Year 4 reading - a parents' poll!!!

[philmassive]

Please parents and carers of children in year 4 please could you help me get something sorted in my head. How often does your year 4 child read to their teacher on a one-to-one basis? And how often does your child change their reading book?

I realise these are daft questions but I'm trying to get a handle on whether or not what happens at my ds's school is average or not.

Thanks!

DD is in Y4.

Reading 1-to-1 to her teacher? Erm, I think she did in September? Not since as far as I an recall - although they do guided reading (in groups) every week. DD changes her book whenever she's finished it!

I'm not sure how helpful that will have been, sorry!

Exactly the sort of thing I'm after ASByatt, thank you!

DS is in yr 4. They don't have reading books that come home, tbh I have no idea if he reads to his teacher, They are reading books at school, I don't know how this is organised! I don't know much do I!

ASByatt's experience is the same as mine - all reading is taught through guided reading though there was an initial 1 to 1 assessment on entrance to the year to put DD onto an appropriate level of individual reading books (the school has its own 'banding' scheme which includes e.g. Harry Potter, Alex Rider, Rudyard Kipling etc so no children are 'free readers' though there is a very wide range of pretty stretching literature in the 'scheme') and to place her in a guided reading group.

While guided reading is happening, other groups in the class do e.g. reading comprehension exercises, write book reviews etc

Any other thoughts from anyone?

I do know that in DD's class there are children who find reading quite hard plus don't read much at home; they are heard read more often, but that is by the TA (or Governor, or volunteer), not usually the teacher - to fulfil the really important 'practice' part of building reading skills.

Thanks for this. My ds is a good reader and reads well and often at home with books of his own choice, but he never gets heard at school other than in guided reading and he has only had 3 reading books brought home since September! I was trying to get a handle on whether or not this is the norm in year 4 and that they are left to their own devices, or if I should be concerned that the teacher is not aware of their progress, or lack of progress.

Ah, DD does have a reading log checked regularly to see what she's been reading, as she can choose from a wide range of stuff at school or something from home. If she hadn't been reading, then that would be picked up quite quickly.

My dd is in Y4 and only gets heard in guided reading. She changes books once she has finished them.

She has a reading record where she is supposed to record how much she reads but I can't see any sign of a teacher or TA having read/looked at it. (Initials would suffice)

Personally I don't think she needs to be heard as she reads very well and that if guided reading is like how I imagine then comprehension etc is far more useful.

In Year 4, the things that a child will be working on in reading will not be simple 'decoding', but will be a range of other skills such as:

• Finding information in the text
• Explaining how the author shows or hints what a character is feeling
• Discuss the organisation of the text (e.g. how the organisation of a newspaper article differs from that of a reference book)
• Discuss the language choices made by the author and what they mean.
• Discuss this text in relation to others e.g. by the same or different authors, whether written now or in the past.

This is actually much better assessed in a guided group reading session lasting 20 - 30 minutes rather than a quick individual read of 5-10 minutes.

This page:
www.lancsngfl.ac.uk/nationalstrategy/literacy/index.php?category_id=415

has useful links. The Reading AFs summary and the APP assessment criteria 1-5 document links are particularly useful. A child in Year 4 would be expected to be reading at secure level 3 to be on target for national expectations at the end of Year 6.

philm - has this answered your query?

I would say that yes, a good reader in Y4 would be expected to be pretty independent in terms of their individual reading, but that the teacher would be aware of their progress via guided reading etc, plus I would expect it to be picked up if the pupil doesn't read at home.

We (Year 3) hear SEN children - 50% of my current class, many of whom have no literate adult at home to read with - read individually several times a week, as they are still working on the basic 'decoding' skills for which 'hearing reading' is appropriate. This is done by a combination of TAs and volunteers, and with a teacher at the end of every half term to assess progress.

Every child except 1 (who is just at the stage of decoding words like 'sat' and 'pin') has 30 minutes of guided reading weekly, and every week the children in those guided groups are assessed on their progress in specific targeted areas e.g. comprehension ,or knowing about a specific author and comparing their different books, identifying different text genres etc

I think the assess their literacy in many other ways by yr4, if possible. From writing & comprehension tests, for instance.

I've had 2 DC in yr4 in last 3 yrs & I would think their experience is about what you describe, Philmassive. Similar for DS who is currently in y3 but for (some unfathomable reason) is a Free Reader.
You need a MNer-Teacher to reply, I suspect that there are better ways to assess reading levels than just listening & little corrections & questions.

they assess, I meant (sigh).

My Y4 son reads once a week at school in guided reading...but they are still on the same book they started in September, so I don't think it actually happens weekly! (and how they are supposed to keep track of the plot over that time scale is cause for concern too). My son's group don't do this with the class teacher though, so as far as I know she's not heard him read at all.

They can change their reading books at school whenever they need to. We tend to buy our own books though, so I change them when necessary.

In September they were also reading regularly to themselves in class, so needed to have their reading books with them every day. This seems to have stopped too.

Hi philmassive

Kind of difficult to honestly answer because my DD1 (Y4) has also been put into an accelerated reading group to improve her reading level (which is below DD2 in Y2).

In class - guided reading is done as a group once a week. They spent most of the first term reading Dick King Smith's Julius' Ceasar's Goat and have now started a Michael Morpurgo book (but I can't remember title).

In her accelerated reading group - DD1 also reads once a week to a TA who runs this project (and is very good - possibly better than the teachers in terms of getting the kids fired up about reading). The group was explained to all the children at the start of the school year and they could volunteer to join - my DD1 and 5 others joined in September. I understand they've added 4 or 5 more to the group this term.

I have not managed to get a straight answer from DD1 about what the rest of the class does during her accelerated reading group time - apparently sometimes it is during morning assembly, sometimes during forest school, and sometimes the other children are in normal reading groups.

Wow, thanks everyone, you have reassured me somewhat as everyone seems to be having broadly similar experiences in year 4, in terms of guided reading being the way to go. I do wonder why schools don't advertise this change in method though, as for a clueless parent to go from - book home daily, regularly changed, listened to weekly to what appears to be nothing is quite a shock!

storytime dad is this your book by any chance?

I haven't a clue what my DD does at school. At the consultations they tell me she is "absolutely fine" in everything. In maths that means top group, in reading and English it means a tad above class average. I get my useful information on educational progress from kip McGrath.

Ds does guided reading once a week. This is recorded in his reading diary, with comments about his understanding of the kinds of things that Teacherwith2kids mentions.

He is allowed to choose which books he wants to read but frequently forgets to actually choose one, so often just reads his own books.

My DS is in yr4 and they choose their own books from the library. The teacher listens to them just once a week now as they are taught to keep a dictionary to hand incase they don't understand any words. They have one reading group (streamed) twice a week where they take it in turns to read a passage and then look at comprehension. I know they do alot of silent reading at school as my DS has worked his way through several books since September and doesn't get time to read that much at home. I suppose it really depends on what level their reading is and whether they 'get stuck' when reading on their own.

Every child in my class reads as part of a reading group at least once a week. Every child below level 3 (national curriculum) reads at least twice a week although generally only one of these times is to me, the others would usually be to the TA. All children do a weekly written comprehension activity for which I work with a different group each week. One child is heard read by any adult who sets foot in my classroom and usually reads one to one 4 times a week. Some of my class are still phase 3/4/5 of letters and sounds so have 20 minutes a day, 4 times a week of Letters and Sounds phonics work. SEN children also have individual programs that they follow with the TA. Home reading books are changed as and when, we try to change them the day they bring them back. Children can change them as many times a week as they need but if they don't bring their book and reading diary back once a week, a text goes home asking that it is read and returned. I teach year 4.

I have absolutely no idea.

(I do realise I am a slack mother. On the other hand, DD2 is a pretty competent reader. Level 4, apparently.)

She doesn't appear to bring books home. She does read. At home.