Y1 Reading and homework – is there such a thing as too much?

[Eggrules]

Question 1: How do you tackle reading books?
Question 2: How much homework is appropriate for KS1?

Background ? DS (5) is in a mixed Y1/2 class. School selects Y1 children that have the ability and maturity to progress within a mixed year group. The pace has been set fairly high from the off. The message is no toys, less play, heads down and work hard. It is early days and he is finding the change of pace difficult and has been more emotional than usual ? I know he will be fine.
We had a consultation evening, basically 5 minutes to meet the teacher. I expressed concerns about DS and phonics. Basically I am happy that with his reading level however, he seems to have skipped the basics and has a gap in basic phonics knowledge.

I am supportive of going over things at home and last year we read, played on BBC/Education City for 20 minutes Mon ? Fri. This year this all seems a bit much (at the moment) and so we do 20 minutes 3 times a week.

DS?s Teacher has told me that she expects reading books to be changed daily. Within a few weeks there will also be homework set on Education City with some additional spelling and numeracy. In relation to my DS, I have been asked to encourage writing practise. Last night, I sat with DS whilst he read an ORT book. He reads aloud and we go over the reading together questions. Last night reading a 32 page book with about 4 lines on a page took 30 minutes.

IMHO, the homework suggested will take 30-40mins every day. I think this is a lot of extra work at the end of the school day/ weekend. I have said I thought the amount of work expected at home was quite a lot especially when DS is having a hard time with the change of pace. I seem to be in a minority at school.

What do others do/think?

Nightlark I work full time, we get home about 5:10 so by the time sorted tea etc and got DS3 to bed it tends to be about 6:30. DS3 is shattered by 6. I am quite lucky though that DS2 is a night owl, so is quite happy to do his reading with me at that time. We added his reading book into our nighttime routine so he reads to me snuggled under a duvet on the sofa and then I read to him and DS1. (DS1 helps read the bedtime book so I can sign his reading record, he is yr6 so a free reader).
We try and get all DS2s written homework done at the weekend, but last weekend for example we had to stay overnight at a relatives so didn't finish it all. So we did the end on Monday night, but not my preferred option.
DS1 gets written homework through the week but he does that with no input from me, this year however he has started doing his homework in afterschool club which is great :)

Bunnyjo - until last year dh and I worked full time and commuted a long distance. There is no way we could have fit this in then. No way.

Elibean - you raise a good point, it isn't compulsory. I discovered this at a parent's evening which was held in the school hall. I think the waiting parents caught a whiff of my 'how mucking futch?' shock. I was naice, just shocked, especially as DS is finding the Y1 school day a lot more difficult.

LittleMissGreen - Looking for a new job. I have had it .

My twins have just started Year 2. They're given times tables to learn each week and a list of about 8 spellings to practice as well as the task of doing a piece of writing including those spellings. That is supposed to take no more than one hour a week. On top of that they are expected to do 15 minutes of reading a day.

My daughter is on lime books and I don't change her book daily as it takes her a week or more to read them, mainly because they're rather dull and she prefers reading the books we own.

My son is on blue books and I change his a couple of times a week because one read through isn't enough in my opinion. We usually try to do a couple of times through.

I usually give them 15-20 minutes when we get home, to get changed and have a snack, then they read for 5 minutes or so to me and then another 10 minutes quietly by themselves. I usually break the writing task for homework down into chunks so they do 15-20 minutes on three evenings or some over the weekend. My daughter is very keen and conscientious and works hard without me prompting but my son finds it very difficult and tiring and I have to sometimes ease off with him or break it down into smaller sections still.

I have stuck their spellings and times tables up on the wall in the dining room so we can practice them at meal times.

Thanks all.

I am happy to support learning but think intensive coaching is wrong for DS.

I really don't think I am overestimating the time all the homework would set. I think for the next week or two I will stick to 20 mins x 3 on alternate days.

In Y1 I would expect 10 mins a night reading plus an extra 20 mins (a week) for other homework max!

mrz, the voice of reason.

www.direct.gov.uk/en/Parents/Schoolslearninganddevelopment/SchoolLife/DG_179508

Thanks mrz.

In your opinion can a Level 8 ORT book be read by a 5 yo cover to cover in 10 mins? He could silently read it to himself within that time. My DS finds the book level he is on easy enough, but it takes longer than 10 minutes for him to read it to me from cover to cover. I like to check his comprehension and pronunciation and think it is better that we read together. I follow the instructions on the front cover with regard to reading the book together. Should I be expecting him to get on with reading without my supervision?

In a few weeks, he will be expected to read the book and complete a comprehension sheet/book review. He hates writing and I know he will find this a chore.

Maybe the school wants us to support the change of pace. I think 1 hour is more than enough and will stick to that. I also think it isn't school and it should be fun.

Personally, I think homework at this age is unnecessary. There was no homework in my primary school at all yet I still managed to get 2 degrees later on. Are the kids of the 70s less able than today's school leavers?

I didn't have homework until High School.

I think some support to go over what they have done in class is of benefit. If DS is having problems, I am more able to help him at home if I know what he is doing. Phonics, number bonds etc are all new (and baffling) to me.

At least I find out what he is doing. He will not talk about what he is doing at school.

DD has 3 reading books at a time, and changes them once a week, more if she wants to. She also has access to school library if she wants to borrow more books.

No other homework as yet. Spellings and maths exercises to start after half term but just reading for now.

I think that's way too much for Y1. We read ds's reading book every day - 10 mins - and that's it. That's enough - he's at school from 8.45 to 3.30. He needs time to play, watch tv and chill out in the garden!!!!

I can't remember how much homework ds and dd were set in infants, except that it was a nightmare to try and get ds to do anything, and so we stopped. dh and I worked full time and by the time we got them home from the childminder it was time for their bedtime routine. Attempting to get ds to read meant provoking a full scale tantrum which was not my idea of fun for either of us.

Juniors we had the project stuff, which was in some ways even worse, as ds was so uninterested we spent much of our time nagging him (especially for the art and crafts type bits). Then we moved to the States and the poor kids had around about 2 hours of homework every night (they were 7/8). The only plus point with this is that it was predictable, so much easier to establish a routine, and I wasn't working.

Then we moved to Canada and they haven't had any homework ever since. Sometimes they have to bring stuff home they didn't have time to finish in class, but this is very rare, and on the odd occasion they have got really into a group task and had their friends over for rehearsals. Next year we are told ds will start to have homework. He will be 14.

There is little evidence that homework at least for younger children brings any educational benefits, and it's interesting that generally Canada outperforms both the US and the UK in international comparisons. I'd pick a time limit that you think is reasonable and keep the homework session at that.

There's no evidence that homework at primary school is of any benefit whatsoever to the child. There seems plenty of evidence that it causes a lot of stress to parents and children. My children do/did very little at primary. My 12 year old DS (Y8) timetables in an hour or so a night to do his and doesn't seem to get that much (his school is deemed as outstanding) my DD (y5) does it when she feels like it as far as I can tell. Which isn't often I don't get involved. As Alfie Kohn says "children are not vending machines, you don't get more learning out the more homework you put in".

Incidentally both my children work very hard when they're at school. And relax at home. Like I do with my work. I don't bring work home. They are both doing well at school.

Heavens! So many high achieving infants here. My DS just started yr1 (youngest in class, August baby) has so far taken yellow band books home twice weekly; they can choose apparently what to take, even what level, though I imagine teacher gives some guidance. Reception teacher gave him blue band books at the end, but he seems to have regressed over holidays, anyway I always thought the blue ones too long for him still only 4 at the time. . . He's not very eager to read himself & even these easy yellow ones can take an age to get through (he changes the subject/goes off on a tangent between every page. I let him, usually, at least for a while; & eventually get him to focus & finish only with a bribe like TV, smartie whatever). Apart from the books, they get one homework sheet per week, consisting of 3 non-phonetic spellings to learn, a little Spanish practice, something vaguely maths-y to draw. We write the spellings three times each, & we'll have another practice a few days later. He quite enjoys all that. But heavens, it seems such a cushy routine in comparison to the above . . .

I would find a pace that suits you both and then tell the teacher what this is- my DS is Year 1 and they get reading books changed Mondays and Fridays and this works quite well, enough time to read the reading books and to read your own thing too, to take one or two or three days to read your reading book if you are busy/reading something else etc etc.

Those 32 page ones do take rather a long time at one go I remember. DS is now on Stage 10 where there are sometimes 3 chapters, so we did one chapter with me this morning then two chapters with DH his afternoon with a few questions after. Job done. Then tonight he can read James and the Giant Peach . Actually I think DH read it to him tonight [smile}.

How refreshing to read the Canadian version of things.....makes me want to emigrate (that and maple syrup)...

DD just started Y1.
Our school has no formal 'homework' in KS1 at all which I think is just fine!
We get 4 books home a week two for her to read independently and two for us to read with her. There is no formal reading scheme or banding that I can notice. All this colour coding is double Dutch to me.
I am at work 3 days a week and pick DD up from after school club at 5.30pm, tea, bath, bed. We have always read 3 books at bedtime as her routine so now she reads one to me and I read two to her.
Other than that we just get information on what they are learning about and what the targets are for the term for maths, literacy etc with some suggestions as to how we could help them practice. No pressure at all.
She likes reading, writing and drawing and will do those things spontaneously anyway. Maths maybe takes a bit more sneaky encouragement.
I really can't see why it would be necessary to enforce homework on such young children and I'm very glad of our school's relaxed approach. The school has a good Ofsted rating and is generally well regarded despite being in a more deprived area so it doesn't seem as though taking a more relaxed approach is causing their education to suffer.

DS started yr1on gold level and tbh the books were long so we used to split it over 2 nights really....

I cannot understand how they expect a child to be reading one per night tbh....

Also there were books he wanted to read for pleasure and having one book per night you would not be able to fit them in as they come home from school so tired.

DS was given a booklet of spellings to learn over the whole year and to work at our own pace....

He had no other homework.

It was a massive shock when he got into yr2 ( he is now in yr3 and it's another massive shock!!)

DD has just got her first lot of homework in reception and we won't be doing it as it involves taking photos of the child walking downstairs carrying something ( to prove they can do it - they are learning about their bodies I think) but a) I don't have a digital camera or a printer and b) DD can't do it anyway as she is hypermobile...

DS does not choose his own books and school decides when they can move up a level (fine by me). I don't care if he stays on the same reading level for the rest of the year. There is more to learning than racing through the book bands

I don't know book bands by their colours. 32 pages is a lot to get through every day. He has books from the library and school library which he picks himself and he 'reads' these himself at bedtime.

The class is Y1/2 and he has had a massive shock a year early.

I would expect a child reading at gold level to read 4-8 pages a night NOT a whole book (unless they really wanted to) especially if they are reading own choice books for pleasure.

Thanks mrz.

Eggrules I think you are right that 32 pages every night is an unreasonable expectation. Even at a minute a page that is still half an hour every night. And there is so much more to a book than just scooting through the text. Checking for understanding, relating to other things etc etc. DS2 the other day had a book which had a picture of the Titanic sinking in it, which fascinated him - why did the Titanic sink several hours later, by going vertical and then crashing straight down into the sea. So we went and did some research about the construction of the Titanic rather than finishing the book. We wouldn't have been able to do that if he had to give the book back completed the next day.

Can I just ask another question sorry if going off tack slightly, but how long do people read to their children for at night? I see that PPs say they read 2 books to their DC at bedtime. Are they short books? Or do you read for a long time? I tend to only read 2 or 3 chapters a night, although have to admit we did get carried away with a Mr Gum earlier in the year and read the whole thing, but it took a while!

Books at bedtime are his choice. We read a page each and then he reads one on his own. Sometimes this is aloud and sometimes he is probably looking at the pictures. Books are like these:

Aliens Love Underpants
How Do Dinosaurs Say Good Night?
I Will Not Ever Never Eat a Tomato (Charlie and Lola)
Kippers for Supper (Scout And Ace) -- DS loves these and will read them no problem.

The only chapter book I read to DS is the Iron Man By Ted Hughes. He likes picture still.

If I don't read with my youngest every night I get snotty comments from the TA. This really pisses me off. I'm a single mum of 3 kids, I work full time and I take them to a whole variety of after school activities. I'm happy to do a bit of reading but sometimes we just can't manage it.