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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

To think school reading logs are a pain?

35 replies

pointythings · 22/09/2013 22:04

They drive me mad. DD (Yr6) gets books home from school. They are really good books - Inkheart, that kind of thing. Really excellent children's literature. She is supposed to read for half an hour a day from her school book.

Trouble is, she creeps off and reads them constantly. Half the time I don't know she's reading them, because she's curled up in the spare room with them and reads them. In a week, she's read them. And can discuss content too.

Am I supposed to stalk her around the house to check what she is reading and when? To complicate matters, she also usually has a library book on the go at the same time. It's driving me up the wall.

WIBU to enter entirely fictional entries into DD's reading log, given that she is a complete bibliovore and I can't keep up with it all?

OP posts:

cornishcreamtea · 22/09/2013 22:11

My DD ( yr5) is exactly the same. She has gone through most of the age appropriate books in our library. To be honest I don't worry too much about her reading log. I just put that she has read and enjoyed the school book as well as many others that week. In fact on Thursday I asked if they could give her a different one as she was getting no enjoyment whatsoever from the one she was reading, and I could understand why. It was as dull as ditchwater!

echt · 22/09/2013 22:12

Tell the teacher what the situation is. Sign her off every day. No doubt there'll be tabs being kept on the teacher that THEY have to check the logs too.

Good that your DD is a voracious reader.

Hulababy · 22/09/2013 22:13

Presumably the 30 minute a day thing is only a guide and just to encourage those who don't like reading to do this - so more a minimum. Can she not just fill in what she has really read herself?

HumphreyCobbler · 22/09/2013 22:15

I would get her to fill it in.

Jellybeanz1 · 22/09/2013 22:18

I agree with Humphrey, teachers at my dc grammar school who are very keen on this have suggested competent readers should fill it in themselves and that is year 4.

IceCreamForCrow · 22/09/2013 22:19

I just used to roughly fill it in as best I could remember they'd read, usually the night before the diary was due to be checked the next day.

I had no concerns about how much dc were reading and I think that being too rigid about it sucks all the joy and pleasure from it.

BrokenSunglasses · 22/09/2013 22:21

At year 6, she should be filling it in herself and you should just sign and comment if you want to. Or, if you have to fill it in then just ask her what she's read and she can tell you.

I like reading logs, but if your child is a keen and very competent reader, the she doesn't have as much to get out of a reading log as a child who struggles. Really don't worry about it too much if the teacher isn't trying to get your dd to fill it in anyway.

chicaguapa · 22/09/2013 22:21

YANBU. We are hopeless at filling in DS's log.

He's been reading independently since Y1 and is now in Y4. He's read the first few Harry Potters, all David Walliams, currently reading Louis Sachar. And he's still not a free reader at school and is on level 15.

He won't read the school books, even just to move up the levels and I'm not going to turn reading into a source of conflict. I've explained this to all his teachers and they say that's fine, just put in what he's reading at home. We do this when we remember every so often, but it makes no difference to what they let him read at school.

But we just put the book title, not what pages he's read, if that helps the OP. With DD, we used to put the week and write [book title] x 7 to show she'd read every day.

Dancergirl · 22/09/2013 22:26

I am now onto child no. 3 with these bloody things. I just write the date and 'good reading'. Every single time.

Original poster

pointythings · 22/09/2013 22:29

I like the idea of having her fill it in herself - including the non-school books she is reading. Thanks for that, really helpful! She's reading a Gerald Durrell omnibus alongside her school book and I've included that - My Family and Other Animals may surprise her teacher a bit, but it makes a great talking point and is doing wonders for her vocabulary.

chicapagua I so know where you are coming from. DD's school went back on scheme books last year - DD got the Big Cats ones (diamond and pearl level) and although they were quite good (written by well known authors, meaty storylines and vocab), they didn't match up to what she was used to. She worked her way through them.

At the moment her school is categorising 'proper' books (like Inkheart, Ingo, and many others) into a sort of super reading band for the top Yr 6 readers, and I like that. DD is getting some really good stuff home. We've discovered a new author (Nancy Farmer) and DD will be getting a trilogy of her stuff for Christmas, so it's not all bad. But I'm definitely going to make her do her own log, one less thing for me to worry about.

OP posts:

onestonedown · 22/09/2013 23:00

You could be me!

I've just tonight put a note in my DS reading log, hate them with a a passion, talk about taking any enjoyment out of reading.

There is shitty note in from the teacher, saying "2 weeks and no books..."

My answer is 2 weeks lots of books every night for at least a hour, just not the school books that are boring.. we have no issues with DS reading , he loves reading.. just doesn't bring the book home, show me the log or even put any importance on the log.

If I wanted him to be a public sector worker I'd get him to fill in the sodding log.. talk about a waste of everyones time.

Maybe the teachers should read with the Yr5's they would soon figure out which can read and which can't.

Picturesinthefirelight · 22/09/2013 23:02

Da is in year 5 & I just have to sign to say I have seen him read any book from school or home for at least 10 mins

He makes a seoarAte log if the books in his planner. We are also encouraged to hear them read out loud every week.

redskyatnight · 22/09/2013 23:10

YANBU. I have the same issue. The reading diary has to be completed and signed by a parent so I can't even give this job to the DC. So I simply ask the DC to tell me "something" they've read, write it in their book and sign it. If the diary is not completed, they lose golden time, so I have to do it - it feels like a complete waste of jumping through hoops time.

pertempsnooo · 22/09/2013 23:17

YANBU
Same here, all my dc's are good readers and I feel judged! Particularly by the young, inexperienced, non-parent teachers who assume that no entries means no reading.

TheFallenMadonna · 22/09/2013 23:28

I didn't fill them in past year 2. If my DC's teachers would like to know what they are reading, they can ask them by that point. And we rarely read the schools books. I am a teacher (albeit secondary) and my default position is to make sure we do what the teacher says, but reading for pleasure was what we did at home. Fortunately, the Head was very supportive of that.

TwoAndTwoEqualsChaos · 23/09/2013 00:01

We keep the Diary, but only to record what she has read. Both our comments and the Teacher's are increasingly anodyne as DC1 YR2 is reading well beyond her supposed level at school and, consequently, has few (if any) problems with the books, apart from boredom! She has come home with Mr. Majeika, which she is finding more fun but I was rather disappointed to mention some of what I had for her to read, to be met by blank looks from the Teacher. Really, to have not heard of Noel Streafeild?

QueenofLouisiana · 23/09/2013 07:21

I write in the diary.....but it may not always be exactly what has been read! DS is a voracious reader- but not of school books. He reads history books, sports books, rugby magazines, The Beano and all sorts of things- mainly to himself (in the car, in bed....).

I write the book and rough pages with "well read" or similar. I only really fill it in as there is a challenge based on number of reads each term. I am buggered if he is going to feel sad because he doesn't read 'enough' for a poxy certificate! I'm sure many children with perfectly completed logs read less than he does.

Oh, as a teacher I'm not keen either- but I have to insist my yr6s fill them in (school policy). I can see the point for littlies though.

redskyatnight · 23/09/2013 08:14

Oh and can I ask any teachers out there what is the point of completing a reading log (for children who can already read well)? If the child just has to read x times a week (and this is to encourage relucant children to read more frequently) why won't a single signing of their diary to say they've done this at the end of the week suffice? Why do teachers need chapter and verse about what has beeen read (and I have strong suspicions that it's not even really looked at at my DC's school.)

Jinsei · 23/09/2013 08:37

DD is 8 and in year 4. She keeps her own reading diary as it wouldn't get filled in otherwise! I did keep it in reception, but she is a voracious reader and I can't keep up. I don't think she records half of what she actually reads, but neither I nor her teacher are worried about her reading habits so it isn't an issue.

I've never been rigid about her reading every day either. Usually she does, but occasionally she isn't in the mood and I don't push the issue. Other times, she reads nearly all day. I have always wanted reading to be something she does for pleasure, not a chore to be ticked off. It seems to be working so far! :)

MiaowTheCat · 23/09/2013 10:51

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Tailtwister · 23/09/2013 10:55

I agree you should just get her to fill it in herself. I'm sure the teacher is aware she's a good reader and reads books outside those given by the school too. Just make sure something is written in maybe once per week.

GreggsOnLegs · 23/09/2013 10:56

My ds has just started year 3 and his teacher has told us to encourage dc to write in their own reading diaries from now on. Great! I find them a massive pita. I like reading with ds but hate reading diaries. Room 101 for reading diaries :)

insanityscratching · 23/09/2013 11:07

Dd's is handed in once a week, so the day before I get dd to list what she has read and then I sign it. Dd reads constantly as well so it's ridiculous trying to keep tabs on how much she has read on a particular day.

pokesandprodsforthelasttime · 23/09/2013 11:11

Oh god do you still have to fill these things in Y6?

MrsRajeshKoothrappali · 23/09/2013 11:21

I don't bother.

DS is 10 and is a good reader. That's enough for me. I'm not stalking him around the house or interviewing him about what he's reading/read.

I'm currently trying to teach him independence. He's just started popping to the corner shop, staying home alone, etc. He can read what he likes, I don't need to know.

Besides, what goes on at home is none of the school's business anyway and I want him to read for pleasure like I do. I'd rather he didn't associate reading with homework. Might put him off!!

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