To think that DS' teacher is not helping

[onehellofaride]

Awaiting being told that I am BU in which case I will leave it.

DS is yr3 and brings a reading book home. He reads it to us easily with fluency and expression taking into account punctuation. In addition he reads a lot at home think Horrid Henry, Beast Quest and Enid Blyton. At parents evening I couldn't make it as I was at work so DH went. He raised that he thought DS' reading books were too easy for him. His teacher said that they had assessed his reading level and thought that he was reading at the correct level as he had a tendency to rush when he was reading to them. Fine. A couple of weeks later he began bringing home books which he had brought home previously in yr2 some of which he had not particularly enjoyed then. I wrote a letter to his teacher asking why he was bring home books he had read in yr2 and she wrote a long letter back saying that he was reading at the correct level and it was good for him. I hadn't mentioned the level he was reading at merely the repeated books. He has contined to bring home several books he read last year and I completely agree that it assists fluency however many of these books he didn't like the first time. DS loves reading but the result is that he is losing enthusiasm for it which in a 7 year old boy is sad.

He also brings home spellings every week for a test. He learns these every week prior to the test but there have been 2 occasions now where I know full well he has not known those spellings. We have tested him and he was still getting the majority wrong the night before. He has then been coming home with 10 out of 10 in his book and said that the teacher writes them on the board and another pupil marks them. I have asked for his spelling book so that I can see what he has written as I feel the marking might not be accurate but his teacher has said that he cannot bring it home.

Please tell me AIBU to be a bit pissed off?

[ilikebaking]

Can you not just educate him yourself in addition to school?
If he is bringing home books he has read before, PRETEND, and give him your stuff that he likes.
If he isn't learnings his spellings at home, make sure he does know them, don't criticise the teacher. Peer marking is very popular and the teacher is over worked anyway.
YABU.
Chill out a bit and stop blaming the school.
Educate him yourself as well. Please don't reply on the school who have 25 odd other children and their hands tied with paperowkr and levels.

[youareallbonkers]

Who chooses the books?

[BackforGood]

Just read other books - go to the library. Pick up books on Freecycle or at jumble sales or Christmas fairs. It's not worth getting all angsty about, just let him read what he enjoys.
If you are worried about a reading record, just write in - 'ds didn't enjoy this book when he brought it home in Yr2, we've heard him read Pp37 - 92 of {insert title} instead. '

Rather than complaining about a pretty normal marking system for spelling tests, focus more on helping him to learn them before the test!

[onehellofaride]

The school choose the books.

Since September they have a spelling test every week and I make sure that DS learns his spellings. He almost always knows them all by the time we have finished and gets full marks it's just the couple of occasions where I know he doesn't know them and they are not clicking but he comes home with full marks. I have asked him about them when he has got home and he still doesn't know them. I just wanted to see his spelling book to see what exactly he has written there

[fairylightsintheloft]

no school should be saying you can't see books etc. I think you need to request a short meeting to clear things up and agree a way forward (and I say this as a teacher who completely appreciates the workload). Its part of the job to make sure you are meeting childrens' needs.

[makeitabetterplace]

There are two things about reading: the important skill of decoding the words. This is obvious for parents to see as it is literally the child saying the words on the page. The second thing is comprehension which includes information retrieval (where did Henry hide the mouse?) and inference (why did he put his hand over his mouth?) a reading assessment will usually tell a teacher how well he is comprehending the text and it's usually at year three where the focus shifts from reading the words to actually having a clear understanding of what is being written in a text.

So there are two possibilities - he's not good at answering comprehension questions OR he can't be bothered to write down decent answers in a test. In our school we'd be happy to give parents the completed test papers so you can see what type of questions are being asked and how he's answering them.

I imagine he is picking out his books from a given colour band. Usually in schools there are loads of books in each colour and it might just be that he's grabbing the first book he sees without remembering he's read it. Maybe find out how he's choosing his books and getting involved with that?

It's REALLY normal for parents to think they're child is a 'good' reader because 'at home they read x,y,z' but for their comprehension to be quite poor. As an adult you understand what he's reading so you assume he does too because he can say the words on the page.

[RedRoom]

I'm an English teacher. Why can he not bring the spelling book home? What is the reason for this refusal? If you want to be involved in his learning, you are entitled to see what he is doing in lessons. I would never, ever refuse a request from a parent to see their child's book. I also don't think pupils should be self-marking spellings tests. I have tried this a number of times (as recently as last week) and lots of pupils mark them inaccurately. It is also a futile exercise if any pupils are dyslexic. The teacher is trying to cut their marking workload, which is fair enough, but spelling tests are not the place to do it because if they aren't marked 100% accurately, there is very little point in doing them.

[onehellofaride]

I completely understand teachers' work loads thats why I wanted to see his spelling book so that I could see for myself what is written. I don't want him to think that he is doing everything right when in fact that's not the case. His teacher has said that in yr3 they do not bring their spelling books home and they have to stay in school!

DS is still reading at home but I don't want to put him in a position where he has not read his reading book as he didn't want to. I will always ask him to read extra if he wants but I am trying to teach him that homework set is non negotiable

[Pelicangiraffe]

We have up on the reading scheme in year 1 and it was the best thing we ever did. DS has flown since.

[onehellofaride]

I would love to give up on it I'm just worried about setting a precedent! Twice now he has brought home a book on making soil!

[arethereanyleftatall]

We rarely read the books dd comes home with. We have plenty here, princesses, princesses and princesses and that's all she wants to read, so we do.

[Pelicangiraffe]

Try the reading owl? Free ORT books online. You can choose the stage

[Pelicangiraffe]

Oddly enough DS's teacher said nothing when we stopped reading biff chip books. However they may have noticed that he was switched off to books generally before reading biff books - and as soon as he swapped to normal books, he's studious and blossoming.

[RustyBear]

Has the teacher actually said that you can't see the spelling book, or just that your DS can't bring it home? If it's the latter, it's probably just the voice of bitter experience -if spelling books go home, all too often they are not in school when needed for the test...

[BackforGood]

Just what I was going to say, Rusty

[onehellofaride]

She has just said that he can't bring it home but unfortunately I don't drop off or collect so popping in is difficult. I am going in next week for the Christmas fayre but I'm not sure she would thank me for asking to see it then

I might ask whether she could photocopy the pages for me?