Report Card Time

[Madi100]

I'll do much better with the report cards when I see A's and B's. Right now all we get are S+ - or just S and then I'm not even sure what is below that. Anyway, my daugther gets mostly S's with some S+. She is in 2nd grade. We have conferences on Wednesday. There is one thing on her report card that bothers me. Tell me if it should or not. My daughter went to kindergarten orientation last year, and they gave her a reading test. They stopped testing her when she got to the beginning of 3rd grade. Really I wish they would have continued to see where she could go, but oh well. She ended up being put in 1st grade instead of kindergarten.

So, we get her report card, and in the comment section it says that she is reading at grade level. This bothers me. She's in 2nd grade. If she's reading at grade level that would mean that for the last year she's not improved any in her reading, but gone backwards. I do know that she is in the "highest" reading group in her class. But, if they feel that she is just reading at her grade level is she being challenged? My daughter's favorite books to read are the American Girl books. They have a reading level of age 8. She does a very good job comprehending them, also. She can always tell me what has happened in the story. So, do you think that I should be concerned about the comment about her only reading at grade level? I will definitely be asking about it, but not sure how passionately I should be doing so.

 

[mermaidlady]

My DD was always a excellent reader. They really can't tell exactly what grade level your daughter is unless they do testing which didn't begin until 3rd grade. The report cards sometimes don't have good choice that exactly fits your child so they say she is reading at grade level. She probably hasn't lost any skill. The best advice is to keep reading and offer a variety of reading material.

 

[Lynn CC]

Just thought I'd share our experience with our son who is about to graduate High School and didn't have such great teachers to start out his very early years in school (kindergarten - 2nd grade teachers were about to retire and couldn't have cared less about teaching the kids, it was all fun and games).

You are smart to be concearned now while your daughter is still young! When DS (who is 17 and currently applied to Harvard..a little brag there LOL) was young I had him privately tested for reading/comprehension through Sylvan Learning Center. He ended up going there for 3 years twice a week and I commend them with getting him to the point where he is today. After those years of tutoring he became a confident, 100% comprehension reader and his writing/spelling skills soared. It was expensive (about $3,000 a year), and we missed 3 years of our Disney, yearly family trips, but so worth it in the long run.

We made reading a family, fun habbit while he was growing up and we did A LOT of it together. Now he reads a lot of books that are of course assigned in school, but it's also nice to see him reading all sorts of books for pleasure.
Have fun reading!

 

[piratesmate]

DD was reading above a 3rd grade level in K also. She did really well in 1st. But when she started 2nd the teacher decided she was "no where near a 3rd grade level" & put her back in the books she was allowed to read. (They use whole language, not readers.)

Unfortunately, DD had this teacher for 2 yrs due to looping. The woman kept DD in Magic Treehouse books for 2 yrs despite discussions with us & the building reading teacher. What a waste!

The worst part of it was having DD tell us that she "wasn't allowed" to read books that were truly at her level even at home because Mrs X said so. It only took a few days in 4th with an excellent teacher to put her back on track, but that was really a long 2 yrs!

Don't be upset, just check into it.

 

[tar heel]

I doubt that your child's reading has regressed. Many teachers just mark "grade level" unless they have tested the child or assigned work above grade level. Stay on top of it, though, and make sure that your daughter is getting the education she should.

My fifth grader's report card has both letter grades and a section with below, above and grade level. Since we've never had anything below grade level, I barely look at that section. I know we have had teachers who marked his reading at "grade level," and he started K at fourth grade level and reads anything that interests him now.

piratesmate -- I'm really sorry that happened to your child. My oldest child had a K teacher who was a bit like that. She used to cut the instructions off his worksheets b/c it annoyed her that he could read them. She also sent him to the library to get books on his level (a good thing) but would only let him go during free time (a terrible thing).

My youngest has had teachers that really encouraged him to read books that challenged him. Most years, there has been a group of two or three children reading different books for the class activities, too.

 

[Madi100]

Thanks for the replies. This issue really bothers me, because it seems we have to fight for our daughter to be taught. If she was behind in school she'd have all the help she could get. But because she is smart she just gets to be held back.

I know the report cards are somewhat generic, but this was in the comment area. So, it is definitely something that I need to talk with the teacher about.