has to be the first reading book thread...advice wanted.

[festi]

dd just gone into year 1 has jumped way ahead in reading than I expected the school to have gone, not a bad thing she reads a wide range at home not many ORT so I wouldnt realy have been able to judge what level.

The problem is the book is fairly lenghthy but the words grammer scentences, paragraphs, speach etc is about right and she seems to have followed the story. but no way could she have sat and read the whole book, I told dd thats fine half today and half tomorrow. she has always changed her book daily in R and has without fail managed and taken pride in this.

she says that for every 10 books she will get a merit and she insisted on reading the whole book in two goes tonight, she will not susatain that every night and will become very stressed out, she is very hard on her self anfd I find it very difficult to convince her she is doing great and not everything has to be perfect. I know others are on 3 or 4 reading levels bellow. So do I just let her read half the book and read the rest to her to get the merits in line with when she belives her other class mates will get one, ie a book a day or do I talk with teacher? I would rather her not fall back to a lower level as the books are dull as dish water and very basic. Im confident in the other material at home library etc she is reading and the amount she reads far exccedes many her age. what would or do others do?

[Teachermumof3]

In my class, they children get a merit each time they read with a parent (irrespective of how much they have read) and the parent has noted the date, book title and how much they read. They then get a small reward every time they have read five times.

Maybe if you had a word with the teacher, they have something like this in place for children reading longer books. Obviously, when they are reading longer Roald Dahl, JK Rowling books etc-they won't finish one book every night!

[Teachermumof3]

Obviously that should be the children and it doesn't necessarily have to be the parent that they read to. Must check my work before pressing post!

[festi]

that is my thought and I feel that if she misses out on that merit then she will be peanalised somehow, also she is one 10 yr 1 children in a y2 class, so I think that makes her feel even more preasured. I wouldnt want to decive how she is progressing either.

[festi]

sorry one of 10 yr 1 in y2 class, sorry typos

[festi]

its late, thats my excusse

[Hulababy]

Speak to the teacher tomorrow.

I work in a Y1 class and the children/parents record down each time they have read at home. It can be one page, a whole book, a chapterm it can be 5 minutes or an hour. It is still "one read". After 5 reads they get a stamp on their reading bookmark. After 12 stamps (60 reads) they get a special certificate in assembly.

It woud be unreasonable to expect children reading lengthy books to only get the same reward after the full book compared to children reading books of just a handful of pages.

[festi]

that makes sence maybe dds interpretaion then, of course I had not though of that. I will definatly clarify with teacher, I just worried if I said anything they would then put her back a few stages.

[youarekidding]

I think a whole book is a lot.

My DS (yr 3 but only just 7) could only manage 5 pages of his book tonight compared to a whole 1 he'd read in yr 2. The 5 pages were on balance (including difficulty of words/ speech/ puncuation etc) probably more than a book. He also bought home a Horrid Henry that he can barely read!! He'd be getting a merit by Christmas on your schools system.

I agree with rewarding the effort not how much they read.

[festi]

Im going to talk to teacher today, the first time have spoken to her. What do I say about reading book merit thing with out coming across pfb?

[Teachermumof3]

Just say that 'obviously as the children's books get longer, they can't finish them in one night. DD is worried that she won't get a merit until she's finished a book and upset that other friends might get a merit every night even though she is still reading as much as them, bless her....'

Then ask what the teacher recommends to stop her worrying!

[festi]

ok thanks, just wasnt sure if she will think Im making a mountain out of mole hill .

[dizzyday07]

In my DD's school they have a little "Rocket To Reading" booklet. There is 20 spaces on a page where you note down the title of the book etc. Once they have finished the page they get a certificate and move a planet. (There are planet boards outside the hall and they get to move their name each time - iyswim!) There are 7 planets in total and once they have reached The Sun (140 books) they get a free book to keep.

She was also a Yr 1 in a mostly Yr 2 class last year and upon checking with the teacher, if it was a "Chapter Book" then they could log each chapter on a seperate line.