AIBU school library

[QuickThinkOfAName]

Old timer but name changed as I don't want to be linked as the situation is quite unique. Cancel the cheque spangran etc.

I just want to know if i'm being unreasonable. DD is 6 and just started year 2 in an infant school (so this is her last year here).

Not a stealth boast honest but she learnt to read when she was 3 so when she started school she was labelled a 'free reader' so instead of being given 'green' 'red' or 'rainbow' coloured books to read at home she could choose whatever she liked from the library. Fine in reception. Now however she's 6 and frankly there are only 2 fiction books in there that I've seen that are in an way challenging (and I don't even think they should be in the library as they're adult books!)

I've spoken to his teacher before (deputy head, highly experienced etc) and I said i was concerned she was being left to choose her own books and thought she needed guidance to make sure she was being challenged/getting the right level. And she said, well that's her challenge isn't it, to make sure she gets the right book.

I feel like I'm going mad as it's like banging my head against a wall! I don't have a problem with her being given 'a choice' etc but she's effectively been put in charge of her own reading education.

• Just because she has the reading age of an 11 year old or whatever, doesn't mean she has the emotional intelligence of one, she's 6! I don't think she should be responsible for her reading education.
• It's a different life skill being taught to choose appropriately and being able to read. I'd be happy if she had free roam of the library to choose AS WELL as being given something level appropriate.
• There's just not much in there for her level. I appreciate they're not going to have much but I've asked for what sort of level she's at so we can get stuff for her at home and they've been very dismissive.

Am I BU? She is an experienced teacher but I just feel a bit like because she's ticked all the boxes of skills to be learned they're just letting her coast. (Apologies this is a massive post...)

I would consider having DD write her own book. Avid readers make writers. A few lines a night with characters speech bubbles etc. Toni Morrison said that if there is a book you'd like that doesn't exitst just write it. No age limits. Will provide a space for her to get excited about language plot etc.

I have tried these with various readers over the years and they LOVE it.

Leeds2 - she's currently reading a lot of Asterix (that would be DH's influence...) and The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.

I never throw books away so yes when the time comes and DD's little sister has finished with them they will all be donated very happily. I hate to see books go to waste.

Grasspigeons - thank you. Yes that's completely it. We always talk about books and discuss what the characters did/said/meant. And I think that's where she's most interested. You can tell she doesn't engage with the school ones as her answers are all monosyllabic whereas books she enjoys she will spin off into what might have happened next etc.

Cheerymom - that's a brilliant idea, thank you! Yes she did a bit of writing over the holidays and loved it!

I've read some extracts from what people would say are KS2 books with KS3/4 students and the benefit was discussion prompts. Equally I've used picture books with year 9.

I think too much emphasis is put on being a 'top reader' 'advanced reader' in primary and then in secondary we end up having students who zone out on reading.

For an able reader I would advise:

• reading a full range of genres, not just what's in their comfort zone
• reading non fiction as well as fiction (especially useful the way the new GCSEs are heading. A grounding in non fiction will help lay foundations)
• look at KS2 reading lists online, many have a synopsis so you can judge what youd be happy with
• short stories by classic authors can also be quite enjoyable
• lots of discussion when sharing books
• encourage creative play/responses at home e.g. drawing scenes from books, story writing notebook

I would also be focusing on the engagement element through discussions about the text as there's a danger that she starts associating speed of reading with being a good reader / that a quick read must be a sign of a boring book and then you lose the engagement.
I can speed read a GCSE text easy and follow the plot, but I wouldn't have stepped back and reflected or thought about the characters or empathise etc.

Thank you MaisyPops - that's all so useful. I really appreciate it.
And yes, totally get the speed reading thing. We try not to encourage it.

In our school they link reading books to language work. So although a child may be able to read fluently at 6, the language work is done alongside the reading to ensure that there is full comprehension of the language structure, grammar and thematic concepts of the book. So what language work is being done with your daughter to ensure that she is learning not just how to read words, but how to build words, sentences and sentences and how to identify themes and concepts?

It is frustrating when schools don't support all of their children. I would ask the school/local authority specifically if they have a gifted pupil policy. Do they have individual learning plans in place for other children with additional needs - as this is what your child has.

just a thought - would she like First News? my children get it, its a weekly newspaper for 7-14 year olds, so some of its quite grown up but it might make a change from fiction books
also Blue Peter do a book award - I think the children read and rank books and my children enjoyed reading through the reading list of that.

We use accelerated reader - this website is useful for identifying books that may be age appropriate for your child. I would also say that you know your child best and what they can handle in terms of thematic appropriateness. My 6 year old boy could have absolutely dealt with the first Harry Potter. At that age he also loved Danny Wallace, David Walliams, Enid Blyton, etc.

Accelerated Reader

Happy to help QuickThinkOfAName.

Another poster has mentioned First News, i'd agree on that. You can also get The Day as well (I think that's what it's called).

Another option could be to see if school could buy a set of the shortlist for a children's book award and able readers could read the Carnegie shortlist and make a display on their reviews. It's a nice project and not labour intensive for staff at all (in my experience). If you're lucky then the PTA sometimes funds the books.

Just realised past posts make me sound like a teacher - when i say "we" I mean at my child's school.....

As a suggestion for books for her - have you tried looking at some of the classic childrens books like wind in the willows, the railway children, swallows and amazons series, the secret garden, Alice in wonderland, Peter Pan, what Katie did etc. They might have more challenging language and writing without being adult themes.

She's reading the Hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy at age 6!! And you're concerned about her access to unsuitable material?! Have I misunderstood?

There are hundreds and hundreds of suitable books for her age group. Far more than there ever were when we adults were younger.

It seems odd that they don't have a bunch of easy reading, text heavy books. I was reading stuff like the Worst Witch at that age and my Y2 book corner had plenty of stuff at that level. Is she really the only one at her level?
Once we'd learnt to read no one fed us specific books though. If you have the cash I'd look in charity shops. If not libraries will generally do free reservations on a children's ticket so I'd go abd order a bunch of I could get to the local library.

@QuickThinkOfAName

Something that stuck out for me was that you won't get anything that takes less than 2 hours to read as it's too easy..... I don't understand that logic. I can name you 10 adult fiction books rights now that take me less than 2 hours to read as they are small books, but are wonderfully written. Small books don't mean children's books. Plenty of amazing, critically acclaimed writing is short.

She can read short books. If I were you, if simply choose from the 8-12 section of the bookshop. There will be very little in there with themes a 6 year old would find inappropriate. There's really no need to push the teacher for educational reading. As long as the teacher is covering all the grammar your daughter needs, then the reading can really be anything. Avoid the 5-7 year old stuff if it is to simple, but don't just avoid things because they are short.

School libraries are usually poorly stocked because there isn’t enough money to buy decent books.
Any money that does come in is often spent on value packs of books in order to get more quantity wise.
I can’t even find a book I want to read to my class in ours. I bring one in from home.
My son doesn’t pick books from school, we sort out what he reads at home. We go to the library or buy them, often from charity shops.

I agree school should be supporting her but surely you just take suitable books in from home/public library?

Off the top of my head the following are far more suitable and appropriate than hitchikers

Michael morpurgo - most fine but I wouldn't have done private peaceful for example at that age
Georges Secret key to the universe series
Atticus Claw series
Mr Gum series
How to train your dragon series
The runaway Troll books
Small change for Stuart
Big Change for Stuart
My Brother's a superhero
Charlie Bone series
Hugo Cabret
Spiderwick chronicles
Lemony snickett is probably to scary at the moment

I could go on and on - There are literally hundreds

DancingDot - Oh that's a very good point about being linked to language. I remember in reception they basically said they need to bring up her language to match her reading (which I took to mean they did nothing with her reading in the hope that her language skills gradually caught up). I think that's what frustrates me the most.

Re the gifted pupil policy - this is laughable. In reception we all had a letter asking if we thought our child was talented. There was a list of questions to answer: can they memorise in great detail, musically talented etc. And we wrote back saying yes we thought she had something - when she is focused on something she absorbs everything about it.

At four she memorised the underground map (still have no idea why!) and could tell you what station was on what line, how to get from one station to another and what lines to use and then really useless information like which stations have plastic eagles on them to frighten pigeons.

Nothing happened. So we saw the Gifted Pupil lead (who has since left) that parent's evening. She listened to what we had to say and then said, Oh I've seen DD doing PE, I think she has a problem with her coordination.

And then when we asked what the form was about and if there was anything the school could do to advance her she said, Oh no, I don't deal with reception pupils. I look after musically gifted children. So that was that.

This book finder from The Book Trust might be of help:

www.booktrust.org.uk/books-and-reading/bookfinder/

Maybe it'll give her some ideas of the sort of thing she might like to choose.

GrassPigeons and DancingDots - thanks for the First News suggestion! Looking it up now.

cloudtree - thanks for the list. But as I said, we're not allowed to bring in books from home.

Also DD has read a lot of those and loved them. She chose Hitchhiker's Guide and is really enjoying it so I'm not going to stop her. What's wrong with Hitchhiker's guide? I know her and know what she is comfortable reading.

Spacezombies - sorry perhaps I worded that wrongly. Her tendency if she's not enjoying something is to zip through it and just not let anything sink in. Maybe it's not the two hour thing - but we can tell when she's not really engaging with something and it's usually because it's just too easy.

Hitchhikers is a great book - for 13 year olds

There are sexual references, swearing etc. Plus its quite sophisticated. Have you read it recently?

Do you set her questions for the books she is reading? To make sure he is absorbing sentence structure, correct grammar etc.

The same sort of questions they ask in their reading books in school. Like, what do you think will happen next based on the information given, is this character bad or do you think they are helping... questions to make her really think about the characters and their actions. As well as questions about subject or sentence, action of the sentence etc.

If the school aren't giving her a reading book with comprehension questions then you can do that with the books she is reading.

Can't you buy a load of 'suitable' books from a local charity shop and donate them to the school library.

Seconding Accelerated Reader, even if the school doesn't use the AR program (it's expensive, and needs money spending on library resources). Click on the link DancingDot gave, to here. It doesn't matter which option you choose from the first page, but then choose Advanced Search. Set Interest Level to Lower Years and ATOS Book Level to about 3.0 to 6.0 then choose topics and fiction/non-fiction as you wish.

ATOS Book Level is the difficulty of the book. Renaissance Place are a bit cagey with information but I've heard it corresponds roughly with the year and month of an American school grade, so a book at 3.4 is the level that a child in the fourth month of third grade would be expected to be able to read. If your daughter finds lower-level books very easy you can refine the search to give you more difficult ones.

"Eccentrica Gallumbits, did you ever meet her? The triple breasted whore of Eroticon Six? Some people say her erogenous zones start some four miles from her actual body. Me, I disagree, I say five."