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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to complain to the school about the way they band books?

37 replies

littleducks · 11/10/2011 21:14

DD is in yr 1, her school teachs phonics reasonably well.

She spent reception on red/pink band, she could read slightly better at home.

She has since the beginning of term been moved a couple of times, since last week she is up to green band. The only problem is that she brings home the same books sometimes she had a yr ago with a different colour sticker on! I asked the TA who seemed surprised but said maybe they wanted to repeat things to reinforce them.

I previously sent back a book saying it was 'too easy' as it had a word per page, when all other books in the band were two sentences a page. The teacher said it was a mistake and it would be changed. The books seem really varible, but I didnt want to make a fuss.

Tonight dd brought home 'The Spell Shell' which seemed hard, and not decodable at dd's level. So I searched the OUP banding chart and it is placed as a white band (band 10) book.

Am I missing something here? I had put past discrepancies down to the change to phonics as a teaching method whereas the books are often as old as me (Ginn/ORT etc) but this seems really wrong.

OP posts:
pictish · 11/10/2011 21:17

Yabu to worry about it, yes.

happyoverhere · 11/10/2011 21:23

YADBU there are bigger things to worry about in the world, if she enjoys reading just read another book from home its not a big deal

Original poster
littleducks · 11/10/2011 21:25

OK, dd is my pfb.....so I am posting not complaining! But I do worry atm, when the books are easy its fine but this one was hard and dd then thinks her reading is rubbish (Sad) and it is pissing us off reading the same books again and again just because they have two/three copies on with different stickers!

And we have to read daily.

OP posts:
fluffywhitekittens · 11/10/2011 21:27

Maybe you could volunteer to go in and check all the books to ensure that they are in the correct bands and relabel The wrong ones?

troisgarcons · 11/10/2011 21:28

And you are a qualified librarian? because I've yet to visit a school who didnt have one runing the library, primary or secondary.

Original poster
littleducks · 11/10/2011 21:35

I was considering offering to volunteer.

These are reading books in boxes outside classrooms, not in the library. She picks a library book for me to read to her seperatly. These are the books she has to read clearly before it can be changed.

I am pretty sure there is no school librarian, there are self service machines not librarians in the public library here Sad, which was me out of a job (unqualified assistant to be clear).

OP posts:
SpectralHarrassmentPandaPop · 11/10/2011 21:35

I don't think yabu to point it out and send books back the day after that are ridiculously easy/hard. Dd is on yellow band and all the books she has bought home have been suitable for her. I would be peed off if she was given books with one word or really hard ones. I rely on the books the school provide because the local libraries have a pitiful selection for her age and I can't afford to buy loads.

PalmTrees · 11/10/2011 21:44

YANBU, I'm a TA and my school gives out books from around 5 different schemes but it is part of my job to know which levels different books equate too so that the child is given books that are appropriate to them. Eg if a child is reading ORT stage 6 then I know which the equivalent Story Street, Songbirds, Snapdragons, fireflies or InfoTrail books are. They may have 1 level above or below if it comes from a group reading session but there would never be the large discrepencies you have experienced.

myBOYSareBONKERS · 11/10/2011 21:49

I have had the same issues with my ds school and did raise the issue with them. Mainly because I am a parent helper for reading and it is very annoying and time consuming to find the correct books.

The school didn't care though and nothing was done.

snailoon · 11/10/2011 21:50

Just get her to read something else at home (that she will like). Have a little laugh about the silly book bands. I think it is never too early to let your kids know that school is not infallible. Why do people have so much trouble admitting this obvious truth to their kids?

fluffywhitekittens · 11/10/2011 21:57

If you are happy to do it then volunteer your time to get them sorted out. I'm sure they would be grateful for the help:)

neverputasockinatoaster · 11/10/2011 22:10

Speaking as a former Literacy co ordinator who used to spend a ridiculous amount of time banding and reorganising Guided reading books I think you might need to cut them some slack! Hours and sodding hours I used to spend, sticking on stickers, putting them in labelled boxes, sending out letters to ask for copies back ........
I bet if you volunteered to help sort the books they'd love you for ever :), as long as you didn't do it in an uber critical way........ I'd have bitten your hand off, handed you the boxes of stickers and the banding book and gone for a cup of tea!

(And yes, I know my post is riddled with typos and I should know better waht with me being a teacher and all but I can' t face all the editing needed!)

Original poster
littleducks · 11/10/2011 22:21

The books are 'organised' its not that there are messy/unsorted just that (to me at least) the way they are organised does not make much sense.

Each year group has a set of book boxes, about 4/5 coloured levels. So in reception dd got to pick from the red and pink boxes, the books had red and pink stickers on.

She is now in yr 1, in the yr 1 boxes the same titles are in different boxes with different coloured stickers on. The books are pretty dull anyway but it just seems to make it much worse that we have to read about sodding Lydia et al. repeatedly...so I cant even say, lets hurry up and get it done with and you can change the book soon because it comes back again with a different colour sticker on.

OP posts:
hocuspontas · 11/10/2011 22:21

Sometimes similar colour bands get put back in the wrong boxes. e.g. yellow/gold, green/lime, blue/turquoise. Perhaps your green stickered book was a lime book?

SpectralHarrassmentPandaPop · 11/10/2011 22:21

I don't think the OP is bothered about her child finding out that she has been given the wrong band of book!
Reading the same books at home is fine and repetition is good for learning but it is nice to have books that are new to them too. DD gets hers changed 3 times a week. I wouldn't be able to provide that many new books for my child without the school.

BluddyMoFo · 11/10/2011 22:24

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

SpectralHarrassmentPandaPop · 11/10/2011 22:26

It is a bit silly to read the same books over and over when you have a school library that is supposed to provide appropriate books imo.

ThoseArentSpiritFingers · 11/10/2011 22:47

but if you DD is picking the books from the box, then presumably shes picking the same titles?

or is it a case of her having read EVERYTHING else in the box?

Original poster
littleducks · 11/10/2011 22:56

She isn't deliberately picking the same titles again, she has not brought any books home twice with the same sticker on or recently after reading it, we are talking stuff she read 6 months/a year ago. She doesnt recognize the cover, only once the story starts.

I am not sure how much choice there is, when full the boxes probably have lots of books but i think there are probably 30 children reading out of the box as it is shared by the year group not class and the books are changed one by one.

OP posts:
BluddyMoFo · 11/10/2011 23:00

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Original poster
littleducks · 11/10/2011 23:06

The teacher wouldnt need to know every book she has read because she has just been moved up to green level, so should in theory have read none/very few of the books in the green level box. I thought that was the point of the coloured boxes?

OP posts:
BluddyMoFo · 11/10/2011 23:16

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Original poster
littleducks · 11/10/2011 23:24

I get what you are saying, but these are books that she has to chose from a limited selection (12/15 books) and then has to read daily. There isnt much enjoyment at all.

Maybe I should give up and buy my own books but I am pissed off by that idea as if i was going to do that I would have done it before she started school.

OP posts:
AnxiousElephant · 11/10/2011 23:29

So glad you have asked this because my dd1 is also in year 1 and comes home with books that have been both up and down banded, sometimes with 3 different stickers showing! It bugs me too. The teachers also don't check which box they pick from and dd knows that the green band takes less time to read than the turquoise with more words so she goes to that box! Tonight I asked her to read her library book (banded as white) which had very few difficult words and which she read no problem! Confused

SpectralHarrassmentPandaPop · 11/10/2011 23:34

I think it would be a shame for all the pupils parents to have to go out and buy a full set of books when the school has adequate books but they are just wrongly labelled. I definitely think a quiet word (rather than a complaint) and an offer of help sorting the books would be a good way to go.