Reception teacher told us not to read everyday

[TeaJunky]

Ok, so dd started bringing books home. She initially brought the purple level with no words then progressed onto pink quite quickly. She reads her school reading (phonics) book to me everyday and as the reading book is changed only once a week, she began to find this boring quite quickly.

I wrongly assumed that she is perhaps ready for something more challenging and I wrote this in her reading record.

Dd's reception teacher called me in at the end of the day and proceeded to show me the whole reading scheme on the trolley and explain that it only consisted of 500 words and the whole point of it was to achieve fluency blah blah (I already know all this). She said dd had been tried out on some 'harder' books and struggled with them hence she stayed on pink.
That was fine by me, so I suggested that she perhaps needed a new book more often as she read everyday. The teacher said 'really, don't read everyday because it can get boring really quickly'.
I pointed out that it actually wasn't me pushing dd to sit down and read, it was her bringing her book bag from her room and literally dragging me onto the sofa to read - she said 'honestly, don't let her do it everyday'

What ?!

The second thing that worried me about the whole conversation was the fact that the reading scheme only went up to level red, so the whole of the reading scheme was only three levels; purple (pre words), pink and red. She said that's the highest they can go in reception on the scheme.

Am I right to feel that this is a very limiting and pre-determined scheme with no room for differentiation or individual progression?

This is a highly thought of school and we are happy with everything else but the whole reading convo we had seems so bizarre.

thoughts ?

What an odd conversation with the teacher - I agree with you! I used to teach at a primary school - and would just send home extra books if the child was getting through them

^^this

Thanks for everyone's replies and fantastic advice

I really like the ideas of the variety of tasks you can do with the one book and actually , dd's teacher did mention that too. She also said that doing some writing tasks (which is dd's target) would help with reading too...but dd wants to read, so we do

She does already pick words out of books I read to her and also reads dd2's (1 year old) baby board books to her (which dd2 loves ).

We do word games with word cards and she has white board and pen that she likes to make sentences on.

She also makes up her own stories and rhymes which we enjoy and share together as a family (some of them are even quite good! )

I think the whole reason of my original post was with the knowledge that together with her love for learning/ reading and enthusiasm, and my effort and time I invest in her at home, the school's way of doing things in reception feel restrictive and counter-productive. I don't want anyone to curtail dd's potential, her eagerness and her excitement to just 500 words and 2 levels in the year. Dd may very well just about learn 500 the 500 words in the year. In a normal scheme, she may very well have only moved up one level. Who knows? But how do we know otherwise if the assessment at the end of the year will only be them 500 words and them two levels? Who knows just how much she can learn in a years time? And why should I or anyone curtail this, put a limit on her potential attainment and squeeze any flexibility and joy out of the equation for the sake of an ineffective school scheme?
It's not about the levels or just reading at home. It's about high expectations and excitement and limitless possibility in the classroom.

And I know I know we can and will read at home and continue all our lovely things and I will read with and to dd whenever she wants, but I just can't help feeling a little bit sad about the whole thing.

The sadness passes. The unbelievable anger passes and then you just get on with it. It's not a great advertisement for British schooling. But bad things happen to good people and the age of four is as good a time to learn it as any other. (And a bad book system isn't the worst thing that happens in life.)

Tbh it would really annoy me too. Surely a child cannot be told they cannot go higher than a certain level?!

I volunteer in a reception class (not at my DC school) and the aim is to get all/most kids to yellow level. However, this academic year 4 kids have come into the class (none last academic year - I was in there then too) able to read at a basic/decent level. One kid on blue and 3 on yellow. They will not be unable to access certain books because they "belong" to the year above iyswim.

My DD is in yr1 and reads fluently and her school handle it well (on the whole). She goes into yr3 to get her books although whether she wants to read them is a whole other matter.

I also read with yr1 kids in my DC school (but not DD's class) and did the same last year (with yr1) and there were kids who started yr1 on red/yellow and finished the year on gold ie they were not held back by only being able to "get" to a certain level when their reading clicked. The majority of DD's yr1 year group are on stage 6/7 so certainly not held back last year in reception.

Yes, the books in the basement thing, Giles.

I suppose that the point is it isn't great to rush through all of the levels because it leads to a shakier foundation - better to get steady practice at the lower levels before moving up. And if the reading scheme is small then it does make sense not to keep repeating books, too, partly because it's boring, partly because the child might just start to memorise words which undermines the phonics teaching.

But, IMO, I wouldn't see any harm in getting some other same-level books outside of this particular scheme so that they can practice the level they're at before moving up. So I think that's what I'd do. Also making a list somewhere of which sounds they've covered and any "tricky" words (the, etc) that they know or should know and then you can practice writing little notes to each other or similar things.

I'd have absolutely no issue with this...and agree with Bertie. If you're not careful children end up 'barking at print' rather than actually reading and understanding.

She is in Reception, she is 4/5. 'Let them be little' - I'm a Reception teacher and this is one of my greatest philosophies!

It isn't simply about rushing through a reading scheme and adding word after word to learn. Instead of going up, up, up it's about stretching them width ways (as in out).

Language comprehension, discussions about the story, characters, setting, blurb, intonation, rhyme etc.

My children get one reading book a week and that is all that's necessary in Reception - it's all about fostering a love of reading and creating secure foundations!

Oh pie8er...my dd1 starts school next September. Hope she has a teacher with your philosophy! Fingers crossed...

You wouldn't have an issue with restricting children to no higher than red reading books in Reception, Pie8er? Seriously? I am so glad my daughter's teacher didn't think like you do. She was on red reading books a matter of weeks after starting in Reception and reading fluently by the spring term. When I say reading fluently, I mean able to read age appropriate chapter books, such as Dick King-Smith, and able to answer questions about what was happening, what might happen next, what the characters thought, what they wanted to happen, why it might not or might etc etc etc and give reasonable answers. She's not a genius! There were plenty of other children in her class who were at a similar level. What could have been gained by restricting them to red books at school?

I have say I find this obsession with dreading levels amd bands really odd.

Wit my five I have read the school books but only when the kids want to and we quickly moved onto our own boss/library books. We read a lot to trhe chodlren and with them, our house is full of books!

But I paid little attention to the reading scheme, jist read what we enjoyed and a wide variety, newspapers, magazines, cartoons, signs, mapbook, factual etc we just exposed them to a wide variety of reading material and they saw us enjoying reading and loved being read to.

My eldest didnt go to school until he was nine and ds2 was 6 when he started school, we did some phonics with them, but no 'formal'stye learning. The are 14 and 11 now and verociosu readers.

Ditto ds3 and my little two are following the same way. I want reading to be somehtign fun and enjoyable, thereading schemes are oftne anything but...fucking magic key anyone?!!

'd have absolutely no issue with this...and agree with Bertie. If you're not careful children end up 'barking at print' rather than actually reading and understanding.

Where, precisely, did Bertie mention children 'barking at print'?

I'd think that it was only likely that children should do anything resembling 'barking at print' if they were given books to read which contained vocabulary and concepts which were too advanced for them. Does a reading scheme book exist which contains vocabulary and concepts beyond the knowledge and understanding of a 5 -6 y old?

Restricting children's books makes the teacher feel in control and screws up the kids and their parents. The point of teachers doing it is because they can.

DD started reception reading well and she certainly wasn't barking at print

Pie8er do you think you can foster a love of reading by keeping an able reader on red level or below? Or by stopping them from reading every day when they want to, as the OP's daughter clearly does?

I agree with you about the language comprehension, discussing the setting etc... But the early levels of reading schemes are NOT the way to do that- there's precious little discussion that you can get out of the average Biff/Chip book.

I'm a firm believer in exposing children to a wide range of texts from early on, letting them read as much as they want. Not pushing them, but certainly supporting them. The idea of 'you can only have one book a week and nothing past red level' makes me shudder.

OP, I would get your DD suitable reading material from elsewhere- the Oxford Owl website, or if you can afford it, maybe try reading chest. And ignore the teacher.

It isn't simply about rushing through a reading scheme and adding word after word to learn. Instead of going up, up, up it's about stretching them width ways (as in out).

Language comprehension, discussions about the story, characters, setting, blurb, intonation, rhyme etc.

Why not do both?

Can never see the point in limiting children - it's frustrating on all sides.

The restricting thing to red band is curious- surely they have higher bands in the year 1 class and children reaching them would use those. Are you saying that the teacher said they were not allowed access to them at all??

Column I find your posts strange. You sonobuoys lu have had bad experiences at your dc's school but you make sweeping statements about teachers...as if they want children to fail.

• you obviously...sorry for typos!

I completely understand and agree with the idea that children should be fluent not only in decoding but also in discussing the story and unpicking the ideas behind it, but I totally disagree with artificially restricting the level of book that a child can have access to at school because you think that children should only be reading certain levels in a particular year. This, to me, is the way to produce children who think reading is dull. Yes, of course, on MN we mainly see parents who want the best for their children and will give them appropriate reading material at home no matter what school supplies. But there are plenty more children whose parents won't. Should it be the case that little A whose mum has bought her twenty books this year and taken her to the library on a weekly basis and who reads a wide range of interesting and exciting books at home should get to be more enthused by the excitement of reading than little B who is just as able but whose parents haven't even thought of buying her a book, don't know where the library is, and who is bored silly by red level?

There are lots of children in my daughter's class who are able and enthusiastic readers and who were reading things much harder than red level by the end of Reception. Many of them do not own a book at home (while some have lots). If you artificially restrict reading levels, you are likely to bore the children who have most to gain by becoming early, enthusiastic and proficient readers. They are the ones who will not have the slack picked up elsewhere. I am honestly shocked by pie8er's post.

Pie8er.... DS1 started reception last year being able to read books well beyond red band, green band was the starting point for him. He was most certainly not "barking at print." There was nothing at all particularly challenging for him in terms of comprehension in those books, indeed I think his reading ability lagged well behind his comprehension. He is now in year 1 and brings home books beyond line level but at home reads more or less what he wants. This is not due to being pushed at home or at school- like everyone else he spent most of reception playing. It would have been entirely pointless to send home a red book at any time in reception... if his teacher had done so he would have been a bit bemused by it.
DS2 is just starting reception and is also reading blue/ green book bands at this point.
Children have to be allowed to move at their own pace and interest. I hate the idea of artificial glass ceilings in year groups beyond which a child cannot go.

I wouldn't say that several of the teachers I've met want children to fail. But what I what I would say is that several of the teachers I've had dealing with have a wholly "it's my way or the highway" attitude. And explaining to them that your child can already read Dickens and Dahl is met with a blank stare. Offers to show them are met with "I haven't got time." And the child is duly sent home with a non-book with huge print and eight words per page. I haven't yet met a teacher who replied well then, send her in with Dickens and we'll see how we get on with it. Why not? It's only a book. What are they so afraid of? I can only conclude that they wouldn't know what to do with a 5yo who can already read Dickens and they're afraid of the idea.

Even this chart, link below, which I would consider to err on the lower side of what many children can deal with would say that yellow is what you'd be aiming for by the time a child is five. Red would be in the middle area of the 4-5 age band and some children will be five near the beginning of their Reception year. Last year in DD's Y1 class, there were a very few children (two or three) who were still on red band at the start of the year. It is not a privileged or particularly high attaining cohort. The children who were still on red band at the beginning of year 1 were mainly children who are still experiencing significant problems in reading at the start of Y2. Most of them were well above that level, even those who had almost no support at home.

www.readingchest.co.uk/book-bands

Column, how is your DD getting on in Y1?

Yes I don't think it's fair to restrict children to a particular level in a year, although I stand by the point that it's not helpful to let them rush straight through to the top either.

I don't know what the colour bands are later on because I'm just using the songbirds books with DS. With these he does tend to race through the book itself which has several stories in but then we go back and read some again, talk about the pictures/story etc and I'm keeping track of what he's covered and practising it at other times too. But he is not learning to read and write at school, so I am free to do whatever I want.

Huitre that site looks helpful but WTF is "leopard" doing at stage 1?!

I have to say, I am totally impressed with DD's teachers this year. Especially the one she has for phonics ( which she hated in reception). She adores phonics lessons despite knowing all the sounds already.

Her class teacher knows what DD reads at home with me as she tells her teacher however, the only niggle is the school reading books. But at least she is not made to read them and it's not the level, more the content that does not interest her.