Reading yet again!

[ihearttc]

Im so sorry for doing this yet again but I could really do with some help especially from some teachers cause I like to know what exactly I can do.

DS is in reception and Ive posted before about some issues Im having with regard to his reading. To cut a very long story short he is reading far above what the school are saying he is capable of...not anything massively brilliant but is far more capable than he is being given credit for. He has a supply teacher at the moment and I don't know if or when his proper teacher(who was amazing) is coming back this year so I really don't know what to do. His proper teacher really he was enthusiastic with reading and really harnessed that and helped him. They have these key words to learn and between september and just after christmas he whizzed through them and did all the ones he needed to by the end of reception so after me asking constantly if he could either have some more or something else they finally gave him some more but he's had these for 2 months and he knows them inside out and backwards way round but they won't change them because he's going too far ahead and apparently shouldn't be doing that.

We had parents evening this week and got told my the supply teacher that all the children had been moved up with their reading except DS because they can't move him any higher. All the reading schemes have been mixed up since september and we've all been picking different books out of the schemes to give a good variety but now we've been told we've all got to work through different schemes...some of the children are on Rigby Star,some on Collins and DS has been given ORT. This in itself is fine but the books they've given us are already ones he has read because they were mixed in with the other ones but he has to now apparently read them all again and in the correct order to comply with some national strategy which I know nothing about.

Just to clarify the level the school have given him which he has already read are Level 2 ORT whereas at home he is reading Level 4 and some level 5 ORT mixed in with library books and all the other books we've got at home...he loves the Ladybird Read it Yourself ones and can do level 3 on those to give you an idea of where he's at.

I could cry I really could. I know reception is play and he has learnt so much socially since being there but I can't help but feeling that they are just ignoring him. The struggling readers are getting lots of one on one attention and are really improving but DS is just standing still in terms of progress because they can't or won't do anything to help. I even offered to bring all the damn books home to get him to read them over the weekend but thats not allowed either...he's got to read 1 a week to see if he can understand the story which he most definitely can. My happy enthusiastic little boy who really wanted to read before christmas has been replaced but someone who can't be bothered and thats really upsetting me.

Any teachers out there-what would you do? Im seriously considering speaking to the Head but I don't want to make things worse but its crazy to carry on like this.

IME the children who were ahead in literacy in infants continue to be the ones who are in top sets in juniors, but I can only speak from my own DDs experience.

Dd is in year 1 and she has only ever bought home books she chooses herself from teh school library. If I feel she has chosen one that is too easy or she's not interested in it I just write this in her book and write down what she has read instead of her own books.
SHe has chosen her books from the Y2 since the start of Y1.
Her spellings - she was given a list after christmas with words she could easily spell. I asked for the next list and it was too easy again. I just choose the words she has to spell herself now although I can see how spellings test are a waste of time now. I can teach her to spell pretty much any word I want and she learns it by memory.

Well my daughter is in exactly the same boat as the OP. She has been on level 2 all year - first through all the Ginn books, then all the ORT level 2s and now Collins. I want to bang my head against the wall. Incidentally, we do read with her at home, but all it does it accentuates how ridiculously easy the books from school are and imo it gives her the wrong message (ie school work is easy).

That must be really frustrating Emy. What do the teachers say?

My question lovecheese was actually do the classes in different schools who are working more slowly / quickly even out, rather than whether individual children within a class even out.

There is also the issue that you want your DC's ability to be recognized because it seems that some schools mark out how they see the kid's intelligence/ potential in YR/Y1 and that is it all the way through their infant/ junior life. There is not a lot of movement between the sets from what I have seen.

OP - we had a similar problem when ds1 was in YR. If I am brutally honest, I think the teacher was being lazy. It causes more work to differentiate for just one or two children, so teachers sometimes hide behind the 'reception year is about socialising and learning through play' line. Yes of course they are doing that, but it is against mainstream educational principles not to allow the child to progress.

By stretching his reading further you are not hampering his ability to learn through play. These things are not mutually exclusive.

I would be very tempted to have a word again with the teacher and ascertain whether you child really is expected to read all the books in each level if it can be shown he is fully proficient at that level. If you get nowhere then I would go to the head. The school is currently not meeting your child's needs, and that is what all education is about, and the EYFS harps on about it ad nauseam.

Good luck. And visit your local library too - they often have good sections of early readers.

Thanks everyone-all input much appreciated.

Violet-I don't know why it feels like we're just plodding along but thats how it feels. He is no further forward at school now than he was at the end of september yet most of the other children are being encouraged in how to learn the JP's etc and how to blend sounds (which several of them can't seem to do-friends children I might add)yet DS is being sidelined for want of a better word. We always read books outside of the school books and we always will because I know there is more to life than Biff/Chip etc but at the end of the day he is 5 and in his eyes his teacher is god and he wants to please her and actually wants to read the school books but is getting so fed up with reading the same ones all over again.

Emy-I totally understand...thats exactly what DS is doing as well. Incidentally we've been through most of the Ginn level 2 as well and they seem much harder than the ORT level 2 which is why it seems like we're going backwards.

I don't care what level he is at and like someone said although in his class he is advanced (which he actually isn't really at all) in another he would be at the bottom yet in another school where they "pushed" them a little more he could do so much better. But totally agree Squashpie I suppose I do want it recognised what he can and cannot do (because there are things he really struggles with) before he goes into Y1...every parent wants their child to do the best they can.

Kitkats-That is possibly the case. I think having a supply teacher for 4 months certainly hasn't helped the situation because although she is a lovely teacher and fantastic with the children at the end of the day its not "her" class and she really doesn't seem to know how the school works or even what books to give him. I'll speak to her again next week and see what happens but am fully prepared now to go see the head...I'll just put my crash helmet on first lol!

Thanks again everyone-good to know Im not being too precious about this!

I think this might help you - it helped me a little:
My DD's teacher said that the reason they moved from Ginn to ORT is that Ginn level 2 is mainly word recognition, whilst ORT 2 is phonic reading and helps them to blend. Collins is non-fiction so gets them used to finding info rather than reading a story. I guess that is some consolation and it seems to make sense.

ORT is NOT a phonic reading scheme - apart from the Songbirds and Floppy Phonics strands.

Yes sorry she's been on Songbirds.

And Collins has fiction as well no?