Reading with the teacher in Y3?

[Cortina]

In our school there is little, virtually none, individual reading with the teacher in Y3. Children are in graded 'guided reading' groups where they concentrate on comprehension etc. These groups generally stay the same. We have 30 in our class. They tell us they think parents should be doing the individual reading at night. 20 mins a night is the suggested amount.

My question is surely reading with the teacher would also add value? Children could be more accurately assessed and progress noted?

Does it work the same way in Prep schools?

cortina My son has been to 2 different schools in 2 different LAs and didnt read to the teacher at either.

I think the issues are the G&T kids and the SEN/SN kids (of which my ds1 is one) who arent "average/normal". I am not sure whether guided reading is whats best for them? I understand its best for the teacher - after all, a teacher only has so many hours a day and probably has 30 other kids to think of.

Not sure what the answer is tbh. Time and resources are so limited....

The way we work is every child reading individually around the class during a whole class lesson teaching the higher level skills such as metaphor and personification.

I am a parent helper and listen to the Y5 EAL kids and help them with their comprehension (they are all very good readers)

I agree the reading at home is the most important thing...I have the (as I do the the Y5 EAL kids) time to talk over what they have read, whether they understand it etc

That's interesting mrz, you don't differentiate/have ability groups for guided reading etc?

We differentiate by support given to read the text and by the level of difficulty in questioning. It is a mistake to assume that a child who struggles to decode the text can't grasp the concept of personification or has lower comprehension. Indeed sometimes the child who appears to be a fluent reader can struggle with skills less able readers pick up easily, so they may not need support to read the passage aloud but may need support understanding the metaphor.

We don't have ability groups as I've said before and we don't do guided reading in the accepted definition of guided reading as in a teacher sitting with one group while the rest get on with something. Everyone works on the same text which is intended to be challenging. The interesting thing is that all our children regard themselves as readers and no one is embarrassed to need help.

I had a child join my class in September as a complete non reader and her hand is usually first up to read aloud now.

No time for us to listen to individual readers. We do guided reading for half an hour a day with a group of 6. By the time children are level 3, it's assumed they can decode and read with fluency. Therefore, the focus becomes on things like identifying the author's use of language (and choice), and when or where the story could be set.

I go off timetable for a week every half term to listen to individual readers. Not technically supposed to (all of KS2 are meant to do the exact same thing) but I think it helps me with assessments.

If one group is going GR with me, the other 5 groups are doing different activities. I used to have my TA run a guided group too, but she's now been taken away from me to do Direct Phonics with 1 child.

As it is, I have one group going 'literacy activities' (writing box, writing on the computer or listening to audio books), one doing 'reading journal tasks' which are directed tasks based on a book, and two doing free reading.

DS's Y3 teacher hears each child read every week, but as part of a guided reading session. In his class they have 2 groups working on the same "harder" book and 2 groups working on the same "easier" book. And some children that get additional help.
DS occasionally reads individually with at TA - it probably averages out about once every 3 weeks, but doesn't follow any regular pattern.

Basically, every child in Year 3 is read with formally at least twice per week, though some are read with daily. There are also innumerable 'informal' opportunities for reading - reading part of a passage aloud, presenting a group's written work back, reading things off the board etc etc - and I keep notes of any particular problemns encountered / objectives met during these.

Every child has guided reading once per week. This is where the main 'teaching of reading' for the class takes place, covering all the objectives mentioned by other people.

All children without reading on their IEPs read 1 to 1 with an adult volunteer once a week.

A 'target' group of children - perhaps those at the borderline between levels, whose progress seems to have stalled, who need specific work on some aspect of reading - also read 1 to 1 with the teacher during assembly.

All children with reading on their IEPS (bear in mind that my class started off with just under 50% on the SEN register, though we are reducing that as interventions have an effect) read, or have a specific reading intervention with a substantial reading element, at least 3 times per week, and also where necessary have small group Phonics teaching.

All children without a literate adult at home to read with (about a quarter of the class) read to their designated TA one per week in addition to this, which brings them up to daily reading.

(I should have said that IEP work is with specifically-trained TAs, as the way we use TAs is to train them in interventions for SEN children which they then deliver, in some cases across all classes)