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

I've always ignored things like this and I think you should, too. What would the consequence be?! (Nothing.) They can't punish you for not making your kid read books far below his level. If there's a book log, just substitute what he actually read. I would also write something like, "he independently reads Y, which is X levels over the books you sent home, so I had him read books that are an appropriate reading and interest level." (In case you don't know, you can check reading levels at Scholastic Book Wizard.)

When my dd was in K, they had her reading new reader books for the first couple of MONTHS while they assessed everyone. She was horrified and embarrassed. Finally, she had enough, and she led a bit of a mutiny, telling all the kids that they were reading baby books and that they shouldn't have to read "baby books," which she always said with disgust. Of course only a few kids could actually read the books, but the teachers didn't want them to think the books were for babies. So they reluctantly created a reading group for my daughter and two other girls, who were also good readers. The same thing happened when they sent home "sight words" for her to memorize. She was so embarrassed at having them. When I complained to the teacher, she told me she was required to send them home, but that I could do with them what I wanted (we turned them into spelling words).

The problem is, depending on the school and the teacher, they can and will punish the child. Quite severely. My son was punished. Taking away recess, taking his book permanently, not allowing them/him ("them" being friends who also dared to challenge the system in other classes) to participate in the 'fun' classroom activities, etc. that's why we had to have a meeting about it.

This makes me so sad. What does that tell kids about learning and, gasp, enjoying reading?

That's where it becomes about control vs. teaching, imo.

This is what I would do.

And it is what DS's teacher did in 1st grade. District told her all kids should had to read through a set of readers. She knew that her top reader reading group all read WAY beyond those those books. So in their reading group time she gave them the gave them the books and gave them 5 minutes to read it silently. Once they had all finished she moved on to something harder. She followed the rules and got the kids on to something more interesting.

Ds6 has a teacher this year who puts their reading levels up and down seemingly randomly. The book he bought home last night was two levels below what he has been reading for the last three months. He also hasn't had any real instruction for about three months - just choose from the box, read to a friend and do a worksheet. I am starting to get annoyed but he seems ok so far.

Policies like this that are just plain wrong and harmful for my child were never going to be tolerated.

Plan B was always if whatever the situation was couldn't be resolved, then I would pull him out so fast to homeschool. I would have also tell them they were making a mistake because he was going to be a high scorer on the end of the year high stakes tests...and to think about it, he was a "customer" they didn't want to lose to homeschool. We would walk away. The schools we are in are desperate for high scores and they can't afford to run the high achievers off. They just don't have enough.

I never had a situation that wasn't resolved in a satisfactory manner but I had to flex my advocacy muscles for one acceleration and it took a couple of weeks to resolve to my satisfaction. I just had plan b in my back pocket and it gave me confidence.

....so, I was able to take a deep breath and try to move forward. I thought- well- even though the page said, "no substitutions"- I could at least ask. Perhaps they are concerned that a kid might substitute something at an easier level- or something inappropriate? Who knows.... So I did my best to write a kind email explaining that dd8 was into this particular literary classic right now- and might she be able to read that instead? The teacher was Nice- but the answer was no... She said that the book was "too high" for a third grader in September. She said that while she had not been able to assess dd8's reading level yet, she would not be allowed to read the original classic- but perhaps she could find a "version" of the book that was on 3rd grade level. Sigh. So- I think reading at school is going to be a non-starter. I appreciate that some have suggested active defiance and just writing what she is actually reading on the log- if we pull her out of that school- I'd go there- but right now, I should probably try to pretend to be compliant with the dumb third grade reading laws. As others have reminded me, they can't control what she reads outside of school. I just wonder if I should say that the 5 minutes of reading they are sending home is taking her 30 minutes, so that they don't send more- or if I should just write that it is taking her 5 minutes.

I think that my childhood education was far from ideal- but I never thought I would wax poetic about being able to go to the school library, pull a book, and read whatever the heck I wanted.

Good for you for trying!

In your shoes, I think I would write exactly how long it takes her. Being sort of snippy about such things, I might add a note saying you had tested her and she fully understands it, reads it fluently, and can recite it forwards and backwards. Okay, maybe not the last bit...

I'm still so confused by what the school thinks they are doing by holding readers back and keeping everyone at such an artificially low level. How can it help their testing, even? I think I would have to meet with the principal. This is so completely different than how DS' school has approached reading.

I would just not do the reading, but say that she is doing it and that she is doing it for 30 min. Unless you are worried about the bad message that this is sending the child. In third grade, DD could read what she wanted, but she she was supposed to record the book read, pages read every single day, whether she read aloud or to herself, etc. It took all the fun out of reading. We just simply failed to turn in these reading logs after a while. DD would have failed to turn them in anyway without my intervention, so I just simply failed to intervene. I didn't make sure she did the logs. Too bad! Of course it went onto her report card that she has a bunch of missing assignments, but who cares...she was a third grader.

DS is now in third grade and he just read an entire Percy Jackson book at school today. He would throw a hissy fit if the teacher told him it's too advanced and he has to read the cat in the hat. I mean, the whole thing just sounds absurd. I am expecting that his reading achievement test scores will rise, because even if they are not exactly teaching him at the correct level, he is reading for vocabulary.

If I were you, I would write that your child is taking 30 minutes to read the books that they send home. I would not ask her to read them at all but give her a free choice of what she wants to read at home. I would also apologize to my child for having to lie to the teacher and explain why I was doing that. The reason that I am suggesting this is because my 6 year old was with a teacher who had a petty mind. She was prone to punishing and being harsh with my DS for not "complying" with this kind of thing. It was sneakily done - DS says that the words she used were never wrong, but the "tone of voice" she used to talk to him made him uneasy. I am sure that most teachers are not so small minded as to take it out on a young child, but the child spends most of their day in the care of these teachers and if you are not planning to change schools, it is good to pretend to be compliant to make your child's life smooth.