Child being held back with reading

[Myleftfoot39]

My ds is in Year 2 and he is reading long chapter books at home and non fiction. When we have done the school reading book in the past we do the questions at the end and ds seems to have good understanding of the book.

My ds has been on the same reading level for 6 months now and we are at the point where he is now having to reread the same books from school because he’s read everything on that band. I mentioned this to his teacher and she said she won’t move him up yet because a teaching assistant (who doesn’t work in their class) listened to him read and said his comprehension wasn’t good. I was quite shocked because this is not my experience of his reading at all.

Also, my ds said to me he didn’t know why the teacher was lying, he had never read to the TA. I have put it down to him not being able to remember reading to the TA. The TA works in Year 4.

I don’t know what more I can say to the teacher about this? We’ve had a lot of problems with her and there seems to be a lot of favouritism in the class. AIBU to feel annoyed about this?

I think the poster who suggested some more detailed comments in the reading book - if you have one.
It's probably more important to read at home. You can have more interesting books for starters.
DD's school introduced a reading scheme in yr5 that killed her interest in reading at school. They limited the kids to very specific books. It was extremely dull for a keen reader. But she read lots at home. I get why these work for more kids, but they don't work for all of them.

We have been through this. Just read your own stuff at home rather than the school books.

I would make an actual appointment to see the teacher properly and explain your concerns. Show her the kind of books he is reading at home and the kind of comprehension questions you typically ask him. Then ask her why she thinks he isn't showing that same level in school, and what she can do to encourage him.

I’d leave it as it’s nearly the end of the school year. We had this with my DS in reception - he was waaaaay ahead with reading (which I knew because I am a primary school teacher) but his teacher had him on a book band that was far too low for him a d wouldn’t move him up. When he started Year 1, then new teacher moved him up 4 book bands the first time she heard him read - couldn’t understand why he was placed so low and re-assessed him. He was off the book band scheme and reading books of his choice by the end of that year. Sometimes you just get a teacher who, for whatever reason, won’t budge on an issue. Keep going with what you’re doing at home and see what September brings.

My DD in year 2 is similar, honestly, the staff clearly have a lot on with the kids who are struggling after lockdown so I have just let it go and she reads chapter books at home.

Pre-pandemic, I raised my concern with my daughter's teacher that he hadn't heard her read for months and so she hadn't progressed up a level. The next day, without having heard her read, he put her up 2-3 levels, to books that were too hard for her. I felt he had done it to shut me up and that he didn't have the child's best interests at heart. I thought that was really unprofessional.

@Littlefish

Reading and comprehending are two different skills.

The teacher isn't saying that your son can't read at that level, or, in fact, wouldn't be able to read books at a higher level.

Did the teacher tell you what sort of comprehension questions he was less confident with? From what you've said, it won't be the sort where the answer can be found in the text, so is more likely to be questions which require inference, deduction or opinion. Eg, why do you think the author used xxxx words to xxxxx.

You have to be really careful with those sorts of questions though. I struggle with them and I'm currently studying for a masters. It doesn't indicate that I struggle with comprehension.

"I have no clue why the author wrote that. I'm not the author." has been my complaint since primary school.

I had put a note in the diary that ds had read this book on x date and we read again. I also mentioned ds read some of a chapter book.

Received the diary back today and in red pen the teacher had written ‘I told X (my ds) to choose a book he had not read before!’

AIBU to think this is really rude? Ds read the book three months ago but he’s only 6!

Do you know who the teacher is going to be next year? Might be an idea to just get through to the end of term, and then start afresh in the new class.

I think it’s the same teacher unfortunately.

I’d just write that the school reading scheme wasn’t engaging or challenging him and you’d decided to read non-scheme books at a better level for him. Then record what he’s actually reading and understanding.

Ask for a meeting as you feel like the concerns you raised re lack of reading challenge previously have not been resolved and you would like to get a better understanding of the issues so that you can better support your child with their reading development at home.

Explain that you’ve been focusing on developing your child’s comprehension skills further recently including inference and deduction and you are wondering what more you can do as a parent to help him to progress to the next reading level at school (go down this angle).

State that you are concerned that if your child is expected to re-read the same books without fully understanding why they cannot move on to more challenging texts then you are concerned it will begin to affect their attitude towards reading and motivation to read which is the last thing you want to happen.

I know it’s frustrating but getting through “ the levels” of school books is really not important

It’s important to the children though - they know what each other are reading and they are banded for guided reading based on reading levels

Unfortunately to move one child up means moving another down in gussied reading groups

What sort of questions are you asking him -

Do you look at the cover and talk about what the story might be about? Do you ask ‘what do you think is going to happen next?’ Do you ask what a sentence might mean - especially a play on words? Do you ask what he would change about the story or how it could be improved?

Guided reading has been falling out of favour for a few years now. The in thing at the moment is whole class reading,which personally I really dislike as you simply can't drill down so deeply into every individual child. The theory behind it is that it allows the weaker readers to still access the kind of vocabulary and comprehension skills as stronger peers.

There needs to be a balance between children "barking at print" and having little comprehension, and focusing on comprehension skills at the expense of actual reading. In my opinion, that's just what Guided Reading did. I miss that and am far less confident in my knowledge of individual children and their reading as a result - the weaker children don't tend to read out loud due to confidence, and tend to hide during discussion/question time.

I do ask ds questions about the books, I try to improve his inference and comprehension skills through this. Ds seems to have a really good grasp of language too so his understanding of words and their effects is very good.

I think more concerning than the reading is the teacher’s handling of these issues and a theme of unfairness running through the class when it comes to other issues. I feel that if I raise a problem I will get shut down by the teacher, she blames me or ds or I get a shouty message in his reading diary (exclamation marks used). I have never once been impolite to the teacher, I’ve always been careful about the words I’ve chosen. It has made me wonder if ds is in the right school.

Hi OP, haven't RTFT but have you had a chat with the senco to see if the school has an accelerated reading scheme? My sister had the same issue with my nephew and it took a lot of complaining that his needs weren't being met for him to be put on it

That does sound like the teacher has a bit of an attitude problem!!
I can't help feeling a little jealous that they actually bother to write in your children's diary, neither of my children in year 2 and year R have had that for a long time (or ever for my year R child...), but I can totally feel your frustration that your child doesn't seem to be getting fair treatment at school.
If the teacher is hard to approach then maybe an email detailing your concerns would be a good idea, so at least you have it in writing as a record??
It sounds like you're doing a fantastic job supporting your child with reading at home so that's probably more valuable to them than progressing through book bands..... Just keep emphasising to them that you know what a good reader they are and keep everything crossed for a better teacher come September!

Thank you so much for your reply, I am afraid it is going to be the same teacher in September.

Yes, it’s very frustrating but I think it would be less frustrating if the teacher was approachable and it was possible to discuss things in a calm way.

Teacher does not normally write in the reading diary (usually just a tick). I had written a very innocuous message about ds having read the book before and read it again but also read a chapter book. This resulted in the shouty message, really unwarranted and I feel quite rude.

In my ds school parents are wealthy and make big donations (state school) but I’m just an average earner and can’t afford to do this. Maybe I’m paranoid but those wealthier people are treated better, kids get more awards, etc. Get listened to. I don’t have a good feeling about it.

Hi OP,
Reading your last update I can assure you that wealth is nothing to do with it!
I work in a school similar to the one you state. It sounds like the teacher is the issue and very unapproachable.
I haven't read the full thread (sorry) but I can say- if he's reading a lot with you at home and able to confidently read the long chapter books, then it will not impact his reading if he stays on a lower stage at school.
Keep doing what you're doing at home and hopefully after a long summer break and the easing of covid, the teacher will hopefully be in a better place and much less aggressive. If it continues into year 3, then you need to make an app with the head

DD is like this. Just read different books with them at home and wrote what you've read in their reading journal.

Do be mindful though that a fluent reader is not always one who has a good level of comprehension, if he's answering the questions about the school books in a certain way it might be that they expect a less simplistic answer and his comprehension is just not up to it yet.

The wealth thing just sounds like you have a chip on your shoulder now.

As for the comment from the teacher, she's just answering your comment which said he'd already read it with well he chose it!

I was a parent volunteer at my children’s school for 10 years and listened to children in years one and two read and also helped with guided reading in year three.
I read with many children who were great at ‘decoding’ but their comprehension was quite weak and I would spend time with them taking about the book, characters etc, their thoughts rather than just racing through the text. This is the advantage of having volunteers to help with reading: we have plenty of time to give one to one support.
I am not suggesting that this is the case for your ds.
If the teacher feels your ds’s comprehension is weak I would email her asking how you can help support him as home and what they plan to do in school to support him. You then have a clear action plan and can give detailed feedback in his reading diary eg ds read the text fluently and we discussed what might happen next in the story, why ds though this, why certain words were used ...etc.
After x weeks you can then send a follow up email asking the teacher if ds’s comprehension level has improved.
I would keep everything quite clear and factual.
I would also continue with extending his reading at home with more challenging texts. It sounds like your ds enjoys reading and you enjoy supporting him.

There’s really no chip on my shoulder, I see a big difference in the way the school treat parents with a lot of money and those that cannot afford to donate.

If you don't think the issue can be solved with the class teacher then escalate it to head of Ks1 or the head. Both the reading and teacher's unapproachable nature

@HelgaDownUnder

My DS1 was like this.

Don't bother with school reading books. If they can't be bothered to educate your child there is no reason to force him to read drivel. Let him read what he wants and put it in the diary.

The school can't actually hold back able kids, all they do is make themselves irrelevant with this catching-up nonsense. Your biggest challenge will be finding interesting and age-appropriate material.

As an aside, there is a school of thought that obsessive testing of comprehension levels is pointless. They argue that comprehension depends on subject matter. So your son might read at grade 5 level on topics that interest him, but not a topic chosen at random.

This, 100%. And I say that as the parent of both an early reader, a dyslexic non-reader, and having worked as a TA for years.