Refusing to put dc on next reading level or even assess

[Blueschool]

Dc in in year 2. Has been on same reading level since September.

My dc may not be good at a lot at school, but reading is dc strong point. Not the top of class but quite advanced. Not just my opinion but her previous teachers and helpers.

Her current level is not a challenge anymore. Mentioned this weeks ago. Given a huge list basically telling me why dc is a crap reader in teachers opinion. Very surprised as one area always was praised on reading.

Took it on chin and we worked hard to resolve the issues like "not enough expression".

Dc reading is just fine. I can not find not fault.

My comment I wrote last week was the "book was not a challenge". Teacher took a whole page up in dd reading record to again tell me how crap dc is.

I felt the comments were utterly unfair and do not reflect reality at all. She also told me I could buy books to read at home! Very unfair assumption dc reads for pleasure all the time and has 100+ at home.

She said IF she wants she will assess her after Christmas she will.

My issues are

• I thought parents and teachers were meant to be in partnership with education. How is this a partnership?

• IF dc is genuinely reading badly at school WHY? Why is there such a difference? Why is her educational environment not making her feel confident and supported to show her real abilty?

• Another parent has told me they have had similar issues as the teacher gets herself stressed. Im sorry, but holding a child back because you are stressed is quite something.

What should I do?

And yes that should be "there is no mystique"!

I would sort of give up on the classroom for the moment and do it yourself, the teacher at some point is going to resent you for implying she's doing her job wrong. It won't make her change her mind as she's set on not listening to you but it could create a sort of "precious mum" vibe about you. Just ignore the whole thing and do it at home. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news!

Does your Dc " perform" at school? Is your dc pretty confident? The teacher can only assess based on what your dc demonstrates.
I have a son in y2 and the main opportunity that the teacher has to listen is during guided reading and phonics. My son is pretty quiet and easily distracted in a lively place like school so I think it's inevitable that he will not perform the same as he does at home. Does the teacher or your dd pick the books? My son can read books that he has chosen better than ones that his teacher has picked and he will tend to go for very similar books/genres each time.

If the teacher is simply really strict then your dd's next teacher will probably let your dd skip levels.
You don't have to read school books you know?

I have a similar problem of my dc being "stuck on purple" - but at least your teacher has given you a list of reasons. My DC's record book always says - "fantastic reading", "excellent reading", "good expression" etc etc and has done since September! It would be useful to know not just what he is good at but also what needs work (so I can help!)

I put in how he has read the school book and what he is enjoying reading at home (piles and piles of paperback "chapter books" of 200 pages plus), but I never get ANY comment about what they are working on with the purple books: in fact that is one of the questions I will be asking at Parents' evening!

The comments from Mrz and others are really helpful to me as they tell me far more than my DC's teachers have about what they are trying to achieve at this point - I am sure that it is just that I don't know what they are aiming at, but I'm not telepathic, so hopefully they'll fill me in soon....

You sound very aggressive.

One of your issues is: 'I thought parents and teachers were meant to be in partnership with education. How is this a partnership?'
The teacher has bothered to answer your question why your dd isn't moving up. It is her professional judgement that dd should stay at this level until after Christmas, and she has explained why she is doing that. What is the problem?

This kind of thing really gets up my nose.

Blueschool you don't sound aggressive.

Brycie and Beezmum I think you are right.

Just been through reading record and last time the teacher herself made a record of reading with her was 16/10. Quite a gap? Will she always make a record?

Here is an example of page from book she has tonight;

"The next day Mr Biff began training.
His family helped.
Billy Biff took him running.
Billy Biff took him skipping."

Its very similar all the way through.

Does this really lend itself well to gaining skills she needs?

I agree with alcofrolic regarding the parent teacher partnership ...

I do sympathise.I'm in exactly the same situation with my youngest.I'm wondering whether we have the same teacher.My dc 4 is bored to tears reading on white.He reads Beast Quest every night and admits to picking the easiest white book so he can read it as quickly as possible.This teacher hasn't assessed him once this term.However when i asked whether he could possibly be reassessed i was told that his sentence construction is too simple to be moved for him to be moved up a level.Apparently the teaching assistant has said that his understanding is poor?.Why has the teacher not checked it out herself.The teacher takes every opportunity to criticise my child saying that he is not clever when i know he is extremely bright.The whole situation is very infuriating and makes me as an intelligent well- educated mother absolutely furious.

Yeah. Well aggressive I am.

Are you saying the teacher hasn't taught your son at all this year?

No Blueschool but there's no point. You're not trained are you, so what do you know. Can you afford to buy Oxford Reading Tree yourself or another reading scheme? Ebay? It's quite worth it. Maybe the teacher hasn't got time (a lot don't) and now feels under attack. However that doesn't really matter in terms of your child reading - you don't want her to miss her moment if it's an enjoyable thing for her right now. I would crack on regardless and just tell the teacher at parents evening she's on stage a million of ORT. If she's missing all these magical skills then she's not getting them at school because the teacher isn't reading with her. So you might as well read up a bit about reading stages and do it yourself.

When ds1 was in yr1 he had a teacher who put him on FAR TOO EASY books initially and took ages to move him up. The books were changed very very rarely, etc. etc.

Actually this was a huge benefit to him. He could read his very short school book very quickly, with ease - tick it off in his reading diary and concentrate on reading for pleasure books that he wanted to.

We would read books together - I would read a few pages then he would read an odd paragraph or page. This was far, far better for him becoming a lifelong lover of books than the mad Reading Scheme books at school. During that year we read together some classics and now I can't believe we did that at that age. Things like The Hobbit, The Railway Children and Five Children and It...!! With some really bonkers Edwardian language.

ds1 is now 15 and is still an avid reader: he reads 3 or 4 novels every week. I am very grateful to that 'lazy' teacher in yr1.

(ds2's yr1 teacher was much more on the ball, books were changed every day if necessary, and he was very quickly put on much longer and more challenging books; so we simply didn't have the time for the books from home, as he always insisted on reading his school book first. He's a very competent reader and had very high reading age very young, but I wouldn't describe him as a book lover. He reads about one novel a month on average now.)

Great advice Brycie. Im going to look into getting the Oxford books for next level for home, thats a great idea :)

The teacher might well not record every time they read with your child. I'd be surprised if your child had done no reading at all in school for the last month.

Happy Families books (sounds like what you've got) are great! Can your child read them to bring out the humour? Do they understand how the author has created humor in the story? My Y2 DD is on a higher level than yours, but she would much prefer to read Mr Biff the Boxer over the tedious things she is bringing home (many including concepts and storylines that are out of the understanding of the average 6 year old).

If teachers responded to all parents who decide that their children should move up a reading level, what would that say about their assessment procedures?

Teachers assess the children's reading all the time, through various reading activities against specific criteria (some of which have been given on this thread). The senior leadership team monitor assessment and may ask the teacher about specific children. Imagine the conversation: "Mrs x, why have you moved XX to this level?" "Oh, her mother said that she could read at that level, so I moved her."

Each teacher is held accountable for his or her own class of pupils, and must be able to explain, and provide evidence for, levels given.

That's interesting Incognito - I don't think reading schemes are mad but it's an interesting idea that the more boring the better so that the child can get on with reading other stuff. However it only works if you have a willing time rich proactive parent, and if it were a strategy rather than just a "lazy" teacher then a lot of children would be disadvantaged.

My first sentence sounds sarky - it honestly isn't!

Incogneetow- The Hobbit in year one.Very impressed!

Is that from 'Mr Biff the Boxer?'

There's loads to talk about in just that extract -

• alliteration
• why might he be called Mr Biff?
• why do boxers have to train?
• double letters
• would you prefer to skip or run?
• what type of Happy Family would you like to be? Why?

I'm not suggesting that you deconstruct every sentence of the Happy Families books, but they're beautifully written, varied books that are a great spring board for literary skills.

Be prepared to get flamed about ORT now

What alcofrolic says is depressing beyond belief. Seriously get her reading more interesting stuff at home, even without the approval of the senior team assessment monitor. The sky will not fall.

Why would anyone choose to get the Oxford books for their child I really don't understand. If your child can read well surely you don't need to buy /borrow scheme books for home.

Try the library for a variety of different reading schemes, and other 'first reader' books.

Does ORT not have any harder books than the one described by Blueschool? The one she's reading well? Sure it does.

I agree with yellowsubmarine.

Please don't buy the next level - you won't prove your point re comprehension and understanding by doing so.