Advice from Teachers / TA Please

[TwigTwoolett]

I am having a bit of an issue with DS in Y1 schooling atm (have other thread running)

I would like to know

How often do you feel a Y1 child should be heard reading per week / half-term? Does this change dependent on whether they are a poor / average or fluent reader

Should it be individually or in groups or a mix

Please can you explain to me what guided reading means

Is reading a priority in this year .. or is another subject more important .. please, if you can be bothered outline what you feel the order of importance to be

Age Concern volunteers, Celia2? Please tell us more!

thanks celia

any chance any other Teachers / TAs around?

I haven't taught for a couple of years, but can't imagine things have changed that much....

I would expect a Y1 child to be group-reading probably twice a week (group reading session every day, teacher and TA, 5 groups of readers so twice in a week...). I would expect there to be group reading records, where the adult records what the focus was for the reading group (particular phonics, key words, strategies practised etc) and quick notes on individual progress, which then builds into a good record of where children are. I used to check through these sheets at the end of each week, and set new targets to focus on for the following week. Home reading books were changed usually twice a week by myself or the TA whilst we had our group, but parents could also change them at other times if they felt the need.

I wouldn't hear every child read individually (hugely beneficial for the child, but simply not time-effective for me as a teacher) although I would certainly read individually at the beginning of each half-term to get a good feel for each child's needs. Every school I've worked in has had parents and volunteers in, so, with the TAs helping as well, each child should read 1:1 every week with someone, and yes, the weaker readers were usually heard more often.

I also used to gain alot of info about children's reading from the carpet session of the Literacy Hour - the bit where as a class we read a text, and introduce whatever it is we're focussing on, and general stuff that was going on everyday. I can also say that I would always have far more info in my head about individuals than was written down, so if you asked me about a child's reading I would be able to go on for ages, although not all of it would be recorded anywhere.

I did read your other thread. Sounds v poor to me, although in the teacher's defence Y1 is a hard year group to get right - the balance between pushing on the academics, but continuing to have a more play-based approach is tricky. And if she's new to that year group it can take a while to get routines and systems up and running. Having said that, though, I would definately expect Y1s to be reading in some shape or form every day (be it a phonics or computer game, topic based stuff, group reading or puzzles) and for the teacher to have a good grasp of where indiviuduals are in their reading by the 2nd or 3rd week in. Your ds' teacher should certainly be able to talk about the next steps needed in his reading progress with confidence 5 weeks into term........

And that turned into a bit of an essay...sorry!

Thanks for that information, Celia2 It sounds a really good scheme.

At our school when they have limited resources of people to listen to readers they prioritise according to those children who are not reading at home regularly; not according to ability.

They aim to change the reading book the same day (and if necessary every day) if a child has finished it; and in yr1 the teacher would be aiming to hear each child 1:1 once a week, (but this is for a very brief reading session - 6 children within 10 mins or less.)

Celia2 .. is that a national programme do you think or something arranged on a local basis

Is there any issue with child protection with non-related adults going into school

Where is your school based if I may ask .. we're in London

I love the idea of elderly volunteers. Our school has no end of parent volunteers though so they probably wouldn't need to look at it.

I might raise it with one of the governors I know though.

Twig, I'm not a TA or teacher but do go in to do reading. From what I can see (there is a list in the teachers reading folder of all the children, dates across the top and they are ticked when they read) all children are read with equally regardless of ability or how often they read at home.

I don't know anything about group reading but each week the teacher hears ds read, albeit briefly, and usually changes his book (or she just changes teh book, am not 100% sure).

This week he has read 3 times in school and he's working through the same books as most of the year 2s so it's not as if he needs more reading than others iyswim.

Read with the TA and with 2 parents and had his book changed by teacher - all this week.

I am a TA in a primary school & in our school a year 1 child is normally heard read by the teacher/TA, around twice a week. They can change their books every day though, so long as they have read it at home.
We try & make a little more time for any children who are really struggling, or those who are rarely heard by their parents.

Guided reading is where the children read a book together in a small group.
This happens around 4 out of 5 days & the sessions are around 10-15 minutes long.
Guided reading is done in addition to individual reading.
Reading is a priority.

I have meeting with Head of Literacy on Tuesday after school (DS in french club)

I am trying to work out what I want to discuss

of course it will be a starting point of what does she think it should be

on your child protectoin qu Twig, I used to hear yr 1 read adn I was police-checked before I was allowed to do it.

Wow. All these children seem to be heard reading so much more often than DS2. He is heard once a week in a guided reading session. The session is about 20 minutes long, and there are 5 children in his group, so that's not much reading.

Also, the books they read are substantially below his actual level, though I understand they are supposed to be teaching stuff about punctuation, expression, comprehension, inference, rather than just decoding. He reads at his level to himself or to me every day anyway.

I'm amazed there's such a discrepancy nationally about how much reading is done in Y1.

I've just heard of guided reading, oldest is in year 1. In her reading book it said that she was quiet during these sessions and had to be given a lot of encouragement to join in. She is quite quiet when put on the spot, although loud and talkative with friends - is there anything I can do at home to help her with this?

singers .. that is the BASIC requirement of the national curriculum and in my opinion not enough

I agree, Twig - it's just not enough. I think the DSs's school sticks very rigidly to what's laid out in the National Curriculum - all that awful genre writing they have to do when they can barely write.

They are all supposed to be heard once a week by a parent helper as well, but DS2 has only been heard twice by a helper since term started.

Actually I think guided reading is a bit of a waste of space at this age anyway, but that's another story.

With regard to your meeting Twig, I think that Gladbag's answer is very comprehensive and gives you a picture of best practice.
I did read your other thread and whilst I think the teacher has been a little remiss in a number of ways, I think some of the posts expressing utter outrage etc may not help you.
I think the best approach to take would be to ask the Head Of Literacy to explain how their "reading partnership" works. This should allow her to tell you what is happening in the classroom and what they hope that parents are doing. ie a group reading session each week with an adult, daily reading at home with a parent and book changed as and when.. and if they can resource it.. reading individually to another adult at school.
You know your school; is it one where there are plenty of people to go in and help? Are there are a lot of children without English as a first language ? etc etc
Give them a chance to explain and then you can use that to suggest where the reality is different.
Bear in mind that the most recent guidelines suggest that the first term in year 1 is a transition from foundation stage to a more national curriculum based approach. This may have some impact on classroom practice.
Obviously Literacy is of paramount importance but it is taught in so many ways at this age. A discussion about initials I had with a group of foundation 2 children this morning whilst doing clay sculptures was a lot more meaningful to them than sitting down and "reading words" can sometimes be.
One thing I do in my classroom is to indicate in the reading diary what text we read whilst guided reading; what the focus was and any comments(brief) relevant to the child. We also send the text home so that the parent and child can read it. That way parents can see what we have been doing.
Whilst understandably you feel that your child has been over looked, I would resist the temptation to go in with all guns blazing but take more circumspect approach and hopefully you should both find the dialogue constructive.
Good luck.

My ds did group reading in reception, and yes, the books were pretty easy. But they were encouraged to read well, with expression and fluency, and now he is in year 1 and really flying he still reads stories the way I would read them to him. He does voices and really tells the story rather than just reading the words. And he loves reading.

Is anyone around who can make any suggestions re my question below
TIA