Just wondering from all you teachers out there.
DS 6.5 in a yr 1 class, has been on reading level 18 for quite some time.
I can see that it has lots of new words, long stories etc etc.
He started L18 sometime last term, early or mid term.

DH went into school today to tell teacher DS was off sick, and to grab a reading book for him. He asked when they would be moving onto a new level, and teacher replied they wouldn't, it was a short term, they would all stay on that till the end of the year. (the 3 in the class on that level)
Combine this with her telling me last week that the better readers (L18) were helping those on L5 with there reading as a means to cementing reading skills.
AND then telling DH that if they went on any further at this stage, next years teacher wouldn't have anything for them.

I don't want to over react, but really does it sound right?
How long should they normally be on L18 for?

We are already a bit sensitive about him still being in a yr1 class as it is (as his birthday falls in April, and March is ou cut off). He has been at school for a year longer than some of his class mates.
Can you tell me what your year 2's are reading, and what you would be doing with a student in this position.
And he doesn't struggle to read the L18's (or turquoise).
Thanks for any advice

I'm not a primary teacher, but that comment if they went in any further this year then their teacher next year would have nothing for them screams out at me!
That is ridiculous.

When was he last tested?

My son is 6 and in a year 1/2 class (he is year 1). He is in the top group and is reading gold, and reads journals. Earlier in the year when only one child was on that level the teacher still catered for her. I personally don't think a teacher should hold a child back because the others haven't caught up!

In saying that, often children decode really well but their comprehension isn't quite up there. At least that is why my son's teacher has said.

I would ask for him to be tested again if it's been a while.

DS is Y2 and just turned 7. He is at the bottom of the class (maybe a couple of esol kids below him) and is on level 16. So I'd say your DS is doing fine at 18 in Y1 and he'll probably move on next year (there's plenty for him to move onto). My understanding is that at this level (not age but reading level) they are do a lot of consolidating and developing their comprehension (eg retelling complex story in own words etc).

I honestly would not worry. It's such a short term this year that unless he was super bored and reading it really easily there's really no reason to move him on. You could get some easy chapter books like Zac Powers "test drive" etc for him to read over the holidays and keep up his reading so he's ready for term 1 next year.

That is nuts. There is a boy in my daughters class (Y1/2 class) and he goes over to a full Y2 class for reading as he is onto Journals, they don't hold him back at all. All year he has always been at the top on his own, they have never held him back.

Different teachers think different things though I suppose as end of term 2 DD's teacher left (she is Y1) and DD was reading orange and I was told that she will probably mill around there for the rest of the year. New teacher comes in, tests early/mid term 3 and DD goes up to silver, skipping the other ones.... and her current teacher said "She was reading way above orange when I came in"

I would push it and make them test him...

Good luck

From L18 there is still plenty of room for him to move to next year. DD is in Yr 1 and is 7 (Yr 1 here is like Yr 2 in NZ) and she is a really good reader. I'm always confronted with teachers saying they have nothing left for her to read which I find frustrating, because that basically leaves it to me to find suitable material at the library for her. The books in DDs class go to a level 28 I think, and we're yet to see what they can offer after that. I would probably leave it for this term and see what his new teacher offers in 2012. If you want to give him something different I would aim to get him reading widely so things like magazine or newspaper articles, non fiction, and poetry.

If I was you, I would make an appointment with the teacher to discuss it. Don't let them fob you off with a short conversation; ask for a proper appointment to discuss his reading.

At that meeting, ask to see his latest running record. There should be one from the last 4 weeks. (If there isn't, ask the teacher for an explanation. If there's no adequate explanation, something isn't right.) Ask the teacher to explain the running record to you. Children are ready to move up to the next level when they're reading somewhere between 90 and 95% accurately. There are comprehension questions at the end of the reading part, so ask the teacher to explain how he's doing on those too. Discussing the running record allows you to focus on any particular problems, and if the teacher thinks there is a problem which doesn't come out in the running record it gives the teacher a chance to explain it.

If the running record is all fine, but he still hasn't been moved up, I would express some concern about that.
If the reading itself is fine, but there is a problem with the comprehension, the Ministry of Education guidelines say that is not a good reason to keep a child at a lower level. Instead, the teacher should be organising a programme which concentrates on the comprehension aspects of reading. You don't get better at comprehension by spending more time practising easy books - you get better at comprehension by doing the sorts of exercises that make you better at comprehension.

Politely remind the teacher than he has been at school a long time. Sometimes they forget some kids are a lot older than others.

Keep everything polite and just explain that you are interested in knowing more about how the teacher runs her reading programme. If the problem is that the teacher is coasting, hopefully your showing a bit of interest will serve as a bit of a wake-up call. Or, it could be that there is actually a good reason for spending more time at that level. If there is, though, the teacher should still have a plan for how to improve whatever the problem is. Ask her what it is. (Then if she doesn't have one, she might do something about it.)

I have to admit that if a teacher told me that she had no good reason for keeping a child at a level other than she didn't like to move them beyond it at that year level, I would regard that as an unacceptable attitude, and would tell them so.

Lol, that is a bit long. Can you tell I've been there before?

LOL Arete, that is good info about the running record.

We did create a bit of a fuss at the start of the year, so its not like she doesn't know that we are watching like hawks. But it was just such a random comment to make about leaving the teacher next year something to go on with...(specially when she knows I am precious about it)
I asked DH was she serious, and he replied well yeah.

Also, he finished at the end of last year on 12, so is it acceptable to only have moved onto 18 in a full year?

His comprehension is and has always been miles above his age.
Its one of the things that has always stood out, so I know its not that...

Also, he can go to bed and read Captain underpants by himself....he may not get ALL the words, but he can read most of it.

My son is 6 and a feb baby so almost the same age - hes reading at level 24 and a very good reader.

There are quite a few in his class on this level and they move them along when ready. They dont help the kids that are reading at lower levels - but do start to concentrate on comprehesion rather than just reading.

1. bollocks to the next teacher having nothing for them. That is simply not ture.
2. Helping others to keep them busy? (or instead of their own learning?) No way. By all means have buddy or peer reading, but wihtin a reading programme during free reading taskboard activities, NOT instead.

That said, at this stage, I would not be testing a child again before the end of the year - the end year esting has been done, and clases etc put together around that information.

However, I would expect that a running record be completed either in thelast 2 weeks of last term OR the first two weeks of this term, depending on when they close off the data entry for the kids, rpeorting etc.

If there is a running record that supports him being at that level from those weeks, then that really is fine - children do drop back on avverage a couple of levels over the school holidays, so pushing them forward this close to the holidays is doing noone any favours.

if the last running record was done in the first couple of weeks of last term, then IMO that isn't good enough, I may still not push for him to go up, unless you and Dh feel that he is finding it all very easy at that stage and at isk of getting bored in the last few weeks. I would instead make sure that the new teacher knows that he was on the level and not tested since whenever wihtin a couple of weeks of starting back next year.

As to how long they should be on a level? No such thing, every child is different. i would just hope that she isn't one of those teachers who seem to only test when the whole group is ready to move, as opposed to teaching the individual child like you should! I h ave certainly had children stay on the levels above 16/orange for a longer period of time as the stories do bcome more complex in terms of comprehension, pushing them on simply because they can read the words easily does more harm than good (when you have children pushed through into higher levels based solely on decoding skills, as they get to more involved texts it is so hard for the kids to learn the basics of retelling and responding to texts when so much more is happening).

You explain it so well.



Definitely!

As a year one teacher, I wouldn't be pushing him to a higher level at this time of year, but I would certainly be 'taking him wide' with regard to comprehension and genre (non fiction, reports, etc) and consolidating his learning.

Hope she's not one of those naughty teachers that starts to give them colouring in or xmas stuff in November because she thinks it all over!

Oh liljay and Felicis.. why can't we find a teacher like you guys? We've had colouring in and DVDs already and it's the first week of November.

Thank you, you are making me feel better.
I don't think she is "one of those teachers" and normally I wouldn't question her, but this is one of those times I needed some ideas from you teachers as to what her thinking is.

I will follow up with his running record and see what that says.

Cheers everyone.

how ridiculous..i can understand staying on a reading level for other skills i.e acquiring words, understandng of reading, grammer etc etc....but bcos there wouldnt be anything for them to do next year pfffft what a load of nonsense.
my DS#1 is a really good reader, he has quite a veracious appetite and his teacher this year is AWESOME, she helps him choose library books and purposely picks ones out that she knows he will enjoy...and 1 to challenge him (he has just turned 8 a few days ago and reads a cpl of chapter books in a week...has quite adultish/select interests etc) she's an author and riiiight into literature education etc so couldnt have got a better teacher for him....but yeah.
i would be making a meeting and asking things like okay what is the next goal for DS, how do we help him achieve it, where is he now, and what is the next step etc etc.
i dont really follow reading levels tooo closely...they are almost meaningless really - if a child is progressing what they are given to read should be progressing too, #1 got stuck on 1 level for about 6/7months(talk about motivation killer as it was an early level too...only so many of those books you can listen to in a lifetime )...then reading clicked and he flew through the rest of the levels and past journals and other readers in a matter of months.. now they seem to read for content/words/new concepts as opposed to reading level.
i guess just keep onto the teacher and his progress yourself...make sure you use your public library regularly so if he's not always getting progress at school he is at home.

arrrk my typing/spelling is terrible at the mo...can you tell im on day 3 of 3exams in a row lol

Yeah. Already. I checked her homework book and about half of it for the last bit of term 3 and term 4 hasn't been marked. And I know she hands it in, because I go with her to do it. Even worse, I checked a maths sheet with multiplication on it and it was almost all wrong and hadn't been marked. We did them again together but clearly DD doesn't understand the concept. I wish this lady had retired last year instead of squeezing out one more really ineffective year.

My homework motto is - if I'm not going to mark it then it wasn't worth you doing it... what is the point??? Busy work? And it should never be things they can't do, but practise/revisited topics IYKWIM?





Try teaching/reading with those books when you have 18 kids at level 1 () does my head in lol, roll on next year when I go back to the slightly older kids. NE teachers should all be paid more! They are machines!

yes they are - it is exhausting work!

Just to bump this up...I went along to the meeting, and its a school policy that they won't give students in Yr one reading books over Level 18, and on speaking to another mother level 24 in year 2.

So is this a normal school policy? I am really starting to dislike my school policies, and am second guessing now whether this school has the kids best interests at heart, or just does things to suit the staff.

So my child who has been at school for 7 terms, is not able to learn anymore than a child thats been there for 4. However, if he had been born 22 days earlier, it wouldn't be a problem!!!

I don't want to rock the boat for my childs sake, but should I?