Free Reading - how does it work???

[tikkapots]

Hi all

DS is in Y1 and became a free reader when he went back to school after the autumn half term which I thought was great.

I just wondered how this works? He seems to bring home whichever book he wants as long as it has a grey band.

He does not read at all any more from a book scheme. These grey banded books appear to differ greatly in lenght and difficulty with some being about right and some stretching him and the publisher is different every time.

Thing is, if he is not reading from a reading scheme, how does the teacher know where he is with his reading and whether he is learning all the key words, etc?? I was always under the impression that the reading scheme books linked into work sheets that the kids would complete during school.

It seems all a bit random now?

Anyway, some insider info would be great :-)

Thanks

Your DS probably does guided reading at school with a group of children with similar reading ability. So the teacher can assess his progress during these sessions.

It's great that your DS is able to read a wide range of books and to choose those that interest him, rather than having to endure years of reading scheme books IMO.

My understanding is that a free reader knows all the key words and is a fluent reader and therefore beyond the 'learning' stage, as my Year 3 DS is (only this year though). Once they can 'read' it's about stretching their comprehension and exposing them to different genres hence DS brings home poetry one day, cartoon style books the next, novels the next. They should still be doing guided reading with the teacher and this will (should) be linked into the type of literacy/comprehension work they do.

Thanks, I forgot about the guided reading..... teacher explained that this is all about comprehension etc.

Natsmum100, I agree that the free reader books are a lot more interesting than ORT (although I personally actually like the Magic Key series). He really likes the non fiction ones and even brought an Action Man book home the other day which was right up his street.

Thanks for your help. I will stop worrying.

At our school they don't stick to one scheme, the have loads which are then grouped into the standard coloured bands.

The free readers come after white band (Band 10) at our school, which seems really early to me although I have heard of some schools having them as early as after band 9 (gold).

I had a sneaky peek at the 'free' readers and they all look at around band 11/12 to me (this is in the KS1 area), so it seems more like a way to stop children going above band 12 at KS1 to me!

I guess all schools are different though, I know some get them to read all the way up to band 16 before becoming a free reader which is the other extreme!

What band was your child on last?

Our school move the children to Free Readers after stage 5 ORT.

I think every school has a different definition of free readers! All our books are banded up to band 13 but within each band will be books from different schemes/authors/publishers. There is no point in getting to band 13 and only ever having read ORT books! Once our children can read and understand fluently at this level ( which is roughly Level 3 in SATS terms) they become free readers. This means they can choose any book they like from the school library, these vary from puppy patrol(which I hate!) to Lemony Snicket and Harry Potter and everything inbetween and beyond! They can have as many books as they like and change them whenever they want-they have free access to the library.

At our school every bookband has lots of different schemes i it and an increasing number of non-scheme books.for the first term or so in reception the children give the children books from the same scheme but after that they choose anything within the band tehy are on.
they seem to be transferred onto free reader at different stages .Some from turqoise and some read right up to Lime before they swap.
Free reader at our school means you can read any book in the world you like.After this stage children are very rarely if ever heard.

Yes we also have bands up to level 13 and after the child has read every book in every band then they can choose whatever they like to read.

The levels are supplemented with other books though, they don't just have to be school books.

I still remember the feeling when I finished my levels at school!

Well, if they are on free readers after stage 5 ORT then they are definately taking a completely different approach from my son's school so I have no idea!
I am sure the outcome will be the same - that they will be able to read well by the time they enter KS2.
I guess my son free reads at home but I do like the security of the school books, too, that I know he will always find quite easy and enjoyable. There was me thinking that free reading after band 10 was too early!
Personally, I like the idea of free reading after band 13 and reading from a wide variety of schemes/books before that.

Spec, I know what you mean about the security of school books. I love that he is free reading (whatever that happens to mean at his school). However, a combination of his own choice of books and ORT would make me feel happier and give me a benchamrk I can understand, but it's not about me I suppose lol.

Perhaps the school has a system like Primary mum's school and they have grouped various books of the same level into this grey band, however the difficulty of the books seems to vary as do the number of pages....so I am not sure that is the case.

Thanks everyone for your comments. I think he is doing well and guess I'll have to ask the school if I want to understand all the ins and out.