AIBU to expect more guided reading?

[educator123]

After speaking the the teacher this morning I was told my dC does guided reading just once a week now dc is in year2.

But not today due to Christmas rehearsals.

There is approx 14 in the class and I just expected a little more reading (I know they are reading all the time) but I would have hoped she did a little more I asked as my dc says she never does it anymore.

[redskyatnight]

My Y2 DD also only does guided reading once a week (though she is in a much bigger class). She does read every 2 or 3 weeks with the teacher as well, and less able readers read more frequently with parent volunteers.

I think it's enough tbh (and as you say they also get reading practice from things like reading instructions) but she is a more able reader - I would perhaps be more concerned if I felt she needed extra help she wasn't getting.

[clam]

Once a week is standard I would have said. In a state school with 30 in the class, that is. Are you talking private school here?

[Houseworkprocrastinator]

Ours get it twice a week in groups in year one, but very very rarely with the teacher on an individual basis. (once so far since September). I just make sure she reads at home every day.

[JWIM]

All years (Year 1 to 6) do guided reading for half an hour most days - may do individual reading on one day. We are blessed with supportive parents who come in to help.

[learnandsay]

Aren't a lot of Y2 pupils good at reading already by now? I'm getting an introduction to guided reading here on mumsnet. I'd never heard of it before. I suppose we had guided reading in O' levels, given that we read a play and then sat around in a group discussing it. I think we even had to read some out loud. It was a while ago, so I can't remember exactly. It seems like an excellent idea. But I can't see why it would be necessary to do it all the time. Even when we were rehearsing a play we didn't read it and discuss it all the time. Presumably as the children get older and more able to read it's got less to do with helping them learn to read and more to do with the higher order reading skills. But once a topic has been introduced there are more efficient ways of investigating it than sitting around in a group.

[clam]

When I say once a week, I mean that's once with the actual teacher. The session happens each day and she rotates to a different group each time, giving follow-up activities to those she's already read with. A TA or parent might work with another group or two.

But yes, at certain times of year, the timetable goes a bit crooked - I'm having to use some of my guided reading sessions for a speaking competition.

[juniper904]

We did it twice a week to start with last year, but it soon got scrapped. Our other group was led by the TAs, and the TAs weren't trained adequately on how to lead a guided reading group. Consequently, the session seemed to be of little use to the children, and the school decided it was more time efficient to use the TAs to support individual readers.

As the class teacher, I know what I'm looking for from each child, so I'd rather do guided reading myself. When I have PPA cover, I find that the notes are not really useful as they don't know my class like I do. I think once a week, with the class teacher, is better than more often with someone else.

[peppajay]

I help in my DD's yr 2 class and they start the day every day with guided reading. There is one group with the teacher, one with TA and one with a parent helper, which leaves 2 groups working independantly. Obviously the lower ability group always need an adult with them but their teacher is really good at rotating the groups. There was a distinct lack of guided reading in yr 1 and my DD left yr 1 on stage 3 books and now is on purple stage 8, she has gone up 5 levels in 10 weeks and this is because of the guided reading they do. To be fair in yr 1 her poor teacher only had a TA in the mornings and very little help from parents!! IMO I think twice a week is the minimum they should be doing but sometimes without the help this is very difficult for teachers to implement!

[IndigoBelle]

YABU

[educator123]

juniper I was told she is doing guided reading with the teacher once a week.
Dd is in yr2, but dd never seems to recall doing it and says she doesn't think they do it much now she is a year2.

At first I thought she could just be forgetting but I've also been through her reading record and it has only been noted by her teacher once and a TA twice since August! The teacher said they do it in the afternoon so I think dd is less likely to forget that, but I may be wrong

How am I best to approach the teacher with my concerns. My DD, I feel, doesn't find reading the easiest so I want to make sure she is doing some guided regularly at school.

[educator123]

I would love for her to do it twice a week, she is in a small mixed year class 14 in total I think. So not loads of children, but I think they only have a TA in there occasionally.

Dd is also on purple so must be doing ok I suppose but I do feel she could thrive with a little more. I can understand more than once a week maybe difficult but Im concerned she isn't doing it once atm.

[IndigoBelle]

But surely you're reading with her every day.

And she's reading plenty during the school day.

Why do you think she needs to do more guided reading?

[educator123]

I do read with her daily but I do think she should be reading regularly with her teacher, so she can at least assess her progress and in turn provide suitable reading books.

[IndigoBelle]

But why does that reading have to be guided reading?

What's wrong with reading off the whiteboard. Or reading a worksheet. Or reading a website......

The teacher can hear her read every day without ever doing guided reading (or 1:1 reading) with her.

[educator123]

Because that's why I picked a small school, because their ofsted states they
do it and because I feel it is necessary for my daughter reading to progress further.

[educator123]

indigo are you a teacher?

[IndigoBelle]

No, I'm not a teacher.

[lilackaty]

I do guided reading 3 or 4 times a week but don't write in children's books as it is group reading and the notes are just for me. I do teach yr 4 though so it isn't quite the same.
If it's only once a week maybe she just doesn't mention it on the day she does it or do you ask her every day about it?

[blackeyedsusan]

guided reading once a week... normal really.. even though there are only 14 children, the children may still have as wide an ability spread as a class of 30, more if they are mixed year group, so will be at least 3 groups to get through, then all the writing, maths, science, history, geography, ict, art, music, pe, design technology, pshe, re, all laid out in detail by government...

[heggiehog]

Guided reading once a week is standard. Children usually have plenty of other opportunities to read and there really is no need to do it more often than that.

Which subject would you like the school to cancel so that there is time for multiple guided reading sessions per day... literacy, numeracy, history...?

[RiversideMum]

I think an able reader in Y2 will get a lot more doing independent reading for understanding and applying via a wide curriculum than having lots of guided sessions.