Dear 3EE parents,
Sofia and I would like to invite you to an information evening on Wednesday 18th September. You are welcome to come up the classroom stairs at 4.45pm to look around the classroom, locker room and browse the reading books (suggestions of missing book genres or titles are welcome). The meeting itself will run from 5 until 5.45pm. This is an opportunity for you to ask questions about anything you are unsure of or things you didn’t find in the information sheet sent out earlier this week.
It would be extremely helpful if you could email Sofia and I with your questions in advance so that we can best answer them on the evening although we very much appreciate that there will be some things that spring to mind on the night.
It may be helpful to explain a little about how the reading books are organised in 3EE. We tend not to use reading scheme books in year 3 as the content (sometimes referred to as ‘interest age’) of these scheme books is often aimed at younger children aged 4-7. The downside of not using reading scheme books is that it can be difficult to level them accurately to the book bands which are commonly used across most UK reading programmes and help to measure progression. When setting up the class for the first time last summer the new books, and donated books were sorted out by parents and myself into rough groups. It wasn’t possible in terms of the time available to run all the titles through a book levelling website (although if you are keen to do this please get in touch!) so we grouped them a little more broadly. They are labelled on the back with a Europa sticker that has their broad book band on. So although the book your child has chosen to bring home may be labelled ‘Purple’ it may actually be a white level book and the same with ‘blue’ books, they might be Green etc.
The UK book bands are as follows:
1 Pink
2 Red
3 Yellow
4 Blue
5 Green
6 Orange
7 Turquoise
8 Purple
9 Gold
10 White
11 Lime
12 Brown
13 Grey
14 Dark Blue (essentially these are free readers)
In class we have the following reading book boxes with the broad book band being the first colour listed:
Blue/Green (labelled as 3EE Blue)
Orange/Turquoise (labelled as 3EE Orange)
Purple/Gold/White (labelled as 3EE Purple)
Lime/Brown/Grey (labelled as 3EE Lime)
Dark Blue (labelled as 3EE Dark Blue - free readers)
The most important thing is that the children enjoy what they are reading so I have encouraged them that it’s ok to pick a book from a lower book band if they are interested in it. They can take home 2 books if they wish, so I have tried to steer them towards a second book at a level which challenges them if the first book they were super keen to take home is not stretching them.
If you spot any books which are wildly misbanded please let us know so we can rectify it (for example I noticed Danny Champion of the World today being labelled Lime when it should be Dark Blue). Also more reading volunteers would be most welcome for just 20 mins first thing on Tue and Wed mornings 8.25-8.45. We can accommodate 2 parents in the classroom plus me and Louise (our TA) in these slots. It is so valuable for the children to read with an adult and we would love your support in this.
Lastly please make a note in the reading record page of the homework book if you notice that your child is very fluently reading the books they are choosing and would benefit from a greater challenge.
Many thanks, Ruthy Trevitt