Reception teachers - question about reading

[Looksgoodingravy]

I've recently read on here about the amount of times mn dc get their books changed in YR and tbh it varies from school to school.

Ds gets his book changed once a week, I'm trying to encourage him to read more at home but with the infrequency of the books being changed it's hard for ds to muster up the enthusiasm as once he's read a book he quickly becomes bored if pushed to read it again and tbh I don't blame him, I have been to the library and we've hired out more of the ORT books for reading over the half term period however I feel that the school should surely be encouraging and sending home more books for him to read as he's doing really well, or is this just me? His teacher also said that he's doing really well with his guided reading and she was thinking of moving him to YR1 for guided reading as he was a bit ahead of the rest of the class and needed another child of the same ability to read alongside (I have to admit I'm not exactly sure how guided reading works) as yet this hasn't happened but it's something I'm going to speak to her about when we return.

So really the question is, is it hugely important how often books are being changed and sent home or is guided reading more important and more a reflection on your childs reading ability, so therefore the reading in school being more important, I suppose with ds being hard to motivate at home it's something I need to discuss with his teacher, I would like his books changed more often as I feel they are slowing his pace but is this just me being an over eager mum? does the school you work in change books more frequently, is this hugely important in the grand scheme of things?

Sorry for rambling I just feel that more should be encouraged but then I think there are lots of things I'm not aware of happening throughout the course of the day i.e with the guided reading etc.

Reading at home is good and will help your child to progress.
Reading "official" reading books at home is not necessary (and might actually put your child off reading as some are so awful).

Guided reading (and phonics teaching) in school is all about teaching your child to read.

I once went to a school meeting about reading and the quote that stuck in my mind was along the lines of "school is to teach your child how to read; home is to teach your child how to ENJOY reading".

Thanks Redsky, more than anything I want ds to enjoy reading the way I do, this is all new to me, I'm a first time mum in my early 40's and cannot for the life of me remember how I was taught, it's only through forums like this one where I can compare with the way other schools teach.

I am not a reception teacher but am the mother of 3ds's. Our books are changed once a week and they are supposed to read them each night. Do you get any guidelines to go along with the books? The first night I read the book and ask questions about the story ie what do you think Biff's thinking or what do you think happens next. The second night we take turns reading usually a page each and take turns in asking each other questions. The third night ds reads the book and we look at punctuation and practice expression and on the fourth night ds reads it or we read together and talk about a similar experience we might have had or what we would do in the same situation.

All my boys are good readers and although I often wish the school would change the books more often or push ds on a little bit faster I look on it as building blocks. Good foundations will make a stronger building.

Just read normal books with him at home. Go to the local library and encourage him to read a variety of books. It doesn't matter what he reads, it matters that he enjoys it.

I'm in my late 40's

As jubilee10 says - its not all about reading, but also understanding, context, sparking discussion, predicting what might happen next, how the characters might be feeling and relating it to their own feelings and experiences.
We have a system where parents and children can swap books whenever they want - themselves. This applies to the whole primary school. Reception started this after the first half term. Children who are dropped off or collected by others (breakfast club etc) agree with staff what days books are to be changed and staff do it.

DS1 is also in reception and only gets one book a month. Just as Jubilee says, when I asked, his teacher suggested that if he read it OK the first time, it would be better to talk about it rather than keep reading it - eg can you remember what happened? Who said that? Who is in the story? What's your favourite bit?

However, we have also started writing little stories at home which DS helps illustrate.

I'm a similar age to you Looksgoodingravy and it was Janet and John for us!

Thanks ladies, Jubilee some really good points, expression is something we've got to practice, we do look at punctuation and talk about the pictures as well as concentrating on the reading aspect but you make a fair point with regards to good foundations, I suppose I'd love ds enthusiam which he seems to have at school to carry on at home and for which school actively want me to get involved with i.e. filling out the reading book and reading every night and I often wonder if he would be a bit more enthusiastic with new material. Auntevil this is what I would like for ds, I'd like him to be able to pick a book himself and therefore be more involved with the book choices he brings home, it's something I'll bring up at the next parents meeting in a few weeks.

BlueChampagne great ideas with regards to writing stories and illustrating, this is something we need to work on with ds so we could continue an extension of the reading books in this way.

Great to meet other 40+ and similar aged mums out there

Ooh that makes me sound like ds is quite capable in YR of writing full stories which he isn't [embarrassed] encouraging him to write is another challenge but he could use the reading book to copy some of the words.

I love BlueChampagne's idea of writing little stories - I think we might do that. I think that if you keep reading to him, lots of books that interest him, he will become enthusiastic. Try comics etc as well. My older boys 16 & 14 both love books, magazines etc and can often be found sitting reading (when the routers off ). Interesting my friends ds (16) has never liked reading and would never read for pleasure. His Mum only rarely reads and his Dad's "claim to fame" is never having read a book since leaving school, so there's no doubt in my mind that they learn by example.

I can't believe you read the same book every night Jubilee. Hats off to you! I couldn't bear to do that - I read it once, max twice if dd wants to and then just read other things. Dd's school has just changed the system from having a new book every day - all different levels - to one banded book a week. The first system worked really well for us because dd is enthusiastic about books and reading generally; the new one is dull and I forgot to do the reading several times last week.

Another golden oldie here - but I'm like jubilee - I re-read the books. It often helps with those pesky sight words that you think they've got and then suddenly forget again and try to work them out phonetically.
I find some of the school books really dull. I have 3 DS only 2 years each apart, so now i'm on number 3, the same book has bored delighted me several times over.

They are changed twice a week at DD2's, but the books are chosen by the teacher, so sometimes she forgets to check and sends out a previously read one.

I agree that talking about the story is good, but tbh with the early stage books especially the "plots" are such non-events that it's hard to have a conversation about it. Just a couple of questions and we're done. It's only after moving up the levels that she's started to be interested and wants to talk about the stories.

Do continue to borrow library books, but not those reading scheme type ones. I don't think it's what children consider reading for pleasure . DD never voluntarily takes out and reads her school readers, but she will whip out library books as soon as we're back in the car and will continue until she's finished them all.

I picked up some more ORT books and a few books about cars (which ds can't get enough of) from the library. I've got to say I was disappointed that ds didn't have a new book for the half term, he's still got Trunk and the Skunk in his book bag which he's read three times already, it's ok me being encouraging with extra books from the library but I suppose I want the same enthusiasm from the school and for me this reflects in the books he brings home which probably is wrong of me really.

I picked up some more ORT books and a few books about cars (which ds can't get enough of) from the library. I've got to say I was disappointed that ds didn't have a new book for the half term, he's still got Trunk and the Skunk in his book bag which he's read three times already, it's ok me being encouraging with extra books from the library but I suppose I want the same enthusiasm from the school and for me this reflects in the books he brings home which probably is wrong of me really.

Ds didn't get a new book for the holidays either. He has got a sheet of "bronze" words to learn. On the back of the sheet it says "jubilee junior has chosen to learn these spellings over the holidays". Yeh, I bet!

Haha Jubilee, you never know!