Y2 Free reading

[mungogerry]

I would appreciate your advice please.

My DD has enjoyed books from before she could read. She read from age 3 and is now free reading at school (since 6.2) she is in year 2. Parent helpers go with the free readers in her year to the library to oversee their choice of book. DD always chooses one of the Daisy Meadows ?Fairy Magic? series, or one of a similar series. (Usually girly about some kind or fairy, animal etc.). She then reads more of these types in her free time at home, along with Horrid Henry et typical stuff aimed at her age I guess.

My questions are; should I be gently influencing some of her choices at this age/stage (if so ? which books can you recommend?), should the school be guiding her choice onto a greater variety? or should she just be reading for pleasure? How did her teachers decide she was ready to finish all of the school stages of books ? has she nothing to learn from them now, some of them seemed to have quite educational themes?

At this stage what should I be doing other than listen to her read, ie discussing the characters feelings? Inference? I am not sure where I should be pitching my questioning tbh?

Many thanks

You can try to influence her reading choices, buy some older books/take her to the library etc. IME though it doesn't really work, dd has been reading fluently for ages (year 2) but only reads what she wants to, stubborn little thing .

She does enjoy Roald dahl and a few others, but adores Horrid Henry and random books about children turning into dinosaurs. She does love Horrible Science books though, they are very educational and her teachers think she is some kind of prodigy because she can describe atoms/electrons/electricity .

I'm sure they will diversify their reading material in time as long as they have access to a wide range of books. They are still very immature really, just because reading and comprehension is good, doesn't mean they are ready or willing to be ploughing through Tolstoy.

My dd is in Yr 1 and has just come off reading scheme books & onto library books (choice overseen by adults), and her personal reading follows a smiliar track to your dd. Do you read aloud to her? Because that's where I get to have a say. I have a deal with dd that we alternate as to who gets to choose the bedtime story book. That way I don't have to wade through too much fairy drivel and I get to share some of my old favourites and try some of the newer children's books myself.
So dd has school books (sometimes a bit of a chore), endless fairy drivel to read for pleasure and the books that we share to expand her horizons a little.

I am already weeping at having to read endless pink red band books that are soooo repetitive, i thought it would get better...

I am always when I read on here about schools that allow children to become "Free Readers" so soon in their school life; as you say OP, off the reading scheme -> onto Fairy books is IMO a child not ready to become a FR yet, IYKWIM, and I am not aiming that personally at you. By way of contrast my DCs school has a longer scheme, and although you kind of think it is a bit long-winded sometimes, the children do not on average become FR until yr5, or Yr6; tedious? ,maybe, but the school puts emphasis on comprehension and inference skills and children only come off it when I think they are at about a level 4B.

Anyway, back to your question, OP, steer away from the fairy/horse/ballerina crap if you can and towards Roald Dahl, Lauren Child, Anne Fine, Michael Morpurgo, Dick King-smith, to name but a few. HTH.

Lovecheese.
I see you mention Michael M. What age are these aimed at?
The book people have a good deal on them ATM and I was considering them for ds1 as they have excellent reviews. (he is still year 1 but usually reads Roahl Dahl etc)

Btw the nbook people also have Roahl Dahl snd horrid Henry sets ATM. Great value IMO.

My 7 year-old enjoys them SarkyLady. Will have a look at the book people, ta.

Thanks lc.

DD loves the Daisy and the Trouble With... series, Clarice Bean and The Worst Witch.

Michael Morpurgo is great, but be careful, some of them have a much older subject age than basic reading age! Not sex or anything, just quite deep and sometimes emotional.
I second the reading aloud. I won't read anything that dd can read to herself, easily, but pick something a bit older or old-fashioned. At that age we started on the Little house on the Prairie books by Laura Ingalls Wilder, which she loved. She would have given up on them herself, but we got maps out and looked at where they were going and discussed them together.
For some ideas about questions, try this reading questions

OMG - Little House onthe Prairie. What a great idea! I shall have to get my dad to root around in his attic.

Re Michael Morpurgo - DS finds some of them very difficult (emotionally rather than technically) even now at 9. At 7 I think they would have been too much. He is a bit of a delicate flower though. Not that I think you shouldn't be emotionally affected by books of course, but it's best to be prepared.

Some good thoughts here.
I had a thread a few days ago about reading aloud with ds1. I really like this idea of getting him to read old fashioned book.

Don't forget Milly Molly Mandy and Teddy Robinson (easier than most on this thread so far)

lovecheese - your post makes me sad. How could a static, plodding, unimaginative diet of scheme books be more engaging, stimulating, inspiring than the rich choice of children's literature? Of course struggling readers need all the help they can get with well calibrated books, appropriate to their level of understanding and development of phonics' skills. But most children should be away and reading a wide range of books, before they are 7 and when they are secure.

Yes, reading every night to children makes a huge difference.
Have a look at
www.guardian.co.uk/books/2010/may/12/best-childrens-books-five-seven-years
and the books for the next age group -
Libraries, too, often have helpful lists and if there is a children's bookshop in your area, do go and explore.

I would like to think most children could be reading a wide range of books by the age of seven but unfortunately most children aren't. I therefore agree with lovecheese that most children still need structured reading instruction and the idea that a 6 year old is left to choose a diet of fluffy fairies is wrong. Children should be reading widely for pleasure but they are still learning new skills, developing new vocabulary and consolidating concepts and ideas which need to be taught.

My DD very quickly realised how boring and repetitive the Fairy series are and now only reads them once in a blue moon.

Talk to your DD about her chosen books, take an interest and don't belittle her choices but you can subtly say things about how similar the stories are and that this weeks book is very similar to last weeks book. Make up a spoof version together, laugh at the books. Then when she brings home a different sort of book discuss why it is nice to read something different, speculate on the outcome because the story is less predictable.

Just gently try and encourage her to realise that there are more interesting books out there.

allchildrenreading, as mrz says most children, not all, do need the structure of a reading scheme, backed up with effective phonics sessions and ability-appropriate guided reading groups. As for the scheme books being dull and repetitive, yes, ORT are!, but when a child reaches a certain level in my DC's school they move onto chapter books, biographies, interesting non-fiction books, allsorts; Just last week DD came home with a biography of Hans Christian Andersen which she loved.

Every half term we have a little note (bullet points) stuck in the reading journal by the teacher giving us an idea of what we should be discussing with our children wrt their reading (features of books, punctuation, characters, differnces between fiction/non-fiction books ...)

The children are also taken to the library to choose their reading - she brings home the usual Princess Fairy stuff or inappropriate books which I really just ignore and instead have some other reading books from the library :

Jill Murphy (Worst Witch), Roald Dahl, Clarice Bean, Enid Blyton (Magic Faraway Tree) ...

When mine became free readers, they had to choose from a particular shelf in the library for a couple of terms, before getting the full run of it. No Fairy books or BeastQuest on them! They still had a mixture of fact books, picture books and chapter books - I remember Mr Majeka and retellings of Greek myths among them. Also, if a child was desperate to read a different book or a home book that was generally allowed as long as it wasn't all the time. They also could take one further book at a time from anywhere in the library to read at home.

They still read the books from the designated shelves individually to teacher/TA (as they had done with the banded books) and read in the guided reader groups to check in comprehension etc.

Yes yes yes - you must help her choose her books! So should school - free reading should not be allowed until 12-13 at school! It is your duty and more importantly school's to ensure she has a wide and varied diet of genres, authors, styles and that she increases her vocabulary with every book she reads!

Many of dd's (Y2) friends are very motivated to do their reading by the carrot of becoming 'free readers' and getting to choose books - I think there are positives to stepping away from the rigidity of reading schemes. Especially as many of the children seem to choose information books (boys, especially) which they would not get to do otherwise.
That said, I agree with some guidance...be it parental, helper or teacher. Some kids stick firmly to fluffy fairies or, for that matter, horrid henries (anything is limlited, if you ONLY read that!) without a bit of encouragement to try something different.
BUT I also agree that there is loads of scope at home to choose different books to dip into - we take it in turns to choose books, then we'll read 'parts', or take pages in turn. Dr Doolitte (look out for rampant racism - took me by surprise but luckily it was in a bit I was reading, and I spotted it and avoided it in time) went down well, ditto Naughty Little Sister, Roald Dahl, Usborne Shakespeare for kids series, better quality fairy tale books, stories from other lands, all that and more....
...though dd's current school library book, one of the Tiara Club series, is surprisingly good for doing lots of expressive reading - which dd adores: she does a grand Duchess voice

I let my confident readers choose but from a selection decided by what they need to develop to become better readers.

Thank you all for taking the time to reply.

I have considered your advice and I have decided DD will be allowed to take turns choosing books for home reading. One book - completely free choice. Next book - we will read the blurb together and she may choose one of three offered (by me) choices. DD is also a massive fan of poetry, and I like the idea of including plays/non-fiction too, soo I will include those in my choices. This was I can ensure she continues to expand her vocal/knowledge/empathy etc.

We have a few of the sets already mentioned - Mr Maejika, Winnie the Witch, Dr Seuss, Enid Blyton (lots - they were mine as a child), Worst Witch, many Roald Dahl which she was happily reading before Santa delivered the Fairy and Ballerina sets. I will see if we can bring some of these back too.

Many thanks.