school reading books Y1/2- good readers

[Tgger]

Just wondering what your school sends home for your good reader and do your children enjoy reading it?! What works for your child and you re completing this reading as well as other library books/home books for enjoyment? Do you get much input from school if you have a very good reader who is further on than a lot of their peers, and how much do you talk to the teacher now about their reading?

Too many questions! Sorry! If anyone has any top tips I would appreciate though as feel a bit in no man's land at the moment!

My DD1 had reading age of 14 when she was 6. Is now 14 and likes to get her news from the Daily Mail - where did we go wrong?

Her infants school teachers did talk to me quite a lot about her reading - they offered to let her drop the reading scheme towards end of year 1 and I said no. So she ended up reading the entire scheme - including all sorts of non-fiction books on tedious subjects - and that was a real achievement.

They also bought more challenging books for the school library for her. I remember her year 2 teacher encouraging me to let her follow her own nose for home reading - babyish, silly poems, classics, whatever she felt like. It was about embedding her love of reading at that stage and developing wide range of tastes.

I did notice that she " ran out" of books every so often and get bored and I'd have to go off and research new levels, genres, new authors. I pushed her to read a set of children's classics when she was in year 6 - Treasure Island, Black Beauty, etc think it was a collection I found on the Book People.

Also fed both my DDs a steady diet of audio books from about 3 onwards and they love them to this day and it seemed to help with concentration/listening skills when they were in primary school.

Don't know if this ramble helps at all! It's a lovely thing to help your DC with. I really enjoy introducing them to books I liked

Thank you for your ramble, very interesting and informative! The bit about following her own nose is particularly interesting. Was this from early on age 5/6, or a bit later? Did you encourage different books and styles when she was Year 1 or did you just do the school ones and whatever she liked? So far I let DS, Year 1, nearly 6 choose his own books (as well as doing the school ones), but I do choose a few myself from the library too, to encourage some different styles and authors and leave them on his shelf! Am hoping he comes to my choices in his own time, but wondering if I should encourage him more strongly to have a go at these or leave him in the comfort of Horrid Henry and Jeremy Strong!

DS is Yr 3 but just 7 and is reading the usual reading scheme at school (Ginn reading scheme) but TH White The Sword in the Stone at home. Perhaps I should talk to the teacher but t.b.h I'm not too bothered what they send him home with as long as he can read and is reading widely.

It was the yr 2 teacher who told me to let her follow her nose - so she would have been 6-7. I have a friend whose boy loved to work in series at that age so he'd want to read every Jeremy Strong/Morpurgo before he was willing to move on.

My DD is in year 1 and very much in the stage of still learning to read, so must of her reading is reading scheme books, though we do supplement with "normal" books occasionally. More often, it's a case of me getting her to read a sentence or two, and helping her along.

When it comes to sharing books in terms of me reading aloud, well, I think the sky's the limit. We love to share chapter books and have read the Magic Fairies, Secret Kingdom, some Dick King-Smith, Anna Hibiscus, Mr Majeika...lots really.

In terms of a response to your question, I would recommend browsing yourself in a local library, hwere your DS can experiment a bit with no financial risk. It's also worth having a look at the Red House catalogue, having a look at Amazon ("customers who bought this also bought...") It sounds to me as if you are doing everything completely right. Clearly, your DS is clever and enjoys his skills, and you I think it's lovely to share this. I think all of us need some bulk, rubbishy, no-brainer type reading, but I think it's a good idea to gently stretch his horizons, whilst metaphorically holding his hand IYSWIM.

Thanks all. Yes, I do browse and pick out some extra books in the library that I think are worth a go, whilst he sits there reading Horrid Henry . Should think he'll come to other styles and authors gradually and there's no harm in a diet of Horrid Henry and Jeremy Strong at this stage if he's enjoying them- tonight we heard him giggling away at a Jeremy Strong before light's out .

Thanks for the vote of confidence Campapse. I would love school reading to go hand in hand with the other books he is enjoying, but at the moment I have to say the school books feel a bit like going through the motions. They are pretty straightforward and not very inspiring...groan.... ah well, maybe I will have a word with his teacher and see what she says.

Tgger - 'not very inspiring' is about the politest description I've heard of school reading scheme books!

DS1 is yr1 and reading well, he regularly asks to read the bedtime story to DDs and DS2, not challenging stories, and he knows most of them anyway, but I love it that he wants to read :)

Thanks for the suggested authors, I was wondering when I could start reading chapter books to/with him

Hi, my ds turned 6 in August so a young Yr2. He's getting Jeremy Strong etc. from school, and last time picked up a novel about football (he hates football so not sure why he chose it!) which was a slog, not because he had any trouble understanding the words but because he couldn't have cared less about the story. He is just about to start the Accelerated Reader programme they are using at his school which means he goes online to do a quiz on each book when he's finished it, which results in points. I'm hoping it will motivate him to finish the ones he isn't enjoying so much! He says they don't get much time to choose their next book so he makes a decision based purely on the cover.

Tbh I haven't discussed his reading with the teachers at great length. I feel like I know where he is, and what would stretch him, and so do they. We get a lot of books out of the library and have huge numbers at home (I work with books) - I give him quite a lot of help picking out non-school books as I know the kind of things he will enjoy, which as far as I'm concerned is the most important thing. It can be a bit of a problem finding books at the right level, as he can read the words of almost anything now, but the themes of books for older children are often not appropriate for him - too scary/violent... We've found Michelle Lovric (Talina in the Tower) brilliant: really inventive, great use of language, and very exciting.

Ah, Jeremy Strong from school, now that would be a change for the better . I'm not so confident about school knowing where DS is at at the mo. I will chat to his teacher. She knows he is a good reader but not sure she has had time to really listen to him/know where he's at yet. Thanks for the Michelle Lovric tip, will look out for those!