If your Yr1 child had not read to a teacher/TA since 1st December, would you mention it?

[ceebeegeebies]

Would you be concerned?

I think he is one of the best readers in the class so I don't have any concerns and he is changing his books regularly but am slightly concerned that he should have read to one of his teachers in this time?

How do you know he hasn't read in school?

As far as I can tell, DS1, also Yr 1, has not read to a teacher or TA since October. I was concerned, various people came on here and told me it was fine.Does your DS do "guided reading" in a group or anything?

Should be reading once a week as a minimum imo.

Has he read but it hasn't been recorded for some reason?

We do record every time a child reads to us, either individually or as part of guided reading. We record it on our own sheet but also a quick record on the children's reading diaries.

Because he tells me - and yes, I know a 5 year old is not always truthful but he generally is. Also, he has a reading diary which the teacher/TA writes in when he has read to them so I can see.

Not sure about guided reading tbh.

I don't record when a child reads in class in the child's home reading diary. My class read something in class every day

They have always filled his diary in before when he has read to them and it does always correspond to him telling me that he has so I really have no reason to doubt either DS1 or suspect that he has done but they have forgotten to write in his diary.

I did speak to another parent whose DS was in the same class last year and she said that the good readers do tend to get ignored whilst they concentrate on the less able ones.

DD is also in Year 1 and is a pretty good reader. She doesn't do individual reading that often and seems to do guided reading about once a fortnight I think. I am sure she does other reading every day and tbh I'm not concerned at all. I felt a little while ago that she could have been reading books at a higher level and within a few days without me saying anything she had been moved up.

I don't think DD needs to have as much time spent on her reading as less able ones - she can basically read and not everyone in her class can.

I appreciate that he doesn't need as much time as the others but I do feel that it would be good for him to have some positive feedback from his teachers occasionally plus I do feel he is ready to move up a stage but it is never going to happen until he reads to a teacher is it?

mrz we do at least once a week. It was something that came up in the parent survey as being what our parents saw as very important, and came up during an OFSTED inspection. We do/did it anyway but the results showed us how important it was to parents.

We don't record other reading, and the children all do read something in some form every day - several times probably. We just record guided reads or specific 1:1 reads.

I asked this of DD's teacher (Yr 1) last term, as normally in our school the teachers/TAs do complete the home reading diary (she had done so when DS was in her class as far as I remember). She said that they do read with either the teacher or TA regularly as well as guided reading, but that they are sometimes too busy to write in the home diaries. It does all get logged at school though. DD is one of the less able readers in her class (as DS was) but she has made huge progress recently so I'm not worried.

As for ignoring the better readers, that is definitely not the case in our school (I hear readers regularly in Yrs 1 to 3 so I do get a feel for what is happening in class) it is just that the less able readers get extra reading sessions with an adult when the others are doing other activities.

I would definitely have a word with the teacher, you might find out things are not as they seem.

My year 2 DS also said the same to me when I questioned his reading diary not being written in. So I, stupidly, wrote a comment in his home/school book saying DS hasn't been listened to read since October. I had a lovely note home from his teacher saying DS is listened to every week but they don't write in his diary. Now I actually help in his class I know they do guided reading 4 out of 5 days (although doing different tasks each day). I also listen to readers but am not allowed to write in their diaries in case it upsets other parents

Thanks for the replies - still not sure whether to mention it or not

Muffin funnily enough one of the times he has been listened to was by one of the other parents (who is also a friend of mine and training to be a teacher) - why would it upset you if another parent heard them - how strange

I think it was more a case of some of the parents writing comments like 'x struggled with this today' etc. If that's written by another parent I guess it's a bit of a bitter pill to swallow. Even in the class book I'm only allowed to write 'x read well today' or similar phrases. I think I'd want to know if my DS was struggling with a book personally

As for not knowing whether to mention it, maybe ask in a casual way? I'm sure if you say it looks like he hasn't been listened to since 1 December and you were just checking that wasn't the case then the teacher wont mind

I mentioned to the teacher before Xmas when my Dd went 7 weeks with noone listening to her read, and with only 3 book changes. It turned out that she had fallen through the gap cos her reading partner (they had been paired up apparently) had been off sick and then they were busy practising the nativity.
Teacher thought I was wrong initially, but then checked her records and found out that Dd had been overlooked. Since then Dd has read every week with regular book changes.
I wish I had brought it up earlier though, but hadn't wanted to interfere.

I think it's more what you write than whether you write anything in the diaries. We write in the diaries but are asked to make sure we keep it positive and mention any concerns to the teacher but NEVER to the child's parent. I have a stock of phrases (good expression, good understanding, really enthusiastic, very good effort etc) and usually end with well done.

When I did go and see DD's teacher I said that I had noticed the lack of any staff entries in the diary and just wanted to check, as Muffinflop said.

lockets I listen to the struggling readers. Just reading with a parent every day helps believe me! I used to listen to them a year ago and stopped for a while. Now I'm listening to the same children a year later and the difference is VERY noticeable. One little girl who could barely read at all came in the first day I went back and read a 'orange level' book fluently to me and I was

Don't they change to group reading in Yr1?

I'm trained in the education sector too! I guess I'm in the minority though