How often do I write in the reading diary?

[SixthSenseofEntitlement]

DD1 (R) gets one school reading book a week (Biff and Chip old style). She tends to read it through on the first time with no problem, so we read her own books for the rest of the week (mixture of reading scheme books that she reads by herself, picture books that she helps with, books we just read to her, baby books she reads to DD2, newspaper headlines, shop signs, etc - she reads something or other several times every day). We then read the school book once again the night before it gets taken back, and I write "very good" in the book.

Is this right? Or should I be writing in each time she reads the school book, or even every time she reads? (the last option would be a bit silly, IMO, unless we just wrote down when she reads a book entirely by herself)

Sigh. They should give out instructions for these things.

Every time she reads a book.

At our school, they use the reading diary to check whether children have read every night. So I would be inclined to write in it every night, even if she reads one of her own books with you. But your school may have a different policy, so ask her teacher.

I think you should ask the school what they want you to do with the one book you get a week and what they want you to write in the reading diary. School vary and it would be best if you can just ask what your DD's teacher actually wants you to do.

Every time AFAIK.

DD used to get three home a week, Tuesdays were book change day.

If I was organised the books would be read and I would write something a comment in the diary for each book e.g. 'DD liked this book, she still struggled with X but seemed to be more confident with X. DD also read X at home'. The teacher asked us to do this so she could decide which books/work DD needed to help with her problem areas. If she read it through easily then I wrote that and we generally got three trickier books the next week.

If I was having a disorganised week I would scrawl 'DD read well' next to every book whilst balancing the book on my knee in the playground before school.

Every single book, ever? I did write some of the books she did over half term in, just because she had been given the same school book as she had had before, and they put her up a level at school, so maybe it is right?

I think I will write her "home" books on a sheet of paper this week and add a little note to see if they should be in the book.

How about if she reads things like websites, newspaper headlines, etc?

My ds1 who is in reception gets 1 read together book that he chooses from the library a week and 2 kipper books a week.
I read to/with the ds's every night (or sometimes dp does it), but I let them both pick a book each to read. Sometimes it's ds1's kipper book, sometimes it's not. I only write in his reading diary for the 'learn to read' books he brings home, but I don't write in it every time, just if I have something to say that's new.

DS is in Yr2. Last year he showed absolutely no interest in his books from school and refused to read them. He had a point as they were crap! It looked like he wasn't reading at home at all so I took to jotting down the books he did read at home (veritable bookworm my DS) and the teacher asked me to carry on doing it this year.

Ds has a reading diary too. He reads every day with the teacher which the teacher then puts in the diary. We then have a school book a night which I write up in the diary.
We also do lots of his books (he prefers these to the school books) but I don't mention these in his reading diary

No, don't write headlines, websites and the like she reads.z

SixthSenseofEntitlement what you're doing now would be fine with me, or even just initials if you're in a hurry. I will write a note back if you've written anything, usually "thanks" or something fairly quick. But if the child has told me they have finished their book, it gets changed whether or not you write in it.

I have only ever written about the school book.

No need to list every single thing she reads, if she's a big reader. But I quite often write "DD2 read her own books", particularly over weekends etc. Because she reads loads and I want them to realise that the fact she hasn't read the next couple of pages of her school book doesn't mean she hasn't read anything!

I would put 'DD read school book no problem - finished book' on the first day, and expect a new book within a couple of days at the absolute outside (we change books at least every 2 days if finished in R / KS1, and as soon as finished in KS2). Once a week is....not impressive.

I would also put 'Read home books' on every OTHER day, and after a couple of weeks of this ask whether you should be giving details of the books she reads at home

As a teacher, i love to see what a child has read every day, even if it is a home book, but if your school is only changing books once a week then perhaps they aren't quite up to that... so just saying 'read home books' will give an indication that what they're giving her isn't enough...

I write in the diary the first time DD reads the reading scheme books, to let them know how she managed with any unfamiliar words etc, and then again the day before the books get changed and give a summary of the kinds of things we've been reading that week. So it's something along the lines of 'we read chapters from X at bedtime and also read Y and Z together with DD helping'. Sometimes it's just 'we have been reading lots of poems this week'. My DD is also in reception.

I don't write about the reading scheme books after the first time, mostly, because by the end of the first reading DD has usually memorised them so I am not sure what it would be telling them apart from that she has a good memory. She generally does OK on the first reading, though, so I just put down anything she found particularly hard in case this helps them with what she needs to work on.