A whole term reading Old Bear is OTT

[SickOfOldBear]

My son is in Y1. Since the start of term, his Literacy lessons have focused exclusively on the book "Old Bear" by Jane Hissey. They've read it countless times in class and watched the TV adaptation. All their writing exercises are based around it. My son, who on the whole is an amenable and mild-mannered child, feels frustrated and resentful.

And I just learnt from his teacher that they'll be continuing with the same text when they come back after the half term holiday.

From what I can gather, the Y1 Literacy curriculum is extremely rigid and repetitive. They look at a text from every possible angle. But if that's the case, why study this particular text? "Old Bear", although charming, is a short and simple story. Surely there can't be THAT much to unpick? I feel that this approach stifles creativity and takes all the joy out of reading and writing. AIBU?

I've read it to our P1 and P2 class.

We've not gone into it in detail though, and wouldn't do that with any book at that age.

Personally, I think there are other things to worry about. They will have their reasons.

Sounds like they are using it as a model text for ‘Talk for Writing’.

Yanbu it's not exactly an interesting story anyway. This is what we did in secondary - a whole term on a book. It was bad enough then and the books had a lot more to them.

A couple of weeks on one book should be more than enough. Or at least pick a story such as a fairy tale and look at different versions of it

It gets worse as they get older. There is no room for creativity. In y8 (last year). My son's English homework asked him to write a paragraph about something. It then had a list of 5 or 6 things the paragraph had to contain!
Also they will 'do Hamlet' but never actually see the play. They just get print outs, of bits of it. They don't get a copy of any plays or novels that they study.

Oh I love old Bear..but yes that's really weird. I have a yr 1 and I've not noticed this although they do based the curriculum around one story per term. They seem to be really engaging books though. I find there's no such thing as creative writing, or creativity at all tbh, in the curriculum now. In the older primary years it seems they are basically given a formula for their writing and they just add the embellishments. It's a real shame. I think all you can do is read a really wide variety of literature at home..

Do you mean just that one book-none of the other Jane Hissey series of Bear books?!

Hi! Yes, I do purely mean the story in which the toys rescue Old Bear from the attic. My son knew and loved the story prior to this term but I fear this may put him off it for life 🤣

The class have watched a few other stories from the Jane Hissey series on TV at story time (in lieu of reading an actual book, but that's a different gripe!) but they're not actually studying them.

It's normal to have a single set text in year one that all other lessons are structured around. So as well as reading the book they will practice writing, drawing, arts and crafts etc around that one book. In our school they will also relate the chosen text to pshe (feelings, empathy), drama, even science and geography. I don't know the book you're talking about so don't know if it can be used in this way, it's a different book at our school but the principle is the same. You may not like this but it is the way it is done in many schools for year one and as pp says it does carry on like this through school.

I agree, reading lots at home is our best bet. I've asked his teacher if he can start bringing home a book to read for pleasure each week. They used to do this in Reception, along with their actual reading books. This term they're focusing solely on hitting phonics targets and the teacher hasn't wanted to send home extra books that might distract from the reading scheme.

Yes, the approach to literacy does seem very formulaic. Just have to get through it, I guess! It is a shame, though.

Thank you - this chimes with what family members have told me about the Y1 curriculum. I should say I don't object to the idea of a set text in principle - more the length of time that's being spent on this one, short book. I feel a couple of weeks would be enough and then move on to something else.

Why not just go to the library and pick as many reading for pleasure books as you want? Sending a book home each week is surely aimed at families that wouldn't get hold of any of their own books - we probably read 20 books at least per week so that extra one wouldn't make much difference

That's probably a really good way of doing it as long as you change the book regularly. The nursery take that approach, doing science based on the hungry caterpillar and life cycles, or craft based on the 3 little pigs and building houses of different materials. I guess they could do history based on old bear. Trying to shoehorn geography or science into old bear seems a bit contrived though, if they literally do one book per term

This seems like a great way to make kids hate literature. Do one story to death and not bring anything else in.

I teach KS1 and we doing two week units on a book. Any more than that and it becomes very boring.

Can you ask for a yearly overview of the texts they are studying? Are they supplementing Old Bear with a class novel or other books?

I’m not sure it’s normal for year 1 to study a text for an entire term. And it’s not exactly the most inspiring of texts.
I would think half a term max but even then in year 1 I would think there would be some linked texts. Surprised the teacher isn’t bored to tears too.

Anywhere between 1-3 weeks per book seems most common in yr 1 IME.

TfW reading spine has 12 books listed for the year which works out as 2 per half term.

I generally do three a half term supplemented with poems, extracts and a class novel. In addition, a two week units might be focused on a particular author so we would read a range of their books as well as the focus text. Rereading is useful in developing fluency, knowledge of story structure and vocabulary but it's also vital to immerse children in a wide variety of high quality and engaging texts.

My year 1 child does a reading topic per half term 'our world' 'personal values' etc, but they read a variety of books around that topic. The class is split into 4 groups based on ability and each group studies 1 book per week around that topic and then does linked oracy and writing tasks, so they are all broadly on same topic but it's differentiated to their ability and needs. They are lucky to have 3 staff members to 20 children in their class, so lots if small group work.
Even after 1 week of doing same book my daughter gets a bit fed up, so doing it for a whole term would drive her mad! We read other books of course but they insist we read their group book daily at home.

Yep we go to the library too. My son usually picks out a stack of information books which we attempt to wade through in the three week loan period and then end up renewing them. We did the summer reading challenge and for that I steered him in the direction of the beginner readers' section, and we picked out a few short stories which he could manage himself. But generally he gravitates to text-heavy books about dinosaurs and insects which I mostly read to him 😂

So yeah, agree the library is great but I figure a book in his book bag every week won't do any harm either. Plus no onus on me to remember to renew them or drive to the library in the next town to take them back 😉

Tbh I'm not too worried about him falling behind or lacking stimulation generally. Just wish he enjoyed his actual lessons more given he spends such a huge chunk of his day at school.

Now that sounds like a much more engaging approach! Thanks for taking the time to share it.

@RafaistheKingofClay

"I would think half a term max but even then in year 1 I would think there would be some linked texts. Surprised the teacher isn’t bored to tears too."

I know, right? I was actually gobsmacked when his teacher said they're carrying on after the holidays. She did hint that she also finds it tedious.

Yes good idea to ask for an overview of the year's reading. I'll do that.

At our house, Duck sounds like Jeremy Irons and Rabbit sounds like Billy Crystal. 😂

But yeah, as much as I love Old Bear, this would drive me crazy.

😂 I'd love to hear that rendition!

I heard my husband reading Burglar Bill the other night. I've always pictured it set in London and do Bill's voice as a sort of cockney but DH adopted a broad Yorkshire accent. My son was a bit bemused but thoroughly enjoyed the different take on it. Variety is the spice of life 🤣