to be confused as to why reading a book above a childs assessed level...

[SundaysGirl]

Can in any way negatively impact their learning?

Received letter from school today saying children were not allowed to take a book a level above what they have been assessed for home reading as as this is not supporting the teachers in school.

My child takes one book at his level and one at the level above. He enjoys the challenge and has learnt plenty of new words this way. Been doing it for the last couple of years.

I'm pretty annoyed at the tone of the letter which actually implied that letting children take these books goes against the things they are being taught such as courage, kindness and trust at school which I take great exception to.

AIBU to go into school tomorrow and complain about the tone of this letter as well as the lack of discussion regarding this issue?

Also AIBU to think there is no way reading a book above your level can in any way negatively impact learning? Be good to hear from any teachers I just can't for the life of me see why children having a challenge in addition to their standard work is negative in any way.

I teach in an Irish primary school where there is a very different approach to teaching reading. We don't have schemes and levels etc in the way that UK schools do. I've no experience of UK education so have no comment to make as to which is a better approach BUT in every classroom in my school, there is a poster in the room that says '10 ways to improve your reading 1. read 2. read etc.' I can't see how reading a book of a different level would be harmful to a child's reading unless they were being disheartened by not being able to read it and would therefore be losing confidence.

I agree with BitofPractice that this letter is most likely aimed at the one or two parents who are sending in inappropriate books ( at the thoughts of 50 Shades of Grey making its way into school) but its wording and tone would get anyone's back up. Also agree with the PP who said that the school readers should be only a percentage of the books that children are exposed to.

YANBU. School sounds bonkers. A child may well read books they can't yet fully comprehend.
And then they may ask questions, and learn actually something new.
And that clearly wouldn't do, would it?

I am so fucking sick of school in general at the moment. Stupid sausage factory mentality.

learn actually?

Nowthen I think the problem comes when children can read the words but have very little comprehension of what they have read, not even enough comprehension to ask what X or Y means. I had a friend who's dd "read" aloud beautifully (for her age) and her mum was so proud she refused to acknowledge the teacher's concern that her daughter was getting no "sense" from the books, and was furious that the teacher wanted her dd to read reading scheme books aloud rather than be a free reader - but actually you could tell from the flat monotone she read in that the content meant nothing to her - as well as the fact that she couldn't answer questions about what she had just read.

Really Tired-yes , parents should be getting their children books for reading at home, but some of us are too broke to buy books.
We do go round charity shops, but they tend to have mostly annuals, which is fine, but not very varied.
Local library is shite for my child's age-lots of pre school stuff, lots of teen horror, not much else.
The is one really good community shop, but its a long bus ride away, and at the moment I really can't justify the £5.50 on bus fares.
So, at the moment, whatever he reads that is new is from school.

X post EnglishWoman.
I guess. I think that maybe happens when a child has been pushed by the parents to read.
In my experience, I just gave free reign. I love reading and always have, and I did read all kinds of stories, and poems, to ds when he was a baby, which, of course he couldn't understand, but he loved it, was enthralled by the words.
I definitely think it instilled a love of language, which turned into him loving reading.
I never did this for any "educational" reason. It was just that, as a knackered lone parent, I found "baby" books too mind numbing to read at bedtime, and I wanted to cheer myself up with something good!
Also, since we have always been really poor, all our books have been magpied from charity shops, so the reading diet has been pretty random and varied.
I just hate this thing about levels. I know it is irrational, and I know they have to meet "targets". I just feel like it saps any initial good feeling they had about reading right out of them

i was very, very short of money when daughter was growing up, and yet she always had books. you can do it, if its a priority.

Nowthen I agree with your last post (and the bit about it being fine to read anything to small babies - I read novels aloud to my dc1 when she was newborn as I was too PFB anxious to co-sleep and she wouldn't sleep anywhere but my arms for the first 6 solid weeks - and I really tried putting her down, I used to give myself odds 100:1 etc. each try - so I read to keep awake as I sat up all night with her )

The problem isn't when the impetus to read comes from the child, but when it's parent driven, and when the over-involved parent is pushing for rapid progress and acknowledgement of achievement but almost wilfully blind to gaps in ability / understanding. I do think comprehension is the absolute key, I'd rather read aloud to my kids and have them ask questions and talk about the stories than have them reading advanced things unsupervised and not really understand (I don't mean because the content is unsuitable, I just mean its an empty process if you read the words but miss a lot of the the meaning of the text taken as a whole).

Sorry lovebunny. My priority is food, bills and not getting homeless.

Nowthen did you know you can put in interlibrary requests for any books you want through your local library? You can request lots at once though you may well have to wait for them. Also if you have freecycle in your area you could post a request for any age appropriate books going unwanted - you might get lucky and get a job lot some child has outgrown, as books generally have poor re-sale value.

Nowthen - I can recommend www.readitswapit.co.uk, it's brilliant for swapping books for the price of a second class stamp.

I arrange book swaps once a term at my school for just this reason - maybe you could suggest this to your dc's school? Our children really enjoy it!

Thanks for the links ! I didn't actually know that about the library. I will ask. I think book swapping is a nice idea. I kind of want to keep most of our books, just in case dc 2 ever happens :)

Just swap any crappy ones then - Reader's Digest Letter Collection, or Guide to Stamp Collecting - and get nice kids' ones back.

Really Tired-yes , parents should be getting their children books for reading at home, but some of us are too broke to buy books.*

NowThenNowThe Stop being so pathetic. If you have access to broadband then you have access to books.

www.starfall.com

www.oxfordowl.co.uk/findbook

There is a wealth of free high quality books on the internet, ie. Guttenburg project.

The e books are free on the www.oxfordowl.co.uk/findbook site.

Heres some more

freekidsbooks.org/

www.techsupportalert.com/free-books-children

No excuse for taking the school's books without permission however poor you are.

Oh, OP, this took me straight back to primary school where I used to smuggle in the Famous Five/Secret Seven to read because I was so incredibly bored by the school's choice of reading matter...and I used to get told off too! It is depressing to hear some schools are still like this.

I think children should read whatever appeals to them, as long as it's not wildly unsuitable. Everyone matures at different speeds.

wtaf??? Who the fuck is taking books without permission???
I don't know where you get off calling anyone pathetic . How lovely for you that you know all this stuff.Not everyone is a fucking teacher love.
Everyone else on here has provided useful links, in a helpful way. You know, without insults.

This us what I mean about hating school. As a parent you just feel like you are being told off all the time.
Oh, and fuck off.

I may be wrong, but I don't think ReallyTired is a teacher.

Most of our books are secondhand too. We get a bunch from charity stores, used bookstores, library sales, used on Amazon etc. We also do "something you want, something you need, something to wear and something to read" for birthdays and holidays so they get a couple of books for their birthday etc.

I guess partly I disagree with schools messing with reading at all if it is working. Don't fix something that isn't broken. Luckily we have mostly had teachers that are happy to go along with that and a school with no reading scheme.

Every time my kids have had to read because a teacher made them it has turned into them resisting and being reluctant readers. I end up going into school and making an understanding with the teacher. They read very heavily in the summer, serious amounts of stuff and then not as much during the year.

oh and BTW, how do you tell the difference between a pushy parent and one who is trying hard to advocate for their child? I KNOW I have come across as a pushy parent to many of my kids' teachers but we usually reach an understanding.

I had an argument with his kindergarten (reception) teacher because she said she wanted him to read really easy books that he found very boring because she said that when she tested him his comprehension was very low. I challenged this because frankly I thought it was not correct. It turns out they weren't really testing understanding of the material he had read, they were testing his emotional response to the literature (which he didn't really have)

e.g. if he read a passage about a shark looking for food he could answer questions about where had the shark looked, how they capture their prey etc. If he read a story about kids and was asked to identify his favourite character and why he had no clue. They re-tested him and let him read what he wanted.

Do all the children at your school take two books?

Ours only take one at a time. I asked the teacher about my DD wanting to read some in the white set and that I would help her with them so she could get through them OK she explained they don't have an inexhaustable supply of "educational" books and if children take extras for pleasure that I need to help too much with they'll run out of books whenthe child gets to that educational stage.

I find it depressing that a child's only reading material is the school's reading scheme. Getting hold of interesting material to read is not about money, its about aspiration and parents using their intelligence initative to get hold of interesting books.

You can get books of the internet, charity shops, car boot sales, freecycle, or the local library or swap books with friends. We often ask relatives or friends to give books for christmas or birthday presents.

It doesn't take a lot of money to provide a child with an enviromnent rich in literacy.

Feenie right I am not a teacher. It does not require Qualified Teacher Status or lots of money to provide interesting books.

Read back Really Tired.
I never said his only books were school ones. I said I could buy new (meaning new to him) books at the moment.
And I explained about the charity shops.
The fact that you are actually on here making snide comments about anyone's intelligence only highlights your own lack thereof.
And I thought you were a teacher because you are so fucking patronising.

HTH