What level should my boys be reading at?

[wonka]

My big boys are 7&6 year one and two, I have no idea what level what they should be reading at the are doing Ginn and Oxford reading tree, and cartwheel.. But I can't find age group for each of the reading systems. My concern is that my 6 yaer ols is a group ahead of my 7 year old and I'm worried he's falling behind? eg. DS (6) ORT 8 DS(7) ORT 7 but they keep changing book groups so I don't know how the Ginn compairs to ORT?

I know I shouldn't compair but its hard when they are so close in age?

There's honestly not a "should" as reading ability varies so widely (and interest in reading, tbh, esp with boys - scuse if I'm sounding like I'm stereotyping)
My ds2 is far far ahead of ds1, and they're three academic years apart, ds1 is y4 and ds2 y1. DS2 finds reading a totally natural thing and has finished the outstandingly irritating ORT, IMHO the fact that the school isn't sticking to one brainwashed scheme shows that they take a wider view of it and are more interested in developing the child's reading and interest in books than racing each other on a single reading scheme 'ladder'.

There are squillions of threads on here asking what level people's yr1 dc are on, and the answer to that is absolutely huuuuge, something like level 3 ORT to level 11. Just keep on reading to your kids, enjoy books and encourage them to have an interest in it. Even if it's the argos catalogue or the cereal packet And yes, I'm serious.

Thank you so much Mrsshrek I'm feeling a bit more chilled!
I just hit panic and stopped thinking! Thanks

Agree with MrsShrek within DDs year 1 children are reading at across 7 different levels (the school uses a mixture of nearly every scheme avaliable and some older out of print schemes too). Along as my dd seems to be a little bit challenged by each book and enjoying the reading I am happy.

At age 7 my dd was reading Lord of the Rings. My ds was on one of the lower ORT levels. Nothing wrong with either of them; just very different in their developing. And yes, everything I have seen since suggests that dd is actually more academically gifted than ds, but that doesn't mean that anybody is failing anybody: it's just life. They will each find their niche.

You will soon get the sat results for your year 2 child and then you'll know how he is doing. I'm not a teacher but I think ort 7 'normally' equates to a level 1A - which is a bit behind where he 'should' be by the end of year 2.

I don't want to panic you - but I feel you as a parent do have a right to know if your child is 'below expectations'. My school went to great lengths to not tell me - despite it being very obvious that dd was doing very badly.

Why don't you ask his teacher what his predicted grade for Reading is, and then you'll know a lot more.

Thanks you I have tried asking his teacher she was very unhelpfull! I will try again a bit more armed!

Is this any help?

As others have said, kids vary in their abilities and aptitudes and some boys in particular are later developers than others. I think what is important is to maintain their love of reading. Unless they have any actual learning or reading difficulties, they will progress if they are getting something out of what they read.

Oh - one for Ginn - took some finding.

Thanks you ouryve, I try to read with them all every evening and we've banned TV on school nights which has given us SO much more time. Wow DS1 really is bottom end!

What they read in school doesn't necessarily correlate with what they can read though. DS1 is in Year 2 and is on ORT Level 10, which is about the same as what he reads at home (Mr Gum, Horrid Henry, Roald Dahl etc). DS2 is in Year 1 and is on ORT Level 4, but actually reads almost the same as DS1 at home. Their school seems to try to discourage them from just rushing through the levels, they have to read all of the books in a level before moving on. DS1 also reads other reading schemes as well as ORT so is taking his time getting through them all, whereas DS1 has only ever read ORT in school.

There are plenty of children in Year 1 who are on Level 7 or below, so I wouldn't worry at all about your DS. Also it often seems to suddenly click with a lot of children, and the age at which this happens varies enormously. You may find that he suddenly goes up through the levels in leaps and bounds.