To want more than 1 book per week.

[mealychump]

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?

They know that "Dad ran. Floppy ran" is boring, and they know that reading them is a chore.

People say that on here a lot, which I find sad. I learnt to read with those books, I have fond memories of Biff, Chip and Kipper, I didn’t find them boring at all I think maybe sometimes parents are the ones projecting that boredom.

@CherryPavlova I LOVED those books. Y Blue Hat, Jenny and Jennifer Yellow Hat. Someone Red Hat. The yellow cat with one white paw. They need to bring the village with three corners back!!!

@CherryPavlova I LOVED those books. Billy Blue Hat, Johnny and Jennifer Yellow Hat. Roger Red Hat. The yellow cat with one white paw. They need to bring the village with three corners back!

They know that "Dad ran. Floppy ran" is boring, and they know that reading them is a chore thats adult failure tho, you can make even those books more interesting if you don't project your boredom

Well, perhaps I am being unfair and 4-5 year olds can find them interesting. But they pick up on their parents' boredom easily enough and a goodly number of those children absorb that reading itself is automatically boring.

Wow I've got a LOT of really unfair criticism here. Suggestions that I barely read with my child or that I shouldn't worry as he is only 5. We read several stores together a night. And yes he's only 5 but being told your 5 year old is not meeting expectations is pretty gutting. So funnily enough, I am worried and I am trying to help.

Hence my question which was simply is it reasonable to think I should I have more than one reading scheme book a week from school. Looks like most children do get more than one. So in short, I'm not unreasonable.

Some posts have been helpful so thanks for that.

I'm not going to come back to this thread now though as quite frankly it's made me feel a bit shitty and like this is all my fault.

Children have been learning to read long before ‘reading schemes’ were invented. Go to the library. Let your child choose some books. Read the books together. That’s how they learn.

I'm not going to come back to this thread now though as quite frankly it's made me feel a bit shitty and like this is all my fault.

I'm sorry to hear that.

FWIW, my abrasive posts have not been aimed at you.

You've posted that there isn't much in the library at your child's current level. I would recommend finding the largest print books in the lowest reading levels they have got, and pointing out the words he can decode, every time there is one. So anything aimed for under-seven, really.

Modern Ladybird books are particular good for this.

I don't think (most) people are trying to attack you, @mealychump, although some posters can be a bit direct. You're not being blamed for your son's reading difficulties but you've systematically ignored a lot of the advice given in favour of just wanting more frequent book changes from the school.

In particular:

a) libraries can order in books through inter-library loan even if your local library doesn't have them in stock. You should be able to get a decent selection of ORT and other early learn to read phonics books through ILL for free.

b) you can use the Libby app to get library loans on your phone even when the physical copy isn't available at the library.

c) any simple child's book will help, it doesn't have to be the phonics scheme. You've said several times that you read to him, which is great, but you could be using story time as well to help him to read the words he can already and decode simple new words - i.e. paired reading between you.

d) you could ask parents of older children whether they have any old learn to read books they could pass on/lend you.

I'm sorry, mealychump, I don't suppose anybody meant you any harm. It was an odd thing to ask, though, when it's obvious that you can get some books for him to have at home.

Tbf @mealychump for anyone who only read the initla message, it did read like you expected school to provide all the books. Not all parents read with their kids, people do have homes with no books. One of the Mom's at my sons school moaned because they gave the kids books for Christmas and it was "a shit present" so people anbu to think potentially you meant how it read.

and a goodly number of those children absorb that reading itself is automatically boring.! unfortunately if parents hate reading and can't be bothered to hide that to their kids and thus don't encourage reading for fun, no amount of school books will change that for most of them. I feel sorry for any child thst grows up without a love of books

Look at Usborne Early Reader scheme. You can buy them in boxes of 50 books and they're brilliant! Stories are so much more engaging than school books, cover all the classic fairy tales etc.

usborne.com/browse-books/catalogue/product/1/8955/my-first-reading-library/

usborne.com/browse-books/catalogue/product/1/8956/my-reading-library/

You're likely to need the first set if he's on red, though look up the book band levels on their website.

(PS Our school gives one book per week, but we get two after asking. My DS is sent to the school library to select a second book and he knows what level to pick).

If I remember correctly though, each level of the reading scheme has, say, 12 books, and you can only move up to the next level once you have read all 12. So no matter how many books OP gets from the library, if he only gets one book a week, he can only move up one level per 12 weeks, whereas if he could change his book twice it would only take six. So from a point of view of helping him “catch up” she is not being unreasonable.
OP if you’re looking for general help for his reading, several of my friends recommend the “teach your monster to read” app, and “reading eggs” which is an online subscription (you do pay, but I think there’s a free trial).

My daughter is in reception and she gets a new reading book every day. They get given a new one whenever they have finished the old one. We are only reading them once as she memorises them so the teacher said there is no point keeping them any longer.

ColdTattyWaitingForSummer Depends on the school, I think.

At my kids' school, the children went up a reading band when staff had had a chance to hear them read and to ascertain that their current level wasn't a challenge any more. It wasn't anything to do with how many books they'd read at that band.

Seems like a lot of hard work to do it that way. Wouldn't you need a tick box poster per child on the wall to keep track of what book they had left in the colour band? Perhaps each poster could have "Gotta read 'em all", Pokémon-style emblazoned at the top!

@jamievardy I hope it isn’t all schools, I can still remember as a six year old fluent reader being super frustrated with it! And I know it was the same / similar when my dc were in school. Possibly there were so many compulsory ones, and then so many additional ones for those who were struggling. I think they maybe had a list in their reading record that got ticked off?

I would
a) speak to teacher re rationale
b) get a set of readers to do at home - I bought a load from the book people
c) use library

ds2 is in reception (was 4 at end june) and has books changed 2 or 3 times weekly, but always twice.
ds1 now older but in yr1/2 books were changed daily or when finished as they got longer.

I think this is an area teachers struggle with as there are a lot of kids across ability spectrum all working at diff speeds, parents with varying time/attitude/ability to read at home etc. several of my friends have complained about books not being changed, chosen at random by the child, no one hearing the child read etc etc at times.

We are very privileged to be in a independent school with 15 kids to 2 teachers in reception, then to 1 teacher and full time TA for yr1/2, so they have more time.

You can buy the Biff & Kipper book set from The Book People.

When ds was learning to read I bought lots of books, Ladybird ones were his favourite, he had most of the Topsy & Tim series, some Bob the Builder, I just got him books that attracted his interest & that he could read. We often had a book at bedtime & shared the reading, he also loved comics & we bought the ones that followed the national curriculum like Cbeebies, they had sections to help with reading, writing, did stories where there were stickers to add, puzzles with words, simple numbers, pictures to colour, handwriting, things to make. Reading isn't just about books it is noticing words out & about, advertising boards, shop names, things in the supermarket. I found the Book People was one of the best sources for books as well as The Works & often bought wallets that had collections of books, I also used audio books & Cd's When we were in the car & found things online that had word & number games & puzzles to inspire him to want to read more

My DC’s reading books are (theoretically) changed as soon as they’ve finished them. So we can have up to 5 reading books a week.

However, they are expected to be responsible for changing their own reading book, and they don’t always remember.

I think it might be worthwhile checking with the teacher the procedure for changing reading books, just in case your DS is also expected to change them himself and he’s been forgetting.

We do sometimes get out extra reading books from the library, but their reading book provision can be sketchy (and it’s a right PITA trying to reserve reading books online as the library catalogue doesn’t categorise them by reading level).
So we found some reasonably priced sets of reading books to buy from the Book People, which we use to supplement what the school provide e.g. in holidays or when DC have forgotten to change their school reading books.

I do have one friend who’s DC only gets one reading book a week, but from what she says, that’s because their school has a shortage of reading books.

It’s resources, schools budgets are being cut so classroom support is being reduced. Sad but true. Maybe ask if your son can change his own book? Ours were taught to quite early though I forget whether it was year 1 (I think it was year 2 come to think of it, year 1 they are still quite little and your little one is the littlest). Also You could ask that they give your son 3/4 books at a a time to last him through the week? They will love that you are being so proactive as it helps them progress which in turn helps the teacher in the classroom. Plus it will definitely help with him catching up with his peers and meeting expectations at t end of the year. I’d be astonished if they didbt bite your arm off to be honest.

When my daughters school books couldn’t keep up with her demand In reception (ie she was saying she didn’t want to read the same book again and was becoming bored), I did looK at our local library but they didn’t have a clear enough reading scheme which followed the same pattern as school. I was keen to get books at the exact right level which I couldn’t assess from the books themselves (not a teacher). I joined an online library (it was called reading chest) for a short period where the reading levels were the same.they were so helpful on the phone and helped me work out which books were suitable. It was great because it wasn’t quite the same scheme so there was no danger of getting repeat books from school, but it was pitched at exactly the right level. You received 2/3 books (your choice) and then had to send them back before they sent the next lot out. We got into the pattern of reading those books as soon as they arrived and sending them back, and then reading the school books. It meant we were never without fresh books. We read every day, can’t stress how much this affects progress which gets them onto proper stories sooner and stops them getting bored.

I think it’s so important to meet their needs and demands when it comes to fresh books. Learning is hard, The first books can be dull, so you have to make it as fun as possible with fresh stories and characters teaching the words. You can only do that with new books constantly. We never Read the Same book twice because she didn’t need to. I also didn’t get here buy into the ‘this is a dull story’, by asking extra questions, saying ‘who would you like to be’, what would you do, what do you think will happen next etc etc. It really works. You have to play the game too though.

Both mine now have a real love of reading and I’m pretty sure it’s because the early days were so varied. It had a cost though.

I’d talk to the teachers first and see if they can keep up with his demand by giving extra books when they do a book change.

@JamieVardysHavingAParty I think you (and other posters) are showing a lot of misunderstanding about my post and others like it.

It’s not about children ONLY reading their school books. It’s not about expecting the school take take ALL reading responsibility.

It’s about having a good selection of school books chosen at the right level for them covering the words/ sounds they’ve learnt.

As a family We don’t really need to go to the library as we have hundreds of books at home. However we do go once a fortnight to change books as we love the visit.

It is NOT about me not taking parental responsibility. I take more than most would even consider. If my child was coming home with 1 crap “sit bad dog” book a week i would not feel they were getting enough input from their school in reenforcing what they have learnt this week/ last week.

The library doesn’t do that. The library doesn’t know what sounds my child learnt in October.

I think you are severely over-estimating the complexity of reading schemes. Pink band books are pink band books. Red band books are red band books. The teacher is not picking out books from the child's current band that practise this week's digraph. They're handing out the first book with the right colour sticker on the cover that doesn't prompt the child to say, "read that!"

In some schools, the teacher or TA doesn't even do that. They dispatch the children to pick their own reading book out of the appropriately-coloured box!

You don't need to worry about screwing up a finely-planned scheme.

No, the library doesn't issue books that reinforce what sounds your child is struggling with. You do that and if you read with them every night, you're in a better position to do it than the teacher, who has 25+ 4 year-olds to deal with. You read the school books with your child and you know which words your child can tackle.

You’re coming from the point of view of an experienced parent. As an example, mine is in reception, having started school 5 weeks ago. Myself and the other parents are just learning what phonics Is.

We read to our children, at night, as we always have. Our children are not reading the snail and the whale to us and getting picked up on not knowing the ck sound. Neither us nor the child are capable of that nuance. I’m sure when your second is in year 2 you’re an old hat

And our school, like many others mentioned here, have no problem providing 3 books a week covering the sounds they’ve learnt at an appropriate level. so either they’re fantastic, or it’s really not all that hard.

If I'm "experienced" as you put it, it has zero to do with having multiple children at school. I could have made my post just now years back, with exactly the same experience of school you have. I worked this shizzle out through comparing a few books sent home and googling the Oxford Reading Tree.