Early Elementary reading level progression

[Anonymous]

From my experience there is definitely a concentration at the bottom levels in K and 1st. My child started K at 16+ and stayed there all year (standard policy). That was rather demotivating for him since everyone else was moving up. In first he made it to J and now is stuck at K. Wish I had your problem, my child can read anything but apparently can't do the writing to go with it. Starting to make progress finally but its slow going. I'm considering when to get concerned since really he has only gone up 2 levels in > 1.5 years.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
OP here. It is his reading group, which consists of him and one other child. Two weeks ago, he was bringing home thin readers with K on the back. Last week, all those readers disappeared from his reading folder, and he had a chapter book that had a sticker on it saying "grade 2 to 4". I looked up the book on a leveled book list, and it was rated N/3.0.

FYI, just because your child brings home a level N book does not mean they tested at that level. Sometimes the teachers send home books at different levels for the kids to work with. The true assessment is only done when they do the mClass testing which I believe is the beginning, middle, and end of year.

My child can read almost any book but tests at level K because of the writing.

[Anonymous]

I was told that after K, the focus should be on writing until the writing catches up with reading.

[Anonymous]

That is K reading level not Kindergarten

[Anonymous]

Sorry, MCPS teacher here--haven't checked the thread in a while.

60 minutes is the total amount of time that the teacher should be meeting with students for guided reading--to include all reading groups (some teachers might have up to 6 reading groups, so they may see 4 groups per day @ 15 minutes each). Below grade level readers definitely need to be seen every day, so if your child is reading solidly on or above grade level, it is certainly possible they may only be seen in reading group two-three times per week. If it's less than that, as a parent, I would be asking the teacher. It is hard to manage, but a good teacher, especially in the primary grades, makes guided reading the priority in the classroom because it is the way kids learn to read!
All of the PPs who have posted about kids not advancing in levels until their writing matches their reading are correct. To advance in reading, students have to not only be able to decode and comprehend text, they have to be able to write in response to what they have read, which comes later, and does hold the progression up a bit.

[Anonymous]

This is interesting information and I wish MCPS would be more up front about sharing this with parents. I wondered why my child got so little reading instruction at the lower levels, now I know the school just isn't required to provide it. I guess they just leave it to parents to home school if their kid is at or above grade level.

[Anonymous]

9:37, the school IS required to provide instruction--but it may be more like 2-3 times per week instead of 5. If it is less than that, you can and should ask the teacher about it, because they need to explain themselves if they're not seeing your child at least twice per week.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:MCPS teacher here again-guided reading should be happening for at least 60 minutes per day throughout elementary school (up through fifth grade).

Ha ha ha ha. I'd like to know the school where this happens. Unless by 60 minutes you mean the guided reading period for the entire class, in a class with 3 reading groups, a kid will be lucky if he/she gets 15-20 minutes of guided reading daily. This is the reality I saw in my child's class when I observed/volunteered weekly last year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:MCPS teacher here again-guided reading should be happening for at least 60 minutes per day throughout elementary school (up through fifth grade).

Ha ha ha ha. I'd like to know the school where this happens. Unless by 60 minutes you mean the guided reading period for the entire class, in a class with 3 reading groups, a kid will be lucky if he/she gets 15-20 minutes of guided reading daily. This is the reality I saw in my child's class when I observed/volunteered weekly last year.

Check the follow up posting at 8:46--that is what is meant by 60 minutes--60 minutes total for the class, probably 15-20 minutes per group, per day. If there are more than 4 groups, each group is not getting seen each day.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
OP here. It is his reading group, which consists of him and one other child. Two weeks ago, he was bringing home thin readers with K on the back. Last week, all those readers disappeared from his reading folder, and he had a chapter book that had a sticker on it saying "grade 2 to 4". I looked up the book on a leveled book list, and it was rated N/3.0.

FYI, just because your child brings home a level N book does not mean they tested at that level. Sometimes the teachers send home books at different levels for the kids to work with. The true assessment is only done when they do the mClass testing which I believe is the beginning, middle, and end of year.

My child can read almost any book but tests at level K because of the writing.

This thread is classic DCUM. OP raises a question about her child's progress through groups. Then she happens to mention his current group, and the DC Competimoms come out in force. "my kid is at that level too, your kid isn't really at that level, yeah, but can he really write at that level?"
Get over yourselves and stay out of it if you can't answer her actual question. OP, I would question the teacher about the hopscotching. It does sound like his group isn't meeting with the teacher often. But I'm not sure there is much you can do about it. MCPS is what it is.