Year 1 and ort stages

[hercules1]

Dd has never brought a reading book home from this scheme yet they do it at her school. I have no way of knowing what stage she is at as according to her they all read the same book . Apparently they have 30 copies of each again.
I don't do any drop offs or pickups so have no contact with other parents to be able to get an idea of what is normal for her class.

What stage should she be on? What's considered good, what's needing extra help?

Shoudl I ask through a note to the teacher or is this unnecessary?

[primarymum]

This is VERY strange! How on earth can all children read the same book, surely they can't all be at the same level. This is treating children as packages rather than individuals and is EXTREMELY poor practice. I would be writing/phoning to find out what is going on!

[hercules1]

No, that's obviously not what's happening! That is my dd's take on it when I ask her what book she is reading! My point was I am not going to find out the information I want to know from asking her!


At least I've always assumed she's wrong....

[primarymum]

Oh sorry, wrong end of the stick!
Children can vary enormously at this age with regard to their reading ability, I would expect yr 1's to be somewhere around Stages 4-7 but children may be much higher (or lower!) I would ask the school whether she could bring home books to read, this is quite usual practice!

[hercules1]

I asked last year and it's not their policy to.

[IdrisTheDragon]

DS is in Year 1 and children there seem to range from stage 1 to stage 9. Quite a few children are around stage 2 or stage 3 I think.

[mrz]

I would imaging they are doing "guided reading" not 30 copies though usually done in groups of up to 6 children all reading the same book with the teacher and answering questions. This is what the government advocate for primary schools (individual reading is somewhat frowned upon)

[mrz]

GUIDED Reading

[bigstripeytiger]

If you arent sure what is going on then I would phone the teacher to check. At the school my DDs are at the teachers are around from after school closes until about half past 4, so it is possible to talk to teachers after school has closed.

[hercules1]

Yes, guided reading would make sense. Woudl they do this all the time or also have their own books?

[primarymum]

All our children do guided reading once a week for 25 minutes in a small group of similar ability children whilst the other children in the class work on related activities independently or with the class TA. They also have independent reading books from Reception which they read at home with parents and at school on an individual basis with the teacher, the TA or with parent helpers. The children "progress" through these reading books at their own pace. If you can ask your child for the name or plot of her book we can have a guess at the stage she is currently reading at

[hercules1]

Dd just told me they dont read every day and when they read a few children get chosen to read together - different children in teh group every time. Last time they read a book about pocket money?
Other times she said the children in their reading group take it in turns to read each page.

[hercules1]

It seems they do no individual reading apart from this reading group reading. THis group is not the same group as they work in for their lessons.

[primarymum]

No, my guided reading group are slightly different to other groups ( I now teach yr5/6 and my groups are based on comprehension and understanding rather than decoding !) Not sure about the pocket money book, not one I'm familiar with!
I would certainly have a word with the class teacher-do you have a parents evening coming up you would be able to attend, if not a phone call would be fine. Not wishing to teach anyone how to suck eggs but just make sure you are reading your own/library books with Dd on a daily basis, I'm afraid little and often is the best way at this stage!

[RenderedSpeechless]

just asked dd1, in yr 1, about reading any book about pocket money. she said "no. but that reminds me, i've been meaning to ask you when i'll be getting my pocket money" she then reeled off who gets what and the amount they get. oh dear. seems im off to do ironing so i can avoid an unwelcome inquisition about why dd cant have pocket money!

sorry my post isnt helpful to you, but just wanted to share that with you.

[hercules1]

Yes, we do loads at home.

[boolifooli]

From the conversation you've just had about pocket money she sounds like a 'canny lass' and I'm sure she is doing just as well on the academic front!

[boolifooli]

Doh, was replying to Rendered, not OP

[hercules1]

Further questioning reveals that the reading groups are always different and the book read isnt chosen according to the level the children are working at.

They do individual reading sometimes and it is then a different book that is chosen by the person they are reading to.

[MumNWLondon]

I think it sounds odd that they don't bring books home. I would speak to the teachers and ask what they expect her to be reading at home, as you want to read with her each night. I agree important to read a little each night although as I am finding (see below) doesn't really matter if the books don't come from school. I went to my local library and there was a great selection there. DD chose 10 books which we will never get through in 3 weeks!

I am very frustrated as well with what is going on with my DD, and I am going to discuss at parents night which is in around 4 weeks time. It seemed they didn't have enough ORT for all the kids last year so my DD was given the Ginn books which were very boring - we got 2 a week. A couple of times I said to the teacher that it was all very slow and DD keen to read more - and she said DD was one of the better ones in the class.

Over the summer DD and I did a lot of reading and now her reading is pretty good.... but school they have put her on ORT level 3 - I have said that I think the books far too easy for my DD as she knows all the words in each book and is reading well beyond that at home and they said well they can't miss out any books, although they did agree to send home 2 at a time so thats 6 a week - although I am not sure how many books they have at each level? (have looked at the website just don't know if they have the non-fiction ones etc or just the kipper and chip ones. From looking at the read at home books in waterstones she could easily read level 4 and would be ok with level 5 as well.

[primarymum]

I know my school is not perfect ( which is?) but sometimes the practice in other schools worries me. There is no reason why a child should HAVE to read every book the school holds at a particular level before moving onto the next as long as their comprehension and understanding matches their reading ability. Again there is no reason why a school SHOULD send books home to read ( I know we do, but a good proportion go "missing" each year so some schools might be less understanding) but if they don't they need to provide more information on the level of reading so parents have a better understanding of how they can support the learning process. A child shouldn't be able to read every word in a book straight off ( we work on roughly 85-90%) otherwise they are not learning new ones but they should have the phonic knowledge to be able to decode the majority. Guided reading is a valuable tool for teaching reading strategies, but the books need to be carefully selected to stretch the child's reading ability and understanding, individual reading isn't essential but it is very helpful IF the books are matched to the childs ability. I would be having a word with the teacher involved just to clarify a few points!

[melbob]

If it helps we have just had parents night and been told ds reading good and he has reading ort level 3+ we haev a book a week. BF daughter year 1 (diff school) has ort level 4 every night!

DH has take on it by 15 they will all be able to read dial a pizza menu so dont stress!

[juliemacc]

My DD is in year 1 and is coming home with purple and gold banded books for home reading and can quite confidently read stage 10 and 11 ORT books, but the important thing is that she understands what she has read and can re-tell the story - this is more important than anything, so I am told.

[pannetone]

hercules1 - 'pocket money' is the title of a stage 8 ORT book. My DS brought it home last year when he was in Year 2. HTH!