Limiting ORT levels

[Maxiebaby]

Hi

Just out of curiousity, has anyone experienced teachers putting a limit on the ORT reading levels children can be put on in a certain school year?

We have just been told DS (Y1) can only go up one more level this school year, as they have a policy of not allowing Y1 kids to go beyond ORT stage 9.

My initial reaction was that this might hold back the children. But in fact the school uses lots of other reading schemes at each level on top of the ORT books, with a mix of fiction and non-fiction, and these always seem to be more testing (and interesting!) than the main ORT books anyway. So the kids should be introduced to lots of different types of text and be challenged.
Seems like a focus on breadth rather than mindlessly and competitively climbing up through the ORT scales, and I can see a lot of sense in this.

However, I was a bit surprised as I know other schools have free readers in Y1 and DS's class has some strong readers.

Has anyone else encountered a policy like this, and are there any issues with it that I havent though of?

Thanks.

Am trying to work out which school it is....St P in NW7 is my guess? Don't need to say if you don't want to.

no, it was one of the two primary schools in barnet with a full 300 points in the most recent league tables.

Ah a different one to ds' school then!

In our school they use all kinds of reading schemes and books that aren't part of schemes which they have banded themselves. So for example on his current band (lime, 11, whatever that means!), my child had a Corgi Pups book and then a non-fiction book about Race Cars this week. He's in Y2 and enjoys reading. The Corgi pups book was quite long but an easy read; the race cars book was short but used much more difficult language. I'm not too keen on schemes - Oxford Reading Tree were always pretty boring! I've always seen the school reading as really an add-on to the reading that goes on at home. Once the light switch has flicked on with reading they can try their hand at whatever - whether its reading picture books that you used to read to them or tackling something a bit more challenging. For example, my son likes the Beast Quest series and when he started on them we used to read alternate pages - he'd read a page, I'd read a page and so on. Now he reads them by himself, and because they are a series and the formula is very similar in each, they are a nice transition to "proper" books. So getting back to the original question, I'd let your child free-read at home and not worry too much about the school reading books! I don't think teachers have loads of time to assess the children and as reading often improves in spurts it just doesn't fit with a classroom assessment routine. As ever, go with your instinct - you know your child best!

mymumsweats

always wondered how many of us the st p mums were mnetters.

oooh!

i dont wear boden!....or uggs!

c'mon...reveal! .. or a petit clue?

no? some goss then?

DS1 current teacher seems to be making them read every book in the band. He's on lime now so not long to go - but that is because his previous teacher moved him from blue to white in one go when she realised how he'd clicked. But now with new teacher he's having to plough through everything - including books about princesses which don't suit at all. So we've given up complaining and he gets one book from school a week, he reads it dutifully ,then gets on with his real reading, Blyton, Dahl etc. Frustrating though. Is lime free reading?

Hi there. I'm a private tutor and qualified teacher and I'm really interested in all the comments from mums here. IMO any school that makes the children read every book in a level even if they are way too easy is making a big mistake. So too though are parents who want to "push" their children to higher levels before they are ready. ( Not saying anyone here is doing this!)

My advice for anyone whose child is a good reader but is bored by school reading books- or is being made to plough through too many easy ones.

1. Do talk to the teacher/head-teacher about it. Often it is "school policy" to make the child go through every book to avoid "school gate" competitiveness (eg the "Child x has been moved to level 10 so why can't my child. I know they can read better than child x,y,z" syndrome). IMO it's a mistaken way of dealing with the situation but you may not be able to get them to relax the policy.
2. If your child is reading well and enjoying books, don't worry about it. There is nothing magical about reading scheme books - there are loads of other books they can enjoy. Take them to the library regularly ( say every fortnight) and let them choose their own books They may choose really easy ones at first but if they have plenty of opportunity to read and if you are also reading to them, they will become more confident in time. If they choose something too hard let them take it (unless it is really unsuitable eg teenage issues for a 6 year old) and share the reading ( read out loud together so that your child can still practice reading but has help with harder words and still keeps the fluency needed for comprehension). Have fun, talk about the stories, relate your family's experiences to things that happen in stories. Libraries are particularly good for encouraging your child to try new series and authors because it is all there for them to browse through. The important thing is that your child doesn't loose an enthusiasm for books and reading and to be honest, your attitude to books and the opportunities you provide will outweigh any misguided school policy.
3. Don't get too hung up on the "levels" vs "free reading" thing. Free reading will mean different things in different schools. Try and praise your child for the way they read (eg fluency and expression, tackling a hard word) rather than for progressing up levels.

Hope this helps!

Lots of ORT above Stage 9 is totally unsuitable for KS1 and a school putting the brakes on there is being very sensible.

Wise words from Sarahfreck.

Parents do get hung up on levels and supposedly challenging their child - they rarely talk about their child enjoying literature - until they don't - a child enjoying books however advanced or basic is something to celebrate and will almost always result in progress. School books should be a small part of a child's reading - take them to the library, let them develop an interest away from bloody reading levels!

IME as a parent volunteer, the kids who have taken their time to get through the stages often enjoy their books loads more than the kids who saw getting to the the end of the reading scheme as some some of competition, once they reached the goal of free reader they no longer wanted to read.

Hello, can I hijack to ask about children picking books that are too hard. DD is 5 and I have taught her to read in English at home. (She is schooled in a different language). She is about level 8 on ORT and we are at the fab stage where she is reading to us the picture books we used to read to her.

She loves books and picks up anything lying around to read out loud to herself. This means that she will be trying to read things which are too hard and I can hear her saying things wrong. I can't always stop what I am doing to sit with her and correct her and she's obviously getting enough of the plot to keep going.

Is this is harmful in any way? Or should I just leave her get on with it?

Good question otherside.

Scooby- I've found some books at ORT 8 a bit much in terms of subject matter for my ds who has only just turned 5 (he's finished reception). I wish the school would check them as so far we've had kidnappings, battles/ wars and the like. Maybe some boys this age are used to all this but i've had to explain things to him I'd rather leave for another year or two. That said he hasn't expressed any anxieties or had nightmares so maybe it doesn't matter.

What sort of thing happens in some of the level 9 books?!

Sarahfreck - very good advice.

Scooby - your third paragraph rings true!

However, I would say that many of the upper level reading books (although I don't know much about ORT) aren't scary and therefore would be suitable for young children.

May I please ask what simple books my 5year old DD could read then? I must say,from reading this thread,that I have been very guilty of pushing her to read just the school books(ORT for her school). I, however, did not do it out of competition with other kids as I have only just found out about reading ages/varying levels. I am a foreigner and where I come from,kids read 'only' school texts at school and aren't moved up or down stages/levels. I loved reading as a kid and so was quite voracious. I must say it helped my spellings,etc., a lot at the time.
Since coming to the UK,I have been so lost with respect to the methodology here. It is quite different from where I come from. I have been delighted by my DD reading the ORT books and I have had to learn to read to her as often as I can and remember(we do not have that culture either) I would really love my kids to love reading but I have found that making/forcing my older dd to read the ORT books has only made her see reading as a chore.
How can I help her please? And also what simple,interesting books could anyne suggest to boost her confidence and interest? I have the Usborne first readers and some ORT ones but thinking of proper short stories?
Thanks a lot.

Otherside

Really don't worry about your daughter trying to read stuff that is too hard and you not having the time to correct her. It is is fantastic that she is wanting to read and is so "print aware" at 5. As long as she is still getting regular reading experiences with an adult (you reading to her as well as her reading to you, discussing the meaning of a difficult word etc) then I can't see it being a problem. In fact constant correcting might put her off trying to read things. If she is getting enough of the lot to keep going that is brilliant!!

Thanks. That's reassuring.