Should I just ask the teacher?

[readyin07]

In K my son ended the year reading at a solid E level. When we had curriculum night at the beginning of last month and were given a piece of paper saying he was reading at a C/D level.  I was surprised b/c he read daily with me all summer long and was doing great with more complex books. You may remember he had a very shaky start to the year with anxiety so  I assumed  maybe he had nerves and reading simpler books may help boost his confidence.

His daily homework is reading two books he brings home at his level and writing them in a journal. The books he brings home are easy for him. We had been told before to use the "finger rule." Hold up a finger if you don't know or can't pretty easily figure out a word and if it's between 1 and 5 then that is a good book for you. Very rarely does he not know a word. He "snuck" an I book home two weeks ago and read it all and only had trouble with two words. I try to get him to read more complex books with me but once he is done with his work, that can be hard to do. 

We were told that she would test them immediately if she thought they were able to go up a level. I don't want to be pushy either with her or him, but I want him to at least bring home an E book every once in a while. We are 6 weeks into the school year so  I thought we would start to see some progression.  I emailed her last week just to verify we were on track after he's started off with so much difficulty and she said he's doing awesome, on or above level with everything.

[illgetthere]

I would definitely bring it up. We had a similar issue last year; s1 was allowed to have 3.2-4.9 books. When they took their annual test, he was at a 5.x level and they recommended 4.5-5.9 books. After his level was not changed for 2 weeks, I sent the teacher an email. She let him check out a 5.x book and test on it before then increasing his level.

[ninjabridemom]

Ditto LHC. I was that kid -- my mom just kept pushing. It is better in the end. Reading a book below your reading level is boring and horrible and kills all the fun of reading. Schools need to keep the fun of reading up, not just the literacy piece of it.

[auntie]

Could it be his comprehension is not where his decoding skills are?

Could it be he's anxious and not reading as fluently in class or distracted by other kids?

Could it be that his journal work isn't comparable to what kids at the E level produce?

[shell403b]

Just ask. Breezily. LOL.

[readyin07]

Oct 7, 2015 9:42:12 GMT -5 Lucy Honeychurch said:

I sort of had an issue with this type of thing at KHC's school -- he's a good reader, but they limit them at the library when they're younger to certain sections, certain grade levels, etc. I emailed the teacher and requested that KHC be removed from this restriction and be able to choose any book he wanted, from his own grade level upwards.

I'd email and request something similar, and also request that he be allowed to read books not in the school library or etc. Maze Runner wasn't in our school's library, but KHC was allowed to read it and test on it after we requested he have unrestricted access.

All this is to say I'm vehemently against restricting books of any kind for any kid, ever.

This is an awesome way of asking and I'm going to do just that! You rock! Thanks! He has brought home the same book a few times b/c he's already read  all the ones she has at these levels. He's mentioned that to her and I was kind of waiting for her to take action.

It's hard b/c I know it's very satisfying for him to read the easier books "perfectly" and he gets confidence from that, but *I* want to see him a little more challenged b/c I know that will help him in the long run. He's not going to progress if he only sees simple words over and over. 

[hopecounts]

I would touch base with her nicely and just ask about his in class reading/journal reports to see if there is some nerves/fluency/comprehension issues that are showing up in the classroom affecting his reading level.

[readyin07]

Oct 7, 2015 9:44:07 GMT -5 auntie said:

Could it be his comprehension is not where his decoding skills are?

Could it be he's anxious and not reading as fluently in class or distracted by other kids?

Could it be that his journal work isn't comparable to what kids at the E level produce?

Your first question is a great one and I wondered this myself as well! I don't really understand what comprehension is maybe.

When he reads the story I am trying to ask questions both about plot and what I would think of as "comprehension" questions. Like his D book yesterday had a family taking a photo and asking BIlly to join them. Billy says no  and in the photo is playing with cars. So  I asked DS "who didn't want to take a picture?" He said "Billy." and then I said and why do you think BIlly didn't want to take a picture? And he said "B/c he was busy playing with cars." 

But a C book has VERY little to comprehend lol. 

#2 is also possible. But his journals look great. Not sure what other kids produce but I think they're fine

[Deleted]

Oct 7, 2015 9:58:20 GMT -5 readyin07 said:

Oct 7, 2015 9:44:07 GMT -5 auntie said:

Could it be his comprehension is not where his decoding skills are?

Could it be he's anxious and not reading as fluently in class or distracted by other kids?

Could it be that his journal work isn't comparable to what kids at the E level produce?

Your first question is a great one and I wondered this myself as well! I don't really understand what comprehension is maybe.

When he reads the story I am trying to ask questions both about plot and what I would think of as "comprehension" questions. Like his D book yesterday had a family taking a photo and asking BIlly to join them. Billy says no  and in the photo is playing with cars. So  I asked DS "who didn't want to take a picture?" He said "Billy." and then I said and why do you think BIlly didn't want to take a picture? And he said "B/c he was busy playing with cars." 

But a C book has VERY little to comprehend lol. 

#2 is also possible. But his journals look great. Not sure what other kids produce but I think they're fine

We had something similar happen with 2nd grade. DS consistently test at a higher grade level however; his teacher couldn't understand and really thought something was "wrong" because he hated the journal work! He understood and comprehended the story and would answer the questions but could not stand to write a book report or sentences about the story. She somehow equated his distain for writing the story out to a lack of reading comprehension for him.

Also, how quick are they to mark a word wrong if he has to sound it out? I know that sometimes when DS1 is reading out loud he'll stop and look at the word and say it once or twice and normally the 2nd time he'll have said the word right. It's like he knew that he didn't pronounce it correctly the first time.  

[auntie]

Oct 7, 2015 9:58:20 GMT -5 readyin07 said:

Oct 7, 2015 9:44:07 GMT -5 auntie said:

Could it be his comprehension is not where his decoding skills are?

Could it be he's anxious and not reading as fluently in class or distracted by other kids?

Could it be that his journal work isn't comparable to what kids at the E level produce?

Your first question is a great one and I wondered this myself as well! I don't really understand what comprehension is maybe.

When he reads the story I am trying to ask questions both about plot and what I would think of as "comprehension" questions. Like his D book yesterday had a family taking a photo and asking BIlly to join them. Billy says no  and in the photo is playing with cars. So  I asked DS "who didn't want to take a picture?" He said "Billy." and then I said and why do you think BIlly didn't want to take a picture? And he said "B/c he was busy playing with cars." 

But a C book has VERY little to comprehend lol. 

#2 is also possible. But his journals look great. Not sure what other kids produce but I think they're fine

Sometimes kids who are strong/advanced decoders don't yet have the emotional development or the abstract reasoning to fully parse the inferred information in a text. Especially fiction where plot devices and character motivation are a big part of the comprehension piece. I can remember DS's psych doing a reading test with him; he had DS read a passage about a kid walking to school stomping on icy puddles, seeing his breath swirl in the cold, etc. The question was "what season might this be/" and DS swore he didn't know because the text didn't come out and say.

[W.T.Faulkner]

Oct 7, 2015 9:42:12 GMT -5 Lucy Honeychurch said:

I sort of had an issue with this type of thing at KHC's school -- he's a good reader, but they limit them at the library when they're younger to certain sections, certain grade levels, etc. I emailed the teacher and requested that KHC be removed from this restriction and be able to choose any book he wanted, from his own grade level upwards.

I'd email and request something similar, and also request that he be allowed to read books not in the school library or etc. Maze Runner wasn't in our school's library, but KHC was allowed to read it and test on it after we requested he have unrestricted access.

All this is to say I'm vehemently against restricting books of any kind for any kid, ever.

This.

The general rules and restrictions work for most younger readers to keep them selecting books that work for them in terms of decoding/fluency/emotional maturity, but not all kids benefit from the ground rules, and it's fine to bring it up.

[janetplanet20]

Oct 7, 2015 9:42:12 GMT -5 Lucy Honeychurch said:

Alll this is to say I'm vehemently against restricting books of any kind for any kid, ever.

Yes, yes, yes!!! I haaaate when schools/teachers restrict books. Kids need to read what they want, without reading level restrictions. Can you imagine going to the library as an adult and being told you couldn't check a book out because it's not at your reading level?

[KKD]

Oct 7, 2015 9:44:07 GMT -5 auntie said:

Could it be his comprehension is not where his decoding skills are?

This was DD1's issue in K and the start of first grade. At school she was level E and reading very basic books, even though over the summer she had started reading (and loving) chapter books like Junie B. Jones. Her comprehension seemed appropriate to me, but the measurements they used at school kept her from advancing to higher levels. She would complain about the books being boring, I would ask her teacher about moving up a level, but her progress was very slow. 

Then, a couple months into first grade, something clicked, and she made huge leaps and skipped a few levels, ending the year above grade level. Now in second grade, she's a voracious reader and the highest level in her class. 

[redheadk]

You should absolutely ask the teacher. There are any number of reasons he may be testing at a certain level and it's never a bad thing to touch base about it, especially when you are concerned that he isn't on the same level at which he ended last year by now.

[formerlyak]

DS had an issue similar to LHC's kid in first grade. They only let the first graders check out books from certain sections of the library. DS wasn't happy with that because the chapter books he wanted to read weren't in that section. I asked about it and the teacher said it was the school rule, but she would push it if a kid needed more challenging reading. A few weeks later, DS came home with a chapter book from the big kids' section. Thank you, teacher!

Similarly, at the book fair two years ago, DS and I walked in and the mom running it said, "Oh books for his grade level are over there!" pointing to a book case with easy chapter books. DS looked at them and grimaced. I said, "Thank you, but he actually prefers books like these over here." and pointed to "The Hobbit" which is the book he was hoping to find there. No, not all 2nd graders were reading "The Hobbit" but if that is what my kid wanted to read (and I knew he was capable of it), I'm not going to not get it because it isn't in the second grade section.

[readyin07]

Kids man. He brought home another book for the second time and I told him I was going to ask his teacher to let him choose some E books. And he was like well with my reading buddy I read E/F books and I'm like then why aren't you bringing those home and he shrugged.

[youbetcha]

People have already offered much more sophisticated thoughts than this, but are they judging him my how he reads aloud? My DS's reading level is not well represented by how he reads aloud because he is a perfectionist and gets anxious when reading aloud. This was an issue for him in first grade but has not been in second where they focus on comprehension and not on proving you can by demonstration.

[joenali]

The books that are brought home should be independently read and with at least 96% accuracy. His teacher is probably instructing him at school using higher level books.