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.

I'm a TA un year 2 and change the chn's reading books as and when completed. I read parent comments daily. That comment would come across as quite rude to me.
Your child's reading would have been assessed at school for fluency, accuracy and comprehension and the reading stage chosen to reflect that.
I think you should encourage your child to read a book that they find boring. It's only one book and all reading is good. It's a bit defeatist wally when you need to encourage resilience.
I come across several chn that have parents that say they read Harry Potter at home etc. That's great but when I assess them and they can't answer a few questions about the Biff and Chip story they've just read to me, I have to wonder.

ignored the reading record and never filled it in.

That's helpful.

Biff and Chip is horrible.
How you can get children to be interested in reading with those stories is beyond me tbh.

But I can’t quite get this issue on MN with children reading HP.
What’s the problem with reading only the first one and waiting a year to read the second and so on? That’s what we all did when the books came out, slowly, One at the time. It went on for years like this!

Slightly tangential but what do people actually write in reading records?
I think I can answer this as I check 30 reading records every day. Nearly all parents record their child's reading. The most helpful will record whether they found it easy or difficult, any tricky words and whether they could answer any simple questions about the story at the end of the book. I don't change a reading book unless a parent/carer has written a comment so the child so those that don't won't move through the scheme as quick as others that read daily.

so the child so those that don't won't move through the scheme as quick as others that read daily.

Should read:
So those that don't, won't move through the scheme as quickly as others that read daily.

I don't think it should be so hard to find an appropriate book, I manage at home!

I'm amazed anyone could state something like this without the slightest acknowledgement that teacher has to match 30 children to suitable books, not just a scanty few... I could find a book my Ds would like in a trice too, because he is ONE child and the house is stuffed with age appropriate books in a variety of topics I know he likes or will probably like. It's a bit more challenging doing it for the whole class!

Even if it's bloomin' Oxford Reading Tree, ask questions about what they've read. In Y2, kids are often free readers although Rainbow Fairy or Spy Dog books rather than HP! If you read part of it and your child can answer qs then write that in the log. "Read well, with excellent pace and meaning. No tricky words. Could answer questions on the text"
is what you can write if you want your child to go up levels! Add that your child found the book boring, although they usually get to choose their own at that age! If you've been writing that for two weeks, then you can speak to their teacher and ask if they could check the reading level.

People are being very sneery; OP was simply venting here. That’s what the place is for, isn’t it?

If OP’s DD wants to read Harry Potter, why shouldn’t she? This article is quite interesting and actually mentions younger readers tackling Harry Potter:
www.google.com/amp/s/www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/reading-minds/201702/three-myths-about-reading-levels%3famp
(Can somebody tell me how you link on the mobile website?)

On the other hand, I do think there are children who read ‘advanced’ books more for the praise it receives than for pure enjoyment (not suggesting that this is OP’s child!) As a result, it is easy for these children to get into the bad habit of skimming text they don’t fully understand and only properly taking in the more exciting or ‘easy’ bits (e.g. sections with lots of dialogue). Obviously, this then has an impact upon their understanding of the story as a whole.

However, I also know children who have read books far beyond their years, and although they’ve not understood everything, they’ve still gained an awful lot from it and their written English is superb.

So, OP, I’d (politely) ask to dump the current reading books if she doesn’t enjoy them and find something both she and the teacher will be happy with. Good luck!

Oh, and you might find they change once they've been assessed as part of normal September assessment.

I have similar issues with my son who finds some of them banish but they have to go through the motions. I instead recommend he reads it out to his younger cousin to show how mature he is, I write down any books he reads at home in his log so they know what level he is at. They also allow them to pick their own choice of library book which is also logged so it does show what his reading level is. His end of year report also went into detail about how he speed through the reading books and how due to how he helps some of the younger kids in class with their reading. I don't see the point in been nasty about it, at the end of the day teachers have to follow a curriculum and these books are often part of a reading plan etc tied into the curriculum.

I'm a Y2 teacher and every year I get a few parents who are like the OP. They insist their child is too good for the reading scheme books and it is always Harry Potter they turn to instead. For some of them it works out ok but others make less progress in reading and writing as a result. I had a child last year whose parents refused to read the school books and just kept pushing her through the Harry Potters, insisting she understood everything. Then they were horrified to find she only just reached Expected Standard in reading and writing.

If you really want to stretch your daughter, get her to write a review of the book in her reading record explaining why she didn't enjoy it. She might want to use more advanced language than 'poop' though!

LOL rabbit- exactly the same happens in the school I work in. Parents send books back saying 'dd found this book boring and unchallenging- at home she's reading x,y and z', when in fact the child struggles with basic comprehension of the curriculum books we have.

I teach. My girls were also very advanced readers - I'm allowed to say that now because they've graduated and excelled right through school. There is no advantage in reading HP at 6 (personally it bores me and I don't think it's particularly well written).

Enjoy reading with your children but don't challenge them too much all the time - it's the end of the day! I'd rather you read the paper with them or a takeaway menu if they are having fun. Ask questions to check they understand in a fun way. And if they REALLY want to read HP, fair enough I guess.

I’m a reception teacher and due to my 6 year olds child’s reading difficulties I’ve spent the last two years researching reading techniques and we are finally cracking it.
In my opinion the Oxford Reading Tree is perfect - it really covers the phonics in such a thorough way. Only now are we really talking about the context - which is what you need to do to extend your child’s reading. Developing their understanding of setting, characters feelings and making predictions really help advance their literacy.
Harry Potter has been given a reading age of 8 because of the context - not the words.

And sorry OP I don’t want to be mean but I do think
You are stealth boasting.

No its not unreasonable at all. As a primary school teacher, we are just thankful when the parents actually remember to read with their kids doesn't really matter what it is and this would also give us quite a laugh in the staffroom!

What to write in the reading record? Depends how shite and chaotic a day I'm having - if we're in a rush it's "read to mum" or a tick or a smiley face (all perfectly OK in our school). With the eldest who is on the longer chapter books it's often just "read p3-9" and there's a box at the bottom we're meant to note down any unfamiliar words we've come across but the current class teacher just uses for an additional "read to an adult in school" comments box (least it saves a repeat of the point I had to fess up that I had to explain what an "iron" was cos my kids never saw me use one - fessed that one up cos I knew the class teacher would get a laugh out of it).

If it needs a more elaborate "struggled/fluent/didn't understand" type comment it gets one but school realised that parents were struggling with what to put in the damned empty comments boxes and basically just told us - look just put a flipping tick in if you've heard them read if you're worried about writing in it.

I'd love to push DD1's reading... away from fucking Rainbow Fairies though. I don't want her on Harry Potter yet - even though she could read them fluently and with good comprehension as I think she'd struggle with the darker aspects of the content and get panicked about it.

I have one parent that never records anything but expects us to change the book. We don't do that because you get some chn that lie that they have read a book because they can get a bit competitive with their peers about reading stages.

Urgh my DD2 is 6 and in y2 and a very able reader. I’d never have her read HP at her age. She’s seen the film and not really interested though. She likes to read books her y5 sister is reading and when we go to the library she refuses the lovely story books with pictures and opts for the chapter books.

My main issue with my eldest was when she eventually went off scheme we had rainbow fairy books every week so I did write and complain just she should be reading a variety of story types. I also sent a book back in a brown envelope once that was so dated and inappropriate that I was fuming - story about not who’s parents were divorced and lived with mum and dad kept letting him down and not turning up for dad time, something to do with school sports day. After reading the word divorce I put the book away. My ex and I had just split up and we hadn’t discussed divorce with the children or even what the word meant. Even now they don’t really know we are divorced just that we don’t live together and he lives with his girlfriend and heir more recent addition and it’s all very positive.

** story about boy who’s parents were divorced

I'd just put "DD doesn't enjoy this book so she's struggling to read it (confident in what she has read but getting bored of it) so we read a bit of her Harry Potter book instead would it be possible for a change" x

In my opinion the Oxford Reading Tree is perfect - it really covers the phonics in such a thorough way. Only now are we really talking about the context - which is what you need to do to extend your child’s reading. Developing their understanding of setting, characters feelings and making predictions really help advance their literacy

This is all well and good but IMO if you have a child that hates the ORT and simply isn’t interested, then it doesn’t do any good forcing them. That just leads to them hating reading generally and seeing reading as a hated chore, before they can discover the joy of books.

Dd simply didn’t want to. It wasn’t fun, she’d do anything to avoid storytime and bedtime as she knew she’d be subjected to biff and kipper.

Teacher agreed, and gave us other tips to engage her in reading. Bus signs, shop stickers etc. At night i read stories she enjoyed, and she learned that books are fun.

Yes it took her a bit longer to be reading fluently. But like I said by year 4 she was reading fluently and by year 5 there was no difference between her and kids who’d been reading harry potter in reception (and yes, she hates harry potter!)

It's never occurred to me that the books they bring home HAVE to be read. As far as I'm concerned my kids choose what they want to read and either read the words, describe the pictures or we read to them. They've not been interested in Biff, Chip etc so I see no point in reading them. The way I see it if they can read HP or whatever then they can have a good stab at a school reading book when asked. With favourite books my DS memorised them from an early age so it's pointless reading the same school books over and over because that's what happens. We just have to list whenever/whatever our kids read and I'd be massively objecting if I was told they could only read the school readers. How is that encouraging reading? Just list the books your kids read, surely no teacher can complain about that?!

If she can read Harry Potter fluently & understand the content then she should be a free reader & choose her own books. I’ve yet to meet many y2 children who show the maturity to understand Harry Potter. Parents often push their children to read books aimed at older children and they too loose the joy of reading by not understanding what they’re reading.