Question about K reading groups

[Anonymous]

where are you pp? if you don't want to name the school, can you tell us the city? our school has every kid and i mean every kid even the ones who can read chapter books reading things at the level of cat in the hat. they do not talk about characters or setting much less conflict and resolution. am not happy at all with this as we are in a pretty expensive neighborhood that we pickd for the schools!

Anonymous wrote:How could you tell? I volunteered and small groups rotated through centers but it was impossible to tell the levels of the groups (I was trying bc I'd like to know where my son is). I was reading a story at one of the centers and asking kids questions about the characters, setting, conflict and resolution. Couldn't tell who was where.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:where are you pp? if you don't want to name the school, can you tell us the city? our school has every kid and i mean every kid even the ones who can read chapter books reading things at the level of cat in the hat. they do not talk about characters or setting much less conflict and resolution. am not happy at all with this as we are in a pretty expensive neighborhood that we pickd for the schools!

Anonymous wrote:How could you tell? I volunteered and small groups rotated through centers but it was impossible to tell the levels of the groups (I was trying bc I'd like to know where my son is). I was reading a story at one of the centers and asking kids questions about the characters, setting, conflict and resolution. Couldn't tell who was where.

Happy to tell. This was at Takoma Park Elementary. To be clear, I was reading the book and then was asking the kids about the elements of the story, which they are learning about in class.

[Anonymous]

that's still amazing, pp. our volunteers were doing alphabet flashcards last week!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't think reading level in K matters much except for that they are on track by the end of the year.

This is what our son's K teacher suggested at back to school night. My son wasn't reading at all prior to starting K this year (had no interest at all, and whenever we'd try to help him learn to read, he appeared not to have a knack for it either!) Now that the first quarter of the year has gone by, he has advanced in his reading group (he told us- not the teacher), so clearly he's learning and enjoying it.

[Anonymous]

Kids come into kindergarten at all different reading levels, and there is little correlation between where they start the year compared to their peers, and where they will finish compared to their peers.

[Anonymous]

My daughter has only met with her reading group 2 times. Is this normal. The class has 25 kids (3 added within the last 2 weeks) I feel like her reading at home has gotten worse, handwriting comes home sloppy and she is even writing some numbers backwards that she never did in preschool. I am really concerned she is slipping thru the cracks. I volunteer and the teacher only takes one reading group a day for 10-15min (at least the 3 days I have been there.) They are average 4-5 kids. So I would think they would meet at least every 6 days. Is this all normal? I don't understand how kids can motor thru reading levels meeting so little.

[Anonymous]

OP, I'd supplement a little bit at home. Maybe do Starfall for 10 minutes a day or BOB books. You'll see improvement pretty quickly.

[Anonymous]

I'll chime in with reassurances, because it is completely normal. But keep you eyes open. My son, who is dyslexic, showed signs as early as pre-k. By the end of K we were mildly concerned - he could recognize a list of sight words, but not sound out new words, even fairly easy ones. He was diagnosed before Christmas in 1st grade, and started with appropriate (Orton Gillingham) tutoring immediately, and now in 2nd he is doing great. He'll always be dyslexic, but early intervention makes a huge difference.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My daughter has only met with her reading group 2 times. Is this normal. The class has 25 kids (3 added within the last 2 weeks) I feel like her reading at home has gotten worse, handwriting comes home sloppy and she is even writing some numbers backwards that she never did in preschool. I am really concerned she is slipping thru the cracks. I volunteer and the teacher only takes one reading group a day for 10-15min (at least the 3 days I have been there.) They are average 4-5 kids. So I would think they would meet at least every 6 days. Is this all normal? I don't understand how kids can motor thru reading levels meeting so little.

My child has only come home with 2 books, each 10 days apart. Everyday I ask if she met with her reading group and she has only met 3x so far. I too don't understand this.

[Anonymous]

Our DS has only met with his reading group 1x and no baggie books so far so it's normal for us. Also a class with 25-26 kids.

They do have literacy games set out and some kids are also allowed to use sight word flash cards so there reading education going on at that time even if they are not in a group.

PP is your daughter a good reader? Our DS is a pretty advanced reader so that may explain why he doesn't really get to meet much with his group. The big problem is that there's nothing else for kids at this level to do during that time since the literacy centers are really meant for non-readers/early readers. When I have volunteered I have seen our DS and other advanced readers doing things like trying to make card towers with the sight words flash cards or doodling. Luckily the teacher hasn't called them out on this but I think it would be helpful for everyone if she would give them other activities even if it's busy work like coloring or drawing a cover for a book or whatever. The kids I'm talking about are pretty well behaved but you can sense that they are restless.

Anonymous wrote:My daughter has only met with her reading group 2 times. Is this normal. The class has 25 kids (3 added within the last 2 weeks) I feel like her reading at home has gotten worse, handwriting comes home sloppy and she is even writing some numbers backwards that she never did in preschool. I am really concerned she is slipping thru the cracks. I volunteer and the teacher only takes one reading group a day for 10-15min (at least the 3 days I have been there.) They are average 4-5 kids. So I would think they would meet at least every 6 days. Is this all normal? I don't understand how kids can motor thru reading levels meeting so little.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Our DS has only met with his reading group 1x and no baggie books so far so it's normal for us. Also a class with 25-26 kids.

They do have literacy games set out and some kids are also allowed to use sight word flash cards so there reading education going on at that time even if they are not in a group.

PP is your daughter a good reader? Our DS is a pretty advanced reader so that may explain why he doesn't really get to meet much with his group. The big problem is that there's nothing else for kids at this level to do during that time since the literacy centers are really meant for non-readers/early readers. When I have volunteered I have seen our DS and other advanced readers doing things like trying to make card towers with the sight words flash cards or doodling. Luckily the teacher hasn't called them out on this but I think it would be helpful for everyone if she would give them other activities even if it's busy work like coloring or drawing a cover for a book or whatever. The kids I'm talking about are pretty well behaved but you can sense that they are restless.

Anonymous wrote:My daughter has only met with her reading group 2 times. Is this normal. The class has 25 kids (3 added within the last 2 weeks) I feel like her reading at home has gotten worse, handwriting comes home sloppy and she is even writing some numbers backwards that she never did in preschool. I am really concerned she is slipping thru the cracks. I volunteer and the teacher only takes one reading group a day for 10-15min (at least the 3 days I have been there.) They are average 4-5 kids. So I would think they would meet at least every 6 days. Is this all normal? I don't understand how kids can motor thru reading levels meeting so little.

Yes this is exactly what I have noticed too. My daughter knows all the word wall words already. She is reading well but that doesn't mean she shouldn't be getting an education because others have to be caught up. All kids deserve the same amount of teaching and because there is no one really watching the kids, my daughter is the type who zips thru anything given to her without a thought or care and she still gets P on everything. She learned so much more in a 2.5hr preschool than she is a 6hr kindergarten class. There were expectations for each kid on every level. I am just really sad that this is the norm.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP, I'd supplement a little bit at home. Maybe do Starfall for 10 minutes a day or BOB books. You'll see improvement pretty quickly.

This. We had to do this last year in K. Ten minutes or less a day. Not very intense at all (I didn't want to turn DD off to reading!). It made a huge difference. Our K teacher was great, but it's difficult to teach 24 kids how to read, when they're all at different levels, and only meeting for direct instruction for 20 minutes/2x per week. The supplementing at home is what really, really helped DD make strides in her reading ability.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
PP is your daughter a good reader? Our DS is a pretty advanced reader so that may explain why he doesn't really get to meet much with his group. The big problem is that there's nothing else for kids at this level to do during that time since the literacy centers are really meant for non-readers/early readers. When I have volunteered I have seen our DS and other advanced readers doing things like trying to make card towers with the sight words flash cards or doodling. Luckily the teacher hasn't called them out on this but I think it would be helpful for everyone if she would give them other activities even if it's busy work like coloring or drawing a cover for a bo

I volunteered quite a bit when DD was in K, and now this year in 1st grade. This has been what I noticed also in Literacy Centers and in Math Centers. Both her K teacher and 1st grade teacher have been good teachers, but while she's working with the small group, about 70% of the other kids are doing random activities. At certain stations, there are worksheets or games - the kids who are 'advanced' get through them super quickly, and the kids who need extra help seem to flounder unless I can come over and help them. Also, one of the stations involves the Prometheum (sp?) board, and often times the kids who are not in that group, just watch what's going on with the Board. It's the lure of the screen!

[Anonymous]

11:54 here. Agree, it's VERY annoying. Have they at least put your daughter in a reading group at what you feel her level is? Our school keeps K'ers at a very low level. They stop testing beyond a certain point.

Anonymous wrote:
Yes this is exactly what I have noticed too. My daughter knows all the word wall words already. She is reading well but that doesn't mean she shouldn't be getting an education because others have to be caught up. All kids deserve the same amount of teaching and because there is no one really watching the kids, my daughter is the type who zips thru anything given to her without a thought or care and she still gets P on everything. She learned so much more in a 2.5hr preschool than she is a 6hr kindergarten class. There were expectations for each kid on every level. I am just really sad that this is the norm.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:11:54 here. Agree, it's VERY annoying. Have they at least put your daughter in a reading group at what you feel her level is? Our school keeps K'ers at a very low level. They stop testing beyond a certain point.

Anonymous wrote:
Yes this is exactly what I have noticed too. My daughter knows all the word wall words already. She is reading well but that doesn't mean she shouldn't be getting an education because others have to be caught up. All kids deserve the same amount of teaching and because there is no one really watching the kids, my daughter is the type who zips thru anything given to her without a thought or care and she still gets P on everything. She learned so much more in a 2.5hr preschool than she is a 6hr kindergarten class. There were expectations for each kid on every level. I am just really sad that this is the norm.

The 1st book she had was really below her - I think it was a B. The 2nd book came home was a D book. It was still easy for her (only 1-2 words she didn't know) but at least they skipped C. Nothing has come home in the last 10 days. I seriously have no idea how the reading levels work. None. It was not talked about at K orientation or any written materials I received. I am not the type of parent who wants my child at a level and needs to push to be to the top, but I just want to have a vague idea what is going on.