Does my child's reading level really matter?

[Runoutofideas]

A quick question for teachers really, please.

My dd1 is 4 and in reception. I think her reading is coming along really well. She reads to us every night, either a reading scheme book or a "normal" story book. At school they do rigby rockets/rigby star books and she is on yellow level. At home though she is reading books more complex than this. She cruised through some ORT level 5 books and ladybird read it yourself level 3 which we got from the library, just to see is she could do them. Her expression and comprehension seem good to me too.

My question is, do I make a point of trying to get her level raised at school, or just leave them to do their thing? So far I have had to make comments in her reading record book to get her raised from pink to red then red to yellow and I really don't want to keep doing this and come across as a horrendous pushy parent. I just want her to read at the right level for her. They seem to only read to the teacher once a week and have small group sessions where I think they all read the same book. Could this be why she's not racing through the levels....? Any opinions welcome. Thanks

Not a teacher but I find this awfully depressing. Hope your dd doesn't become discouraged and bored. She sounds so interested and alert.

ps reading to teacher once a week is quite good in this day and age.

That's the thing - she's loving reading at the moment. Reads to her teddies, little sister etc. I really don't want her to start thinking it's a boring, dull thing to do!

Is it really rainfatclouds? That's shocking!

Hopefully she may be reading with the TA or other parents if there is a rota?

Can you try to start a reading rota if there isn't one already?

she should be reading with teacher, with children around the same ability.
It's not unusual for teacher to hear children read once a week, ask whether parents or grandparents, ta's hear them read. No matter what age children still love someone to hear them read.

Once a week very normal in many state primaries, done as group guided reading sessions. Sometimes may have voluntees in who hear them once more top, although they often focus on those who aren't heard at home. Many ta don't have time to hear readers unless iep children.

It is normal for children to read harder books at home than at school.

Guided reading esp is used to concentrate on key focus areas not just reading.

No reason for her to be bored as school reading is a very small amount of what reading she will be doing anyway. Just have plenty of access to a wide range of books elsewhere too to supplement.

With school books a rough guide is to have a 95% accuracy or fluency for home books and 90-95% for guided reading.

I've offered my services already but they didn't seem very keen. Muttered something about only appropriately trained people should help with reading. I don't think they want too many parents in the classroom. Not entirely sure why.... That's why I've started wondering if it actually matters what she's doing in school at this age, when I know that at home she's progressing well. I kind of feel like I'm teaching her though and that school is more social education.

It doesn't matter, providing that your DD is making progress with her reading, enjoying reading etc. But I'd be asking why she isn't being progressed considering that she can clearly read at a higher level than this.

IME, when they are held back on the same level for ages, they can become bored and discouraged (where's the incentive to read your yellow book if all that's going to happen then is that someone gives you another yellow book?)

I suspect that for some teachers (not all teachers), it makes their life easier if all their guided reading group are reading the same level.

Like you, I don't want to be the PITA parent, but my DD is in Y1 and I've had to kick up the same carefully-worded fuss three times now since she started school.

Thanks everyone

Hulababy - she occasionally gets "stuck" on one word of her school book, mostly she reads them straight through with no problems. I have asked her previously if she's already read the book at school, but she says no. They have so few words though that one word wrong probably is 95%!

Misshardbroom - that's what I was wondering...If it makes the guided reading work better if they are on the same level. Not sure what the next level up from yellow is, or if there would generally be enough children on this level to make a group? Has your carefully worded fuss worked each time? Maybe they wait for you to tell them...although I doubt it.

What matters with the teacher hearing is the not moving up so staying on the same boring easy books. Presumably the teacher or TA are the only one's who can change a level.

This does matter to a child, you're going to have to work really hard to make sure it doesn't. Explaining why she's reading much more challenging books outside school and is stuck on the easy ones inside school is hard. How do you say it? Do you explain that the teacher needs all the children to be working at the same level? Do you say it doesn't matter as much as what she's reading outside school, thus possibly leading her to think school work is less important?

What happens in school is immensely important to a child, immensely important and very different to reading to Grandad. Sorry but I think it's naive to imagine otherwise, and I would hope all teachers encourage children to feel that it is important. So do you really want to tell a child it doesn't matter about the school level?

Hulababy - if you were her teacher, would you want me to keep pointing it out, or want me to leave you alone to do your job? I do think her teacher is generally good, which is why I'm a bit confused by the slow progress - or maybe it isn't slow progress - I'm not sure what I should be expecting really!

only ones

After yellow it's blue, I seem to remember.

Yes, in reception she was left on yellow for ages, so I brought it up on parents' evening and the next day she came home with a blue book, and 2 days later a green one! Then we read 26 green books over the next 6 months, with me writing little 'read easily', 'read confidently' type messages in her reading record. Finally went in to see (by now) Y1 teacher and asked why she was stuck at this level, and overnight she was leapfrogged 2 levels to turquoise. Then stuck at turquoise for another 5 months until I went back in to see her last week and now she's been given purple ones.

I only tell you this not especially interesting story to illustrate how bogged down they can get if the reading scheme is not being used efficiently.

At any of these points, I would honestly have been accepting had the teacher said 'well actually she's not making a lot of progress and so we're doing A, B & C about it but she's not ready to move up'. But I think it's reasonable to ask why your child seems to have been stuck at the one point, when that does not correlate with your experience of how they read at home.

In my DD's case, she's a very quiet, undemanding child and I suspect she gets overlooked pretty easily.

Although I initially said the teacher heard her read once a week, I think actually it is probably the TA, and maybe she can't change the levels? Not sure.
I agree rainfatclouds, I don't want to be telling her that it doesn't matter what she does in school, as I want her to value what school tells her. So far, all I've said to her is that maybe Mrs x doesn't realise yet that she can read so well, so she should show her.
My dd thinks that yellow books are the hardest that anyone has, but I'm not sure if that's true. Is that likely?

tbh, I'd be surprised if not a single child was reading blue or green books by this point in reception.

Misshardbroom - I think we have the same child! I think dd can be a bit anonymous in class, as she is quietly capable and well behaved. In fact, I was just about to go in and talk to them about this when she turned up with the "headteacher's award for kindness and fantastic listening" which made me think - ooh, maybe they do notice she's there! Glad I didn't go stomping in to moan, I would have looked just a touch silly!

Well, I don't know, runout, if I were you I'd keep plugging away at the teacher while trying to be as unannoying as possible.

You know you can buy those reading books yourself? You could always buy a few and then tell the teacher how far she's got. Might go down like a lead balloon though.

I would also really try again to suggest a reading rota to the Head of Reception. They are so brilliant. But everyone needs to be CRB checked nowadays and it's so late on in the year.

x posts

how lovely

Mmm, my DS is in Yr 2 and I have only been told this year (by other parents who've had kids go through the school) that reading levels aren't ever changed unless a parent asks. My son is languishing on tedious books way below his reading /comprehension level but he has been read with only twice since September by a teacher. The rest of the time it is parent helpers who, I understand, aren't trained to change books.

This is an 'outstanding' school by the way!

If the books are below your daughter's ability, ask for them to be changed. I would never have thought I would have said that two years ago

Thanks - the reading rota does sound like a good idea. Does a CRB only last for one school year then? What if the same people carried on into year one?

We've got a parents' evening in a couple of weeks. Maybe I'll try to make the point very diplomatically and politely!

Thanks debs - that's interesting to know - although very poor on behalf of the school. DD is at a supposedly "outstanding" school too, with a reputation for being pushy - hardly! (Hastily adding - that's not why we chose it - it's our nearest school and we thought it would suit dd!)

"Muttered something about only appropriately trained people should help with reading."

This is a joke.

If they are listening to your child read once a week if that who do they think is doing it the rest of the time? The untrained parents, that's who. Silly excuse.

Both my DCs had very similar experiences - repeatedly stuck on boringly easy school reading book levels for ages until I mentioned it to the teachers. I don't think it really matters that much if they are also reading more appropriate level books at home, but I don't think it's great if they start making the association 'books read at school = boring'.

But I suppose my need to interfere was at least partly to do with my very clear memories of myself at age 5 or so sneakily peeling the colour labels off the hardest (and more interesting) books, two or three levels above what I was meant to be reading, so that I could go to the teacher, smile innocently, and say, 'sorry miss, this one hasn't got a label but I think it's blue/green/red, so can I read it?'

Exactly rainfatclouds - that's what I thought at the time.

Did they go up when you mentioned it exexpat? I'm starting to notice a pattern here......