How often does your school expect you to listen to your child read? How do they encourage you / advise you of this?

[uhoh1973]

DC1 is 6 and in year 1. We read frequently (approx 5 times per week). The school gives us a reading diary but no guidance on how often they should read.
I volunteer to listen to some of the other children read and comment in their reading diary. I can see from their reading diaries that for some of them no one else is listening to them read. There seems to be a very strong correlation between frequency of reading and reading ability.
I am curious what guidance other schools give and how they encourage parents to listen to their children read. Many thanks.

[teablanket]

20 minutes, every day. (year 2)

[naichick]

10-20 minutes plus word ladders 5 times a week. 5 and in reception, a big struggle for us at times!

[mouldycheesefan]

Same experience as you op some people never listen to their kids read.
In yr three teachers don't hear them read individually either and the gap becomes more apparent.
I do feel very sorry for some kids but guys they have bigger issues than reading at home.

[naichick]

Sorry our school just says every day but no specific on time. HTh

[Lunar1]

15 mins a day, year 2.

[RiverTam]

Year 1, 15 mins a day, which I never ever manage, but she's reading quite a bit to herself in bed so I'm not worried. She gets 5-6 reading books a week from school.

[uhoh1973]

Thanks for your input. I just wondered because some children are nearly fluent readers and others don't recognise letters...
Our school doesnt seem to give any guidance on frequency.
The thing is if these children can't read how much do they get out of the day? How do they do the spelling test? How do they read instructions etc?

[user789653241]

20 mins every day. YR3. Teacher ticks reading diary everyday. DC's are allowed to read any book.( school, library, own book.)

[teablanket]

It's sad, but some parents don't have time, some don't really care, some go above and beyond what's recommended and the kids still don't get it. It's a huge barrier to, well pretty much everything. It's a real shame.

[uhoh1973]

Hmm I wonder if our school is not 'directive' enough in its instruction of how often to read.

[uhoh1973]

It would be an interesting social studies PhD into which parents do and do not listen to their kids read... there seems to be no pattern (some of the children who's parents don't do it have only 1 child and / or work part-time or not at all or have quite good jobs) so it seems quite random...

[DubiousCredentials]

10 mins every day from reception onwards. I assume they hope that parents will manage maybe 5? That's what we do. I know lots of yr4 ish parents who don't bother to listen to their dc anymore as they think it unnecessary which I think is lazy a shame.

[idontlikealdi]

Every day, reception. We are meant to add a comment every day too which I don't because how many times can you write something different and we don't always read the school books. We manage maybe 5 out of 7 days.

[insan1tyscartching]

Minimum five times a week for 30 minutes in year six at dd's school. Never a problem for dd who loves to read but can imagine that it would be hard work for the parents of some of her classmates tbh. (If of a certain standard child's signature acceptable but below that parent input required)

[DubiousCredentials]

5 days out of 7 I mean not 5 minutes!

[teablanket]

Oh, we're meant to write which book was being read, and comment on how the child did and blah blah blah blah blah blah. For the past 6 months I've just hastily scribbled "Read" and ticked the "at home" box.

[longdiling]

Our school doesn't give us any guidance. I get dd to read to me about 5 times a week too and she has a bedtime story every night which she voluntarily tries to read bits of (she's year 1). Ds in year 4 rarely remembers to bring his reading books home but school don't seem to care because he reads them at break/lunch.
He reads to himself every bedtime, usually factual stuff like the Guinness book of world records. The more I interfere with his reading and try and get him to read the less he reads. I've learned to back off. Dd in year 6 chooses books from the school library now instead of reading books. She reads loads for pleasure. She no longer wants to read to me.

[NotCitrus]

Just had the induction for the school my 8yo is at. Whole section on please read with your child every day including them reading as much as possible.

Though hardly anyone fills in the diary unless there's something to say like "ds loved this book - more similar ones please" or "didn't understand the plot" - I try to write something weekly even though ds does reading and has a bedtime story every day.

[JimmyGreavesMoustache]

we don't get any guidance

dd1 is in reception, and reading books are changed twice weekly. We read the school books when changed, and other school nights I get her to "help" me a bit with her bedtime story. So probably 5mins, 5 nights a week.

dd2 is in YR4. They are given a reading record, which is checked on Mondays. On school nights we take turns reading chapters from a book of her choosing, so probably 20mins, 3 nights a week. I get the impression that this is more than most as dd1 always gets lots of team points for reading at home.

[Kanga59]

Our reading diary has a note in the front cover suggesting how to listen to your child read (quiet time, encourage them to follow words with finger, 10-15 mins a day is plenty, comment which page you are up to if you don't finish the book, lots of praise). I'm surprised if you just have a blank book called reading diary. A note such as ours is quite simple!

[HopperBusTicket]

My son is in Year 1. We are encouraged for him to read with us every day. I don't always manage every day but he is quite keen on reading (luckily) and will often take himself off to a corner to read. I know this isn't the same though! He gets one guided reading book per week, can swap 'basket books' (at the same reading level) as much as he likes and visits the school library to choose a book once a week (whatever he likes - sometimes he can read it himself and sometimes he needs us to read it to him). We read to him every night. When he moves up a book level the teacher staples a 'bookmark' into the reading diary listing goals for that level - e.g., reading with expression, using punctuation, predicting what's going to happen.

I only write in the reading diary once a week though - to summarise how he's got on with the guided reading book that week, so if anyone at the school is using that to check how often we read with him then it's wildly inaccurate. He's doing well with his reading I think (purple level and he's an August birthday so he's young for his year) so I don't think we're doing too much wrong ...

[HopperBusTicket]

Oh yes, I'm not aware of any guidance from the school on how long he should read to us each day. Maybe I've forgotten though. As his guided reading books have got longer we don't necessarily read them all in one go. He probably reads to us for 10 minutes or so at one time.

[Ilovewillow]

Our guide on frequency is 5 times a week (yr 3), although no guidance on timing but I suspect frequency is more important! There does indeed seem to be a correlation but it's like anything the more effort the easier it is!

[YogaDrone]

My son (YR3) reads everyday but I rarely fill in the diary, maybe every few weeks to say what he has read and whether he enjoyed it. His reading diary is certainly not indicative of how frequently, or how much, he reads.

I used to do it but he reads as well as me now and there's just nothing left to say! The teacher/TA never fills it in either even though I know he has ready with one or other of them each week, so I'm not alone in my laxness!

I think years 2 and 3 are a bit beyond reading diaries but they are good for R & YR1 while they are still learning the ropes

[WhattodoSue]

For reception DC Everyday ideally, some sometimes miss one. And the book - so 10-15 mins. For Y2 DD she reads to herself generally for an hour a day, so read outloud to us is 25 mins once a week (agreed with school).