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Reception teacher told us not to read everyday

346 replies

TeaJunky · 06/12/2013 11:58

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' Hmm

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 ?

OP posts:
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Pie8er · 08/12/2013 14:30

I do - use them interchangeably sometimes.

AbbyR1973 · 08/12/2013 14:37

Actually our school only change reading books once a week and I am fine with that as a parent, because when we have read the scheme book, they can read whatever they choose, which is generally a bit more interesting for them. DS's are often given 2 books rather than 1 by their teacher though.
I think poor Pie8er is getting a bit of a hard time though. For me I'm happy as long as we're agreed that there should be no artificial restriction on children's progress or year group ceilings of the "nothing higher than red in reception" variety. As Pie8er said children individuals and need to be treated as such.
You can't stop a child picking up reading early any more than you can stop some children learning to walk at 9 months rather than the average 1 year.

mrz · 08/12/2013 14:38

"as I have stated previously, children are able to choose books from the reading area as often as they wish. This selection includes, fiction, non-fiction and older scheme books that match their phase in phonics."

even though they are able to choose them from the reading area as they wish?

Clay Project X are also published by Oxford so ...

mrz · 08/12/2013 14:40

"As Pie8er said children individuals and need to be treated as such." but they aren't beinf treated as individuals when their is a restriction on how often books are changed.

mrz · 08/12/2013 14:40

being

Pie8er · 08/12/2013 14:42

Thanks AbbyR1973

I don't really understand what you are asking mrz

mrz · 08/12/2013 14:49

because I care about children

allyfe · 08/12/2013 14:52

I asked for more books from our school, but was told they simply didn't have enough to be able to give more than 2 books a week. And so far, almost all of what we have had are old style ORT, which I have learned to dislike.

I have a feeling that if they had the money, the school might switch to more phonics ones, but they don't have the money to even offer more than two books a week, let alone more than two which are decodable. It is crap in a lot of schools.

I have just bought supplementary ones. In my daughters school, I would imagine a huge number of other parents have done something similar. It makes it a real shame for those children in the school who would like more books but whose parents aren't able to supplement the school's system.

Pie8er · 08/12/2013 14:52

Referring to this...

even though they are able to choose them from the reading area as they wish?

allyfe · 08/12/2013 14:54

That last bit sounds a bit wrong! What I mean is that I would rather give money to the school so that they can buy a whole load more books for everyone, than it be a system where by my daughter gets access to some, but others don't. I know the library is there too, but we don't get to that regularly.

allyfe · 08/12/2013 15:00

Pie8er I hope you won't mind my just saying that a child picking up a book in book corner at school isn't quite the same as being able to sit down at home with a parent and read together. I think it is partly that which my daughter likes, the togetherness, the feeling of achievement and the praise when she does it well.

That aside, schools don't always have the resources.

Pie8er · 08/12/2013 15:07

No, not at all - I completely agree. They are able to swap and change their 'story book' with any book from the reading area. They can take the one that they choose home, alongside their 'scheme book.'

Feenie · 08/12/2013 15:14

Can never understand this 'not enough money' business. Even a mega skint school with a budget of only £500 a year for English could have bought £2000 worth of decodable books by now using match-funding. There really is no excuse not to have a lots of decodable books.

Pie8er · 08/12/2013 15:17

What about if they go home and never come back?

BertieBowtiesAreCool · 08/12/2013 15:26

True Feenie but it's unlikely that would be the budget just for reception class. You also have the older levels to cater for as well, and while there hasn't been a massive shift necessitating a change of books, you still need up to date resources for science, technology etc.

Feenie · 08/12/2013 15:33

It's a reasonably small amount for a school English budget - the books would be for Year 1 also, and the priority should have been decodable books because of the change in reading teaching.

The DfE's Year 1 phonics test leaflet to parents has stated that schools should be using decodable books for the last two years. It wasn't a surprise - schools knew this was coming and should have prioritised.

mrz · 08/12/2013 15:40

I always wonder about the "these books are just for reception" and "these books are just for Y1" and "these books are just for Y2" mentality Hmm

mrz · 08/12/2013 15:41

£2000 books between classes would make a big difference!

columngollum · 08/12/2013 15:42

You can get any books you like if you make enough fuss.

mrz · 08/12/2013 15:45

Pie8er Sun 08-Dec-13 14:52:49

Referring to this...

even though they are able to choose them from the reading area as they wish?

the books are in the reading corner for the child to choose if they wish but you use them as home reading books interchangeable with ORT Hmm

Feenie · 08/12/2013 15:46

It would make a massive difference - and yes, we all have kids who don't bring books back, but that's just a few and you have to either ask for the money or budget for that. It certainly isn't an excuse not to have a healthy stock of decodable reading books.

mrz · 08/12/2013 15:46

You can get any book you like if you buy it or go to the library too

Pie8er · 08/12/2013 15:56

We have lots of books that do not come back or come back in pieces.

mrz We have decodable readers that are organised for guided reading/taking home and we have decodable readers that we put in the reading area. Children can choose these to take home or read them during continuous provision - these books are rotated often.

columngollum · 08/12/2013 15:56

The bookshop and the library don't demand written comments on all the books that you don't like.

Feenie · 08/12/2013 16:00

Grin Grin

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