How important are their school reading books?

[julybutterfly]

Sorry for posting yet another reading book question!

DS (year one) is on lime band books. But I'm really struggling now to get him to read them. I did tell his teacher that he prefers the non fiction ones but she keeps sending him home with fiction. To be honest, after reading at least 3 dull reading scheme books a week for over a year, I can understand his reluctance

My questions in his reading diary get ignored. I've written one in there today in red pen in the hope it will be answered but don't hold out much hope.

So, do I keep nagging him to read his school books or just leave him to read whatever he wants to read from home? He reads a variety of magazines, non fiction and fiction books (which he chooses himself) at home, I'm just really getting frustrated with the dated reading scheme books which he has no or little interest in.

My two DCs got thoroughly bored with reading scheme books so we ignored them spent more time reading things at home that they were actually interested in. They are now both enthusiastic readers well ahead of their ages.

I think it could only a problem if you have one of those dreadful schools which insists you read every single book at every single level, in which case you might just have to buckle down and plough through them.

I also used to let dd read at least some books that she chose (having checked it first with her teacher). As long as he is reading a range of different genres.

I think in some ways it's a double edged sword.

1. If you so force your child to read them, then they'll be bored for a few minutes out of the day.
2. If you don't read them, then in some ways you are undermining the schools expectations.

Personally I think if they don't like them tough! I don't like doing lots of things but have to do them.

Why don't you try writing down what he's actually been reading at home in the reading record and write comments about how much he's enjoyed them. You can also continue to force him to read the scheme books as well, if you like, and continue commenting about how much he hates them.

Another, possibly more sensible, course of action would be to make an appointment and discuss this properly with his teacher.

In my experience, schools don't really care what kids are reading so long as they actually are reading at home.

my recent experience is suggesting to me, not very.

I have a dd (yr 1, 5.4) who has been an extremely reluctant reader. It has been a battle to get her to do her school reading - a typical day would involve 40 mins of trying to get her to do it then 5 mins of actually doing it, though she says it is too difficult.

On MN's and my MIL's advice I decided to stop making her do it.

She is currently obsessed with Pippi Longstocking and now demands to read a passage herself every day. (It is way too hard for her but that's ok because I help her with the hard words. Biff and Chip at ORT 3 - 'too hard'; Pippi Longstocking - 'No, it's not too hard Mummy, I can do it' - go figure.) And she is, of course, now making far more progress with her reading.

I have concluded that sometimes the school's approach actually does more harm than good and you should follow your instincts. It sounds like your ds is an enthusiastic reader and he will get on well no matter what happens with his school reading books.

I am using the school reading record to inform the teacher what I am doing but I'm not going to ask them what they think given that their approach wasn't working and mine is!

What worried me was not so much the being bored for a few minutes as having to force them to read something seriously tedious, so creating an expectation that reading = boring and pointless task inflicted on you by school, which doesn't seem very healthy.

I was going to say exactly what exexpat said. Would worry be that it would create a lifetime of hatred for books.

DD (early proficient reader) spent first 4 months of Yr2 reading only... Calvin and Hobbes. That was it, nothing else interested her.

They still gushed about her literacy skills at school (then and since) . Reading anything is good imho, OP, it's not until they get to High school and especially GCSE stage that they need to pay homage to proper literature.

ps: I couldn't tear DS 10yo's nose out of The Railway Children this morning; almost all previous classic stories he has turned his nose up at, I am quite pleased today :)!

PMSL at ragged's implication that KS1 reading scheme books could be considered 'proper literature'. (DS read mainly Scooby Doo books in yr1, then moved on to Harry Potter, which might also fail the 'proper literature' test.)

Good question, op and one I am torn on.

My DS (6, y2) likes some of the school reading books but not all. I don't want to force him as I want him to develop a love of books etc and of course I understand there are some books some people find interesting and some that others don't. We read others at home he prefers.

BUT - I also think its an important lesson in you can't just do what pleases you all the time. Sometimes you have to read books that aren't especially thrilling, if this is the case, we plough through as quickly as possible, checking for comprehension, natch, so he can get onto one he finds more interesting.

If they don't fancy doing their homework in a few years, they need to know school work has to be done, and ensuring they read the books they have been asked to sets this up.

Well, you know what I mean Exexpat, teacher/school -chosen literature as opposed to The Beano!

I agree with Exepat, I have never forced any of my dc to read when they didn't want to, or to read a book they didn't want to. To me, reading is one of life's great pleasures, and the enjoyment of reading, even if it comes late, is more important that getting through the reading levels.

It seemed to work for us, I now have 3 very keen readers.

fennel and others - what do you then put in the reading record or say to the teacher when your child doesn't fancy reading the book thats been set?

I make my dd do her writing practice because if she doesn't she won't learn. As far as I can see they are teaching it in a way that works for her so they deserve support and the effort is worth it.
But if they are teaching reading in a way that is counter-productive for your child, is it really the best message to say they must do it in order to teach them that sometimes they have to do stuff they don't want to even if it is pointless? Isn't that going to teach blind obedience?
surely the best lesson is 'If a task is unpleasant but has a point, you must do it; if it is unpleasant and pointless, consider if there is another, better way to achieve the same end'?

I put "dd refused to read today so I didn't make her".
or "dd read (insert titles of books dd did read that week).
or "we are encouraging reading at home".

I have a bit of a tendency to write essays in the home-school link books and generally the teachers are fine with it, I think if they perceive you as generally supportive of the school (which we are, we think anyone who teaches 30 chidren for 30 hours a week and can still smile at the end of the week is amazing), you can get away with a lot of slackness in reading or homework in general.

Cos we DO value and encourage reading, and all sorts of other things. And that's obvious to the teachers, that's all they really care about, most of them. to know the child is being encouraged.

I put a bit of an essay in dd's reading record along the lines of 'I will not be reading school books at home with dd for a while because she is getting upset and I think it is counter-productive. We will continue to read books at home together regularly.'
Now I am putting 'DD read half a page of Pippi Longstocking with support.'

If he is on lime stage books, couldn't you suggest that he stops the scheme books altogether and 'free reads'?

I get the impression quite a few schools stop scheme books around that stage?

I sympathise. This mornings message in the contact book was, 'I am sorry, but having read 'Teeth' for the past 5 days, we are losing the will to live, let alone read'.

DD1 is a fairly good reader, but she chose a book which was pretty boring this time and we have struggled to get her to read it with enthusiasm. Becuause that is the message we have been putting in the book all week, they insist she re-reads is until she can finish it easily.

We gave up and read one of her Kipper books instead last night, which she finished easily and enjoyed.

No, I don't agree with that, seth. Maybe because I can never imagine my DC being blindly obedient, but I do think it undermines the teacher and the education system in general if you do your own thing. Not to say I don't think you should do it, but it doesn't sit right with me.

I suspect this is because my mother is a teacher.

lol @ mrsfred pulling teeth

LOL re children & blind obedience Taffetacat!

my dd definitely has blind obedience in her; in reception she got it into her head that her teachers had said she needed to practice every single Jolly Phonics action every single day, even though she was fine at all except one or two and it was taking ages to go through the whole damn book. She wouldn't listen to me when I said 'I'm sure Mrs Lovelyreceptionteacher didn't quite mean you had to do them ALL EVERY day!' and in the end I had to get the teacher to specifically say to her that it was ok to have a day off occasionally and focus on the ones she was least confident with!

I think I'm with Fennel in that you can get away with a fair bit if you're generally supportive of the school; I also think you can get away with more in terms of making sure your child still respects the school and teachers despite disagreeing with them sometimes, if you are hugely enthusiastic about school and education anyway.

In any case we have had to deal with issues about disagreeing with the school because it is a church school and we are atheists; we generally express the view that the teachers are right about the values that they are promoting but we would choose to express them in a slightly different way; I think perhaps my approach to reading is similar - ie they are right that it is important to read but I think dd will learn faster if she reads something different from what they say. You can respect someone and disagree with them on certain things. (They are experts in reading but I am the expert on her and as such I will work with them but sometimes need to make an executive decision.)

oh and my mum is a teacher too! But she thinks I am doing the right thing.

Not remotely. Let them read what they like.

My mother was also a teacher (at the school I went to) and she never had a problem with me doing my own thing if what the school was asking me to do was boring not at an appropriate level.

IME, teachers are only too aware that whatever reading schemes and national curriculum initiatives are the big thing this year may well be ditched superseded next year. I think I get my pragmatic approach from her: whatever gets the job done (for learning to read or whatever) is the way to go.

But I agree that letting the teacher know you are reading other things is a good idea, so that if they have serious problems with that they can let you know.

I have posted on this board previously about my own dc reluctance to do his reading, and the school stopped his reading, when I pointed out he was avoiding changing his book.

However, it didn't sit with me right, although I've done as school said, but even at this age, there are things in life we may not enjoy, but can't not do it just for that reason.

So personally if I was in OP's situation, I would say to ds, look read x pages of this, we'll write it in the planner that'll take 5 mins, then lets go and get that other book you want and we'll read that.

But if it was the teacher's at my dc school they would say 'no don't do that let him read whatever/nothing'