That old chestnut - reading frequency in primary

[hockeylegs]

How often should a yr2 child be reading?

Dd has guided reading maybe two out of every three weeks (it is on Monday for her group but sometimes they miss it if something else is going on and then it does not get rearranged).

They do not seem to be read with individually often at all. She is a strong reader but I'm not sure the average or even less able ones (excluding SEN) get much more.

She has read individually twice this term and if I am calculating right there have been nine weeks when they have been in school excluding half term.

Is this normal these days?

DS (yr2) does guided reading every Monday.

They use a different book to the one he comes home with to read with me. After the guided reading is finished then they go and pick a book to take home.

The guided reading is done with the TA but I am not sure how often he reads with the teacher, he never seems to mention that he has done.

Y2 children should be doing some kind of phonics/literacy activity each day for at least an hour. This will entail a lot of reading.

They will be reading in most other curriculum subjects (including maths, where word problems feature highly).

They should read at least 4 times per week at home.

They should have guided reading in a matched-ability group reading 'challenge' books with the teacher at least once a week.

Many schools have 'buddy' systems where KS1 children read to Y6 pupils. We even have a reading dog!

Why is individual reading still so important to parents? The children get nothing out of it - no discussion, no breadth of learning about content.

I am questionning it because they aren't doing guided reading every week either. Some weeks she does neither guided reading nor individual.
Should guided reading books be at the same or a lower or higher level than her official book band?

Guided reading books are usually a higher level than the take-home book band.

The phonics sessions are reading sessions.

KS1 children actually do much more reading than they used to when they stood next to a teacher's desk and she heard two read at the same time. There is a lot of peer discussion and collaborative work as well, which is great for sharing texts and looking at content.

That all sounds reassuring.

So if the guided reading books she is doing are a couple of levels below her band, should I be asking questions? She is the top reader as far as I know, along with another girl, in the class so I am wondering whether it's simpler for the teacher to shove them in with the others in their group. They do not discuss the books in GR - it is simply reading out loud.

I spoke to DS's teacher last week because he was finishing his read at home book while the other kids were doing guided reading. So he had read it before he got it home.

The teacher said the kids are doing lots of reading but not realising/calling it reading because its not from a book.

Guided reading should have a learning focus, based on reading objectives for the year group. For instance, according to the group's needs, you may focus on punctuation, the feelings of the characters, the children's views about the book, etc, etc. It shouldn't just be reading out loud.

Groups are difficult to work out at times - one of mine has two children in it, and another has 6! It isn't always straightforward!

Guided reading is a major Ofsted thrust at the moment.

I think individual reading is very important and guided reading highly over inflated.

Not all kids like to read to an audience and you can have plenty of discussion with individual reading and also far more feed back to parents. All to often I think guided reading sessions are poor quality often lead by TAs(not the teacher so the teacher will have no idea how pupils are actually doing on a regular basis with their reading).A quality guided reading session is quite tricky to master imvho.

At the very least I think parents should be getting individual feedback from every guided reading session with the content that was concentrated on outlined and next steps tailored to each child.

Reading aloud is important eg expression,tone,book talk,focusing on an audience etc and sorry phonics lessons don't provide this in the least.

My dd has been heard to read twice since Christmas and I have no idea what she does in guided reading lessons.Great,gives me loads to focus on at home.