Does this sound right? Year one reading

[Northlondonma]

My daughter is in year one and they read in groups once a week. She brings home her book and tells me that she gets to read one sentence out of the book each week. Does that sound right to you? She doesn't seem to do any one on one reading only in weekly group. Parents evening next week so didn't know whether to bring it up or is this just normal?

I'm confused about the point of the parents rota? Why is a different parent more able to teach dd to read than me? I think the point is they prioritise those children who don't get appropriate support at home for whatever reason/ or are struggling.

tbh the biggest issue to me is that the books I get sent home are not decodable. Dd remembers words easily and so she rattles through them then gets stuck on one word which isn't decodable. This affirms her belief that phonics is a lot of effort for no gain.

Why have schools not had grants to replace books if the government really want phonics teaching? Makes no sense to me at all. They keep the new ones for guided reading seemingly......

I'm not sure what's confusing about it. The children get to read one on one everyday. If you didn't want your child on it, they could be excused I guess?

but that's it my daughter like most gets read with one to one every day (with me). Is that not enough? She's only 5

She could have it twice then! but you could ask for her not to be listened to reading if you wanted, I guess. I wouldn't know, we're talking about a hypothetical reading rota and hypothetical reading..

I don't think it's a great idea sorry, we'll have to beg to differ.

Sure I think so, but I don't think one parent not wanting their child to be listened to, should stop a class setting up a reading rota. They should simply exclude their own child from the extra reading practice.

The excluded child would probably benefit anyway, because the reading level of the whole class would rise, and that improves learning outcomes for everyone, I'm sure you can see why.

DS2 (5) is in Y1 also green band.
His class do guided reading everyday. He reads with me every day as well and until he was moved up to green band books last week was reading 2-3 books a night to me. He even reads books to himself after lights out - sneaking his lamp on and leaves little piles of books on his bed. He decodes words easily struggling only on long words. He has just got the reading bug and it's lovely to see! DS1 was always a reluctant reader and still is. I use reading to me as a reward with DS2!

I go into help 1-2 afternoons a week and read with the children after my main creative task. The teacher picks those who are more unlikely to read at home. The amount who haven't got their book bag or haven't got the correct book or who haven't changed their book for ages really shocks me.

Oh and Y1 pupils also have a reading buddy from Y4. Not sure how often they read to them though.

The thing is the teachers should be listening to the children read. They are trained professionals and know what to look out for re. analysing any difficulties etc. Shifting, yet again, what is the schools job, onto parents only masks the problem of schools not prioritising reading enough.

I agree, though teaching assistants can be just as effective as teachers (my DS's class TA is fantastic- so knowledgable and experienced; she had the measure of him after 2 days!).
It is the children that do not get enough parental support that need this in particular. There are many parents that do not feel confident enough, nor have the necessary level of English, to support their child well. If parents cannot even manage to send the reading book in each day, what chance does a child have?

'teachers should be listening to the children read.'

They should be they can't. How would they find the time to organise all those dress up days and arts and crafts projects if they listened to the to read one to one with an adult who can read , that's the primary need. THey've been happening for years and years and years, and it's only recently that they've been sort of given up, as if parents are incapable of helping.

gosh what gobbledegook!

How would they find the time to organise all those dress up days and arts and crafts projects if they listened to the children read one to one? Reading with an adult who can read, that's the primary need.

That's what I meant to say.

why would I exclude my child? If I excluded her from all the bits of the curriculum I thought were a waste of time . What evidence do you have that reading daily to parent helpers leads to better progress in children already making good progress? you've just decided off the top of your head its a good idea.

The issue for me is that a teacher or ta needs to set me targets, eg should dd be predicting what happens next/ working on a certain sound etc. Otherwise I just blindly bang through the book bands without really knowing what I'm doing. More reading with random parents won't help this.

For those who are struggling/ not read with at home totally different situation.

FrustratedBaker

How would they find the time to organise all those dress up days and arts and crafts projects if they listened to the children read one to one? Reading with an adult who can read, that's the primary need

Children can often read with an adult who can read at home. Schools should be providing something more. It is why educational professionals are trained. If children read to a trained professional they can pick up any difficulties early and resolve them. They can extend and challenge an able child. They are paid and have had the training to do this.

Dress up days are not required. Arts and crafts are part of the curriculum and support literacy (fine motor skills development etc).

...we easily can have dress up days and parties at home.

Why have schools not had grants to replace books if the government really want phonics teaching? Makes no sense to me at all. They keep the new ones for guided reading seemingly......
Schools were offered £3000 in matched funding to buy new books.

The issue for me is that a teacher or ta needs to set me targets, eg should dd be predicting what happens next/ working on a certain sound etc
This is what happens in our school - they set the child a target that is written into the child's reading record. The parent then knows what the child is meant to be working on, as does the child. When the child then reads with a teacher if they achieve their target they get a 'point'. After 3 points they then get a new target stuck in their reading records.

Although I do not think teachers should be setting targets for parents. Parents are not employees.

What a parent can offer reading sharing books, with children at home, is different to what should be offered at school.

At home, there is more freedom to inspire a real love of literature into a child, you can explore a child's entirely individual interests through reading and cater for each and every mood in terms of subject matter. However this is compromised if work is set, reading set books, in a prescribed way, decided by teachers, taking up the majority of a parent's supposed free time with their child.

Two out of my 3 DC seem to spend an afternoon every week watching videos. If the teacher spent this time listening to children read 1:1, I wouldn't mind half so much.

I listen to DC read at home, but would appreciate them reading to a professional regularly (ie not a foreign mum with no phonics understanding and poor hearing). It's a matter of priority I'm afraid - if they made an effort, they would manage to listen to readers. Their old school was dreadful in many ways, but they kept a handful of children back from assembly every morning for reading and/or intervention groups. I help in school one morning a week and see time being squandered in so many ways. If they truly wanted to, teachers would manage to listen to readers regularly. Many do manage (thank you Mrz). Relying on parents simply entrenches inequality. Not all schools have an army of MC SAHMs to go in and man a rota. Not all children are fortunate enough to have a parent with the skills, capacity and time to listen at home.

well that's a different argument if I am the only person reading 1 to 1 I do need targets whether an employee or not.

I think they should be listened to but by a teacher/ta (which dd would love and did in reception) They seem to concentrate on those who are behind/ parents don't bother. dd's on orange and I read every night so unless they change the system it won't be happening.

toby I understand your position.

However what I ended up doing was reading up on National Targets, methodology etc and setting my own targets. Although, I must admit, I did have a head start, having studied English and education for my degree. The teacher/ TA would have been useless at setting targets, because they were not the ones who frequently and regularly heard my DC read 1 to 1. I knew more about my DC's abilities than they did.

Not all parents have the time, ability or inclination, to do what I did though and our educational system is supposed to address these sort of inequalities.

OP, I guess the position is different in different schools but that doesnt sound like much reading to me.

I think (who knows what goes on after all!) my Y1 DD does one guided reading session a week, she gets one or two books a night to read (though could be fewer if we signed up for fewer). Sometimes her reading record just notes the change of books, but say a couple of times a week she has read her new book(s) already to the teacher (once a week say) or TA (once).

So she is reading 121 at school twice a week, doing a guided reading session once a week, and then reads at home every night (though I confess I don't always have time to listen to her - she reads while I am putting her little brother to bed, then I ask her about the story and if there were any difficult words).

I have been really surprised by the lack of reading in year 2 at our school. DS was heard once by the teacher at the start of term to assess his level and then since then has not been heard at all.

They do guided reading once a week but although this is probably a good way to work on comprehension and discussion I have my doubts about it being the only way reading is taught. Firstly the children only get to read a page and for a child such as my DS who is not particularly confident I could see that he could feel too shy to speak up and to read at his best whereas with 1-2-1 reading with just the teacher he would shine more. It also must be hard for the teacher to assess how they are doing if she only hears them read a couple of lines or 1 page. Mrz you said you found it didn't work in your school if you have time it would be really interesting to hear the reasons why.

I think with reading there is a distinction between practising reading and teaching reading. As a parent I am very happy to practise reading with my son every day. However I am not a teacher, I don't really know what to look out for or what I need to be focusing on when we read. I am also not responsible for assessing my son so it is hard for me to take a judgement on how well he is doing. For example if you had a year 2 child on green level he could in theory come home and read it to you well everyday and you would think he was reading fine - but the teacher would know that was a fairly low level for his age and would be aware of the things he would have to improve to move up to the correct level. I agree with the poster that said more volunteers to hear children read in school won't really help. It will help children who don't get heard at home but won't be of benefit to those who do.

I also agree that there is far too much fluffy stuff going on in schools and not enough focussing on the basics. Before you do your dress up days and harvest festivals make sure everyone can read! Surely reading is the one thing that will allow you to access a wider curriculum so I don't understand how our school manage to focus on it so little (well ok I do really - they just rely on parents and tutoring!)

Toby I haven't decided off the top of my head that it's a good idea. I've set up parent reading programmes in a number of schools and seen the benefit.

I don't know why you would exclude your child lbut you yourself said you wouldn't want her to do it so only you know the answer to that question.

No it's not a waste of time. All time that a child spends reading to an adult is useful, unless the adult is bad-tempered and mocks them or gets cross with them.

Wouldn't it be lovely if a teacher read/listened with your child every day one to one. Here's a fact. They aren't going to - not now, not ever. Get real. Parents have to work with that. Lots and lots of reading practice comes with parent reading rotas. It could double the amount of reading practice your child gets. If you want your child excluded, fine, but I would be very cross if I were a parent in your class and your objections prevented every other child from getting the benefit.

Teachers who think that only a trained person can do this - who do you think is doing it when you're not? It's parents, that's who. You depend on parents to do this.