How often does school read with your reception-aged child?

[Tirnanogg]

Nobody appears to have read with our 4 year old since mid-November (according to her reading diary) and she's still not been given an actual book to read, just a sheet of monosyllabic words which also hasn't changed since November. I try to read with her every night, and she is slowly working through early reading books, but should I be worried that school are apparently not doing anything with her? My 6year old is in the same class, with her book being changed every couple of weeks (not often enough - she's memorised it by then!)

Is this normal?!

My child reads every day. He is in Y1 now but in Reception he did too.

I’d say that’s not normal at all. Our school uses bug club so there’s a lot of book options. But school read with them a minimum of once a week at that age, normally 2 or 3 times if they have the staff. I’d be contacting school to find out what their reading policy is

Not normal!

That was my instinct. I'll have to have a word with the teacher. I'm pretty sure the last time someone read with her was right before parents' evening, when I was going to ask about lack of reading with her...

We read at least weekly. We also do daily phonics and that includes a scheme that parents can access and get on line books.

I don't think that's acceptable, they should be on books by now even if they don't have words in or if they have simple words.

DS4 gets listened to once a week at school and his book changed then. He reads to me most nights. If he wasn't read with at home they'd try and read with him more at school I think.

Read with twice a week and books changed twice. First book with words in around October half term although different cildren would move on to these at different times. Your child should be learning to read at school and be supported by you at home, not the other way around. I would definitely raise this.

It works out as six weeks with nobody reading with her (assuming her diary is accurate, and taking the holidays into account). I've been getting worried about lack of input from the school for a while, but I hadn't processed how long it'd been. I'm going to email her teacher now.

We get phonics sheets each week, we get a new book every 3 days - we just have to read it 3 times. He’s read with twice a week from what I can see. I read with him every day.
I’d say that’s pretty poor (I’m not a teacher though!).

Daily reading at home with a teacher or TA, with a new book sent home 4 nights a week (although we see some books reappear a few weeks later)

Are you reading with her every night? They need daily practice at that age to get the hang of it.

My reception aged DD reads with the teacher or TA once a week and they change her 2 books over once a week. Wish they’d change them over more often as we read at least once a day with her so it gets boring for us all! I wouldn’t be happy with no evidence of school having read with her for a whole 6 weeks.

My school weren't great in reception. When I questioned it I was told they do reading daily but as part of the class activity so not always in a way that deemed putting it in the book. Ds is in yr1 now and they've changed to a different reading scheme. I've seen a good uptick in the amount of notes in his record and books being swapped.

I think mine reads 1:1 with the teacher/PA at least weekly and the class does phonics lessons throughout the week. Every Monday she gets a new batch of reading books in her book bag.

Yes in your shoes I would definitely ask for clarification from the school and up your reading time at home to compensate.

They will be reading with her in various ways incorporated into the things they do during the day, they just don’t record everything in the reading diary. That’s mostly for you or school volunteers for to write in.

I'm an early years teacher - we read with every child in a guided reading group everyday. Twice a week should be the minis I'd expect - have a word with the teacher. Maybe they don't sign the books / reading logs in school?

Reception there were only reading books for those children who could blend and then only in January. Most of the class were focusing on learning letters and their sounds amd beginning to blend.

That's awful. My DD is read to 3/4 times a week. We have 4 new books on a Friday, maths activity on Wednesday and handwriting practice home on Friday.

Are there multiple year groups per class?

In reception ours didn’t start getting books until the November. They then read once a week.
in Y1 now and still only read once a week. Wish it was more.

Are they doing a daily phonics lesson? We do RWI and the children are heard daily in the phonics lesson, but it’s not recorded in a reading record.

Yes - it's a small school, so nursery, reception and year 1 all in the same room. There are a few TAs but only one actual teacher, as far as I can see - I don't envy her the job! But they seem to come home with a lot of colouring and very little else; my 6 year old is in the same class and I've noticed her books only seem to change if I request it in the reading diary (which teachers do sign, so I assumed was for both school and home records).

I do read with both girls almost every night. I've emailed her teacher asking how often they read with her and when we can expect a book.

They do some sort of letters and phonics, but I'm not sure what - the children are unreliable reporters!

When my kids were younger...I used to volunteer to read in their class. I worked pt then.

The teachers don't have the time to read with all the kids regularly and the more able ones are left to read independently most of the time.

I have to say, it's easy to see how it could be a couple of months, because the teachers are stretched.

My year 1 reads daily 1-1