Books home

[nocheeseinhouse]

When do children stop bringing books home to read each night? Or when can we stop listening to the whole thing? DD can read perfectly, understands what she's read, and the books are too long for me to listen to a whole one each night. She can read one to herself much quicker, and then tell me what it was about. She needs no help with the books (except the pronunciation of technical language, eg. ballet terms in a book about ballet). She reads voraciously, several books a weekend, which are much longer, more words per page, and complex than the ones she brings from school. She doesn't mind the school books, because she will read anything (the phone directory, if we still used them, I suspect!), but they are really long, and while it's lovely to hear your child read aloud perfectly, I'm not sure it's doing either of us any good, or improving her reading at all.

Where to go with these reading books once your child can read?

I have asked the teacher, and she got moved up a level, but she can read. Obviously not Chaucer, but that doesn't appear to feature in any of the book bands.

She's not a genius, but reading is her thing. Shoudl I just push to go up a level? (I'm not sure there are more levels in our school). I tried Reading Chest, but even the top level there were just the sorts of things she gets from the library, and reads in peace on her own.

You don't say how old your DD is? I would say that you should hear them read the whole thing whilst in infants (although I will occasionally ask DD to finish a chapter and tell me what happened in it). If reading fluently, hear them read a few times a week in y3 and 4, and then once or twice a week in y5 and 6. If struggling readers then moee often.

DD is similar in that she devours books and reads beautifully. I still listen to her daily because she loves sharing books with me, and we can discuss the higher level comprehension skills - the inference and deduction. She's 5.

You could add the books from home she is reading alongside a brief 'read fluently' about the school books.

DC's school expects regular reading all the way through to year 6. Even when your child is a fluent reader, reading aloud is a whole separate skill and I enjoy it anyway because the DC are starting to read more interesting books so we can have a proper conversation about it.

i'm guessing as your child is still on levels they may well be much younger though.

Meant to say - you don't have to listen to the whole of the longer books (though I spent what felt like months listening to every word of "Tom's Midnight Garden" read aloud as DS insisted on it) - just read the next chapter/few pages and let the child read the bits in between to themselves.

I think it is vital that a child reads aloud, even if it is only a few pages. I know that DD will skip difficult words without asking us of the meaning or pronouncing it correctly.

DD is on lime in school, reads Harry Potter or similar with us (we read a few pages, she then finishes the chapter herself). But I still hear her reading every other day. It is also important that I roughly know the story so I can check that she actually understands what she reads.

She is in Y3 and they can either bring a book from school or read a book in school and read a different one at home.

She's 6. She likes changing her book each day, so wants to read the whole thing, and they're meant to have read the whole thing to someone to be able to change (ie. I have to write in her planner that she's read the whole book). I've taken to lying. She reads very well aloud, changing her voice to a 'dad' voice etc, but obviously like any of us, aloud is slower than her speeding through it.

I'm really unsure what we're expected to do with home books now she can read. What are these 'higher comprehension' skills, and how do I test them? We have a chat about the book, quite a few of them now are non-fiction that she chooses (eg. the ballet book), so I can't exactly ask how the characters are feeling, or an alternative ending. She has a dictionary for unfamiliar words, or asks me what they are, but usually the books have a glossary, so all I need to check is pronunciation of technical language, which sometimes I don't know without checking online!

The school's banding doesn't follow the 'normal' bands, and the different classrooms have a set range of bands. The library for non-banded books is in the juniors, and I can't see them letting her up there.

She reads the school book because she gets a point at school every time she changes her book, and she likes picking new books, and filling up all the spaces in her planner. As I said, if it was phone directories, she'd be the same. And would probably be as good for her education. I probably should just CTFD, but we don't have much time in the evenings, and I'd like to spend reading time actually helping her, whereas at the moment it's listening to her proficiently, and hilariously often, read a few pages of a book she's only reading because she wants the point. The books are getting repetitive, we've had books on tadpoles 3 times, from different publishers, essentially saying the same thing! She's not even interested in tadpoles.

DD always wanted to finish her book, but when we got some longer books we told her we would do them in 2 nights - she coped with that. We've had a few lately she has kept for a week or so because they are so much longer (Sparky at Magic School, Seriously Silly Stories and Septimouse Supermouse as examples). Her school rewards number of times they have been heard reading, rather than number of books completed, which seems better.

This is a handy list of different types of questions to ask. Often the temptation is to pull questions from the first section, rather than the others.

Thanks. I have tried listing books read at home, and writing 'read fluently', 'read perfectly without help' hint hint, and even asked what I should be doing with her and reading, but as I said, that was taken as 'pushy mum wants child up book bands' rather than 'baffled mum is listening to tadpoles again'

Well a good thing to ask is "what can we work on at home to improve DD's reading?". Then the teacher either has to give you something tangible that she can work on or realise that maybe she needs harder books.

Incidentally one "higher" reading skill is being able to follow themes/ story development through a longer story so I would tone down DD's expectation of being able to finish a book at a single sitting. And why on earth would you lie about this? Fair enough if it's a non fiction book and you've picked out different sections that you are interested in, but being sticking at a longer story is also a relevant skill.

I lie so she gets the point, and doesn't feel like she's letting the whole class down in the class points contest by getting fewer points that the less good readers who have shorter books!

I asked at parent's evening, and got told 'oh, just carry on, she's doing so well, working at the level of the year above, so you don't need to do anything else.' If I'd have pushed it, I'd had felt like a pushy parent, which I don't want to be. I'm just a bored one, and feel like we're both stagnating with the school books.

She reads other books over longer sittings, but she wants to read the whole of the school book to get to change it, to fill up the planner, and to get the point.

I've tried making her less competitive over the filling up of the planner, but she sees it as a challenge!

DD is in yr3 and they are expected to read 4 times a week at 20 mins each, so can be one or two short books, or part of a longer book. Or monster high Wikipedia page info online. They don't choose books at school now which I'm quite pleased with really as she's challenging herself much more.

In the infant school DS is still at they are encouraged to change it every day, but they aren't forced to so if they aren't finished it doesn't matter. If DS can't manage a whole book I just write what pages he's done.

I think you will need to teach her to slow down. If she moves up she will get longer book, chapter books she won't be able to read in one night.

I would have a chat with the teacher at parent evening, maybe actually telling her what your DD is up to and asking her to tell DD to change her habits.

I wouldn't say a 6 year old can read, even if she reads a year above her own year group. There is a lot more than reading a book in one setting and more complex stories when she reaches Year 3-4 and even then the teacher most likely will ask parents to monitor reading.

What does she read for pleasure? Maybe get her more challenging books for home so she sees the difference.

She reads better than many adults, I would take that as reading. Yes, she's not ready for A level English Literature, or Austen, but that's not what I'm aiming for at six!

She already reads non-school books over several nights/weeks. (Narnia etc.) But the school books you have to read the whole thing to get your point, and all the other kids in the class are getting points for the class, so why shouldn't she?

I was asking for the light at the end of the tunnel, as to when this stops, and books can just be for fun, or long journeys.

I'll try asking these higher comprehension questions, but I suspect I'll get the answer 'read the book yourself, if you're so interested!' I also think they've run out of fiction at her level, as all we're getting is non-fiction, which most of the questions linked to can't be used for. Yes, I could give her a little test on all the facts she's read, but where's the fun in that, for either of us? Plus, the books are so repetitive in subject matter, how do I know she's read that new fact tonight, or last month when we had a book on the same topic, different publisher?

If you don't want replies except ones that fit your requirements, don't post on an open forum... I shall make sure I ask you in future what answers you want.

The only way to find the answers to your very specific questions is to ask the teacher.

You either want interesting books to read or you want books which she can read in one night and earn her point. Seems to me that you're equally as keen for her to get points as she is. If that is your goal then don't complain about boring books. As a teacher, I still stand by my first answer, which is that children in KS1 should be heard reading nightly using a range of the questions I linked to (and DD would know that 'Read it yourself' wasn't an acceptable answer).

The answers I wanted are answers to my questions in my OP-
When do children stop bringing books home to read each night? Appears to be 'never' these days according to people here.

Or when can we stop listening to the whole thing? Again, 'never' according to some posters, about now according to others- useful to have opinions on this.

Where to go with these reading books once your child can read? Ask questions, apparently, but most of the questions posted are only applicable to fiction texts. Or ask the teacher, which I've done, and still none the wiser, so I thought I'd ask here. Asking questions like I'm quizzing her under pressure won't sit well with my DD, so we'll carry on just discussing stuff as it comes up over dinner, but I don't know if what's she's talking about is from tonight's book, or one a month ago, she has a very good memory. I, personally, would hate someone to notice I was reading, and then grill me on the content, and while I thank you for the suggestion, it won't work in our family.

I am not at all bothered by the points. What I don't want is her refusing to read longer books from school because it'll make it harder to get the point, or feel like getting longer books she can't get the point for is a punishment. I don't want her to feel like 'being ahead' is a bad thing.

I don't know why you felt the need to be rude. I was asking for some support in my frustration that our reading time has gone from fun where I could see I was helping her, to a chore that needs to be done. I'm feeling helplessly stuck in a rut, so I asked for some advice. The only advice I feel I've got is that I mustn't let her rush her school book so she can read something that challenges her, that I shouldn't lie about hearing her read the whole thing, so she feels bad for being on longer books, and intensively question her after. That she can't possibly be able to read at her age (that's why I left the age out of the OP, because I didn't want to be accused of boasting, or lying.) I feel we've moved so far away from what used to be a nice time in our house.

I feel like ditching the whole thing, and telling the teacher not to bother with school books, and take the whole thing away, as I can't see what it's adding to her education.

Rude? Sorry, I fail to see where I have been rude.

We've suggested things to do, we've told you how to find the information you require. Every school is so different, one person's experience will probably have no correlation with your school.

Talk to the teacher with your specific questions. Lie. Read easy books. Do whatever.

Yeah- I've learned to stay out of Primary Education!

I posted on a forum for some advice and support- I've had some advice, thanks, in that I have to suck up these books, and accept that reading time is a chore from now on, that there will be no escape from. If I'd found talking to the teacher helpful, I wouldn't be asking on here. When I was at school, I don't remember my mum ever listening to me read, so I didn't know when to stop.

Ds is in a similar position to your dd and his teacher says it's fine to let him read to himself and then talk about the book, however I prefer him to read to me tbh. His school books are boring though! Is your dd year 1 or 2? Ds is year 1 so If your dd is year 2 then I'd say she should definitely be allowed to read alone some of the time!

Well the teacher will have her reason to keep her at school level. Have you asked her why or what they do to challenge her? It is the teacher's job to ensure your DD understands the point system, not your job to lie in the reading diary. The more you let her go the less likely it is she will move up and the boredom of strange topic books coming home continues.

DD was stick for ages on a level, she read everything correctly but didn't understand what it actually meant and comparison was her very weak point. I had the problem of a teacher not helping us to help DD so we carried on for another term and just tried to get her mor interesting things at home to practise. It suddenly clicked it is often a maturity issue as well. There is a vast difference between reading the words and reading the book.

Work together with the teacher, not against them, it won't stop, you still have 4 more years to go.

I also think that how a 6 year old understand Narnia or similar books is maybe not a detailed as it would be when they work through a book working on understanding of its content while applying their knowledge how to do so. DD currently works through Mathilda in school and she understands it suddenly a lot more than when she read it for pleasure at home, even with us talking about it.

I understand that you do not want to drill your DD about everything she reads but school books are part of learning and homework. Talking about it means she can apply what they learned in school and deepening the knowledge how to understand literacy, regardless of the difficulty of the book. It doesn't mean you need to talk about every book and let her read for pleasure what she wants.

My friend's DD had a reading age of 10 when in Y1, it happens and I know the problems she had finding age appropriate books in the school.

Thanks.

She doesn't just read Narnia, Anne Fine, Astrid Lindgren, books about dancing etc. She chooses from the library. I read out loud to her every night, which we do still enjoy.

The last time I spoke to the teacher specially, she said 'I know, I'll move her up soon.' Then when I tried at parents' evening, we got 'I know, she's doing so well. You clearly have nothing to worry about!' But here I am worrying. I know I should CTFD. I just wanted to know if I was missing something. Actually, this has helped me see that perhaps school just have a weird system, as your schools all appear to handle it better!

She's year 1- I really didn't want to be seen as boasting, as I know how much that gets flamed on here.

yeah I can't remember ever reading to anyone at home either.

When do children stop bringing books home to read each night?

yr2 or 3 ime.

when can we stop listening to the whole thing?

I probably stopped about the point where OP's DD is at, and just asked them to tell me the story. Or only read a few pages to me & rest to self. Sometimes they still liked me to read stories of course, for my efforts at expression and personality, etc.

DD is 7, a young year 3, and we stopped listening to her read regularly at some point during year 2 - she generally either reads books I'm already familiar with (classics I read as a child) or I have a quick skim through the book to get the gist of the story and we talk about it.

She has a comprehension age (?) of 13 according to her teacher, so something is clearly working!

Having said that, her school only changes reading books twice a week in infants and once a week in juniors so it's more been looking for suitable alternatives that we source ourselves for her.