To speak to the teachers at Parents Evening tomorrow re challenging DS (5)

[PaddyMac76]

DS (5) is in Class 2 (Year 1). He flew through Reception and loves school. His Reception teacher was amazing, I really can't fault her at all.
However, since moving into Y1, the books he is being sent home with are as easy, if not easier than the end of Reception Class.
Every day he brought home a new book, every evening he read it with no trouble, and I made comments in his Reading Record stating this.

Yet he was not moved up to the next level until I wrote an note to the teacher suggesting this.

I was concerned that he is being overlooked and just has a teaching assistant read 4 pages a day with him. It's not on.
I want him racing through his level, and pushed instead of just plodding, as the teaching resources are too focused on those that can barely open a book.

Tomorrow is Parents Evening, how best should I suggest to the teacher that he needs a greater challenge?

I just want the best for my boy :)

AIBU?

[2kidsintow]

He shouldn't be 'racing through the levels' but should be reading at a level that is appropriate. That is a level where only one or two words might be tricky so that he can read comfortably, comprehend what is going on and read with expression. He should also be reading with enjoyment, which he won't if he is struggling with the text.

The library is a good point. You can borrow levelled books from them too if you request them. I used to borrow books on the same level and the next level of Oxford Reading Tree in the hols as my DD loved reading them.

I'm a teacher and struggle to listen to my children read each week unless it's through my guided reading sessions. There's too much direct teaching in all the other lessons and helping the children with their work to ever be able to sit down and listen to readers. My classroom assistant is able to give the children a far better quality time when they read with her. This is in a junior classroom to be fair though.

My friend treats reading as a competitive sport - it was soooo important for her that her son didn't get left behind that when she took her children out of school for a week she sent a note in to ask for extra books so that he wasn't overtaken by his friends.

[UptheChimney]

One gets that impression, PervCat. And no library card as a matter of course either. Yet the teacher is to be criticised for not "pushing" the OP's child and < gasp, shock, horror > spending time on those who are not "racing" but only plodding ...

Double standards there, I think.

[Lucyccfc]

My sister is a teacher and she hates kids 'racing' through levels at a very early age because it means she generally has to take them back a few levels in year 2, as they don't have a deep enough understanding of what they are reading.

I would second what someone else said and ask lots of questions about the book (facts and opinions) to make sure the understanding of the comprehension is there.

[SatinSandals]

Also get him to read with expression, a way to tell if he understands what he reads.

[Vivacia]

I'm glad you wrote what you did chimney I was thinking the same but didn't know how to phrase it.

[UptheChimney]

Well, I don't suppose the way I phrased it is very tactful, Vivacia but I was genuinely shocked at the OP's posts: wanting a child "pushed" in his reading but hadn't even THOUGHT OF going to the library.

I could be even more tactless and suspect the OP isn't a great reader him/herself and isn't a regular at the local library.

Gosh, I'm glad I'm not a teacher -- I wouldn't have the patience to deal with such parents.

[BathTangle]

OK - others have said plenty about both comprehension and the fact that you can provide books for him yourself - both thoughts that came to me.

You might like to try Oxford Owl - it's a website where you can access free e-books to look at with your DS. Also Reading Chest - both have information about reading levels and what to work on.

[MissBetseyTrotwood]

Of course you want what you think is best for your DS. So does every other parent I know, and every parent I meet professionally. Even the parents of those who can barely open a book .

As a parent who is also a teacher, I'd be happy that the main focus in Year 1 were getting the non readers to make progress; far better it happens now in the class than further up the school when the study of subjects that require a good, mature level of literacy is rendered impossible by low reading ages. Bring the literacy of those DC up and the whole class will benefit in the long run.

Join Reading Chest if you're not happy with the reading scheme books he gets sent home with. Take him to the library every week. Oxford Owl, Reading Eggs, diary writing - the list goes on. Ask for advice from the primary teachers on the Education boards here; they are knowledgeable and forthcoming.

Having a TA read with him individually every day sounds great. Feel happy things are going so well for him at school and that he finds it easy and enjoyable. You're lucky.

[StayAwayFromTheEdge]

"the teaching resources are too focused on those that can barely open a book"

You sound delightful!

[Onebuddhaisnotenough]

I'd suggest taking him to the library and also volunteeringnin school to help with reading supervidion if resources are stretched.

[MissBetseyTrotwood]

FWIW OP, this was my DS1 last year. He had guided reading in a group with a teacher twice a week, a parent once a week and sat in the book corner on his own both other days.

At home we read chapter books together, one chapter a night and a page each. Then we talk about what we've read.

This year, it's my DS2 in Y1 and he's one of those who is struggling with reading.

Not a very pleasant OP, OP.

[NotMeNotYouNotAnyone]

Yabu

Take him to the library and let him pick from a whole roomful of books! Can't believe you're worried his teacher isn't pushing him and yet you've never even thought of taking him to the library!

Question him on what he's read, is he just forming the words without understanding them?

Read more advanced books than he could read himself to him, so he can learn to follow and understand them

Don't be do ride about the children struggling with reading. I hope your DS finds everything in life easy but in reality nobody is that lucky. If he finds fractions absolutely impossible you wouldn't like the thought of the mother if a mathematically gifted child moaning that the teacher spent more time on him

[Fakebook]

I'm slightly shocked you've never taken your child to the library...and he's 5 now? What have you been doing with him all this time? [c.

She didnt start reading until last December, but is almost 6 years old and has just started stage 7 books.

You do realise that you have to read with your child at home too don't you? You can't expect a teacher to do everything.

[Fakebook]

Seem to have cut out a paragraph somehow. She = my dd.

[ImperialBlether]

I'm really shocked that you want the school to push your child yet you don't do a fucking thing yourself! Sorry, but it's really shocking.

[gwenniebee]

You are very lucky if an adult is reading with your son every day in school. We can't manage this in my class.

It's not just about decoding in Y1, it's about breadth of understanding, beginning to infer from the text, recall of the story, comprehension of different types of text etc etc. When you are reading with your son, get him to tell you from looking at the title and the blurb what he thinks the book will be about, stop at certain points and ask him to predict what will happen in the rest of the story, or why the character has acted as they have/feels the way they feel. By talking to him like this, you will challenge him even with comparatively easy texts, and you will soon work out whether he really is reading at the level you perceive he is.

Also, as others have said, take him to the library. It's a bit rubbish that you haven't thought of this yourself.

[Fecklessdizzy]

Why aren't you reading with him at home? I'd get mine to read a page or two of their bedtime story if they were a bit underwhelmed by the school reading books. Why do you expect the school to provide extra stimulus for him when you can't be arsed to buy a few books yourself or go to the library.

It's all about pleasure, anyway, it's not a bloody race.

[TheBigJessie]

I have been borrowing stories for my children since they were nine months old! well, I wasn't going to buy the "that's not my..." series!

Get your child a library card- he can take part in the library reading competion' for children, if you want a competition.

[PervCat]

I remember a tutorial where parents were invited on about literacy. Apparently the thing that research showed about the highest achieving kids is that they had a library card

[wildspinning]

I'm gobsmacked that your child is 5 and you've never taken him to the library!

My son's had books from the library every week since he was 3 weeks old. In Yr 1 his reading was approx 10% school books, 90% library books.

You can get 9 books out per library ticket in our area. If you get yourself a ticket too that's 18 new books for your son to enjoy right now. Lucky boy

[Morloth]

YOU need to fill him up with books.

DS1 is a very advanced reader.

We have always made sure there are books available to him as he progressed.

Now at 9 he is reading most of my books (obviously only after I have OKd them).

Get the kid books. As many as he wants.

[EugenesAxe]

Paddy it seems perhaps you have heard enough and indeed most of my thoughts have been said, but I'll add a few more.

I was also most shocked about the library thing.

My BF, who was a Reception teacher, said she was always really pissed off by the parents that felt their DCs education was entirely down to her. Without being 'pushy' about it, what someone said up thread about US being primary educators is entirely right IMO. I used to read (in a TA kind of way) with a boy in Y6 who had a reading age of about... I dunno, 5yrs? He would improve markedly every term, then after a break come back practically at square one again, because his DM (not judging; she had 7 young kids) couldn't spend time with him hearing him read. It is really important parents support what is happening in the classroom.

I wouldn't go in all guns blazing about this - I would phrase any question about why his books are the same/easier as in Reception in a way that suggests you are open minded / concerned there is something wrong. The comments from everyone about comprehension seem pertinent and this may be what you will be told.

I am a little by your 'not plodding along' comment. You seem more concerned about your son's performance than by his enjoyment of life/ school. If any of your feelings mooted here are feeding back imperceptibly to him, he is going to start losing self esteem.

[Gullygirl]

Our house is full of books.
Ds1 has a reading level well above his age.He has always read for pleasure.
DS2, with the same exposure to books and the same teachers struggled through the first two years of school with reading,obviously this had a knock on affect with his other subjects.
He read to me every night,I would then check his comprehension through asking him to tell me what the story was about.Then I would read the book back to him,pointing out any words he had missed or got wrong.
15 minutes a night is all it takes.
In a class of maybe 30 children,it would be unrealistic to expect a teacher to do this every day,even if the class has a TA.
One day, it was like a light went off in his head,he now reads for pleasure too.