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?

[Eggsiseggs]

Am a teacher and I don't think YABU to raise this with the teacher.
However, YABU to expect everything to be the teacher's job.

It's not about raising these issues, it's about HOW a parent raises them. Putting in more challenging books that he is reading at home is a subtle idea, but definitely say 'he loves reading in school! How can we support him at home, because I think he is starting to find it a bit easy and I don't want him to get lazy/to stop challenging himself'

A good teacher likes to see an involved, supportive parent.

A word of advice about reading in general, though: if your son is an able reader, embed this as a hobby/lifestyle NOT as something you do in school that he is good at. I have seen so many kids plateau later because they can 'do it', but they don't view reading as something you do for pleasure or by yourself.

Good luck! Let us know his you get on!

[paulagil]

I'm on your side with this one OP. So what I do now is to get DS (age 6) to read at home and to just use his homework book as a necessary evil. It's stupid because I could read fluently at the age of 5 but had to sit through years of group reading with other kids who could barely read. I remember sitting at a table at the age of 10 where we had to read a paragraph each. I'd finished the whole page by the time one girl had read her first line. And yes, I HAD understood it, thank you.

How about getting your DS a load of comics to read by himself, with you giving help on difficult words? I used to work in children's publishing and quite frankly, all the editors just wanted kids (boys especially) to read - and to read anything. This is why graphic novels were invented, as a cross between a comic and a book.

In my experience, if a teacher has behaved in a certain way already then she won't change. So get your DS some fun books and let him enjoy them.

[EmmelineGoulden]

Of course you aren't being unreasonable to raise an issue with the teacher. But you are being unreasonable to raise it as a suggestion she challenge him more. Instead ask why he is getting the books he does, and what would be most helpful in supporting him. Tell her he's racing through them and ask what it is he's supposed to be working on, because at the moment he doesn't seem to be getting much from reading them at home.

And you aren't being unreasonable to think every child should be challenged, not just those who are struggling. But it may well be that is happening, you just aren't aware of what the school are working on with your child.

[mrsjay]

yes yabu and really quite mean about other little 5 yr olds, why is your son the most important one in class over the others he is being read with by a TA every day and yet you are still moaning
I understand you want him to learn but being able to read words off a page is only one aspect of reading he needs to be able to understand what he is reading read with him at home and let the teacher teach her class dont make a full of yourself on parents night by saying things like I want him to race through books,

[LoopaDaLoopa]

never taken your child to the library?!

[judgejudithjudy]

yabu & shouldnt rely solely on the school.

[MissBetseyTrotwood]

Brave OP for coming back to a thread you've had such a roasting on.

Go and ask for advice at the parents' evening. Access to the school library etc.