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.

Yep Disabrie22 ; stealth boast was what I thought too.

ORT are dire. Floppy’s phonics and songbirds are OK in terms of the early stages. But the later stages are ridiculously formulaic in terms of Vocab and sentence structure. They’re notorious for some children having difficulty moving off the scheme and having trouble reading real books because of it.

I do think there are children who read ‘advanced’ books more for the praise it receives than for pure enjoyment

This. I’m a volunteer reader at school and the amount of kids that plough their way through difficult books and then sit there looking blank when you ask them a question on it is scary. I’m always tempted to write ‘Jonny found this book very challenging and didn’t understand any of it’ but I might not be asked to listen again.

There are also children capable of reading advanced books early.

I spent most of my childhood hiding the books i was reading. I learned to read before i went to school- probably because i had disciplinarian parents who expected small children to be able to sit still for extended periods. 3 hour train journeys, through adult meals, in airports etc. So i must have taught myself to read out of sheer boredom.

As young as 5 or 6 I thought comprehension tests idiotic. I was given a sheet of paper with questions, then given another sheet of paper with the answers on. What sort of test was that?! And i always wanted to read the rest of the story the passage was extracted from.

I probably read books inappropriate for my age as i wasn’t allowed access to books a few years older, so I raided adult bookshelves, read the readers digest, anything i could get my hands on.

I was punished countless times. I was once given 20 mins to read 3 pages which took me less than 5 so i finished the book. Teacher caught me flipping back and punished me. I had chapter books removed and replaced with peter and jane. I never read roald dahl or enid blyton as by the time i was given them i was way past them and on to my mums old boarding school tales and horsey stories.

For a long time books were a secret to be hidden for fear of punishment. I grew to love those long journeys as i could buy a new book and read in peace.

Irony is once I got to gcse teaching methods changed and i was simply given books and told to write essays. I was never taught to interpret themes or look to politics etc. So literature passed me by. One of my favourite books is to kill a mocking bird, as that year we had a fantastic substitute teacher who taught is the history of the deep south and really brought the book to life.

I've held my eldest back from pushing toward thicker and thicker books until I was sure she was reading with good understanding. There've been a few points where I've been thinking "you cannot possibly be accurately reading that" and then I've been greeted with a perfect summary of the plot points. I just see no point in racing to be waving around Harry Potter on the school playground - DD1 could read it now and understand it, the problem being she COULD understand it and it would be bad dreams and trouble at bedtime for weeks. I know at some point this year the other parent in the class with a reader the same level to ours is going to basically start pushing Harry Potter onto her child for bragging rights and peer pressure is likely to make mine want to follow suit and I really am hoping to put that off as long as possible (while the earlier books are OK - the themes do get incredibly dark towards the end of the series... I lost the will to live when they were faffing about between horcruxes and adolescent angst).

The worst I've had to endure (it was a school where what the parents wanted they got and teachers just had to grit teeth and roll with it while searching the job ads) was a parent who insisted their 10 year old was more than capable of reading Lord of the Rings and wanted to spend the entire year being listened to read droning through it. Tolkien's prose is not the easiest to read for an adult reader, and for a 10 year old, just decoding it and plodding through it without any understanding at all it was terrible. If there's ever a way to turn a kid off books for life it was that. Poor kid as well - it was right when the films came out so after all his laborious plodding - his mates went to see the film and completely spoilered it all for him in the end anyway!

End fwiw, dc2 did read Lord of the Rings when he was in Y5.
He chose the book and read it 3 times.
He always has struggled to read books that he enjoyed. He enjoyed that one so I just let’s him be (whilst wondering how he wasn’t failing asleep reading it. I’ve never managed to finished it myself!)
The books he enjoyed were more adult type of books, not even the young adult ones. (Very hard to find some that are suitable for subject and maturity though)

A couple of years later, he did some assessment that put his reading age at over 19yo. He was 11yo.

So no I’m actually not surprised at children reading HP in Y2 or Lord of the Rings in Y5.
Some children ARE just advanced and confortable with more complex stories/subjects.
I think it’s time to stop automatically dismissing parents when they say their dc can do x and y.
As that Y5 teacher learnt. Or the current Dc1 teachers (the ‘oh no way he will be able to do xx. He isnt mature enough’ is moving to ‘oh he CAN do that then....’)

Sorry it shouod have been
Dc2 struggles to find books he enjoyed, not read

Maybe missing the point here somewhat, but if you are going to read Harry Potter with her, why just the first and last chapters? There is a whole load of story in the middle! Following the characters through their adventures, and experiencing the ups and downs of the story, is pretty much the whole point of middle-grade books... Not sure how you can appreciate the end properly without the middle?

DD was off the reading scheme at 6 in year 1. Ask if your DD can come off the reading scheme and choose a book from the school library instead. DD read loads of Roald Dahl and some Michael Morpurgo.

Yeah write it if you want to confirm to the teacher how rude you and your daughter are. Who reads the first and last chapters of a book by the way? Perhaps just send her to university next year and be done with it.

if you are going to read Harry Potter with her, why just the first and last chapters?

She read the first and last chapters of the boring, easy book.

ORT is great and serves a purpose which is enabling children with early, low level reading skills to read a book successfully. It's the structure and predictability which allows this. It's not aimed at children who are already skilled readers and most children will have transitioned to a more varied scheme or early 'free reader' books by the time they are six or seven. It's also not designed to be the only books your children see- surely most parents read a variety of styles of book to their children? I have worked with lots of reading schemes over the years, and ORT is one of the best and tried and trusted. At one time there was a fad for only using 'real books' to teach children to read- needless to say it wasn't as successful as the scheme and children made slower progress as a result.

I agree with PP, the school reading books are meant to be quick, easy books you read at home to aid comprehension and expression. You can read more interesting books in your own time with your children. I think I was the only one in DC1's class who wasn't constantly moaning for their reading level to go up.

I don't see the point - I just describe to the teacher how they read it (e.g. read very fluently with great expression and understanding or struggled with a few words or whatever) and they can choose when to go up. At home we just read whatever the DC fancy (as long as it's not inappropriate or so difficult they can't enjoy the story). If she's in Y1 she'll soon be free reading anyway. I do think lots of parents want the bragging rights of a high reading level (or to have their DC's brilliance at reading acknowledged).

If you can go and speak to the teacher in person. They are humans too, I am a teacher and a parent. I spoke to my child's teacher this term and said she was struggling with the class reading books but enjoying choosing a range of books from home and library. The teacher asked that we read one school book a week and then 'whatever the hell she liked' (said with a smaller and a whispered voice).
She asked that we try to include a graphic novel (comic book) and non fiction every so often.

Teachers are WAYYYYYY more sick of those reading books than you, trust me, they understand.,

Struggling meaning , finding them dull as dish water!

I’m hoping my reading comprehension is off because.. Am I really seeing teachers and ta’s on here saying that they wouldn’t change a child’s reading book if the parent hasn’t signed the diary?? That just seems so unfair on the poor child who’s probably already at a disadvantage anyway .

We're in year 1 and still gwtting Biff, Chip & Kipper.

Is it me or are all of the Magic Key books pretty much the same few stories told over and over again with differwnt characters? SO BORING!

Someone please tell me they end soon!!!!!

Boasting that your six year old is far too advanced for Biff and Chip and would in fact prefer to read something aimed at children at least three/four years older. Does that make you sound like a wanker? Yes yes it does...

Just write “DD read a few pages but preferred to read a book from home” and stop being an arse. No one cares how advanced you believe your precious DC is.

There was no boasting 🙄

I’m hoping my reading comprehension is off because.. Am I really seeing teachers and ta’s on here saying that they wouldn’t change a child’s reading book if the parent hasn’t signed the diary?? That just seems so unfair on the poor child who’s probably already at a disadvantage anyway sad

Nope, you understood perfectly. Take the parents actions out on the “chn”. So the “chn” with engaged, proactive parents have yet another advantage over those whose parents may not give a shit, or may be working or single parents where filling in a book maybe one task too many.

Cracking teaching. Glad our school wasn’t like that.

I dunno its honest and it's her words.

Not read thread but the reading scheme is clunky and several times has nealry killed off reading in a very bookish house.
I think it needs more common sense with avid readers I really do.

Not bragging rights here but time issues.

A child who is avid reader being held back reading books way way way below their ability is a sheer waste of time.
My dd was reading lemony snicket in year 2 her reading level was ridiculous. It had zero to do with ability and everything to do with teachers having to show dc being improved.

I think it needs more common sense with avid readers I really do

Not just the avid readers. Like i said up thread mine were reluctant and the reading scheme would have killed off any interest they did show.

Time and patience. One, now a teen, enjoys books but still prefers facts and figures to stories, and has to look hard for genres she enjoys. The other, just starting secondary, has turned into an avid reader and is methodically working her way through the bookshelves.

Neither got the hang of reading until year 3/4. But it made no difference long run, except not forcing biff et al every night meant they did learn the pleasure in reading, eventually.

My DD struggles with reading so she is on the reading scheme and happily working her way through it. It works well for her - even better now the dreaded biff chip and kipper are out of our lives.
I'm surprised by how many people are commenting about kids being kept on reading schemes when they're good readers. I was also a really good reader early on, learned to read when I was 3 or 4 and had a reading age of 15.5 when I started year 3. I was sent straight to the school library to read whatever I wanted and I loved and devoured books as a child. It's obviously not that uncommon so it's surprising to hear it wasn't the case for people both talking as parents and of their children's experiences.

My son disliked the school books as they were easy and boring. I spoke to his teacher and they said as long as he reads enjoys it and it's age appropriate he could read anything. He reads above his age level so we go to the local library to get books that aren't easy or boring.
Speak to the teachers they do help.