To rebel against reading diary

[Stirling84]

I think I am being unreasonable - but I've cracked.

DS is meant to record pages read. He reads every night but rarely logs more than one session a week. So we have about ten pages of nearly empty grids and 'sad face' comments from teacher.

sigh

Irvine in some schools, like in ours, the kids have to do it and not just page numbers. It's a daily chore and it does not help making them readers, it is slowly making mine into a reluctant reader from a keen one.

It takes a 7yo much longer than "5 seconds" to write a few sentences, log book name, page numbers, chapter and date.

If I just do it instead of the child, the child loses playtime as a punishment.

DD just logs the books that come home from school, not her own/library books - would that work? (I agree it is an entirely pointless exercise)

reni2 ,Losing playtime is wrong, but I still don't understand. 5 secs is a bit of exaggeration, but my ds(7) has no problem doing it. And the record doesn't have to be just page numbers, if he enjoyed it, he can comment on it as well. Until yr1, it was parents job, from YR2, children's. And I thought it's a good way to practice his writing.
We actually enjoy looking at reading record returned from school at the end of the year, and talk about the books he read in the past.

Because making a not-so-favoured activity (writing) part of a loved one (reading) we now have 2 chores. A previously voracious reader hates reading. Well done, school.

There is plenty of writing homework. She does well in both reading and writing, just doesn't like writing.

Now maths is the one she loves. I suggest they tie that in with tedious daily report writing about maths learned today to make sure she doesn't have too much fun.

I just put "10-20 Nov" "The BFG" "DD read well and found the story funny". They know longer stories can't be read in one sitting, the exact breakdown doesn't matter.

Well my ds hates writing in general, but because it's the part of his work he needed to do since YR2, he doesn't complain. And he still loves reading.
I agree some homework from school is questionable, but I just don't make big deal of it and tell him to do it because he has to.

irvine,

do you understand that because your DC responds and doesnt mind various tasks it doesnt mean other parents, do not understand their dc and what makes them tick and what inspires and what frankly endangers the flame?

Your dc doesnt mind, well your lucky arn't you!

MY dc has loathed and hated HW since reception! Just because she has had to do it since reception does not make her like it more, she likes it - even less.

LimboNovember, we had battles over homeworks , but I just made sure he understand that's something he had to do. We still sometimes nag him to do certain kind of HW, like writing.

But since things like reading diary is something most school do, I just don't see the point of arguing over it. If you do it every day from reception, it just become part of routine.

not everyone's child responds the same Irvine. My children are required to brush their teeth twice a day. It's been going on now for 6 years. One of my DC still does not accept the need to do it. Still tries to get out of it. Still works herself up into such a state it can make bedtime a nightmare. I haven't let up on it because I see no replacement for teeth cleaning. But if it were a reading record and it was making reading into a nightmare I'd drop it like a hot brick. And I think any parent that keeps going with something that harms their child's willingness to read for little clear benefit is fIling their child a little, regardless of what the teacher says.

You're allowed three misses per YEAR (including weekends and holidays) Any more than three and your child misses the end of year party.

That is just child cruelty in my opinion. It singles out extra children who have insufficient support already.
I guess as far as reading logs are concerned it depends on the requirements of the school- they ought to realise that if they make it too onerous then it will be much less likely to get done. We are on a 'good year' this year with teachers for both DS not setting work that gives parents too much homework to have to do, there has been much more that they are able to get on with on their own. I have enough of my own work to do at home and don't need to be having to waste spend time on ridiculous types of homework that do nothing to add to their learning. The reading record requirements are equally lightweight, (though now my younger DS has got to that stage I have now heard more than enough about floppy and biff and that bloody golden key to last a lifetime) Funny enough both this year's teachers have primary age children themselves....

Ok, have to agree to disagree.

irvine101
"I just don't understand why it's such a big deal?
Teacher ask us to do it. So we do it. Takes 5 sec. to write name of the book, how many pages, sign by parents"

My daughter is Y3. WE have to complete the reading record otherwise it doesn't count. If we forget to initial our comments, that means it doesn't count too.

We have to listen to our children read at least 3 pages - when they are free-readers reading lengthy books this can take some time if they read it properly. We then have to spend time questioning them about what they've read, do some character assassinations, think about our 'feelings' etc etc. Then we have to fill in the reading record (remembering to initial it!) and then add our comments. This entire process can take about half an hour usually, which is really not what either my daughter or I want to do. She wants to chill with a book, not dissect it into tiny pieces when she's already had a hard day at school. She finds it really off-putting.

It's not a question of thinking that the 'mundane rules' don't apply to my child. It's a question of their rules actually doing the opposite to what they were intended for. That's not a good thing in my opinion.

That was a bit of a bold fail! Obviously it doesn't work around speech marks!

My ds is in YR3 as well, and his requirement is to read aloud for 20 mins. everyday. In year 2, he was bit fed up of reading aloud, so he read about 2 pages to me, and read rest to himself.
Now I realized his reading aloud skill has slipped a bit, so we went back to read 20 mins. routine.
Ds's school isn't strict, they say try to do it everyday, and what we have to write down is totally up to us. It was just easy thing to do for us , because he loves to read anyway, and wants to talk about it afterwards.
It has been going on for more than 3 years now, so I just can't think about not doing it.

DD reads everyday when she goes to bed. I go to work at five in the morning so leave the reading record on the table dated and signed. DD fills in the rest. I don't have to ask what the book is about as she's quite happy to tell me unprompted.
We do get grief from school if its not filled in and get regular letters from school to remind us we must hear them read three times a week.
I have no such proof anyone at school is listening to her read

but I just made sure he understand that's something he had to do. We still sometimes nag him to do certain kind of HW, like writing

Ah...I see That must be where we are going wrong.... After three years I had not thought of that.

My dc never filled theirs in (after a bit of initial enthusiasm in Reception). I put a note in at the start of the year to say that whichever dc it was read avidly, for pleasure every single day, and my challenge was to get them to put the book down and get some sleep, and that I was not going to make it into a 'chore' for them by making them thing it was something they "had to do" rather than something they loved to do. The vast majority of their teachers acknowledged they could tell in their writing and conversation skills, as well as their reading abilities that they were really well read, and they were quite happy for that to continue.

singing

I can relate to all your posts. In your situation I would without a doubt intervene and say its killing her love of reading.

I have had to do this with HW a few times ( with past teachers) and they have allowed her to stop for a while.

Can I ask what free reader means?

My DD is reading how to train dragon series, she has read all of series of unfortunate events, most roald dhal, some David Wailliams, Moropogo, spiderwick chronicles, starting harry potter, etc etc .

she is on 11 now.

singing

I have always loved reading too but english a level and dissecting the text nearly finished if off for me too.
I cant remember this level of intense text work at 8?

We don't dissect the text and ds normally reads to me while I'm cooking, and record what ever he needs to straight afterwards, so it's not intense, just listening and chatting and quick recording.

And (sorry, sense of humour fail) why would you deliberately do stuff that makes the teacher's life more difficult?

Why do teacher's deliberately do stuff that makes the parents' life more difficult? Reading logs add a huge amount of tears, tantrums, frustration and wasted time to my life. What they don't add is more, or better, reading.

Takes 5 sec. to write name of the book, how many pages, sign by parents.

It's not that simple for all children. If it was a 5 second job, I would do it happily. As it usually involves angst, nagging, upset, tears, delayed bedtime or delayed getting ready for school, it turns a 5 second job into a 15 minute battle, for no discernible benefit.

Exactly PlaydoughGirl

The reading aloud is weird, too, fine when these are 20 page books. A 300 pager is hard to follow if you alternate with the other parent as listener. I sometimes read the thing before DC does if I don't know it.

YY limbo

When I think that Jane Austen was nearly ruined for me aged 17, I could weep. Ditto a whole load of books at uni.

Being able to "dissect" a book and loving reading are different. And you need to love reading first and foremost to go on to want to "dissect" a book. So trying to kill kids' love of imaginary worlds to escape to by forcing them to think about why the bloody author used "this" word over "that" word is ludicrous. There is world enough and time for that in the future, should they so desire.

Down with reading records, I say!

Btw, to the poster who asked about alternative ways of doing things now that we have technology, my DCs previous primary school had just introduced a programme called Bug Club, which was computer-based books to read, with a really short comprehension "game" at the end, which the DC bloody loved (even though I was a bit "meh" about it) and which had a lot of behind-the-scenes analytics for the teacher to see, such as reading speed, what the child would choose to read as opposed to what they were set, etc. Anecdotal reports were that reluctant readers really benefited a lot from it.

Limbo

In our school, a free reader is one who has gone through all of the reading levels that the school offers and can choose any book she likes. She generally goes to the Year 6 class to choose her because "they have more interesting books". She loves all the Cressida Cowell books (she was very excited to find a new one in the library the other day!), has read all of the Roald Dahl books we have, all the Famous Fives, has read a few David Walliams books and is currently begging me to let her read book 5 in the Harry Potter series (I think they are a bit too old/dark for her beyond book 4). I was the same at her age, I still am! My middle child (6) also loves to read and is just as good at reading as her big sister but not quite as addicted! All of my children think a trip to the local library is a huge treat! I don't want them to lose that thrill of reading. It has such a huge benefit to other areas of learning; spelling, grammar, syntax, vocabulary to name but a few. My little boy, who has just turned 4, has an enormous vocabulary because he loves reading. He can't actually read but we read to him every single night, and his sisters like to read to him too. He often wakes up early and gets up, turns his light on and sits in bed with an enormous pile of (Little Red Train) books! It gives me such a warm feeling knowing that I've encouraged this love of all things booky - I hope they always feel this way!
Forcing a child to make reading into something onerous is a sure fire way of ruining the experience for them if they already love it.