How often does your Y1 child read to their teacher?

[purpleturtle]

Apologies in advance - I'm mid tea/bath/bed routine here, but I'm also a bit annoyed...

Dd does not appear to have read to her class teacher since 6 March. She has read to various TAs, parents, and the cover teacher, but I don't think any of them have the authority to put her up a reading level.

Do you think I should have a word in the morning, or is this completely normal?

DS (yr1) reads mostly to children in yr5. But if I have any concerns the teacher is very easy to chat to, and did make a special effort when I highlighted some concerns.
DS also got chosen to do the ELS scheme last term and that made a huge difference.

They do change the books as soon as they can read it comfortably so DS gets through about 4 a week at the moment. I am NOT going to push him up a level though as we are enjoying the books at the moment and his earlier problems with reading were mainly down to lack of confidence. for example he would look at a new word and refuse to make a guess or try so sound the letters out. Now he has realised that he can blend letters and work the word out for himself he is steaming ahead

twice a week and 3 times to a parent or the TA.

Most schools do group reading now which takes place in the literacy hour and was intended to replace individual reading which the powers that be consider a waste of the teacher's time. The children read a challenging book in a group of 6 and the teachers listens to each of them as they read, modelling reading skills, discussing the book and asking questions.

I would imagine that the teacher is hearing your child once a week within that framework.

Depends on the age of the child. In the infants it should be once or twice a week with the actual teacher, but from Y3, might never be the teacher - but would read to various helpers and TAs etc.

I'd hate to know that my childrens' teachers were spending valuable classroom time doing one-to-one reading.

What are the other children expected to do while this is going on?

Take a normal day.
1 hr for literacy.
1 hr for numeracy.
1 hr for assembly/registration/break time
That leaves 2 hrs for 2 or more of PE/drama/music/science/RE/geography/history/art

If a teacher spends 5 mins on listening to a child read, including the child getting the book and the record being updated, then in a class of 30 that's 2.5 hours of teaching time just to listen to a child read once a week.

If a child reads 3 times a week to the teacher that's 7.5 hours! 1.5 days out of 5 when the class are not being taught!

I prefer the school to teach the mechanics of reading and then that put into practise at home.

The teacher will obviously be aware of children who don't read at home and they will usually be on some sort of intervention programme if they are significantly behind.

I think most infant teachers hear readers in their lunch hours, not in lesson time.

I looked through Dd's reading record yesterday and worked out she's read to her teacher twice since September (just before parents' evening) and seems to read once a month-ish to a TA. I don't think this seems to be sufficient as actually her teacher promoted her onto books far too hard for her without any real basis just because she's one of the oldest in the class. In her class the youngest kids read far more often to the teacher than the oldest ones. Not a brilliant system IMHO!

I teach Y1, and we generally read with each child 2x/week (teacher) and 2x/wk (TA). This happens outside of the literacy hour, during our 20 minute guided reading session. I read with one group, TA with one group, and the other children are doing various literacy based independent activities, such as listening to a story tape, doing CVC word puzzles, answering comprehension questions, etc.
We read with each child to help them develop the mechanics of reading. Doing it 1:1 means that we can obviously tailor it to each child as we read with them. Unfortunately at my school, many parents don't or can't read with their children, so doing this 1:1 reading really reinforces what they are learning and boosts their confidence.

Private schools do it every single day and the child reads to you the parent every night too and you have to sign to show you've heard the reading. But I think it's partly the assistant in the class and some days the teacher. I just wouldn't know how often was the teacher and how often the assistant. I could ask the children but as long as they're reading that's fine.

At our school (I am a parent helper and governor btw but not teacher) we are phasing out teachers hearing individ pupils read on the grounds that a teacher could spend a whole day in a week hearing the class read. wheresthehamster you put it better than I have.

They now listen to a group read and do other stuff with them (like teach) while the TA/ helpers will hear the kids read.

A pal of mine is obsessed with her DS being heard read but I think she is missing the point of group reading. I wonder why people are shocked that a teacher doesn't hear a whole class read individually every week or more often. What is the particular value in that? I'd much rather they were teaching the class something.

H/ever I take yr point about going up a level PT. Maybe have a word with the teacher.

FWIW DD (also yr 1) is bringing home books that IMHO are too easy for her. No worries - she reads them and then reads something else of her own.

Have worked out that 30 children reading to a teacher for 10 mins (about right including writing in book etc) twice a week is 10 hours of teaching time - that's 2 days in effect. Does anyone really want their child's teacher to spend just 20 mins working with them over 2 days?

In state schools aswell Xenia parents are expected to listen to their child everyday and show a record of it in their reading book.

Thats is not exclusive to private sector .

Clary - I don't know how all schools do it, but in our Yr 1 when the children come in there are some tasks for them to do by themselves (eg some sums to work out) from instuctions on the board. Then there is 35 minutes put aside whilst teacher and TA hear 8 children read - so little over 4 minutes apiece, but it does happen each day. School starts at 8:15, so by the time everyone is in and settled all reading is done by 8:55 when the rest of the timetable starts. So I don't see that it is that disruptive to the school day tbh, and it certainly doesn't feel that the teacher is giving up an entire teaching day to do it. It is a bit of a military operation, but possibly helped by the fact that even where English is spoken at home there is still an English speaker who listens to the child read each night.

Tbh what totally shocked me was that a "remedial" reading scheme had been piloted which required a trained person to give a child 30 minutes a week one to one attention, and it was highly successful in tackling reading problems, but it hasn't gone beyond pilot stage because it is too expensive. I am so frustrated that something this important is turned down over cost when frankly it can't be that expensive, not when you compare it with all the implications that illiteracy has on that child's life and society as a whole. But hey something else would have to go...

Sorry OT, but wanted to vent...

What seems to happen in our classroom is that the teacher occupies the children first thing ( register, weather board, admin and so on) while the TA and parent helper(s) hear the majority of children individually then later the teacher will hear her list (of 5 or 6 per day) while the others are occupied with a task , supported by the TA. The smaller the class size the more achieveable it becomes to hear them individually as it is less time consuming on the part of the teacher and can therefore be done more frequently.

DD is in a class of 10 and there is another parallel class of 10 in Y1. All the children read to a teacher every day, I have no idea how long for though.

well that's fine, but even at 4 minutes each (which isn't much time) it would take a whole day of a teacher's time (in school terms, if you exclude breaks and dinner times) to hear the children read twice a week which is what some posters here are saying should be done.

Obviously with smaller classes it would take less time! but most people in this country are looking at a state school with around 30 pupils at infant level. It's just not practicable IMHO for teachers (not TAs or parents) to hear reading twice a week. I would certainly rather my DD's teacher was leading the class in some other activity, maybe somethign literacy led to actually help them learn to read more/be more enthused about it.

When mine were that age they read to the teacher probably once a week, a TA once a week and probably a parent helper once a week. And yes, lowly state schools also expect parents to hear their children read each day, and write in the reading record accordingly.

Guided reading in a group would also be at least once a week.

TAs would have the authority to move children up a level. As a parent I was always allowed to changed books anytime, but would consult with teacher before moving to a new level.

DS is in a class of 30 in Y1 and I have no idea how often he reads to the teacher or TA. He does read to a parent helper and that is recorded in his reading record. He also reads to DH or me every night. The teacher does note comments I put in his record when I feel like he needs to move up a level.

Think you could just do what Gameboy said she does:
"I just make a point of writing in his home/school contact book "X seems to know ALL the level Y vab now - time for the next level??"

I think mine is heard a few times a week, to be honest I havn't notice who does the reading with him! It also seems a bit random when he gets put up a level.

Ever since he started reception I'd say his books were on the easy side for him. I don't mind because if he's having a tired day then it takes a minute to go through it. The level of books they bring home is only one part of their learning to read I suppose. I prefer them to be easy and reinforce things he knows rather than struggling when he's tired and grumpy.

Most days I don't bother with his school books at all and read things he enjoys more. Factual books and he picks out the words he knows or books like the I Can Read Spiderman ones.

I tend to agree with a poster way down the thread who said these things aren't as important as we think they are.

I was a good reader and for years 2 and 3 hardly evey read to a teacher or assistant at school. My mum was the person who heard the children read and I wasn't allowed to read to her I just went home and read what I wanted.

Of course it'd be different for children who struggle more with their reading. My point though is that the exact level and who they read to isn't that important. If there's access to books at home and the parent has time to read with the child.

Clary hear what you're saying re practicality, but I guess the more important question is whether it is worthwhile. And I guess that we benefit from the smaller class size, but nevertheless the OP's child has read to the teacher in over 7 school weeks? If the teacher spends 5 minutes with each child in a class of 30 once a week, then that is only 30 minutes a day (where the other children could be doing a different activity anyway).

blueblob yes I love those Spiderrman books too.

What a great way to get 4-5-6 yos (who IME are allmad abotu spiderman) keen to read!

I take your point about being turned off by books that are a bit more difficult, Bluebob, but in our case dd reads carelessly because she doesn't have to think at all about the books she's currently bringing home.

Spoke to a parent this morning who is also unhappy about the infrequency with which this teacher hears the class read.

Some of you may be aware that it's not the first time we've had issues with this teacher, and tbh I'm very wary of saying much at all. But only because we're probably moving over the summer and we'll be able to start from scratch in a different school.

The current school seems to be very proud of a reputation for excellence, which it has not lived up to at all, IMO.

If you're leaving anyway, purple, could you just get library books for your dc instead at a level that seems appropriate so she's being stretched a little, making some progress?

yes PT I would deffo do what SSSandy says.

My dd who is 6 this summer loves Milly Molly Mandy and My naughty Little Sister, also Usborne versions of classic tales such as Princess and the Pea (with chapters like a Big Girl) all readily available from library.

Sorry to hijack yr thread with school-related ranting!