AIBU to ask why my Year 1 child reads so much at school?

[tnorfotkcab]

DD is 6, in Year 1 and a free reader since Jan. She is, somehow, reading 1 or 2 books a day at school (for example Dog Man or Worst Witch type of books). She read an entire Dog Man in less than one day - she had library visit around 9:30/945 - and had finished it by 3:15pm. I know they're not as long as they look, and she is a fast reader, and I'd estimate would take her around 30-45 minutes to read it.

She assures me she isn't doing this reading during her break and lunchtimes - but in classroom time. I am not entirely sure how she has so much time she can read these books...

I have no issue if she's reading at the end of the day - eg when they're all on the carpet in front of numberblocks or whatever whilst the kids get sent in 12 different directions.

She claims she is reading after doing work sheets and stuff hmmmmm, but also said she was reading during student Show&Tell. I told her she was not allowed to do that anymore and she must listen to their presentations

I know this is definitely a "nice to have problem" - but shoudl i email in and ask how it's possible she has so much "spare time" that she is able to spend 45-60 minutes a day reading?

Is she finishing her work, and then being tild to read (or allowed to) while everyone else finishes? If she js advanced at reading, shes likely quick at the other stuff as well.

EtA... some of her class mates might not be reading beyond simple words yet

I would ask her teacher. Being an enthusiastic reader is great so you don’t want to discourage it but agree that if she’s reading when she should be engaging in other things, she needs to listen. Plus a teacher is going to give you more of a straight answer than a six year old.

i think she's reading after finishing her worksheet s- so she says. She finshes quickly because its easy for her, so has "full marks" or whatever - but I also think she's rushing so she can read.... she rushes with everything, it's in her nature - but with her writing in particular, and her writing is poor. Still struggles to form letters correctly - I'd much rather tshe is making sure her writing is neat and clear etc

Is it unreasonable for me to ask them go give her harder work so she has to learn to struggle a bit?

I feel so silly :(

I was the same as a child. She probably finishes all her work early.

If she’s free reading, surely that’s what she should be doing while the others are working on phonics? What do you think she should be doing?

yes, this is perhaps part of the problem. the huge range of abilities - There are children still on CVC/CVVC/CVCC words and struggling, and 3 free readers - soa wide rane of abilities. We have children who still don;t know number bonds to 10, and (the same 3 kids) that have completed the Year 1 maths work books by feb half term....

And I understand they need to get the slower learners up to speed and all that. and that often able children are basically ignored... but I worry its setting up bad habits for her - and they need to stretch her a bit so she doesn't always get 10/10 and learns how to accept that mark and look at what she needs to go back to andconsolidte.

again, i feel ridiculous, becuase she's 6... :/

this isn't during phonics. She has literacy now whilst others are in Phonics, this is during maths, or science or topic work

Ds is quick too, particularly at maths, and when he's finished early he gets stretch work - surely that's what the school should be giving her, rather than a book?

Ds has a maths exercises book and some English worksheets that he moves onto when he's finished. In history etc he has to write more sentences than the main class group e.g. everyone is expected to write 3 and he (and anyone else likely to finish early) is asked to do 5.

All teachers should be differentiating within the class, appreciate it's not easy.

This could have been written about me when I was a kid 😂I remember always sneakily reading under the table at school.
I remember being devastated when I was caught reading a Harry Potter book under the table the week it came out. The teacher made me wait until the end of the week before she gave it back - torture!

I bet you end up realising she’s gifted and Neurodivergent (I say Neurodivergent because of your comments about her writing, you never know it might sort itself out but the gwo things do often Co-occur)
have a look at the potential plus website, if that’s what’s going on you need to be very careful not to put her off being at school if it’s too slow or she’s excessively made to do something that for her might be boring and frustrating like handwriting when actually what she needs is more stimulation

My daughter is the same, she finishes her work and then reads whatever book she has on the go. She gets through a lot because she's a fast reader. I used to worry as well that she wasn't checking her work or was rushing but there are skills related to that they learn with time. I wouldn't worry about at 6 years old.

Are they not giving her extra challenges in maths etc? Not moving her up through the curriculum but expanding knowledge on the current topic, used to be called mastery, might still be.

I would have a chat with the teacher

She sounds great, and having a love of reading will stand her in good stead in her education. Ds1 was the same and eventually found other subjects interesting enough to get good results and go on to Oxbridge. Just keep an eye on her progress in other areas - eg maths n science and get firmer if there is a problem. With letter formation, now, you could easily set her a 20 minute exercise at home, for example, writing out some letters each night and make a game of it/have stickers/rewards/extra reading time as a reward.

I was a secondary English teacher. The highlight of my career was probably a year 8 who was apparently not paying attention to the class novel we were reading together. I discovered that was because he had another book on his lap - the complete works of Shakespeare, which he was reading for fun. At the same time!

It’s reasonable to ask them to give her hand writing sheets to do if she finished her work. My son is the same he’s year 5 now (hand writing is still messy) but he gets given extra maths to do now, last year I think he read about 30 books at home, diary of a whimpy kid - the whole collection and then couple of the Harry potters and some roald dahl! But then he was also reading in school and while I agree it’s great he loves to read he has weaknesses such as his handwriting or the higher maths stuff so I asked if he could be given that too do! He has requested to go a a grammar school for secondary were he has to sit an entrance exam so for him it’s better to pushing this than reading As he already reads so much

This is why schools should offer continuous provision - exploratory learning. So much learning time is wasted when children have to do a filler task while waiting for others to finish.
Ofsted won't look favourably if learning time is wasted.

Honestly, I just don't believe for a second a Y1 has read an entire Worst Witch book in a day. Time yourself reading a chapter aloud and see whether you think it's plausible. Even good readers in Y3 merrily exclaim they've finished a book in a half hour reading session when there's not a chance they've read even 10 per cent of it. Perhaps she is doing too much reading in school but you need to speak to the teacher about that, and you will likely find it's a lot less than you think.

Once you reach a certain level in reading what you need to do is practice. That’s what she’s doing. What do you think she should be doing? I suggest, by the way, that you chat to her about the books she’s reading-just to check comprehension.

I believe the OP. I did the same at primary school age. So did my DH. And my DC.

If you’re a family that reads a lot, this is entirely normal. I still read about 100 pages an hour (faster for any easy book).

Surely in y1 there should be some ‘choosing time’/continuous provision, is she perhaps choosing to read by herself during this time?

Provision for g&t kids in most state schools now is woeful. As a supply teacher the extension in maths was almost always ‘read a book’ in every school i worked in. My daughter (y2) is very capable and I can imagine whizzes through the maths work I seconds - she knows majority of times tables up to 12x12 and has been counting in 2s, 5s and 10s since preschool - this term they’ve had weeks of focusing on the 2, 5 and 10x tables. Having seen her books in parents evening I can’t imagine it taking her more than 5 minutes to do the work in her book each day, even with the extension.

So yes, I can imagine she has ample reading time!

If you think her writing needs improving then do fine motor skills at home, playing with lego or playmobil or colouring or crafting and the writing will follow.

I was the same as a kid. All children will work at different paces, if she finishes her work a little faster and needs less support, a book to read afterwards is a sensible idea to keep her occupied. Things will even out as she gets older, the work gets more challenging and there are more tasks for her to complete.

If she’s reading, at this age, she is still learning. I’ve never known a keen reader suffer much from it!

Haha - is this a stealth brag OP? 😉 I joke. One of my kids is like this - very early reader and entered nursery an almost free reader, reads multiple books at once( currently has 7 on the go) - often finishing 2/3 books a day easily - higher functioning in terms of academia however emotionally not so - I have refused to ask the school to up them up a grade - just not ready. Also writing is a massive issue (prefers typing) Child is neurodivergent. I also have an older one who I have to beg to read so - god is fair 🤣

I would have thought reading is probably usually the best possible use of class time if a student is completing and understanding new material. The skills of comprehension, causation and inference that come from reading are vital. These are generally the skills that I find cause most issues with progress in the humanities subjects I teach at secondary level.

If you are concerned about her letter formation, have a chat with her class teacher and see whether they think that would be a better use of some of the additional time than extra reading. A previous poster had some suggestions about ways of improving fine motor control. I think things like maze puzzles could also be helpful.

Not alienated from the rest of the class. I can't believe schools still do this, it's lazy

My own experience of infant school ( 76-78) was you go to the book corner while the rest of the class does times tables, you fetch the milk in while the class does whatever.

Made me seperate from the others. And I was young as well ( Aug 31st birthday)

Seems there's inclusion for the struggling kids but not the ones sailing through

What do you mean by literacy?
She is clearly ahead of a lot of her peers to be free reading. In our school there is 45 mins for phonics. This covers reception, 1, 2 and 3. Most of year 3 are free readers (as you call it) along with quite a few of year 2 by this point. We mix year groups to staff children being in the appropriate level rather than age, so are you sure literacy isn't a name for her reading?