Level 3 stories introduce some additional characters for added interest, and include the use dialogue for the first time. Humour is also used within level 3 and many of the stories link to everyday situations such as visiting the dentist, moving house and starting school (social stories). These books are particularly helpful for those pupils who find sudden change difficult. As you can see, there's not a lot of information to go on here, but if anyone can assist (or think they know of anything/anyone who may be able to assist), any help is welcome and much appreciated. The key is - if you are not happy, write a note with the books and ask for answers. You are legally responsible for your child's education and choose to educate via school - that means you have the right to ask any questions you need answers to -= to get the bnest education that you can for your child All books are printed on high-quality paper with wipe-cleanable covers and are spiral bound for convenience when photocopying.

For those who are new to national curriculum levels, they start at 1c then 1b, with 1a being the highest sublevel within level 1. W stands for ‘working towards’ so this is primarily for Reception class children who are not yet working at level 1. I live in North Wales and being on a nostalgic journey with an old friend recently, amongst other things, came up the subject of primary school projects and books which we used to read. For a few months now, i have been trying to trace a series of books which i used to read in Primary school some 10 years ago. Everyone in my class used to read these books up until we left primary school in 1996 at the age of 11. I'm trying to trace this series of books but, unfortunately, my memory of them is very vague, but i will describe here what i can remember and i'm hoping that someone here will recognise the series which i am describing. Overall I'm very pleased with them - she seems to be being stretched in other areas and certainly gets extension work. For example re spelling - she can spell perfectly, but still gets some spellings home. They have to write them out three times then put them in a sentence. Her extension work, though, is that she is given an additional instruction, eg use personification in this sentence, etc. So I'm happy with that. Not all of the book schemes are enjoyable. Certainly the Biff, Chip and Kipper*ones seem to annoy parents a lot (I mean, who calls a girl Biff?!). But I found them preferable to most of the other books we’ve had home. Having a mix of reading schemes does mean that if your child hates one range, they get more variety by having different books home.Oh, and you also get to spot typos, incorrect facts, or politically incorrect items to have a laugh at. N got very upset one time about quote marks not having 2 marks like they’d learnt at school, so I had to explain that 1 mark each side of the quote was still a speech mark.

Level 1 stories use simple plots about domestic pets and include the previously introduced characters. Each story links to the next book with opportunities to reinforce previously learnt vocabulary. Beautifully illustrated, with teaching notes and tasks, a useful aid to any parent or classroom practitioner aiming to enhance literacy skills. We have parents' evening at the end of the month and I want to bring this up with the teacher (in a constructive manner ) but dh and I would both appreciate some input on this subject. Her teacher had talked about getting level 12 in for her before she started this year but they would have to buy it in specially and this doesn't appear to have happened yet. That's just it madsometimes - I want to know that she is not going to "tread water" - she has another year and a half to go at this school and will likely be in the same class next year! I also want to know whether to point her in the direction of certain literature etc out of school or just leave her to her own devices. Some schools use one book scheme, but most schools seem to use a mix of reading schemes to provide children with a breadth of reading experience. And to avoid parents getting totally bored of reading about the same characters over and over again. You also find schools send home books in different amounts. For example while most children I know were learning phonics and learning to read in their first half term, N’s school didn’t start their phonics until after the October half term. In fact because there are things that annoy me about my daughter's school, I should remember the good stuff too.

The use of symbols to support text will not be a new experience for those involved in special education, but a complete reading scheme that includes fiction and non-fiction is currently unique. The scheme uses Widgit symbols whose use development and use has spanned many years. On the positive side, does the school's method produce good spellers? I don't know what to do about my daughter's spelling, it is so bad and bears no relationship to her reading ability. A comprehensive teaching guide explains how to use each of the books and aims to support anyone in a 'teaching' role to understand the basic principles of language development and subsequent reading skills. The Symbols Making Sense reading scheme comprises more than 40 books, ranging from introductory book A (basic nouns in common use) to more complex sentences, social stories and non-fiction – all supported by symbols. Books aim to meet the needs of a wide range of ages and abilities and may also be helpful for some pupils who have English as a second language. I’ve tried to make sense of some of the different schemes in one table here, so parents can see how the schemes relate. I find it helpful to know how they compare, so that I can borrow books from the library at the right level for my child. As well as that I’ve tried to relate the books to the national curriculum levels (these measure children from key stage one onwards) and to reading recovery levels (this is a scheme to help children who are struggling with reading to catch up).

My daughter's school uses the Ginn reading scheme. I don't know if it is Ginn 360, but some of the stories have Rosie and Sam in them. Once they pass stage 8, they put them onto real books. In year two this was a bit hit or miss because the real books were not appropriate to children just coming off a reading scheme. Some were OK, at the level of a corgi sprinter, but others were much too difficult (Paddington Bear?). In year three the classroom has much better books eg. Flat Stanley series. It may not be necessary to work through the entire scheme; some teachers may prefer to select an particular set of books for an individual. The main focus should always be enjoyment and not simply another task. Each reading book scheme brings its own benefits. Most of the story books in a book band (or level) are based on phonics progression, using lots of repetitive words, phrases and rhyming. As children move through the levels, schools often introduce non-fiction books and poetry. The poetry books we’ve had are old fashioned, but they do introduce children to different types of writing. The fiction books are seriously dull in our experience (for children as well as parents) and a little patronising in some cases. Miaou - I'm not suprised you are driven bananas by your child being on a reading scheme if she can read so well. She is in the top set, so the school clearly know she is a very fluent reader.

A complete reading scheme

Our school uses a myriad of reading schemes. The main one is Oxford Reading Tree (which includes Biff Chip and Kipper, plus Songbirds and Snapdragon series in the scheme). In reception they used Phonic Bugs books, and we’ve also had Pearson, Heinemann Storyworlds and Ginn 360 as well. In my investigations over the years N has been at primary school, I’ve found some handy key stage reading guides and comparison charts, although not all reading schemes are included in one complete version. The expectation is that children cover 2 levels per key stage, but depending on the child they may skip a level, or continue working through the tens of books at that level. For example, N skipped level 4 at the start of year 1, but then was on level 6 from Christmas until May (covering a huge range of books – it seems our school has a mammoth amount of books, they were never-ending). I wouldn't worry too much. Firstly schools tend to use the books they have, which is often a mixture of schemes and secondly all the children are at different levels so as long as the levels are changing with your child and you think the books being sent home are appropriate then its fine.