherwise they will have turns making up stories. We personally believe education of every sort life/spiritul/academic starts at home 1st and as parents it is our responsibility to teach our children the foundations before putting their education into others hands eg "the school system". She want's to be in the Maori culture group next year and wants to learn Maori so I have had to step up and we will both be learning Maori next year and also she would like to learn to speak Samoan so her dad has been in touch with his uncles and he will be learning samoan with her also. Her learning has helped us re learn and is also re connecting us with our heritage and keeping us on track with the basics, reading writing maths singing dancing etc are all part of our regular day, we've made it the "norm" so it wouldn't be so foreign when she started school as learning in a school enviroment can be quite distracting for our young ones.

Good Luck mama's!! There are awesome online tools you can download - reading eggs is a favourite site my daughter loves to visit which covers Reading Maths Spelling etc.

I would get get something other than those blasted Kipper books, DS and I were both losing the will to live over them and Reading has improved a lot with a bigger range to choose from as he is enjoying it more. Don't worry about what the others are reading, if you are at a school with high levels of achievement it skews the reality of it. And once they get to about year 4 you pretty much can't tell who were the early readers as they level out.

If you think about it in some countries children the age of your DD haven't started to learn to read yet.

I would just like to offer a word of caution the Burt Reading Test only tests word reading skills and isn't terribly accurate/reliable ...sorry.

ORT stage 5 has a rough reading age of 5 1/2 to 6 years.
Like others here I would recommend starting a phonics approach at home.

www.phonicsinternational.com/ gives a very comprehensive way of covering synthetic phonics including worksheets/colouring sheets, flashcards etc.

It might be a bit difficult to navigate your way through without some knowledge of synthetic phonics though, but I think you can get the early years package for free so you can take a look and see if you think it will suit. There are online vidoes to show you how to teach things too - aimed at teachers of course but you could probably adapt the ideas to a home situation.
The whole scheme is only £33 for 3 years licence.

If your daughter enjoys computer games, I would recommend www.nessy.com/nessygamesplayer/
They provide word lists based on phonics and you can also record your own words too if they don't have the particular grapheme(s) you want to practise. You can try a game online. It is recommended for ages 7+ but I think your DD should be able to tackle the earlier stages especially if you sit down with her and supervise/help/guide. In fact this might be a great place to start as it is well structured and will give you some ideas about phonics that are less over-facing than phonics international. Phonics international is more comprehensive though.

She might also like www.nessy.com/nessytales/. These are phonic stories on computer that start with really simple CVC (eg c-a-t) words and end with CCVCC words (eg t-r-a-m-p).

Toe by Toe is a great scheme for struggling readers and I have seen it help a number of children with differing problems but I would usually only recommend it for children in Yr 3 and above unless they are particularly mature and well motivated.

DS2 aged also 6.6 has suddenly rocketed through lots of stages having completely "got" reading - is now on stage 10 but was on stage 5 not too long ago. I wouldn't worry too much.

Can I point out that this is an old thread from Jan 2009? (Hope the op's dd is reading well by now). I have no idea why Sugamama has upped it!

Sounds like her Christmas round robin!

Feenie - well spotted!!

I'm guessing from Sugamama's post that they are in NZ?? I wonder if "level 17" means a different thing there? Hey ho, just wondering.

But why would you post on an old thread to say that? It's a little inappropriate to come on and say well, my dd's 17 levels above, blah, blah, etc - I actually thought she was joking at first. And plenty of parents help at home - and some still have readers who struggle. Lol @ Cecily!

How very odd. And sorry Sugamama, you sound a nightmare! So your dd is a good reader. I'm sure she isn't the only one!!