Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Parenting and Advocacy "Just right reading levels"

Ugh. This is going to push me over the edge. I mean- they will only allow kids to be tested up to a certain level (district protocol)- then they send home books that are way too easy- because they need to be "below their instructional level" ....of course who knows what the instructional level is- since they won't test for it... So the instructional level is below the end of the year grade level standard which is way below their actual reading level. I'm just so done. Really? Now they need to read (30 minutes per day) of total crap. Then they send home this letter about how the reading is supposed to be easy (guess they are looking to pre-empt complaints)- how about preposterous? Is it supposed to be preposterous? What if you were forced to read this total crap for 30 minutes per day. I JUST DONT GET IT! How can they hold kids back like this! /rant.

Look at your district's gifted and acceleration policies. It may be that if you want your child "considered" for acceleration they will test all the way to level.

Ugh....I completely feel your pain. If they will only let kids read from the container that has their level of books, why don't you give them the right level instead of saying their level is too high to change, or whatnot. I mean, I guess if you make a kid read first grade books till third grade, their reading level won't change,sure, but...then what's the point? Sometimes teachers will at least let you choose whatever books from the library -- just tell your DC to pretend they're reading a low-level book at the same time.

We have a low testing ceiling too. I've never had a teacher care if my daughter did the little bookbag reading though. I think that they just don't have time to focus on kids once they hit the benchmark ceiling for the year. The K teacher pretty much ignored my daughter. The first grade teacher picked out books I thought were very thoughtful. They didn't challenge her much, but they were good reads.

Are you sure that they demand that you read their material 30 minutes a day? Our school really doesn't care what mine reads, so she reads what she wants. The bigger problem I have found is making sure she's developing as a reader. We read challenging books together at night and talk about them. She reads what she wants during the day--sometimes challenging stuff, sometimes not. We recently realized she doesn't particularly understand phonics and I've started working on that with her at home--not sure why it matters, but we're making sure she knows it. It doesn't take much.

I guess I've just found that when you have a significantly above grade level reader, they don't have time to really pay that much attention to them. I think they're better off if you work on their reading at home.

Yes, we're also getting way too easy books home. (And then reading harder books when DS wants to)

My parents had the same problem in school, and they fortunately just ignored the books from the teacher and let me read whatever I wanted. They also didn't insist I read out loud too much (which I didn't like because it was too slow).

Maybe read the proper books once a week? Or less? But don't condemn your child to books they hare.

So, go to the library, or your home library, and read at will. My DS#1 was wishing he was in the GT LA because "they read the best books". Curious, I asked what they were, and said "DS, you can read those books, too. We have many of them, the rest are in the school library or the public library." Always a voracious reader, he upped his level big time. The next year he was in honors English. I do remember when DS#2 was in second grade, and I wondered why his reading level hadn't jumped (he didn't start reading till mid-first grade). The teacher told me, like yours, that they only test to a certain level, and the books in the classroom go up to that level. DS was already at the top level, so they didn't test any higher. Huh? The next year he was in the replacement gifted LA class. Never could figure that out: he was at the top but no higher of 2nd grade one year, but in a 5th-grade level reading class the next?

Fortunately, we never paid attention to what the school said they should be reading.

The whole "just right level" thing really irks me. The assessments are not accurate if they even bother to give the kid the correct assessment. Our schools use Fountas and Pinnell and the Kindergarten teacher assessed DS at a level O, the first grade teacher assessed him at an L (disregarding my input that he was at a higher level a year earlier), the second grade teacher assessed him as an M or N, we finally moved schools mid-year and suddenly he was V! Above level testing on the computer also put him at 99th percentile for reading but you would never know it based on being stuck at basically the same level for a few years. I send DS's own books in with him to school and tell him to put them in his book box. No one has ever argued with me about it. He is currently reading an encyclopedia of world wars. Whenever he reads it at home he gets really excited and blurts out things like "Hey! Did you know General XXX did Y during Z war!?" I hope he is not doing that in class (although it would be funny in a way, since he's 8, and i don't think they truly have a grasp of what he is capable of understanding and likes to read, despite them finally assessing him at a high level). He used to bring home silly books in "book bags" but we never took them out of his backpack. DS would gripe in school about being forced to read "baby books" and during free reading time, at least, I think the teachers thought it was better to let him read what he want than have him run around the class griping about the "baby books".

Wow, that is unreal. I thought my kid's school was a PITA but I would go ballistic with that.

I would just let my kid read whatever he wanted for 30 minutes instead.

Are they looking for ways to convince children that reading is boring?

I would love to let her read what she wants- or send in books from home. Last year her teacher was a bit of a rebel. She allowed my kid to pretty much read whatever she wanted (but she still documented on all official paperwork that dd8 was reading according to the school district guidelines)....I think that is why having a teacher that seems like she might actually comply with the rules this year seems so painful. This year, on the form that came home stating that the reading should be easy, they ("the third grade teachers") also state that parents are not to send books in to school with their children- or substitute books for the ones they send home. I was planning on going with.... Well, it took my kid about 5 minutes to read what you sent home- so I had to find something else to fill the 30 minutes of reading time. I'm just hoping that does not result in higher quantities of garbage being sent home.

Sounds awful and restrictive. If you are worried about more of the same being sent home, and that thought crossed my mind too, then say nothing to the school. Let your DD read the easy book in five minutes and then encourage her to read whatever she wants. Schoolbook read, tick. 30 mins of reading done, tick. 25 mins of that time will actually be useful.