Year 1 Reading

[saz73]

My DC is a confident reader and is progressing steadily. The teacher has changed his reading level (down) and made a comment inhis record that children should beable to ready 90% condifentally without help and 10% should be assisted/encouraged. Does anyone know how true this is?

I think that is an accepted benchmark , as is a good understanding of what they are reading and use of expression.

Yes, 90-95% reading on his own is right. I would say nearer 95% for books sent home, and 90-95% for guided eading within school.

DD1 can usually read every word in her school books - does this mean they are not hard enough?

So can my DD. But as she's a neglected younger sibling, I don't give it any particular thought!

Yes, I would say that is the hardest book that you could realistically expect them to read and enjoy.

I think most schools would aim to have them read books which are a bit easier than that to them though.

f tey can read ever word without having to work it out or be told, then they could be too easy.

However sometimes children are reading easier books in order to focus on other reading skills (not just decoding) such as conmprehension, expression, fluency, etc. The teacher may want them to focus on paying attention to the punctuation, or to concentrate on dfferent forms of text such as poetry or plays.

Also check that your child can read every word themselves. It may be that they read the book at school with someon's help firstfor example. So tey may not be able to if given blind IYSWIM.

But it could equally be that they are a bit too easy.

Runoutofideas - if she doesn't need to sound them out, either, then I would definately say too easy for her.

I was wondering about this today as DD seems to be able to read nearly all the books without having to think about it. In her book tonight she read it straight through apart from the word 'usually' which she has to work out. Will keep an eye out over the next few days to see if she is having to work the words our or not (I'm guessing that there will always be some words they have to work out if they haven't seen them before?!) and take it from there!

I spoke with my mum about this when my DS was in Reception. ( She was a primary/middle school teacher/EWO for years ). She said it was very important that kids when learning to read ( esp boys in her mind ) gained confidence and therefore the books they were reading should almost appear too easy, ie they should be able read nearly all of it without prompting or guessing.

I took heed and whilst my natural instinct was to stretch my DS, I hung back. Its really paid off; he's keen to read and is confident in his ability, which is what a lot of it is about. I guess its thinking about the long term benefits more than what stage they are on at the current time.