Reading individually to an adult in school

[negrilbaby]

...how often?
DS is in year 1 and is a strong, competent reader. He does guided reading sessions but hasn't read one-to-one with an adult since the end of March. His teacher has never heard him read on his own.
I asked him at the week-end why he wasn't reading in class and he told me that the man who hears the reading has said he's too good so doesn't choose him.
I do know that there are others in the class who require more help than DS but surely he should not be overlooked because he is doing well.
What are your experiences with this in Year 1?
Am I expecting too much?

sock you have my sympathy with rainbow fairies, there's only so many inane objects a couple of girls can collect to save the whole fairy world!

The time chronicles are stages 10-12, we got them out of the library but dd2 enjoyed them so much we bought some. Ds will move on to these rather than the school ones. I decided it was better to read stuff she enjoyed than make reading a chore.

I think many schools teach reading badly lots do reading - listening to children 1-1 is great for practising but often passive.

Ds2 is in reception and reads to us about 5 nights out of 7 (weekends tend to be busy and I will admit I sometimes forget!)
He reads to a teacher/TA about 3 times a week.
Guided reading once a week.
He is in the top group for reading though so maybe that's why?

My year 2 daughter does one session of guided reading and 2 sessions of 1 on 1 reading per week.

We do reading first thing every morning. Four days per week is 1-1, the other is group reading. It's easier for parents as they can stick around if they have the time, and they don't have to come back later. Parents don't have to sign up, they can just show up, which I find helps as they don't have to commit to a certain day every week, just do it when they can. I always seem to have enough parent volunteers (parents and grandparents), usually 4-5 per day.

Children read to each other while we circulate among the room and then will read to an adult (either volunteer or myself) every day. I listen to every child at least twice per week. Generally during reading time, but also during free time or during eating time for recess, fruit break or lunch if necessary to fit everyone in.

Hello negrilbaby:

Interesting post & interesting range of comments in response to your query.

I have two DDs now at two different schools but it is clear that your experience reflects our experience at St. Mediocre (for DD1 & DD2 to Year 3) and DD2 (now Y4 at a new school) does read once a week to her TA. OK briefly, maybe for 5-10 minutes - but she is assessed on both how she reads and her comprehension on what she reads, some AF points are noted in her reading diary (no idea what they mean).

St. Mediocre's approach was much the same as your school and looks to be worse in upper years. Guided reading in KS2 becomes very odd indeed. It seems to be a period of time when the teacher is marking homework books and the children are expected to sit at the table and read independently. Apparently there is no pressure/ schedule for reading so frequently DD1 finishes the 'guided reading book' in class (books are no longer sent home because the school felt too many were being lost) she has to read her own library book or a class book in that time slot until someone finishes.

However, when DD1 was truly struggling (finished KS1 at NC L1 on SATs for reading) she was given more one to one time with TAs, parent volunteer and teacher in Year 3. In Year 4 she was put into an accelerated reading programme where a small group were taken out of class during guided reading and worked with a TA on reading skills.

My gut instinct is that the two schools are dealing with very different levels of parental engagement regarding their children. DD2's new school has imaginative and open ended homeworks where you can do as much or as little as you like. DD1's school was the occasional photocopied worksheet. And frankly the approach to reading is much the same. DD1s school (St. Mediocre) rarely has children into school library (no library books for DD1 this year at all), does not send home guided reading books, does not report on pupil progress in reading - only writing.

DD2's school has weekly library visits where children are allowed to check out one fiction and one non-fiction book. DD2 just opts for fiction, but it's nice to know if she was interested she could get a non-fiction book on dinosaurs, etc... Guided reading books usually do stay at school, but children falling a bit behind the main group are allowed to take them home at the weekend to do a bit more reading at home.

I think the thing I've started to really notice as different between approaches in that DD1's class (Y6 at St. Mediocre, but really entirety of KS2) rarely discusses what they're reading (either in set ability tables or sometimes as a whole class), comprehension skills are rarely practised/ reinforced. DD2's class seems to use guided reading time to discuss structure of books/ stories, author's use of language, vocabulary, etc... Treated more as a reading club where people discuss opinions about what happens in the story/ character/ plot etc... Often the guided reading at DD2's new school relates back to other aspects of the curriculum. So for example DD2's class are studying the Amazon Rain Forest and read Iva Ibbotsen's Journey to the River Sea - which seemed very ambitious compared to what DD2 had been reading at St. Mediocre - but in fact she adored it.

Left confused as to why such a stark difference in approach between two schools within 2 miles of each other. Not huge difference in character of neighbourhoods - but growing divide in parental expectation I suspect. Parents at the new school absolutely expect their children to be reading at their chronological age or better.

it does make me sad when parents complain when a child who needs extra support gets it. My child gets extra support with reading because that is the area he struggles with, his strong point is maths, I dont complain that other children get extra support with maths, they need it my son dosent. It all evens out, they recieve the support in the areas that the individual child needs that support in Reading is picked up by parents because that is the area recorded by both parents and teachers in a log book that comes home, if there was such a log book for mathssome parents would find a way to get upset about that aswell.

I think that schools relying on parents to do the one to one reading is one reason that social mobility has stalled. I know families where the parents have literacy difficulties and its unrealistic to expect the parents to listen totheir children read. Many children are capable of learning to read, but they need another adult other than their parents to help them.

I feel that more TAs should be employed in reception and year 1 to ensure that every child gets practice in deprived areas. Infact I feel that this would be a good use of the pupil premium. I feel that key stage 2 children who struggle with reading are better having help from a specialist reading teacher.

Giving extra help to chidlren who are known to be living in challenging circumstances early on stops them falling behind. It stops these children becoming bored and distruptive.

SockPinchingMonster, I sympathise with you on Rainbow Magic, but I will acknowledge that they made my daughter an independent reader. When learning, the structure and familiarity is helpful. We have dozens of them but am keeping them as DD2 may also want to read them she is already showing interest. It is a phase and they do eventually grow out of it....

my2bundles I don't think anyone is complaining about extra support being given to those who need it. Certainly not me, I'm all for it. For me, the problem is with what is considered 'extra' support. I think that every single child should be taught at the appropriate level, and in ks1 I think that every single child should receive very regular lessons in reading.

My DD's school do phonics daily (which I am wholly supportive of) but they hardly ever seem to teach reading skills. As in how to read a paragraph with fluency and expression, using the punctuation. How to follow the plot, how to distinguish between the main characters, what the author meant when she used a certain word or phrase. How to predict what might happen next. How to formulate their opinion of a book and compare it to others.

1:1 reading isn't always the best way to teach these skills. I wouldn't mind whether DD1 was taught them through 1:1, small groups or whole class. But they don't seem to be teaching them at all.

I would guess that most posters on here want a similar reassurance- that their DCs are actually being taught these skills and given time to practise them.

[Rant over] emoticon.

As an aside... Sympathies for all those suffering through Rainbow Magic. I've found the Secret Kingdom series and the Glitterwings Academy series to be acceptable alternatives for DD and me. A change is as good as a rest and all that!

You've just described guided reading. Are you sure this doesn't' happen in your school?

I'm actually surprised so many schools are still doing guided reading

Every child every day gets 1-1 reading time with a teacher or a TA. Each child also does a guided reading group session every week with a TA. They all do a 20 minute structured phonics lesson 3 times a week too in addition to literacy lessons. This is a Y1 cohort, 2 form entry, 30 children per class.

Guided reading is a new roll-out at our school, within the last 2 years mrz!

I thought most schools had scrapped it... really surprised to hear of schools just taking it on.

When I used to listen in Infants there would be a group of children who were meant to be listened to every day. These were the ones who were struggling, (which often correlated to the ones whose parents did not update their reading record at home).
I used this list as a guide, but if any other child had not been heard at school for 2 weeks, I used to prioritise them too.
Now I listen in juniors the teacher works out a list and I listen to whoever. I still haven't worked out any pattern to the list of children I get but I'm sure it is there somewhere.

My DD is in year 1 and a fluent reader. She has not been heard read independently by a teacher or TA since September. They do do guided reading and the teacher says she is very shy in these sessions and does not show what she can do................That is because she is with year 2s and they are very confident individuals. Guided reading may teach her useful skills, but for a shy child it does not always allow a teacher to have a proper idea of what they can do.....

Mrz and others,

So are there different ways to read...

Read aloud to demonstrate understanding of word formations, fluency and punctuation.

Read aloud to demonstrate the above, but then teacher asks comprehension questions on the grammar and structure, and the characters and plot etc.

Read in silence in their head and then ask questions and discuss grammar, plot, structure etc

Teacher reads aloud for understanding, inspiration, grammar, structure etc

As I often read aloud at work and can read complex words, but don't always comprehend.

Yes there are effective and ineffective ways Justtoobad

I don't really know what is supposed to happen at DD1's school. Earlier this week she described what sounded like guided reading, but that was the first time in several months. Usually when I ask her if she has read with an adult in school she says no.

[Disclaimer- I am well aware that Y1 children's memories and interpretations of events leave a lot to be desired- I tend to assume that she is doing some reading but doesn't recognise it as such]

I do know that (as of last parent's evening) the teachers don't seem to know what she is capable of. And I know that the kind of questioning/discussion that I do with her at home does not seem to be something she does at school.

My Y1 dd1, who is a strong reader, has a one to one session with her teacher pretty much every week, but not a guided reading group. She says this is because she's on harder books than the rest of her literacy table. I think the rest of the table does guided reading in a group. She would rather be part of the group...

She gets one school reading book to read per week, and one school library book. Plus lots from the local library.

DD (Y2) does guided reading three times a week and hasn't read to an adult on her own (in school) since October. I think in Y1 she read to an adult three or four times, according to her reading record. TBH, I don't mind. She's a good reader (currently reading James and the Giant Peach at home for pleasure and easily) and there are kids in her class who are still on P scales and/or are suspected of being quite severely dyslexic. There are others who are reading quite some way below what's expected at this stage and have literally zero parental input. I can't see that it would be particularly beneficial for the class as a whole for her to be the person that gets the teacher's valuable time. She's getting plenty of input at home, reads well already both for pleasure and information (Wikipedia addict who is compiling her own encyclopedia of famous dancers), and is generally comfortable with reading and enjoys it.

I help in class with both reading and Maths and the children who get sent my way are without exception those who really need the extra input. I am happy that this is the case. The more input those children get and the better they are enabled to catch up a bit, the more harmonious the class is likely to be. Children like my daughter who are already moving beyond age-related expectations with plenty of home support are also the ones who are likely to be able to push their own learning forward themselves.

I volunteer in school and hear a whole reception class read once a week. 4 other mums do the same the rest of the week. I also listen to years 1 and 2 read once a week and hear about 9 children read each week. They also appear to read to someone every day.