AIBU to write this in DD’s reading record?

[BikeRunSki]

I did not make DD read all of this book. In her words it is “Stupid, boring and poop”. She read the first and last chapters, and a few pages of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone instead.

I didn’t write this, but she asked me to. She’s 6/Y2 and the school reading scheme is seriously putting her off reading.

The fact that you even considered writing that is astounding. Kudos for her enjoying HP though

Damn straight I brag about my children. Two of them are, like Floppy, fucking liabilities at times so I need to big up their word consumption! :o (

taratill the smallbeast loves it when stuff goes wrong. He has ASD, and doesn’t always get it when things aren’t supposed to be quite as funny as he finds them.

I can’t wait until he discovers the faux-ORT posts on Facebook when he’s older (he’s only in y2). He’ll howl and assume they’re legit! :o

I wrote in my DS' book diary that he needed more challenging books from school, they reassessed him and moved him up 2 levels. I've never been precious about his education and think hes a genius - he isn't - but if they want the children to enjoy reading then they need to make sure the appropriate books are being provided.

Just write a note along the lines of 'please can DD be provided with more challenging books'. Jobs a good 'un.

I had this with my eldest, but didn't resort to that. We did put a note in the reading record to say she was finding the books very easy and had a word with the teacher. In the end I went down the route of it being a life lesson to learn that sometimes you have to do stuff that is boring and too easy. We carried on encouraging her reading the more interesting books at the same time.

She does understand the HP book. She wouldn’t understand the later ones, but brginning of the first one is pretty straightforward if you know the story.

I'm intrigued by this. If she has to know the story to follow it, then surely she is not understanding it as it is written.

Re. the earlier question of would I take the same attitude to GCSEs that I do to SATs (namely that SATs are a pile of shite) - no, because GCSEs will actually matter for DS's future. SATs do not - the only people affected by his SATs results will be his school. My challenge as a parent is to prevent the run up to his SATs destroying his natural curiosity about the world, enthusiasm for reading, love of puzzle solving in maths, replacing all of this with an attitude that school is just about mindless drudgery.

Funnily enough pretty much every teacher I know feels exactly the same way about SATs. Don't get me wrong, I really feel sorry for year 5 and 6 (English system) teachers having to preside over this pointless educational sausage factory. Fortunately, looking round secondary schools has given me some hope that there is light at the end of the tunnel and that things may pick up in year 7.

Seriously though, if the system is having this effect on parents like me (ambitious for my child, very well educated myself, with considerable experience of teaching myself, albeit adults in university, with a love of learning and more books in the house than I know what to do with), think what it's doing for kids from less fortunate backgrounds, rather than blithely saying "ooh, you're one of those precious parents who expects the system to bend round your precious child." I'm not - I'm a parent who can see when an aspect of the educational system is broken.

This isn't the fault of teachers - this is the fault of fucking idiots like Michael Gove. But SATs are still a pile of shite.

I’d start by checking with her teacher that she’s on the right reading band. She might need a bit of help with comprehension and need to drop down a band or two. She might be finding it boring because she’s struggling to follow it.

If she’s still describing things as ‘poop’ I’d say her school reading book sounds about the right level of maturity for her. My 6 yr old DD stopped describing things as ‘poop’ at about 3. HTH.

It’s not like the result of the ks1 reading paper actually counts for anything anyway since it’s the teacher assessment that’s reported not the reading paper.

I think it’s quite unlikely that reading books that interest her at home and just paying lip service to the school book she doesn’t like is going to end up in her refusing to do a piece of work her teacher asks her to do though.

Never challenged any of the books. My kids just read what they want at home.

@FermatsTheorem - the best thing about SATs is that when we get new yr 7s in my secondary school we don't actually do much with the results- they do CATs and a load of baseline assessments which go towards setting them and SATs are there in the background but there is usually a disdain towards them as we know there is a big variation in how they are delivered. In terms of streaming for GCSEs it's obviously all about performance in the first 3 years of secondary - so SATs are useful for approx the first half term before setting, if that.
And there are a surprising number of kids who don't do them so schools don't marr their results...

Ive put two DC through primary school and never written a single comment in reading records. I don’t need homework thanks teacher!

I challenged one book that came home where there was a character constantly falling over things and wasn't that funny tee hee. Took it back to school the following morning and said I did not want that in my house and it was one they might want to look at. My other child was mid diagnosis for DCD at the time so I still think my stance on refusing to complete that book was completely appropriate, raised in a calm, balanced measure and I hope school at least took a second look at the book in question.

No, but I wouldn’t write that, I’d just write what she has read and leave a little note to say she didn’t enjoy the other book, I have and will do it again, I’ve also written in her homework book that “despite encouragement, DD did not wish to complete her homework this week”

Never had any come back from it

Sounds like a stealth boast to me.

Thanks Pingu.

They also serve another inadvertent purpose (I'm choosing secondary schools at the moment) - you can ask the school whether they set on the basis of SATs results, and if they say yes, then that's a mark in the minus column! (Actually I'm finding the whole process of school choice interesting - schools reveal a lot more to you than they realise, I'm finding, just through odd throw-away remarks. I've also been primed by friends, one of whom is an ed psych and former teacher, and the other a former Ofsted inspector, on what questions to ask... [need for evil grin emoticon])

I am trying to de-stress the small boy as much as possible about them, but he's an (over) sensitive wee thing at times, so it's quite hard to keep having to calm him down and say "no, they don't matter for you, yes, just do the best you can but honestly it doesn't matter, yes I know yet another past paper is a boring way to spend a Saturday afternoon but just do your best, no really the result doesn't matter..."

Me and DC loved Biff, Chip and Kipper. And Harry Potter. And Milly Molly Mandy etc etc. It doesn’t have to be either/or.

I'm quite sad (issues of phonic decodability aside) we missed out on much Biff Chip and Kipper... apart from Kipper's Shoelaces which I would have rewritten as "Kipper couldn't tie shoelaces... while he was learning his mum bought velcro shoes... the teacher was happy, Kipper was happy, Floppy was happy as he dismembered Kipper's lace up Nikes. The End."

Seriously doubt the school reading books are putting your child off reading. My 3 loved reading youngest now 13 was reading books from a very young age. The school had the awful Buff and Chip books well I hated them but she had to read them. The school encouraged the children to read anything from magazine children newspaper library books whatever. The more she reads the school books the higher she will go up and before you know it she will be off the school books and be on chapter books.

Yes you are. It makes you sound like a dick, and you're teaching your daughter to be one too. Sorry.

I’m sure a diplomatic comment is enough.

Seriously use this to help her improve her reading skills and build up her vocabulary too. Also look at it as a chance to have a chat about why she hates the book she has to read. It will also allow you to try to get her to essentially develop her discussion skills.

It’s important so that she understands what she is reading. Is this comprehension work or not? I personally think that it’s a vital part of learning to read fluently. Can you talk with her teacher tomorrow or via email or not? Explain politely what is happening at home. If the reading record is not checked frequently then you should get in contact with the teacher.

No you’d be a bloody tool to write that. As others have said, just write “she didn’t enjoy the book do we read Harry Potter instead”

Write it in her book if you want to look silly. But I would take a different approach - the school just want to get the kids reading, so they set up a scheme they think will fire up the majority. If it doesn't work for her find something that engages her and explain that she is doing this a little differently.

My daughter used to be friends with a girl who’s mother made it known to all others her daughter was super bright . They weren’t friends long as she turned into a bit of a bully and threw strops when she couldn’t get her own way . Just be careful your daughter doesn’t pick up on your ‘my child is brilliant’ attitude otherwise you will end up with worse problems later on in school . Teachers are not stupid, they will pick up on the ones who need to be pushed and not pestered by pushy parents . Their job is hard enough ..........