Need a Reception/ Yr 1 teacher's view pls.....

[runtus]

My DS is in a mixed Reception and Yr 1 class and barring a few minor hiccups seems very happy and settled.

The issue I have is with reading (isn;t it always!)and I'm a bit confused as to why his teachers seem reluctant to push him when he is really REALLY keen and doing well. He is currently on Stage 5 ORT and finds them pretty easy to be honest. He is a real bookwork and loves to learn - so I have on a number of occaisoins asked for more books and for them to be changed as he has read, understood and enjoyed them before the next set class reading/ book change time.

His teachers seem to want to slow him down and when I asked again this morning I had to practically beg, pointing out he only had 2 books this week (which he will happily complete in 1 night); 1 of which was the same as over half term and he also read it with the teacher on Tuesday.........I wrote in his note book he did well with it over the holidays and could he have new ones, yet he still got it back again for the week.

She grudging said yes as that was the case but why am I left feeling like I'm a pushy parent? All I want is for him to have new material to read - at his request.

Am I missing something from a teachers viewpoint? We do other books at home too by the way.

any help greatly appreciated

' He is currently on Stage 5 ORT and finds them pretty easy to be honest'

I am afraid our school is in the mode of give them 2 books per night but there is no incline in capability - this has been true since before Christmas. DS is given ORT Level 4 but we have ORT Level 6/7 which he could read since Easter last year.

We have parents evening next week, but I have open day at Local Prep School next Friday which sadly I suspect is the way forward.

My DD is a bit of a plodder with herreading at the moment, but even so, she is often a bit bored with her books. For her the problem is content - her comprehension far outstrips her actual reading ability, so things she can read herself are boring.

her teacher gives each child 3 or 4 books on a Friday, to be brought back the next Thursday.

If your school is unable to swap the books more regularly, could they perhaps give DS more books at once, to last him the week?

Our teacher has also said that if the children are bored with their books, or don't like them or whatever, they can read whatever they like. She doesn't mind what they read, so long as they read 10 minutes a night.

So, as others have said, I'd just read the school ones nce or twice, and the read whatever you have at home or from the library. For my DD I get her to read the school books, or another similarly "boring" (she says) book and then I read chapter books to her, or let her listen to audio books - this way both her reading and her comprehension are being stretched.

ReadingMan - don't expect a prep school to automaticaly mean romping through levels faster. Certainly in our experience that is not the case. DD's school prefers children to take their time through the sceme books, cover lots at each levl to cover all types of forms of writing (not just stories) and to use a different range of schmes (following one scheme only is limiting as the vocab and style is too similar). Infact if anything in some ways DD's school takes their time even more so than the school I work at (state infant). And they only sent home one book a night regardless.

However, longer term it is very good. DD has always been a good reader but as a result of the slower pace and the breadth of scheme/materials her comprehension of stories, poems, poetry, non fiction, etc and different styes of writing is excellent.

The school instead recommends supplementing scheme eading with their own books, school library books or local library books.

Scheme books are boring.

Get real books!

There is no point whizzing through ORT for the sake of it imo- he can be stretched reading other books from the class library every night (much more important that he is confident reading a variety of texts) which should all be grouped according to how challenging they are.

He can read what he likes at home with you.

Sorry for the delay - hideous sickness bug has hit!

Thanks for all joining in, really helpful.

I ended up writing a note in his reading record book AGAIN asking for him to have more access to the school library and if teacher could not let him have a wider range of reading material to SUPPLEMENT the scheme books he gets and those we read at home.

I really don't feel it is too much to ask for him to have access to their resources. We already use the local library but it is not easy for us to get there and their's is in the same building as him everyday! Plus they did say it would be no problem.....We will see what (if anything) happens as a result

We have started playing "find the word" in our bedtime stories and he loved it so thanks for the suggestion.

My daughter is also in reception class and quite a good little reader. They check the book bags every day and if parents have signed that the children have read the book then they will change it. In my daughter's case this is pretty well everyday

My friend has a similar problem. Her ds is in the nursery class but his reading skills are amazing!
My friend has asked for some more books to continue to encourage him at home but has been told no, that they only expect the children to be at a certain level, which my friend says is fine, but if her ds has risen above the expected level, why should he not be encouraged????

I haven't read all the thread, so apologies if I'm repeating something that's already been said 20 times :) I don't think that ORT books are going to stretch his reading much anyway so reading more than 2 a week is probably pointless. You are doing the right thing by reading lots of different things with him at home. ORT books (whilst I'm one of the few who love them!) are very formulaic and I think it's FAR better to spend his reading time on other books, rather than on more ORT. It is a shame that they aren't encouraging him though, as you say.

One other thing - not sure if I've misunderstood you but were you intending to get the next set of ORT books from school/library? If so, God, don't do that! He needs to read things with a completely different structure. Non-fiction books are great - I've helped out with readers throughout DD's school life and so many children can read ORT books fluently but struggle when it comes to reading their non-fiction.

Yes, it is a bit shocking isn't it. Her ds goes to the same nursery as my ds1 (mine goes in the pm as is only just 3 and hers in morning as nearly 4) and they have 3 reading books a week (monday, weds, fri) and homework twice a week (tues and fri). Their homework is normally tracing letters (this weeks is 'c') and some colouring. Or we have had shapes, but a few weeks ago ds1 bought home maths!!!! Just simple addition, 1+2= and so on.
I do think this is alot for a 3 year old, and I don't ever pressure ds1 to do it. I ask him if we can sit down together and look at it, he is normally quite keen.
I also only do his homework on the weekends. I work and like to sit5 down with him on a saturday to see how he's getting on.

When they go in every day, the first thing they have to do is sit at their tables and write their names. Their names are written on a sheet of paper, and there is tracing paper clipped to it and they trace their names.
Ds1 never wants to do this (the times I've been able to take him), but the teacher tells him he will not play or sing until he has done it
He goes for 2.5hrs a day. 1 hour of which is free play and the rest structured lessons.
i do think it is an awful lot for a 3 year old but I hated the other nursery choice in my area, so this one it is.

the funny thing was at the last parents evening (he'd been there for maybe 8 weeks), the teacher told me he had bad pencil control and I should "take him back to basics and get him to make shapes with his fingers in sand" I told her that as he is just 3 (august baby) I thought he should only be at basics anyway.....

So it seems they are keen for children to do it all now, but God forbid them to move naturally at a pace faster than the teacher

I am a TA with Reception and I make sure that the child reads the same book to me aswell as with the parent. We do have to record notes on each book, in two different files every time a child reads with us. Paper work! But very necessary.It is amazing that some books stay in book bags never touched by parents. Your child is very lucky you are reading with him at home. I work with Year 3 readers too and if you rush the first stages of blending the sounds, comprehension etc then it becomes more noticeable further up and they struggle to read questions in maths, science and so on. In reception we change books twice a week but for advanced readers give two at a time. Be happy that your child is a confident reader and share books at home, he is lucky to have you.

I agree with passthetwiglets re. range of reading resources.

The teacher presumably has up to 30 children in the class. It simply may not be possible to provide your ds with additional opportunities several times a week to visit the school library, check that he has returned the previous books, and sign out the new ones. This would take at least 10 - 15 mins each time of either the teacher or TA time. When are they supposed to find this time?

Sorry runtus, but I really think it is down to you to provide your ds with further reading materials on a wide range of subjects that interest him.

Silverymoon - the homework the nursery is providing sounds completely inappropriate and unnecessary for such young children. I am also extremely dubious about some of the activities you've outlined as well. Well done for what you said to the teacher. The nursery sounds horribly formal. Do you have any other options?

We don't always complete the homework and we never hand it in on time. I wrote to the teacher and told her the reason for this is that 1) I will not force him to do it and 2) that we will only attempt it on a weekend o I get to do it with him.
The h/w we will do today is writing the letter 'c', looking for things in the house that begin with c and he has a sheet of little pictures and he has to colour in the ones beginning with c (picture are caterpillar, pig, car, table and a few others).

It's not attached to a highly academic school and only got satisfactory in it's last ofsted (I think), but his friends go there, it's close to home and I really didn't like the only other one in the area.

squidgy I only said something to the teacher because I am a TA (SEN school though, so quite different) in early years and have a set idea about what I think he should be doing now

he enjoys nursery, so all is well atm. There should be another parents evening coming up soon, so we'll see what they say then.

It takes ages to change a whole classes books, and there may not be that many available to offer more than one or two at a time.

Get a wide variety of books from the library and read those at home. (just not from the library I go to as there are not many there!)

(sentence deleted because i am whinging AGAIN)

< Wanders off chanting, "must take your own advice">

I don't follow the problem: he is up to standard on the structured reading program - why do you want to subject him to double doses of biff and chip? Get him some books to read for pleasure. simple chapter books, rhyming verse to learn by heart, plays, comics. ...

I think if you have a particular problem with accessing the library you need to tell the school that. I would tend to assume that most people have books at home and can get to the library easily for their main early reading needs, just supplemented by school reading books to teach a particular phonics pattern or theme.