Children & reading

[Nquartz]

I volunteer to read with children in DD's class once a week & usually read with the bottom set.

It is very frustrating when I can tell from the children's reading record that they never read at home so once a week with me & possibly once a month with the teacher is all the reading they do.

Why don't parents read with their children at home?? I get that people are busy & have busy lives but reading 2 pages of a Biff, Chip & sodding Kipper book only takes 5 minutes.

And breathe!

I haven't read the whole thread and nothing is ever black and white. I have a friend who tried hard to get her child to enjoy reading. He just doesn't. He is 8 now.

I have been taking my children to the library roughly once a fortnight since they were tiny. They love it. They are now 5 (twins).
I did it because i remember my mum and sometimes my dad doing it with me and i loved it.
I have always loved reading.
I was sad to see my local one closes at 5 rhiugh as i used to go in the evenings after dinner. So if they are all like that (not sure?) It would limit the opportunities for some parents to go i imagine.

Yanbu. Have a relative whose a primary teacher (As I know many of you are on this thread) who has 6 y olds who have never heard of basic words and have vocab about age 3. They’re never read to and barely spoken to at home. Just stuck in front of screens. These are not SEN children. My dd adores books. They’re the cheapest way to entertain, free if you use a library, and provide hours upon hours of interest.we encouraged her from an early age and she talked very early and has vocab that many adults would envy. I’m sure it’s down to all the hours of reading. I do think you have to cultivate a love of books for your child though! Some won’t carry it through to adulthood im sure. Sadly in our area libraries are about to undergo another onslaught of cuts which will end in closures. It’s so depressing.

Thierry my absolute highlight of my week when I was a kid was going to the library with my granny. It’s sad that so many kids now just won’t know about the simple pleasure of reading.

Didn't manage it every night as we both worked and we didn't get in until 7pm. We liked to read to them at bedtime.

Whilst not free, you can find books for pennies in charity shops, if you can't buy them online on ebay or other Facebook selling groups. Charity shops tend to refuse them often because they have too many. On my local parenting groups, there are always parents looking to give away their old children books.

If you are one of those parents struggling financially, there are ways to get books for your children even if your library does close. It's not great, but it's something.

I listened to kids read in school. Most parents did listen to their kids read a few times a week, but some didn't.

Out of the ones who didn't, some didn't speak English very well themselves, others had family pressures that made it difficult, some of the kids were very reluctant readers, others I have no idea. I was there to listen to the kids, not judge why they hadn't read to their parents.

Out of the kids who struggled to read, many of them had a really good understanding of the story, the characters, the motives, the feelings, what might happen next, what would happen if.... etc

Other really good readers didn't have the first clue what was happening in the story and had very little depth of understanding of the characters.

Having seen these kids grow up, lots of the kids who really struggled with reading have done amazingly well long-term. Several are in University. Parental support with reading does help, but if for whatever reason, a parent can't do it, the child can still do well - it's not essential.

Haven’t RTFT but urgh, as a teacher, I hate reading records and really don’t think they encourage reading at all. Either they read or they don’t- how is writing it down in a notebook going to inspire them to do the reading? Basically: an empty reading record does not prove the child is not reading, and, vice verse, a full reading record does not prove a child is reading. I have had children in my class clearly getting carried away with listing books they haven’t read...and I want to say ‘don’t worry, I think this is a joke too.’

Tl;dr: can we please BAN READING RECORDS, they are depressing joy suckers with no benefit in terms of a child’s reading or enjoyment.

This is an interesting thread. A couple of people have said what their children's reading age is - out of nosiness, how do you know this? I know the levels of books my son brings home but I wasn't aware that this corresponded to specific ages.

The general guide seems to be 3 book bands a year. So if they are on level 12 in Yr1, they are ahead. There are tests you can do as well though.

Interestingly, I agree Voice that some of the kids I know have been free reading for ages are not engaging as well with the books as ones who are a little further behind.

how old are biff chip and kipper for btw? totally misses point of thread

High five Lemon Please come and teach my DS!

One of my kids is an extremely reluctant reader - it's like dragging him through treacle getting him to read. But his school have just started a tally chart competition in each year group where they get a tally each time they practice at home. He's gone from being forced to asking to read, cos he's so hungry to win whatever prize it is that they're offering. I thought it was a really good idea because it rewards effort and consistency. Maybe you could suggest it at school?

What a load of rubbish - no record in the reading book means just that - the parents have not written anything in the reading record nothing more nothing less. It does not mean the child has not read at home.

we read with our child regularly but never filled in the reading record and rarely read the awful books sent home from school.

If this means the school does not realise we read with our child at home ....why would we care???? What matters us what we do not what a school thinks we do.

Absolutely can back up @voiceofreason. I was a very reluctant reader, struggled immensely, had no engagement, quite frankly “this house has s red roof” was a pointless waste of my time. My son can talk in-depth about a story and often comes up with better stories about the characters than that in the book. I only really startled to read at age 7 when I found an interesting book )Malory towers). Loved reading since, left school with the top a level grades in the school, got an llb from a red brick and 2professonal qualifications. Early reading has very little correlation to long term academic ability. I think in the early years comprehension of the story and characters is far more indicative of underlying intelligence rather that a mechanical ability to read. Teach children to enjoy stories, love the creative process, reading will come

What matters us what we do not what a school thinks we do.

god forbid you would communicate with a teacher who tries to teach your child. As I said above, I write the bare minimum in the reading book. I just dislike this attitude of seeing a school as the enemy. If you really hate school that much, why do even send your kids there in the first place

Shasta trinity

Our children went for a year and attitudes like this is exactly why we now HE

I suspect arsing phonics doesn't help. Most parents won't have learned to read that way themselves.

Dc1 never really used phonics. He picked up reading v quickly.He's 8 andsince he started reading chapter books, I've rarely heard him read. Dc2 relies on phonics to decode. We're still listning to her. My kid's school use active learn, but I have my reservations cos it's v interactive and doesn't really encourage reading stamina-which high school kids already lack.

Basecamp21
good!

Teachers are people, good or bad, but if you have already decided that's it's "them" vs "us" before you even started, they are fighting a losing battle trying to help your kids. It's better for everybody not to bother.

Bit off topic, and I normally loathe (over) testing for kids, but am interested to keep an eye on where DS is at - are there test I can do to gently see how quickly or not he is progressing?

I did ask one of the teachers how often do you test reading ability? They were bit vague! 'Two or three times a year I think.'

DS is years behind, not just a bit - so this year I'd like to track.

No disrespect to his teachers - who have (generally - there have been a few I could cheerfully beat over the head with my handbag) been good eggs. Just don't think they always have time, I have 1 child rather than 27 to think about.

Interestingly, I agree Voice that some of the kids I know have been free reading for ages are not engaging as well with the books as ones who are a little further behind I think this is true in many cases. I have 4 kids, two read within what you would expect, one was a very early read and one was late, started to get it at about 8 instead of 4 or 5. Of the two "average" readers for want of a better word one never reads a book and the other reads a bit. The early reader reads in connection with work and trash (don't know if they are ever going to grow out of trashy love stories) the late reader was the one who did A level English lit and reads all the time, has a demanding job but manages an average of 3 books a week, anything from the classics to biographies, technical books etc.

I wonder if anyone has ever researched this, maybe holding off reading is a good idea. I certainly found working with the 8 to 11 year olds was really rewarding as some had been feeling failures for 4 years and at some point took off and loved it.