To be concerned about DDs reading

[Gooseygoosey12345]

Well, it's not actually her reading I'm concerned about. She's getting books from school that I feel are way beneath her. I asked for more challenging books and the teacher wrote that they were working on pacing and being fluent, she sent the same book home which my daughter read to me this morning without any issues in these areas. Now she might not read it as well in school if she feels pressured but she's not the sort of kid to be like that afaik. What would you do? I'm considering not reading the books that they send and reading other material and writing that in her journal. I don't want her to get bored.

We do both. I read and log what they send home. And log any additional books she reads.

We just read our own books. Teacher told us that if they go too far ahead (book bands) then they have problems in juniors. Bollocks

How old is she?

I write in the extra books. But I found out last term that ds was pretending at school that they couldn't read as well as they actually can. Could your dd be doing this?

The teacher may not agree with your assessment. Why not read the school book (quickly) then give her something more challenging?

To be honest, my Y7 students have half an hour a fortnight booked in to the school library and they have to choose something from the level at which they are assessed by Accelerated Reader (which I hate). Quite a few of them find these too easy and I would love to spend more time choosing a book they would get more out of but the truth is I simply don't have time to. Maybe that is the situation for the teacher here. You can help with this by co-operating but also by doing your own thing on top.

We read the school books a couple of times a week and he reads books of his own choosing other times. But we did have a meeting at school which said they won't move kids up even if they're reading fluently, their level of comprehension has to be good enough too, so could that be why they won't change the book? Not saying it is, just a suggestion!

We read our own books. DD was always a good reader and reads everything but the books that she's allowed at school are pretty awful. I get her loads of books from work (I'm a librarian) and she reads those. DS pretends to not be very good at school. We do read the school books but also read loads of books from the library. It's a bit annoying but I reckon that they're reading loads, love books, doing well so not too fussed what they actually bring home.

I would just trust the teacher's assessment for the school reading books and get on with reading other stuff with her at home. My daughter was never challenged by her reading books either but if there are 30 children in the class they can't have everyone reading different stuff, they need to break it into groups somehow so I just let them get on with it.

Is she understanding what she is reading?

Just keep on with the school books then encourage reading and sharing books at home too.

Thanks for all the replies! Didn't mean to drop feed. She's 6. We discuss the books afterwards so I know she understands. I'm wondering if she is pretending she can't read as well in school, she's quite lazy and won't do it unless asked so maybe she should be pushed more. She's very capable when she does do it. She reads everything of her own back when it comes to things like menus, magazines etc. Her whole school only has 12 children with 2 teachers, 3 amazing TAs and the head is very involved with classes too so I don't think it's a time thing. I think I'll do what pp suggested and read the required books but start writing in her journal the books she chooses to read as well.

Off her own back *

Yes I think if the school won't put her up, just read harder books at home (ones that she can read and harder ones again that you read but she can enjoy the story). If she enjoys reading she'll be fine, the skills will come but it's the enjoyment that needs nurturing the most because if she hates reading she won't read enough to develop those skills and if she loves it and wants to challenge herself that's extra incentive to improve

Do your own reading with her - provide her with books.
Make sure she isnt reading a different way in class. my dd was reading in a very slow - accentuated way because thats what she thought was expected but we realised the school reading scheme and her ability were way out of sink, I just got her a ton of books from charity shops, amazon, to keep her going. I just feel for dc who love reading and are good at it but get no support at home

Just read what is sent home and get to the library to let your dd choose whatever else she wants to read. Reading books 'beneath' her sometimes will do her no harm. My dd was free reading at an early age but would still occasionally read toddler books just because she wanted to.
And comprehension is more than just following the story. Can she make plausible predictions of what might happen next? Can she suggest alternative endings? Can she make comparisons with other books she's read? Can she think of real life situations that are similar to the story? Does she know anyone in real life who is like one of the characters etc etc etc. All things that can be worked on without your child reading at the absolute limit of what she is able to decode phonetically.

There's an Education Board

We read our own books as well as schools. My boy is almost 5 and brings home level 3. He's so bored and yawns through them. He discuses and understands them, like your DD does.

We get sets from Amazon or The Book People and are currently reading level 5 (almost finished) of Songbirds and the Chip, Biff and Kipper series. He reads 4 school books a week and 1 or 2 of ours over the weekend.

I think they have to get through certain books (maybe curriculum?) in school because we've mentioned to the teacher a couple times and they didn't change the level.

With you on AR, @Trifleorbust

www.thegrid.org.uk/learning/english/ks3-4-5/ks3/assessment/documents/top_tips_reading_afs.doc

Seems like a few of us have the same problem then. Will continue to read school books and discuss them and look on amazon etc for extra books :) she just doesn't seem to enjoy the more simple books but I honestly think she must not be reading at school as well as she's reading at home. I'm certainly not blaming her teacher because she genuinely is excellent and lovely! We're very very lucky with her school.

I'm aware of the education board but it doesn't get as much traffic and this is something I needed reassurance about.

Thanks Astro, that's helpful to know what she should be achieving.

Wow, that's some school! I would imagine that the teachers and TA's know exactly how well your child is reading. She can hardly get lost in the crowd.

It really is :)
They're really focusing heavily on maths at the moment and don't seem to be reading as much. DD is very happy with that as she prefers maths, her teacher did say that they won't be reading as often this year so not sure if that's having an impact. Maybe I'm being precious it's an outstanding (actually ofsted outstanding) school so I should probably just let them get on with it but I'm one of those interfering overly interested mums I suppose

Sometimes it can be more than just comprehension of the story so the teacher might want her to be able to answer questions like

• WHY do you think the character did that?
• what do you think the character was feeling? What made them feel like that?
• was it funny? Why was it funny?

In some ways an 'easier' book can be beneficial as you can get more out of the discussion if less effort has to go into the actual reading.
Let her choose her own books at home and read those too.
The school sounds amazing btw.

We had this and were told by the school when he was in reception that they don't like to put them up the book levels quickly as then they run out of things to read in KS1 and the content in KS2 books isn't suitable. Which all seems quite lame to me. Anyway, he's in YR2 now and on Lime at school, but has been reading full length novels at home (Enid Blyton etc) since Christmas in YR1. At the end of the day, I care far more about the fact that he enjoys reading than I do about what book level he is formally on. If I were you I'd just let her go to the library, pick some books and let her read them!

Little those are the sort of questions we discuss. We are quite in depth with regards to discussion about what we've read. The school really is amazing. I can't fault them. Just everything about the school is perfect. We are so lucky.
Norman, I think we'll just keep reading what she wants at home then :) seems as though that's what most people are doing along with reading whatever they're given from school.
I'm definitely being unreasonable I think ha