ORT Read At Home - worth it?

[MrsDinky]

The Book People have got a set of 31 of these for £15 at the moment, DS is really enjoying his Chip and Biff books at school, (he's Yr 1 and comfortable at Level 4 at the moment). I get the impression Level 5 is where it gets quite a bit harder.

Has anyone tried these and are they useful? It says there are 5 levels, but at school the ORT has a lot more levels than that, I wondered how the two match up? Don't want to find that they are all too easy.

Thank you.

I got a set, and ended up selling them on ebay virtually straightaway as they were too easy.
The Ruth Miskin superphonics set (I got these from Book People) are also graded, but much meatier. (and a feck load more interesting for the listener than BiffChipKipper!)

I'd get something different or you will come to loathe chip and biff even sooner that you would do any way!

lots of other fab books out there.

DD#1 is loving the read at home books and I am very pleased with them - for £15 you can sell them on if they are not for you though I'm sure.

I thought they were good and more importantly ds has enjoyed them and the stories.

There was a thread on here about how they seem one level harder than the number on them e.g. Read at Home level 4 seems more like normal ORT level 5.

I think they're good value. I'm planning on flogging mine on ebay now though as once ds has read them he doesn't seem to want to go back to this kind of book really.

If you want to improve your child's reading, expose them to lots of different styles of books.

Leave the ORT to school. It's their reading scheme to ensure he develops reading skills. They're not the greatest stories in the world!

I got them for my daughter (5) as she doesn't use ORT at school so she hasn't got bored of Biff and Chip. They are magic key stories, which she really likes. She reads blue level books from school (not sure how this equates to ORT?) and the level 5 read at homes are harder than her school books, but great for her to read with a little help. I think they're great value, and you can always sell them on afterwards....

Have you checked out readingchest.co.uk?
i was recommened this site as I was having the same problems and did'nt want to keep buying one time read books, and from these people you can hire the books, read them, send them back and receive more,as many times as you like, they are all the books that you get at school too, oxford reading tree ect....

Thank you all for your comments - we are also using some of our normal home books for variety, should probably do this more.

Good point about getting bored of Biff, Chip and Kipper - DS doesn't seem to but I do! I will look at the readingchest website.

Thanks again

I just got a leaflet about www.readingchest.co.uk in DS book bag this week. I was thinking about joining because it looks like they have lots of phonics books too. A teacher friend said these are better for learning to read? Not sure if it is okay to mix them up?

I have them and we love them!
Maybe we will get bored of Biff & co, but right now they are great and brilliant value

We have loads of other books too- there are books everywhere in our house and we read all sorts, but Sam really likes the MagiC Key stories and they are good and quick to read to him, and a good stretch for him to try and read to me

Ooo DTG I know who you aaaaare!!! 'Sam' gave it away

My DS likes the Magic Key stories too

That Readingchest thing would be good if it was real books graded at the right level but a load of scheme books your school and library will already have,bit of a rip off if you ask me.

Also aren't you going to muddle the teacher up,she'll keep sending books home he's already had-logistical nightmare.

Personally I hate ORT Kipper books,a few are ok but consistent Kipper books at home and school-boring. My dd found them very dry. Your library will have loads of all the schemes. I like the ORT Songbirds(phonic based) and the Usborne ones are more like real books.

If it was me I'd use real books by preference,there is a graded list on a thread somewhere. Sadly it didn't have my dd's level so we're getting a few Usborne out of the library.

LOL siblingrivalry I have no idea who YOU are!!! Funny it was Sam that gave it away not the DTG bit!!

You will have to leave me a message elsewhere and put me out of my misery!!

ORT is about recognising whole words as shapes. Much better to teach your children to decode successfully using Ruth Miskin's Storybooks, Dandelion Readers, Jelly and Bean, Jolly Phonics...

DTG I'm just going to follow you around now and not tell you who I am from 'elsewhere'. Yes the DTG should have given it away really!!

Hmmm Sibling I shall just have to try and decode you!!- BTW You can mostly find me on Good Housekeeping suprisingly enough ....

I shall also go to the library and ask what they've got, have never seen any of these books there, but will ask, maybe I have not been looking in the right place. Sounds as though we could do with a bit more variety. I might get the ORT ones anyway as it is f.cheap and DS seems very keen, as one or two of you said I can always sell them later. Thanks again

It's the Early Reader section,even our tiny local Devon library has loads so they should be there. Get them to send some over if not.

MrsD
Do I recall correctly that you are very local to me? North Hants area?
If so if you wanted you could borrow the ones we have if you like?

I guess all libraries are different. Ours doesn't have any books at stage 1 or 2 at all. I will talk to them about it. Also, in case it helps anyone I have now had time to investigate readingchest.co.uk and what it actually recommends you do is select reading schemes which your children don't use at school to avoid repeats and confusion.

If it was me find Mz's thread on graded real book lists. Real books really are better than scheme books. Too many dry scheme books will turn any child off all together and some schemes really are bad. Her list didn't have the green and orange levels though,had all the other levels as I recall.

Also I really think you need to be careful meddling with scheme books a la Readingchest. Our school has coloured boxes with many scheme books in not just one, most school will be sending a variety home.

I agree that some particularly older reading schemes can be a bit dull but have you seen the Collins Big Cat books? They look pretty 'real' to me - especially their non fiction books.

My 6 year old loves them because he can actually find stuff out for himself.

I find it really hard to get non-fiction books at the right level. Our school has a really poor selection.

My 5 year old, likes me to read what you would call real books to him, but gets really scared if I ask him to have a go. He is much more comfortable with the scheme books,they only have a few sentences per page (he's on red)of easier words.This seems to have boosted his confidence more.My library is rubbish they have nothing at this level.

I find this too LumpyB, that he is unsure with non scheme books, although if it is one he knows really well he will read it, but then I am not sure how much was from memory. DTG - how kind of you, and yes I am just down the road. Do you use this CAT thing on MN for contacting people? I haven't signed up yet but keep thinking it is time I did.