Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Protection built in.

Meet the Other Phone.
Protection built in.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To want more than 1 book per week.

167 replies

mealychump · 16/10/2019 21:34

Am hoping you can tell me if IABU or not before I go in and see my DS's teacher.

DS has just turned 5 (august baby) and has started Year 1 at a new school since we moved house.

He had a really slow start to reception and it took him ages to start reading. Initially I wasn't worried as he was only 4, but everyone else started to pick it up and he seemed to struggle. His then teacher wasn't that worried but he didn't reach the expected level by the end of reception. He finished on red books (just about) but had been on pink for ages.

New school put him straight on red books, thats all fine and i'm happy. Suddenly, it's starting to click. Slowly but surely he's getting it and making some progress. However, at his new school they only change the reading books once a week! So we are only getting one new book a week. We read it a few times but I really think he needs more than this to make better progress and help him to catch up.

His previous school gave him a book every day or every other day, I thought that was the norm! I want to go and discuss this with his teacher and see what she suggests. But before I go in and ask for multiple books a week, I wanted to hear what other schools do. If his previous school was a real anomaly with lots of books per week then I guess I have to accept I might be stuck going through this at snails pace. How on earth though, is a slightly struggling reader supposed to progress if they only get one bloody book a week!?

Other than pestering school for more books, is there anything I can do?

OP posts:
Patchworksack · 16/10/2019 22:54

We get a new book when they've read three times. They have now sussed which kids read every day and give them two books on Monday to last the week. We're both bored by the third reading but I can see the benefit of increased fluency from repeating the book. It might be as simple as asking what the procedure iis to get it changed. In my experience it's difficult to find reading scheme books for the first levels in the library - there is more on offer once they get going a bit with early readers.

ArtisanPopcorn · 16/10/2019 22:58

I get biff & chip and Songbirds books from the library for DD (also yr 1). Sometimes have to reserve them from another library but they arrive at my local library within a few days.

KevinsCarter · 16/10/2019 22:59

Just read at home. Any book. Jelly and Bean were nice at red/yellow level. Biff and Chip get a bit boring.

dontcallmeduck · 16/10/2019 22:59

We get books of the same reading level from the library. That way it’s different characters and stories but the same level of words

ReanimatedSGB · 16/10/2019 23:03

We got to the point where DS kept getting the same book again and again. So I had a word with the teacher, who said that they only had so many books at that level (Four. Four fucking books supposedly to last him two terms. We were both sick to death of them...). I asked if we could just read what we had at home and she agreed.

SoftSheen · 16/10/2019 23:03

YANBU.

At my children's school books are changed as often as children want to. In Reception/Year 1, that can easily be 5 books a week. As long as each child only has one book at a time, this doesn't impact on resources.

Yestermo · 16/10/2019 23:17

We had a similar issue. We used the easy Dr Seuss books
(They are ordered) we all preferred them and really helped

caringcarer · 16/10/2019 23:18

We bought the Oxford Reading Tree books on The Book Club for really cheap prices. They go up in bands and have about 8 books on each level so you go over the same words in different context. The stories are often funny. You can get them at a library or buy them and read and then sell on on ebay.

user1573334 · 16/10/2019 23:22

All of those saying join a library are missing the point. He needs to move up the reading scheme he is on. He can't do that by reading different scheme books. Most schools at this stage of reading need too to read all of them so you don't miss out any sounds/stages.

One book per week is really really poor. My dd's school changed every day if they had been read, my DD was in year 1 last year and in exactly the same boat, summer born, slow to catch on with reading but when she started making big strides with it I wanted to catch her up quickly, the teacher was supportive of this and would send her home with 2 or 3 books for the weekend. Now in year 2 and it's 3 books a week, but the books take much longer to read so it's a stretch to manage that sometimes. At the stage your DS he's at with these short books he needs more than one a week.

If you look on other schools websites it often says how often their reading books are changed in different years. Have a look round locally. See if you can find examples to show the teacher. Many that I've seen say they change books daily or 3 times a week.

RachelEllenR · 16/10/2019 23:27

My year one child gets two at a time. As they are easy for her and she's keen so reads them both every night they get changed 3 or so times a week so she has about 6 but I expect that to go down to 4 or so when she's moved up a level. We also have the songbirds and read at home Biff, Chip and Kipper books she reads. In reception they had two books a week.

One a week isn't much and I'd definitely supplement (and write down that you have in his book).

MyShinyWhiteTeeth · 16/10/2019 23:30

I think you need to be a bit more proactive because he's struggled a bit. I always supplemented my daughters reading material and we read together every night when she was younger. She could read well but struggled with comprehension so she was stuck for a while on the same level.

Some parents race through a school reading book with their children who have no connection to what they are reading. They are reading the words with no comprehension.

We always talked about what the book was titled, what could it be about? what was happening in the pictures? After we looked through a page we would talk about what we read and ask questions to check comprehension.

The words the book focuses on such as those that are repeated several times or words ending the same bat/cat/that etc. We would go over their spellings and practise doing the letters. We talked about if we liked the book, why was it boring, what would have been more exciting etc.

I got extremely bored of some of the books but my child needed that repetition.

NarwhalsNarwhals · 16/10/2019 23:45

Speak to the teacher. At my school year 1 are meant to change their book themselves and can do so every day if they like, they then put them in a tray with their reading record for me to note down, I will ask if I haven't seen a child's book that week but it takes quite a while to go through them all so I can't chase every child's everyday.

FuriousVexation · 16/10/2019 23:49

When my DS was in Y1 and 2 he struggled a lot with reading. He is dyslexic but his dad blocked him getting a diagnosis (long story).

I'm going back to before the tories got in, but DS basically got a new book every time I sent one back with my comment that we'd finished it. He got a prize at the end of Y2 for the most improved reader

Anyway I just wanted to echo a PP who mentioned Dr Seuss. It's not for every child maybe, but my DS loved everything I could find him. The books which include the illustrations were his favourites as we would read the words and then look at the pictures and play games with them, e.g. "How many X can you see?"

One of the cutest moments of his life was when we went to relatives for Xmas one year and I'd bought him a big hardback of Dr Seuss books, some of which he'd seen before, some he hadn't. I was in the kitchen helping my mum peel spuds etc. Popped my head back round the door and heard DS declaiming to my BIL "That sounds interesting, doesn't it uncle Kevin? How many dinosaurs can you count on this page?"

feeona123 · 16/10/2019 23:50

My daughter is also in year 1 and they have had two books a week since they started reading books this time last year.
Sainsburys have a good range of reading books if you’ up for buying them.
I would be loosing the will to live if we had the same reading book for a whole week!!

mankyfourthtoe · 16/10/2019 23:59

We gave three books on the Monday. Plenty of opportunity to reread them, to solidify learning. And we encouraged little games with them etc

Gillian1980 · 17/10/2019 00:02

Dd is in reception and has 2 reading books per week and a free choice library book. They each get read 2-3 times during the week.

But we read lots of the Biff, Chip & Kipper books, as well as others, at home - 2 every bedtime which we read together.

StroppyWoman · 17/10/2019 00:15

OP, can I offer a word of reassurance? YOur DS is incredibly young. Many countries don't expect children to be able to read until 6 or 7. Your son's decoding will come in the next couple of years and supporting him gently will help him more than trying to get him to "catch up" while he's struggling. He'll develop at his own pace and he'll catch up once is 'clicks' for him.
There's not better way to put a child off reading for life than putting him under pressure and making him feel like reading is a chore and something he's bad at. Let him enjoy reading with you and trust he'll get there.

PanicInAmerica · 17/10/2019 00:17

I don’t think OP realises that you can get children’s books in the library

ineedaholidaynow · 17/10/2019 00:19

When DS first started reading I was probably one of those parents who wanted him to get the next book as soon as he had finished the first one, as we were so excited he could read Blush But we weren’t really thinking about his comprehension skills, so we did slow down a bit!

We got some word games for DS as well which helped with phonics etc. Might be an idea if you can find some OP.

What I sometimes did as well when reading to DS, if I spotted a word in the book that I thought he could decode I would point to it and ask if he could read it. He would then be so happy that he was able to read a ‘big’ book.

Original poster
mealychump · 17/10/2019 00:23

And I don't think PanicInAmerica is particularly good at reading thread updates. Of COURSE I know libraries have children's books!

OP posts:
PanicInAmerica · 17/10/2019 00:40

I’ve read the whole thread, twice, and still see no reason why you can’t go to the library.

EnglishRose1320 · 17/10/2019 00:57

I haven't worked in infants for a few years but we use to give 2/3 books a week based on the idea of reading each 3 times, first time to try the book, second to build confidence and third for fluency.

However please reassure yourself that the absolute best thing at that age is forming a love of books and being read to. So if he only gets 1 book and you do that 3/4 times in the week but you also as you have said read to him then I really wouldn't worry.

From my personal experience I'd say that children that take it slowly often aren't behind by 7 and quite often have a greater understanding of comprehension because they haven't zoomed through learning the sounds faster than they understand the text.

Original poster
mealychump · 17/10/2019 04:53

Sorry PanicInAmerica in which case I refer you directly to some snippets from my 22:31 post.

Ok.

Obviously we read together at home, we have lots of books and we are members of the library, which we used frequently.

We already do use the library.
HOWEVER

I'm talking about specific reading scheme books.
and
He is nowhere near able to read the majority of books
And finally
I have actually looked for some reading scheme books in our local library, there were one or two that were appropriate but not a very wide range.

So that's why in this instance the library isn't quite what I need.

My initial OP was a little confusing perhaps. I don't think all books my child ever experiences should be provided by school. I do expect them however to provide the appropriate books to help my son learn to read. And it seems that actually my school are poor with their current levels of provision when compared to the MN 'norm'.

OP posts:
leeloo1 · 17/10/2019 05:24

In my y1 child's class they change the books when the child has finished them and we write it in their book.

"I'm talking about specific reading scheme books. Sorry if that wasn't clear. Eg books that teach your child how to read. He is nowhere near able to read the majority of books we have at home."

Can I say (as a reception teacher), that easy books are (hopefully) easy to read, they don't teach your child to read, it's the interaction with the adult, or the child realising that words mean something that does that.

I'd second the advice for Dr Seuss - some of them like green eggs and ham only have 50 words and are designed for early readers.

But... I'd bet that your child can read some words in every book you have at home, so 2 ideas to enthuse them about reading and help them get more confident at it:

  • pick a word you know that they know, or want them to know (the, and, I) and every time you get to that word they read it. Build you to two or three words... Or get them to scan ahead "your word is the. I've found one here. (point to it) Can you find one that looks the same as mine?" before you read the page.
  • scan ahead as you turn the page and notice the short phrases or words that they can read and then point to those for your dc to read to you.
This makes them 'part of' reading decent books that they actually want to read.

Op, I hope that's helpful and doesn't come across as patronising as some replies clearly have been and I hope reading 'clicks' for your dc soon.