How often does someone listen to your child read in Reception?

[MilestoneMum]

Is there a recommended frequency e.g. 3x a day or twice a week? And how heavily do schools rely on parent helpers to do this?

If it is not logged in her journal do I assume DD didn't read to a grown up on a particular day?

I meant she picks out words she knows on the pages of the book I read to her.

Blimey cannot believe some children read to their teacher every day!

Hearing a child read a reasonable amount (individually rather than in a group) and making a note in a record takes at least 5-7 mins (I know, I have done it); if a teacher hears 30 children a day that's taking them three hours.

That's more than half the day and a real waste of a teacher's time. Not to mention the question of what the other children are doing for all that time. Teachers need to be teaching, not assessing on a daily basis a child's ability to read.

Almost everyday depending on how many parent helpers are in. Once a week with the TA and the rest of the days is parent helpers (one of those parent helpers is a qualified teacher too). They are lucky to have so much support because without it, it wouldn't happen.

DD reads every day, with either the teacher or TA, there are only 15 in her class and most of them read when they are dropped off before school actually starts.

DD reads to a teacher or teaching assistant every day and gets a new book every day. 16 in her class.

Twice a week. Once with the teacher and once with the TA. 29 or 30 kids in the class.

No idea. We hear her daily and her book is changed when we've heard her, but teachers don't record in her reading diary. She is going to do guided reading, but I don't know when that is starting.

Huge range on this thread, I wonder what frequency OFSTED would consider Outstanding?

I think Ofsted would probably look at the bigger picture - ie how many children are leaving this stage as confident readers for their age and what the cohort was like in terms of how they entered Reception! They seem to mainly look at progress rather than the nuts and bolts.

DD in Reception read individually about once a week to a TA or helper or teacher at school but she got a lot of input in guided reading sessions as well, and also phonics sessions, and of course I read with her at home when she wasn't too tired. Plus there were opportunities to read as part of accessing the curriculum - reading (or noticing and asking about) a label on a task table to see what it was about and reading lists to collect items to perform a task etc.

Guided reading wasn't logged but she did get a lot from this activity.

A lesson in which the teacher just heard individual children read would be seen very poorly by ofsted, as the rest of the children are not making progress.

Twice a week, once with TA once with the teacher, they also do 2 sessions of guided reading in a group. To be honest if it was every day I would be worried that the rest of the curriculum would suffer.

Every day with the TA. Same book comes home we read it with DS and it gets sent back for a new one the next day. DS is in reception.

I actually think it should probably depend on the child's needs. Some children will not be heard reading at home and they should be heard more in school. I include dd1 in that who absolutely refused to read at home for a term despite any number of star charts, bribes, incentives. The wonderful TAs listened to her in school. Got her over her block, now we can't get her to sleep because her head is in some book or other. Dd2 we have somehow managed to keep going - but it has been tough.

DS has read 65 books according to his reading record from nursery since September and that doesn't include the extra books that he reads at home when he has read his school ones. He has already gone up three levels and I imagine when he starts school in September he will need very little reading time except to move him up a level. His nursery teachers listen to him about once a fortnight or if I think he is ready to go up.

Most children will of course be somewhere in the middle of these extremes but I have seen with ds the most important thing is reading as much as they are willing to do at home. We have a number of different reading schemes at home bought in an attempt to get dd1 to read plus he goes to get some from the library too. Our library doesn't have many v easy books but they will order them in. By yellow/ ort level 3 there are more.

If they haven't already then ask the school to run a workshop for parents so you feel more confident reading at home and make sure they are aware of how much your child does or doesn't read at home.

Oh and yes if it's not in the record she won't have been listened to. All the staff are very diligent on that unlike naughty mummy who generally forgets to put down extra books read I wouldn't be concerned if ds was only listened to once a month in reception, but I would have been concerned if dd1 wasn't listened to at least twice a week (not in a ranting at the school way because I know how stubborn she was but in a will she ever learn way). If they aren't putting her up a level when you think she is ready then go and ask them to assess her. I think the guidance used to be reading 90% fluently.

Are all your children in reception honestly reading . My DS is just learning letters & in the very early stages of blending simple Cvc words.

I think mn children live in some sort of parallel universe to children I know in rl

Eta my eldest was much the same at this level & was free reading by 6 so I'm not worried just amazed to hear so many 4 year olds on mn who can read but have yet to meet them IRL

I work in Reception (LSA). We aim to hear each child read once a week. It is hardly ever the teacher. We also do guided reading groups every day so each child is involved in that. We encourage parents to listen to their children at home at least 3x a week. Little and often at this age is best so one page a night ( 5 mins) is better than 1 book a week for most children.

Dd1 hated reading and even well into year 2 she would refuse to read and often mixed up was and saw etc. As does dd2 - dd1 is now yr 4 and reads Harry Potter etc well so it hasn't had any long term impact. She just wasn't ready to read at 4. Ds has more or less taught himself - he will read a book in 5mins and it just clicks for him, he can blend words and learns red words easily. The girls are very impressed with his reading but as I tell them as well as learning to read they have also learnt to persevere for which I am very proud of them. They just have different needs which is why there is no simple answer to the question of how often a teacher/TA should listen to them read.

DD read to the teacher or a TA once a week in Reception (last year). No parent helpers doing reading in the whole school.

I am pretty certain that Ofsted would look at outcomes - are the children learning to read and how are they progressing - rather than inputs - how often do they read to a teacher. If they are still progressing well, and reading to the teacher only once a week, I think Ofsted wouldn't care a jot. If they were making poor progress, Ofsted would clearly be concerned about what systems the school had in place to address this.

Phoebe I wouldn't go so far as to say that DS3 is 'reading'. He can blend well and they have learnt lots of sounds - all the single letters and things like ch, th, sh so he can decode lots of words. He has just started stage 2/red books. He tends to have a Jolly Phonics book with single words on a page and another phonic book with simple sentences in. He can recognise common words like "the", "said" etc but blends out lots when he is 'reading'.

Phoebe, yes, DD reads - she's on green level and actually reads much higher level books fluently and with understanding. HOWEVER, she has a physical disability and was unable to walk until after she was 2 and has never been able to run around like her friends - she gets tired quickly - so she found things to do which she could do sitting down. At 18 months she was asking me about the alphabet and by 2 she had starting blending. She was just ready then and it was something she could do sitting down so she did it a lot!

Most of the children in her class are still at the letter sounds and beginning to blend stage, and I know that in a couple of years there will be little to choose between her and her peers.

Phoebe, yes DD reads, her school mix and match the reading schemes, the books we are getting at the moment are blue/stage 4 and she's reading these confidently. DS(9) didn't read as such until mid-way through year 1 and then suddenly shot through the levels (he is currently reading The Hobbit) so it obviously just clicks at different times for different children.

DD 'reads' (by which I mean she started with books with no words and is now at the I/am/cat type stage) to her teacher once a week.

We fill in a reading log, and I suspect that those dc who don't read at home as regularly or are struggling read to the teacher/ta more often.

I'm feeling really worried about this at the moment. Dd is in reception and they have a group guided reading session once a week, so no individual reading. Also, today they've sent home a letter saying because they've just got a new shiny set of phonics books they will no longer be sending them home. They will get 2 free choice books a week but those will not be monitored. So the upshot is likely to be that parents won't get the chance to say if they think the books are the wrong level/need changing level or any other kind of input/partnership. My dd is currently coming home with books which are far to basic for her personally and in other areas the teacher and ta seem really determined to ignore any suggestions or requests to stretch her or even explore her prior knowledge in class.

Not once with the teacher since Sept. every week with a parent help who writes comments such has 'tryed very hard' (sic) and 'read too books this week' (sic ).
Outstanding school, I think the emphasis is on parents to do the reading whic I struggle with working 60 hour weeks.