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Guided reading and other boring things

8 replies

singersgirl · 07/06/2006 00:01

OK, so I feel awkward posting in this section, but hey ho, let's give it a go. Don't know if DS2 is exceptionally able, but he is currently advanced in some things...

DS2 has just started doing guided reading in Reception - the comment in his reading diary from the teacher was "Singersboy read brilliantly, but found it difficult to concentrate when the others were reading."

Well, duh. He has been reading fluently since the start of Reception and is now reading stuff like shorter Dick King-Smith books and the original A.A.Milne Winnie-the Pooh.

I regularly listen to children in his class read and, while some of them are reading pretty well now, there is only one other child who is approaching DS's level, and he was apparently not in DS's group.

I just can't conceive of any guided reading at the moment with the other children he named that will be useful - or interesting - to him. Don't get me wrong, in another 6 months I'm sure there will be several other truly fluent readers. But right now there aren't. How interesting is it to listen to other children who read much less well than you slowly go through a text?

DS2 is often saying that school is boring and I am not sure whether this is just because that is what children say, or whether it genuinely is. I am in the classroom regularly and he always seems to be doing something unchallenging - ordering numbers to 100, or filling in missing words in sentences.

His teacher has been very supportive in principle about his abilities, but in practice he doesn't seem to have had any classroom enrichment.

Should I let it go this year and just watch things closely in Y1? Any other experiences of early stuff in school? I guess I just feel uneasy about his experiences right now.

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singersgirl · 07/06/2006 00:01

Sorry, didn't realise that was so long...

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swedishmum · 07/06/2006 00:57

Hate guided reading for similar reasons - dd1 hated it right through primary school. At the other end highly able but dyslexic ds gets really babyish books in his group. V offputting. I think reading is a very personal thing. If there's really no-one else of his ability in there then the school should suggest alternatives.

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marialuisa · 07/06/2006 08:12

Hi Singersgirl, I think I've posted about DD's reading on one of your threads before. DD's school has group reading once a week and has done from nursery. The class teacher freely admits that the books are way below DD's ability but the group reading seems to be a starting point for other work, e.g. using full stops and capital letters correctly, rhyming, fiction vs. non-fiction and DD's tasks are extended in some way.

Has the teacher ever mentioned your DS being impatient/fidgety during other group activities? DD used to get frustrated when she put her hand-up to answer questions and the teacher didn't go straight to her ("even though she knows I know the answer mummy!") so teacher had a chat with her about letting everybody have a chance. Could the comment relate more to classroom etiquette?

WRT Reception teaching in general I've noticed that although DD's school is very supportive (IEP etc.) they aren't always that keen to introduce new things, preferring to "perfect" stuff. We recently had a small spat about this as the teacher got very hung up about DD rushing things and making simple mistakes as a result (putting answers in wrong boxes and writing numbers back to front). Teacher felt DD should do endless extremely basic sums (literally 18+7 type) until she got everything exactly right, whereas we felt that she needed to be given more challenging work to make her slow down and think rather than skim through with one eye on the art corner. Teacher was horrified and very concerned about ruining her confidence, putting her off etc. so we pointed out that she was being switched off anyway. We now seem to have reached a compromise but have parents' evening next week so who knows? DD seems to regard school as a place for socialising primarily and is very happy (have never heard say she's had a boring day) so I've tried to stay very chilled this year. She does a lot of things off her own bat at home and we just try to facilitate.

Wow-an essay!

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Bink · 07/06/2006 13:35

I think this is a temperament issue as much as it is an ability one. Some very able children can naturally "make their own fun" - ie, find something interesting in almost anything; others have a boredom threshold so low that unless the work is targeted right at their level they suffocate (and make life difficult for the whole class). I should know, I have one of each.

I am not sure what you can do about it other than (a) try to encourage an easily-bored one to learn how to find the interest in things (which is a pretty vital life skill for that kind of personality) and/or (b) hope for/agitate for an inspiring teacher with a real interest in individuals and ability. (b) is the Holy Grail - but actually I think (a) is the key, if it can be done.

Poor ds2, I think my earliest understanding of the word excruciating came from that experience of listening to expressionless stumble.

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singersgirl · 07/06/2006 17:11

Thanks all for feedback. I was just feeling a bit castdown last night because the teacher's been banging on since November about how she's seen nothing like his reading and spelling before, but all the classroom practices seem to be set in stone.

Bink and Marialuisa, I'm pretty sure DS2 is nowhere near as able as your children, from other posts, so it seems to me he should be relatively easy to accommodate in the classroom.

Marialuisa, if he was doing 18+7 type sums at school, I would be delighted - he still seems to be doing number bonds to 10. He shows me at home that he's much more capable than this.

I agree about the etiquette thing - he needs to know how to behave.

H loves the social side of school and I think looks upon the work as an inconvenience.

Bink, funnily enough, DS2 is the more likely of my 2 sons to find things interesting - DS1 is much more difficult to engage, though less overtly able. I will follow your advice though about encouraging him to find interest in all things!

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madchad · 07/06/2006 21:47

I can't remember Reception stage, but I do remember that I found it painful waiting for people to speed up reading, so I amused myself by reading ahead, ie to the end of the book.

Could he be given extra books to browse through when the others are reading?

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marialuisa · 08/06/2006 08:14

Hope things work themselves out. Have you got a parents' evening before the end of year? If so maybe you could raise your concerns and ask what sort of things will be done to support DS in Y1?

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singersgirl · 08/06/2006 09:40

Yes, we are seeing the teacher next week so I will chat then.

The other thing, of course, is that there are 31 in his class, so the HA numeracy group has 10 children in it! I'm sure there are a couple of others besides DS2 who could be challenged a lot more.

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